Hardware problem: Cannot install XP OS on the hard disk! (Western digital WD800BB Caviar 80 GB Hard Drive (20 Pack))

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Hi,
Its tashi, I'm a computer teacher and I maintain computers in the class...I have always some problem with hard disks and somehow was able to solve all those problems...this time is a bit tricky!

The system crashed!

On booting it showed the following message!
C:/window/system/ " system file corrupt...
Insert the setup CD-ROM and Press 'r' on the start screen to repair..

I did put the right CD in did the same thing as instructed...the message would still appear...

I went on and unplugged the hard disk and plugged it into another computer that was working and formatted the hard drive..

Now I try reboot the with the right XP CD...it shows this message..

NDLTR Missing!
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart....

What a mess!!!

Can anyone help me....

Hi,

since the disc is formatted anyway, I'd suggest getting Data Life Guard Diagnostics from WD support website, burn the image to CD-R(W) and boot from that disc. Then wipe the HDD entirely.

You should then be able to reinstall Windows.

Michael

Thanks everyone,
And thanks myself....I found the solution...and no one from cdfreak people helped me through with the problem I had...
Well I plan to help others with the similar problems:

The cause of this message: "NTLDR Missing"
When the computer starts, the BIOS attempts to find the primary hard drive's active partition to read the first sector for the Master Boot Record - MBR to load the OS ...
It happened in my case when formatted the hard disk pluging it to another functional computer as slave and copied the program file folder and the window folder of the working hard disk on to the slave hard drive..
what it did is, it changed the Master Boot Record file from its actual location.

yah yah

Solution to the problem:

• Create an NTLDR boot disk:-
• get a blank floppy disk:
• download fixntldr.exe file from here: http://www.tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm
• Run the fixntldr.exe file by double clicking it...Click OK to overwrite the blank floppy disc in the working computer.
• Use floppy disk to boot the broken computer...You should see the following message:

1ST TRY THIS seleccione esto primero
2ND TRY THIS essayez ceci en deuzieme
3RD TRY THIS wahlen Sie diesen Third
4TH TRY THIS selezioni questo fourth
5TH TRY THIS selecione este fifth
6TH TRY THIS seleccione este sexto
7TH TRY THIS essayez ceci en septieme
8TH TRY THIS wahlen Sie dieses achte
9TH TRY THIS selezioni questo nono
10TH TRY THIS selecione este decimo

I

• tried the first one and it was a success.
  
• This should help your computer to boot....
  
• Once you get in the computer make these changes...

go to the root of your C:\ drive and rename boot.ini to boot.ini.bak, ntldr to ntldr.bak, and ntdetect.com to ntdetect.com.bak, then copy the files that are on your floppy disk to the root of your C:\ drive (if you used the CD-ROM, download the fixntldr.zip file and use the boot files from there) so that the files are on the root, like C:\ntldr C:\ntdetect.com C:\boot.ini. If it prompts you to overwrite a file, press "Yes". After they have been copied over, be sure to remove the "Read-Only" attribute from the properties of the files. (Right click on a file, choose properties, and uncheck the Read-Only box). Take the floppy out and reboot the computer (you should see the "1st Try This" menu, make the same selection you did before.

• If you get back into Windows again, you can keep that "1st Try This" menu by going into Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery section, Settings button > System Startup; then change the "Default Operating System:" to the selection that worked for you, and change the box that says "Time to display list of operating systems" to 1 second. Click OK twice.

Good Luck all Fellasss

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Last edited by mciahel; 02-07-2009 at 14:25. Reason: removed link to .exe and added link to website

I did get same message when i formatted one HDD on a different PC and after putting it back on my PC, +Win CD in drive (but without setting "cd" as 1st boot).

My "fix" was setting CD as primary boot device. Did u set up in bios "boot from cd" as 1st boot option?
Or, if more then 1 HDD present, "eject the other HDD's and do as i said above. Easy.
Ops...you allready "fix" it...kinda tricky ur "fix"....

1) You can boot from the windows CD and repair an installation without wiping it.
2) If it still has issues with the missing ntldr ... I'd suggest that you use the windows CD and repair the MBR.
3) Pull the HDD out & edit the boot.ini to look for windows on the correct partition.

Assuming you ripped the HDD out & wiped windows ....

a) You set the partition that winxp is installed/will be installed on as the ACTIVE partition.
b) Install windows from the CD.

No floppy discs required.