Wd Hdd 40gb

[jimmyd]

Western Digital 40GB HDD, Wanted to reformat to see if I could use it. Put it in Desktop, as Master and Booted it with my XP-PRO OS disk. It copied some files and hung-up on "Searching Sys. Disk". I shut down ( pwr. swth) and re-booted I get a screen full of data and at the bottom, "NTLDR Not Found" , press Ctrl+Alt+DEL to re-boot. When I do, this sequence just repeat over & over ??????????????????????????. Any ideas ? jimmyd

[pro1driver]

make sure as you are doing this, that this hdd is the only one that's installed in your pc, and set it to "single", not master (at this time). make sure that in your BIOS, you have the first boot device set to hdd, not floppy (as is the case with default settings).

try again, this time reformat/reinstall.

also, never shut down the pc while the xp cd is still in the tray. it may be "hung-up" as you say, but this happens sometimes while installing. you don't say how long the "hang-up" was, but if it were only for a minute or two, then you were impatient. if it was for an hour, then i could see shutting it down manually.

[jimmyd]

Saw your post late last night and tryed those step's. It's goes immediately to NTLDR is missing (with bilnking cursor) . At this point There are no input function's except CTL+ALT+Delete, which reboot's right back to the same screen.

In my initial post the "time it just sat there was 30-40 min.

Thank you for the reply, jimmyd

[mikex]

Use active killdisk to wipe the drive, free version makes one pass. Set BIOS to cd rom as first boot. Insert cd and go. When machine "hangs" does the tattle tail liteon the cd and for hdd blink like something is going on or does everthing quiet down.

You could set the hdd as slave to the primary you use. The use something like active killdisk to wipe the drive. Do a scann disk/defrag from within windows. This will make sure all date is gone (killdisk) and find any bad sectors (scan disk).

M

[jimmyd]

I installed it as "slave" on an XP-PRO machine and reformated it and ran check disk. Put it back in by it's self and attempt to install XP-PRO and I get the same darn results. I guess I may be able to use it for storage ?

Hate to waste 40GB drive. jimmyd

P.S I did do Scandisk and DeFrag. Before I put it back in by it's self.

[mikex]

1.Double check no floppy in floppy drive.

2.Disable any antivirus in BIOS.

3.Check OS cd for for scratches that would result in errors.

4.Are you using a M$ XP cd or a cd that came with you machine? ie XP on a Dell or HP cd.

I found the above problems with som research. 1,2,&3 were from different sites. 4 was from M$.

Below is a M$ article.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install Microsoft Windows XP or upgrade to Windows XP on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition, you may receive the following error message after the first restart during the installation:

NTLDR is missing

Press any key to restart

CAUSE

This problem may occur if your existing Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition installation was cloned and then applied to a drive that has a different geometry from that of the source drive of the cloned copy.

For example, you are running Windows 98 on a 4-gigabyte (GB) drive. After you upgrade to a 30-GB hard disk, you use a third-party disk-imaging utility to make a mirror image of your Windows 98 installation, and then apply the image to the new drive. Later, you upgrade to Windows XP. To do this, you install Windows XP over the cloned image of Windows 98.

For this problem to occur, all the following conditions must be true:

• The system/startup partition is formatted with the FAT32 file system.

• The computer starts by using INT-13 extensions. (This is a partition larger than 7.8 GB with a System-ID type of 0C in the partition table).

• Because of the cloning procedure, the Heads (sides) value in the FAT32 BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) does not match the geometry of the physical drive.

The Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition startup code ignores the Heads value in the BPB and starts those programs even though the value is not valid. However, the startup code in Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP requires this value, and startup does not succeed if the value is not valid.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, correct the Heads (sides) value in the FAT32 BPB so the Windows XP startup can continue. To update the value, rewrite the Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition startup code. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Restart the computer by using a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition startup disk that contains the Sys.com file. (By default, this file is included.)

2. Make a backup copy of the Msdos.sys file in the root directory of your system drive. To do this, type the following commands at a command prompt:

attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys

rename msdos.sys *.ysy

3. At a command prompt, type sys c: to rewrite the Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition startup code with accurate BPB information. If this command runs successfully, go to step 4.

If you are using a Windows Millennium Edition startup disk, and you receive the following error message, one or more files in the Windows Millennium Edition installation have been removed:

Cannot find the system file in the standard locations on drive C:

Follow these steps to put the correct files on the drive so that the sys command can locate them:

a. Type the following commands. Press ENTER after each command:

c:

cd\windows

If Windows is installed in a folder other than the Windows folder, adjust the commands accordingly.

b. Try to switch to the Command folder by typing the following command:

cd command

If you do not receive an error message that the path is not found, type the following command to create the Command folder, and then run the cd command command again:

md command

c. Switch to the EBD folder by typing the following command:

cd ebd

If you do not receive an error message that the path is not found, type the following command to create the EBD folder, and then repeat the cd ebd command:

md ebd

d. In the EBD folder, use the following commands to copy the Io.sys file from the root of the hard disk and to rename the Io.sys file to Winboot.sys:

attrib -s -h -r c:\io.sys

copy c:\io.sys winboot.sys

Winboot.sys is the file that Sys.com requires.

e. Switch back to drive A, and then type the following commands:

a:

sys c:

Type the following commands to restore the original Msdos.sys file. Press ENTER after each command:

attrib -s -h -r c:\msdos.sys

copy c:\msdos.ysy c:\msdos.sys

Press Y to overwrite the existing Msdos.sys file. You will receive a "1 FILE(S) COPIED" verification that the file was overwritten.

4. Restart the computer to Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition, and then try to install or upgrade to Windows XP again.

Note Alternatively, after you run the sys c: command, you can you can start to the Recovery Console, and then use the fixboot command to rewrite the Windows XP startup code. With this procedure, the original installation continues normally.

[jimmyd]

HI, mikex

My CD is a MS (holographed) Win. XP-PRO install CD.

I'm trying to install on a freshly formatted (NTFS) WD, 40GB HDD.

I'm positive the problem is the HDD, ( I can use the CD disk on another of my machines and set-up and install begin's and continues untill I abort it).

I've been on Google and tried several of the guide's I found there, but no luck.

I haven't been able to get back into the "Recovery Console", when I do, then I might have chance of Repairing the HDD.

By the way, I've also tried to install from a 2nd. XP-PRO ( MS ) CD and a MS Win. 2K PRO CD, niether would install on the WD HDD. Same NTLDR Missing, msg. on the screen.

So I believe the Recovery Console is the only hope.

Thank's for hanging in there with me. jimmyd

[Chappy]

NTLDR is a file off of the XP CD and has nothing to do with the drive itself.

I would say this is either a read/write problem with the CD drive itself or a damaged CD. If the CD works in another CD drive it could still be slightly scratched but one drive may still read from it while another may not. Since it fails while trying to load the same file I would say it's the CD and the drive cannot read it, maybe due to a slight miscalibration or an IDE cable issue.

Reformat using the XP CD utility and try again a few times. Or you could borrow a drive from the other machine, install it and try that route. Switch IDE cables also if you try this.

Dave

[jimmyd]

m & Dave, Well I GOT IT , went to WD support and downloaded a couple of utility's. Wrote 0's to the drive and ran chk./fix error's, reformatted it and hooked it up as Master/Single. XP-PRO installed and in running good. I shutdown and started up several time's no problem's. Man , I'm tickled to death.

I really appreciate the input's from you guy's. Thank's a million. jimmy

[mikex]

Glad to hear it. That is what we're here for. More users, more problems, more sounding boards, more heads thinking on one subject.

M