NTLDR is missing during clean install of XP SP1

[tizzo]

Sorry to rehash. I've been searching groups all afternoon, and have
seen lots of people reporting what seem to be the same thing.
Invariably, the resident experts ask for clarification, which never
comes, and the thread eventually dies out.

Anyway, this is my situation. I've got the Windows XP Pro SP1 Upgrade
Edition on CD. I've got an older computer with a brand new 80GB WD
EIDE hard drive installed as the only hard drive in the system,
configured as the master on the IDE bus, with my CD-ROM as the slave.
Second controller is empty right now.

I boot from the Windows XP setup CD. Setup begins normally. It
recognizes the new, empty drive, with ~76GB of unpartitioned space, and
prompts me to create a partition. I create a 72GB partition (I want
the other 4GB for another drive, which I plan to create later). I tell
Setup to install Windows XP on this new partition. When prompted, I
instruct Setup to format the partition with the NTFS file system, which
it does. Immediately after formatting, it goes through the "copying
files" phase, during which it copies the OS files from CD to the hard
drive.

Eventually, it gets to where it wants to reboot. I allow it to do so,
and wait for it to skip over booting the CD-ROM and try the hard disk.
When it tries to boot from the hard drive, I get "NTLDR is missing,
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot".

I've searched the MS KB, and none of the articles regarding this error
message are applicable -- I am installing on a clean drive, and am not
trying to install over any other OS. I am able to boot to the recovery
console from my CD, and I can see the C: drive just fine. NTLDR is
present, right where it should be, boot.ini points to the right place,
and this is the only drive in the system. I can't actually get into
the OS, so I can't check to see if the partition is active, but I'm
assuming that it must be, since Setup created and formatted the
partition knowing that it was the only one in the system.

I've also searched WD's site, and they have lots of information on this
error that is not applicable too. I've run the full set of diagnostics
against this drive (it's a warranty replacement for another of the same
model that up and failed on me), and there are no errors. I've double
and triple checked the cabling and all jumpers, and everything is fine.
Based on what I've found searching WD's KB, and also based on WD's
response to my direct question, I should NOT need to install WD's drive
overlay software for XP to see my drive (which would seem to be
supported by the fact that Setup was able to recognize, partition, and
format the disk drive, and then copy files onto it). I really don't
want to use the overlay if I don't have to.

I hope that I've been specific enough here, and that someone could give
me a hint as to what might be going on. I think I've answered all the
followup questions that I've seen asked (and often not answered) in
other threads on the topic. Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.

Tony

 

[Rich Barry]

Tony, take a look here. Also, try moving the CDRom drive to the Second
Controller. My WD 80G which is fairly new
will only work on Cable Select in my System.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

 

[Richard Urban]

Try this as I have run into the same condition on numerous machines.

After copying all the files to the hard drive, when the computer reboots for
the first time - enter the computer bios. Change the first boot device from
CD to your "hard drive". Save and exit the bios setup utility. Reboot and be
on your way!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew half as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[tizzo]

Rich, thanks for your response. Let me fill you in on what I did.

First, before changing anything, I zeroed the drive and tried
installing again, just for the heck of it. The good news is that I
never saw the "NTLDR is missing" message again. The bad news is that
it was replaced with a "Disk read error". I made various tweaks and
changes as per your suggestions, and never got rid of this error.

Anyway, the last configuration I tried was to put my hard drive at the
end of controller 0's cable, set for Cable Select, and to put my CD-ROM
drive at the end of controller 1's cable, also set for CS. After
zeroing the drive and installing one more time, I still got the "Disk
read error".

Now, since this is an advance RMA drive (they sent it to me as a
replacement, and I have 30 days from when the shipped it to return the
old drive before they charge my credit card for it), I don't really
have a lot of time to fool around, so I ended up trying to use WD's
Data Lifeguard to install their Dynamic Drive Overlay, and lo and
behold I was able to get all the way through the install. It seems to
be working right now, and as much as I didn't want to have the overaly
installed, I had to go with what worked.

My working theory is that Western Digital was absolutely correct when
they said that Windows XP could see, format, and fully utilize this
disk drive -- it just seems that my BIOS doesn't know what to make of
whatever Windows has done to the drive. I guess this really shouldn't
surprise me. The BIOS really is quite old -- it's an ASUS motherboard
with a 500MHz PIII processor in it probably circa 1998 or so. At
least it works.

So now, I have about 20 days and counting to try and get whatever data
I can off of my old drive before shipping it back. Actually, I figured
installing the OS would be easy, and that this would be the hard part.
Wish me luck, and thanks again for the advice.

Tony

 

[tizzo]

Thanks, Richard. As I posted in my reply to Rich, I finally gave up
and installed the DDO, and all my problems disappeared.

I'm interested in the fact that you've had this same condition on other
systems. Did it ever turn into a "disk read error" like mine did? I
have to admit that it makes me very nervous when a supposedly
deterministic process produces different results on successive runs.

You know, the same thing happened to me (NTLDR is missing, not disk
read error) about a year ago after installing a Windows Update on this
machine. I was able to get around it by creating a boot diskette with
boot.ini pointing at my hard drive -- I ran for about 4 months booting
off this floppy, because the hard drive wasn't bootable, and I couldn't
fix it. I ended up having to erase the disk and do a fresh install
before I could boot my hard drive again. I learned that lesson the
hard way, so now one of the first things I'm going to do is create a
boot floppy that will get me into Windows XP should this ever happen
again.

Anyway, thanks for responding.

Tony

 

[Rich Barry]

Tony, given the age of your Bios, I could see where DDO would be very
necessary. lol Was intrigued by your boot.ini
on a floppy disk. Most of my systems are dual or multiple boot so I
rarely have a access problem to my drive. Could you
post a copy of the boot.ini you configured to look at the hard drive?