New machine: NTLDR is missing

[Otrant]

Hi everyone,

I had the following machine assembled for me at a computer shop:

Asus P5Q
Core 2 Duo 3GHZ
4GB RAM
640 GB WD HD
Samsung 22x DVD

Upon trying to boot the PC, I get two messages:

Adapter 1: Disk information
No hard disk is detected!

which is followed by:

NTLDR is missing
Press CTRL+ALT+Del to restart

In the BIOS, SATA 1 is listed as the WD HD, and SATA 2 is the CD-Drive, so it appears they are detected. I changed the boot priority to boot from the CD-Rom drive first and HD second and inserted my Windows XP CD, but this didn't seem to help.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[Fardringle]

If you paid a shop to put the system together for you, take it back to the shop and make them fix it.

 

[Otrant]

Well I certainly will do that if I can't find a fix, but it would save me some time if anyone has any suggestions.

 

[masteryoda34]

Can you boot to the windows XP CD?

If so, you could try running FIXBOOT at the recovery console.

 

[Otrant]

Update:

I was able to boot to the Windows XP CD. I formatted the drive, and windows setup installed some files. Once these were installed, Windows setup prompted me that it was going to reboot in 15 seconds... everything seemed to be going smoothly.

However, instead of continuing with the installation once the computer restarted, Windows setup brought me back to the screen where it prompts you to format, so it appears I'm in a perpetual loop?

--
As an aside, my HD and DVD drive are both SATA. So I'm assuming this means I should disable the IDE controller in the BIOS?

 

[Fardringle]

Your computer booted from the XP CD again after the install instead of booting from the hard drive. If it is doing this automatically, you can either configure the BIOS to not boot from the CD drive, or simply take the XP CD out of the drive until the system finishes booting from the hard drive and asks you for the disc again.

 

[Otrant]

Thanks for your response Fardringle - I will try that when I get home.

To clarify though, Windows XP never finished installing completely. I was able to format and install some files (DLLs, etc.) but never made it to the screen where you get to set the machines date and time, choose language, choose timezone, etc.

 

[Dahak]

I would double check the boot order as well to be sure that the hard drive is set. sound like it might be trying to boot off the other ide/sata controller

 

[mrfatboy]

yes, check boot order, They OS is probably installed on the other drive.

 

[Otrant]

I'm able to make it this far through the windows installation: http://www.blackviper.com/Arti.../images/image1_15.html

When the computer reboots, instead of continuing with the install at this screen: http://www.blackviper.com/Arti...o/images/image2_2.html, I am prompted to format the drive again. I.e., I never get out of the "blue screen" environment.

I tried changing the boot order to 1. HD and 2. DVD, but in that case, the system simply reboots without even making it to windows setup at all.

 

[cubby1223]

"NTLDR is missing" means the system is trying to boot from the hard drive, but the information on the hard drive is invalid or corrupt. There is nothing wrong with the boot order. Take the system back to the shop, sounds like you have insufficient spare parts to diagnose the problem on your own. It is either bad/incompatible memory, motherboard, power supply, or hard drive, or incompatible bios settings.

When the system boots to the XP install cd, the first thing the XP cd does is check if the hard drive is bootable, regardless of boot order - if the drive is bootable you'll get the message like "press any key to boot to cd....." but if the hard drive is not bootable, it will immediately start into the initial XP installation.

Boot order is not the problem here.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: cubby1223
There is nothing wrong with the boot order. Take the system back to the shop, sounds like you have insufficient spare parts to diagnose the problem on your own. It is either bad/incompatible memory, motherboard, power supply, or hard drive, or incompatible bios settings.

I vote this.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: cubby1223
There is nothing wrong with the boot order. Take the system back to the shop, sounds like you have insufficient spare parts to diagnose the problem on your own. It is either bad/incompatible memory, motherboard, power supply, or hard drive, or incompatible bios settings.

I vote this.

I second the motion. Particularly since it's what I told you to do two days ago..

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Fardringle

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: cubby1223
There is nothing wrong with the boot order. Take the system back to the shop, sounds like you have insufficient spare parts to diagnose the problem on your own. It is either bad/incompatible memory, motherboard, power supply, or hard drive, or incompatible bios settings.

I vote this.

I second the motion. Particularly since it's what I told you to do two days ago..

Showoff.