Re-install XP

[Learner]

I currently have two IDE hardrives on my system, one being the 'C' drive and
the other drive partitioned into 'D' and 'E'. 'D' is currently empty
(recently formatted) and 'E' holding some data files.

When using the second hard drive as the primary drive (other drive
disconnected) to do a clean install of XP Pro on the partition 'D' (and
setting the BIOS to boot from CD), instead of this happening all I get is a
message, after the BIOS has confirmed to boot from the CD, "NTDLR missing".
I would of thought that I should get the ususal windows setup program.

What happened?

 

[John John]

Sounds like your Windows CD is defective or the CD drive is not reading
the cd properly.

John

 

[Guest]

You have a missing boot file, it was on C:. and the system was on D: at some
point.
There are a few utilities you can try from Recovery Console. (Run CD setup,
start setup, choose 'r' for repair), You will enter the RC prompt and use
these commands

FixMBR
FixBoot
BootCFG /rebuild

 

[Learner]

Ok John - thought that both my Windows copies (XP Pro and XP Home were good!
Will borrow a copy and see how I get on.

 

[Learner]

Sorry Mark, I don't quite follow you on this one. The second hard drive
(which I am trying to use on its own) has a recently formatted partition on
it which I wish to place a clean install of Windows. But the BIOS does not
allow me to carryout such a clean install (the error message "missing NTLDR"
keeps coming up). I have tried my windows disk in both my optical drives
with the same result. If I use this hard drive (as a slave) along with my
primary hard drive with windows on it there is no problem, I can read the
data (E) and also see the formatted partition (D).
I'm stuck.

 

[John John]

Are these "real" Windows CD's or are they home made, burned or
slipstreamed CD's? If they are "real" cd's and if both return the same
error then I would think that the problem would be elsewhere than the
actual cd's. Possibly the CD-ROM drive is defective or dirty, or cables
are improperly seated or located.

John

 

[Guest]

I don't see why your setup disk would ask for a file on a drive it cannot see
to partition. Your problem probably stems from the existance of a 'logical
drive', nominally D: in the new config. Setup seems to want to repartition
C:, and can't because there is a D:. I would copy old E: (new D drive to
old C:, the one you removed, then remove both partitions from the new drive,
create a new primary, with unpartitioned space left for a new D:, and run
setup with just that drive in.

 

[Learner]

A real genuine windows disk. I have used other program disks to
successfully install programs using those same optical drives.It seems that
Mark L Ferguson may have identified the problem. Thanks.

 

[Learner]

Ok Mark, I'll take your advice on this one - I now see what you are getting
at. I'll completely reformat the whole drive and start all over again.
Thanks.

 

[thecreator]

Hi Learner,

If you have a Windows 98 or 98 SE Startup Diskette, wipe the D partition
completely clean.

You also need to check the jumper on the Hard Drive, make sure it is set
to Master or Cable Select.

Go into your Computer Bios and make sure the Hard Drive is being seen
and the CD-Rom Drive is the first Boot Device.

Then after you are ready, you need to reformat using Windows XP, the
partition you are installing Windows XP on. and after the format is
finished, Windows XP will start installing the operating system.