NTLDR is missing

[jagerbombmeister]

I've read the other threads on this none of them are really helping me. I'm looking to start over and just wipe out XP with a fresh installation and can't even accomplish that.
I get nothing from putting my XP installation Disc in just the same NTLDR is missing message.
I have a 20g drive, I was thinking I could plug that in install XP on it slave my original 400g drive to it so I can reformat it but when I attempt that I get blue screen, maybe I need to change something in the bios to make this work or am I just totally barking up the wrong tree with that idea?
I read Microsoft's advice on overcoming the problem and again a startup disk does nothing for me, I tried a 98 as well as an XP start up both downloaded to CD but neither of them work.
Any thoughts or ideas?

[Buddy J]

Kinda sounds to me like your CD drive isn't set as the first boot device, causing your computer to go straight to your jacked up hard drive first. Get into your bios and set the boot order as optical drive, hard drive, floppy, other.

[jagerbombmeister]

Sorry I guess I didn't clarify that I tried every boot combination available in bios, but you just caused me to have a totally different thought. I think my main CD drive is missing in bios since bios shows Floppy which I have none and DVD/CD ROM which if I'm not mistaken is the top one in my case or should I say the one in the highest position. Would that mean my CD drive is cooked? With the condition my machine is in right now could I swap it for another from an older unit?

[jagerbombmeister]

Is it possible the CD drive is connected wrong since I show "floppy" in the bios?

[jagerbombmeister]

Some additional history on the machine, I bought it refurbished from an online seller. When I got it and started it up I got this message that the installation had never been completed and that I needed to finalize the installation. I put up a thread about it. I ended up having to get buy my own XP installation disc thanks to the fine customer service skills of ivexllc. I used XP business as an upgrade since this incomplete installation was Media but my understanding was that my installation was wiping out the old previous attempt. But I overlooked one exception which I always thought was making the machine run kind of funny. I failed to remove the recovery partition so everytime I did a restart I had to pick which operating system to start the machine in.
Recently Media Player has been causing the system to crash like if I opened it and tried to use it for anything. I tried to re install a month or two ago using the same disc but I was getting the NTLDR missing message then too but only when trying to boot off the disc drive if I let it boot off the hard drive it would work but not now. I had enough reason to be suspicious to back up all my folders to a shared drive both computers in my house are using so I feel pretty safe about my data right now I just need the dang thing to be back up and running since the creeps at ivex inspired me into an online business over their poor customer service skills.

[Buddy J]

Help me out here and list the following:
Motherboard
CPU
All hard drives
All optical drives
Video card
any other cards you've got plugged into the mobo.

[RyderOCZ]

Disconnect all but 1 CD/DVD drive. Make sure it is set to boot from CD/DVD before the HDD and boot to the Windows XP disc in the 1 drive.

If it won't boot to that disc, then it is either scratched, damaged, etc.

[jagerbombmeister]

Yeah I guess I could have been just a little bit more vague for you ehh? Sorry I'm just flipping out right now, of course as luck would have it this is just so not a good time for this! Thanks for looking and trying to help me out.

Motherboard - Intel Corporation model D102GGC2
CPU - Intel(R) Pentium (R) D CPU 2.66 GHZ
Intel(R) EM64T Capable
Main Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 / 200 gig (not 400 my mistake)
Slave Hard Drive - Western Digital WD 400 / 40 gig (pins set to Slave not Cable select)
DVD Drive - DVD Writer Model - Toshiba Samsung Storage Tech. TS-H652
CD-R / RW Drive - Hitachi LG Storage Inc. Model GCE-8400B

[Buddy J]

Unplug your 400GB drive and the DVD drive.
Set your WD drive to the master on IDE 0
Set your Hitachi drive to master on IDE 1
Set the boot order to "floppy, optical drive, HDD, other" or whatever you have that is most similar to that.

Try and install Windows.

Once Windows is installed, you can add your other drives back into the mix.

[jagerbombmeister]

is this going to reformat and erase the WD 40 drive? That's where all my data is that I just bragged about keeping safe :(

[RyderOCZ]

Wait.. then don't do it on the 40.. which one do you want Windows on?

Jager,

Which Drive has Windows on it now?

[Snarkasm]

I have a 20g drive, I was thinking I could plug that in install XP on it slave my original 400g drive to it so I can reformat it

Unplug your 400GB drive and the DVD drive.
Set your WD drive to the master on IDE 0
Set your Hitachi (DVD) drive to master on IDE 1
Set the boot order to "floppy, optical drive, HDD, other" or whatever you have that is most similar to that.

Try and install Windows.

Once Windows is installed, you can add your other drives back into the mix.

is this going to reformat and erase the WD 40 drive? That's where all my data is that I just bragged about keeping safe :(

You said the WD was the small drive that you wanted to install to.

[jagerbombmeister]

the Seagate is the one with XP the WD has only files of data, If I need it I can slave it to this machine first and get all of those moved off but that may take some time since it's 50% capacity right now.
I do have a mystery 20g drive from an old machine someone gave me for parts or maybe to get rid of their junk they couldn't deal with. By mystery I mean I don't know the history behind it I can tell you it's also a Seagate Barracuda ATA IV Model ST320011A.
The disc seems to be near mint with only one minor blemish near the outside edge.

[RyderOCZ]

Remove the jumper on the 40 GB drive.. set it to cable select.

Also.. make sure the Seagate is first in the boot order.

Can you remove the 40GB and get Windows to boot?

Too many cooks here.. we are going to confuse you and spoil the soup.

Does the Windows install on the 200GB Seagate work or is that what you are trying to replace?

[jagerbombmeister]

I've ruled out the disc being a problem. When I put in this machine it starts the installation wizard and takes me to the screen asking me for the upteen digit product code.
I've tried both Disc drives alone as masters same results. I've tried using both disc drives one at a time with the Seagate 7200 and with the piece of junk 20 gig Seagate. The only thing different there is with the mystery piece of junk I get the option of safe mode, safe mode with networking and command prompt or the start normally options then go to blue screen and all this is with the bios set up in the following order

1. Floppy
2. DVD/CD
3. Hard Disc
4. Ethernet

Don't worry you're not confusing me you are keeping busy eliminating all the possible configurations though ;D

[RyderOCZ]

Ok.. I am still getting a bit confused.

You can't install Windows on any of the drives.. something fails?

[Buddy J]

The umpteen digit code? You mean the Windows XP key? You have to put in a registration key to install Windows.

[jagerbombmeister]

Yes I can not install or shall I say re install. I've even tried both discs since the Office XP I have is 2 disc. I've used these discs on that machine before without a problem though.
I keep getting the black screen with the message NTLDR is missing press any key to continue. I press any key then it just switches to "press ctrl+alt+del"
The only thing I haven't tried is either disc drive with the 40g hard drive as master it's worth a shot i don't have to follow through with the installation and delete my contents to find out if I'll get other results.
let me try that I'll post again in a min or two.
thanks

[RyderOCZ]

Are you trying to Install Windows or Office?

Windows is not 2 discs..... Now I am confused.

[jagerbombmeister]

jeeez to answer your question I'm trying to install XP but it seems your drawing my attention to maybe I'm mistaken over the wording here on the disc. XP office as in the Office suite of programs compatible with XP not XP office version :shakehead :confused:
So then I've lost or misplaced the disc I need then which could entirely be the problem

[RyderOCZ]

There is no XP - Office version.

There is Microsoft Office XP.. which is Excel, Word, etc.. the office suite.

There is Microsoft Windows XP which is the operating system <---- this is what you need.

[jagerbombmeister]

Wouldnt' you know it! I put the disc in my filing cabinet with warranty information and not with all my other discs so nothing would happen to it! I've outsmarted myself and wasted some of your time I'm afraid. I thought I needed some real technical advice and only needed someone to wake me up!
I'm sorry about this guys. I do have an ear infection right now but that hardly over shadows how dumb I'm feeling right now. Maybe I should have taken that nap first! :( :(