NTLDR is missing press Ctrl Alt Delete to restart

M

MisterBubbles

banned
Hello

I recently bought a barebones system, I planned on using my drives from my old computer in this one + a new SATA Raptor 10,000RPM exclusively for Battlefield 2.

I only had 1 IDE ribbon so I plugged both my 80GB Seagate (IDE) and CD:RW onto one ribbon (Seagate as master on the ribbon I don't know where to put the jumper to make it a master via jumper select..) and plugged into my mother board. I installed XP and it installed fine, so then I installed my Raptor and after some bumps along the road got it working as my E:\.

I went into my BIOS and set the boot priority to IDE HDD1 and then 2nd the CD:RW. Both hard drives were recognized in the other menu. Now whenever I go to turn on my computer (ever since the 1st restart) I get a NTLDR is missing, press Ctrl Alt Delete to restart error. Before this message comes up there is a "_" underscore thing blinking on and off for about 30 seconds.. I manage to bypass this message sometimes by putting in a CD and either leaving it in there, sometimes it boots or I have to put the CD in there and then when I think the error is about to come up I take it out and it boots. Sometimes I have to go into the BIOS and just keep messing with the boot menu and exit and it works.

I could just go on about like this but it has been getting on my nerves lately, I've googled alot of stuff on this subject but the only one that I could really find that related to me was that he had to replug his IDE cable and I will try that later, all the results were for Windows 95 and 98.

Can someone tell me what to do? Should I keep fiddling with the jumper on the cable until I set it as master on the jumper select + cable select or what? I tried taking the SATA drive off my BIOS "Hard Drives" menu but it doesn't work.

Thanks.

edit

just in case you would like to know my specs since I read another result and 2 guys with the same chip having same problem (and alas i have same chip as them too)

P4 3.06Ghz
512MB RAM
80GB IDE Seagate 7,200RPM
36GB SATA Raptor 10,000RPM
 
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i had a simuler problem and it turned out that i had to download the via raid drivers after installing them it works fine
 
I have a Asrock P4VM800 motherboard, and yes the 1st boot device is HDD 0 but I meant it was number one on the boot list.

I have the VIA Raid drivers installed thats why my second SATA drive is called RAID: somethingsomething.

Anyhelp on what to do? It's driving me crazy and hopefully I have an answer soon.
 
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i installed my via raid during windows install but i still had to install the via raid drivers again try unpluging your rapter and cd drive look on your pata drive it should say witch is slave and master on the top then buy another ribbon for your cd drive and put that on the other socket on the motherboard
 
MisterBubbles said:
Hello

I recently bought a barebones system, I planned on using my drives from my old computer in this one + a new SATA Raptor 10,000RPM exclusively for Battlefield 2.

I only had 1 IDE ribbon so I plugged both my 80GB Seagate (IDE) and CD:RW onto one ribbon (Seagate as master on the ribbon I don't know where to put the jumper to make it a master via jumper select..) and plugged into my mother board. I installed XP and it installed fine, so then I installed my Raptor and after some bumps along the road got it working as my E:\.

I went into my BIOS and set the boot priority to IDE HDD1 and then 2nd the CD:RW. Both hard drives were recognized in the other menu. Now whenever I go to turn on my computer (ever since the 1st restart) I get a NTLDR is missing, press Ctrl Alt Delete to restart error. Before this message comes up there is a "_" underscore thing blinking on and off for about 30 seconds.. I manage to bypass this message sometimes by putting in a CD and either leaving it in there, sometimes it boots or I have to put the CD in there and then when I think the error is about to come up I take it out and it boots. Sometimes I have to go into the BIOS and just keep messing with the boot menu and exit and it works.

I could just go on about like this but it has been getting on my nerves lately, I've googled alot of stuff on this subject but the only one that I could really find that related to me was that he had to replug his IDE cable and I will try that later, all the results were for Windows 95 and 98.

Can someone tell me what to do? Should I keep fiddling with the jumper on the cable until I set it as master on the jumper select + cable select or what? I tried taking the SATA drive off my BIOS "Hard Drives" menu but it doesn't work.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Whats likely going on is the BIOS either didn't look for the right drive, didn't find the right partition, it wasn't active, didn't find the MBR, or the MBR didn't list NTLDR in the right place, or the location of NTLDR changed.

It seems to be common problem with people adding new sata drives to their systems which already have a pre exisiting install of windows on a pata drive.

Does the computer boot if you unplug your sata drive?

If your sata drive is currently located on the motherboards first port try moving it to a different port.

Try and reinstall windows with all the 3 drives attached.

Or possibly you may have to install windows on your sata drive.
 
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