NTLDR is missing...

[chzlchp]

Just [attempted] to load a brand-new Windows XP Home OS onto a brand-new (home built) computer:

ABIT NF7-S mobo
AMD Athlon 2600+ (Barton) CPU
ATI Radeon 9600SE VGA (not yet configured...can't get that far)
512 mb Crucial Ram (one Stick DDRAM)
(Oh, yea. Probably doesn't help any...but I couldn't resist tossing this into the mix. Lian-Li PC-65 case. Silver. Wow!)

Installed a brand new Maxtor 30gig HDD (7200 rpm) with MaxBlast

Windows appears to do a new install perfectly. Everything works as advertised. I get to the Windows GUI screen, can do a [Properties] configuration (even played a game of solitaire-the ultimate test that all's well). However...when I reboot, I get this message:

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Of course, re-booting comes back to the same speed bump.

Oh, yea. Had originally formatted the HDD as NTFS. Started all over from scratch, this time formatting as FAT32. (Which surprised me. I assumed-guess I oughta Google this one- the NTLDR means NT LoaDeR, or something similar. Which is why I thought a FAT32 home base might solve the problem.)Same results.

HELP!! My beautiful new computer...and I can't play with it!! HELP!

[Panama Red]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=314057

[chzlchp]

Thanks. Funny thing...I'd decided to go 'Googling' after I posted my panic-stricken plea, and was on-and printing-the very link you suggested as your response came up. Now, my next question. These fixit articles all seem to require a Windows 95 boot disk. So...I went looking for one of those to download, and I'm still looking-in vain. Any suggestions where I might find a copy to download?

[Panama Red]

www.bootdisk.com

[chzlchp]

so, I do all the stuff that the fixit sites recommend. Oh, yea, this problem is only supposed to occur if one upgrades to XP from 95, Me, or some other stuff, and only if the jump is being made in a FAT32 environment. Well, I guess I can see where a brand-new XP copy, being installed onto a brand new HDD, formatted NTFS, could get a little confused. Could happen.

Anyway, the big money was on downloading copies of NTLDR and NTDETECT (at least one of which was on a copy of '95 boot' that I downloaded), and then copying those two files to the newly created C:\ drive, where momma XP would recognize them and tell them where to sit.

Funny thing, both those files are right where they are supposed [?] to be in the brand new copy of Windows (Home), in the hidden files. I can install this copy of Windows as many times as I like (think I'm up to 5 now) and it will all load up and start to run normally. But...when I reboot, the warning about missing NTLDR is right there waiting for me, and the boot is rejected at that point. Matter of fact, I can't even get anybody 'in there' to recognize the brand new C: drive. Hmmm... I mean, what I've done coupla times is booted up with the '95 boot floppy (fresh off the internet), and at the A:\ prompt have tried in vain to locate the C:\ drive, which XP itself told me was there as I was loading...and reloading, and reloading, an...

So, where did I go wrong? Was it, maybe, back when I said to myself one day, "Hmmm, maybe I oughta get a computer."?

[glc]

1. Make sure your bios antivirus protection is disabled.

2. Use Maxblast or Powermax to low level format (write zeros) to the drive, then run Powermax diagnostics to verify the drive has no defects.

3. Boot with the XP CD and use IT to partition and format the drive as part of Setup, do not prepare the drive with Maxblast.

4. Verify proper cabling and jumpering.

[chzlchp]

Thanks. Thought #3 seems to have the most relevance to this trauma I'm living. I am not sure what you mean by a low-level format. The MaxBlast CD that came with my HDD has only one format 'method' and that begins by asking the type of OS for which the drive is being prepared. (Unless there is another category of formatting that I've completely missed.) As for virus software...two weeks ago my computer was on the bin shelves somewhere in Newegg. It is shiny new, and this Windows OS was the very first thing (next to a little sticker of the Linux Penguin) that I had ever attempted to add to it. So, there is absolutely nothing else on the HDD (unless you count the five or six layers of the format/install cycle I've gone thru. Not a good beginning.). However, doing the format with the Windows install CD (as opposed to MaxBlast) is something I had not, but shall, try.

[chzlchp]

GLC...

I just went back and read the fine print in your response. Had not picked up on the first go-round that you were referring to the Virus barricades in my BIOS. Definitely I had set those to on. Will go and set them to off, and see what that does. (Actually, I believe you, but what does that do that makes a difference?)

[glc]

It prevents writing to the boot sector, therefore any partitioning and formatting you do will not "stick".

There is a low level format utility somewhere in Maxblast - if you can't find it, I know for a fact that Powermax has one. This writes zeros to the entire drive and restores it to factory condition. I'd do that, run the diagnostics, then install XP on the pristine drive.