problem with hard drive

[eny]

I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I tried to
format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it wont load the OS,
it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I formatted and
created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Jerry]

NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there would
be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.

Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various programs for
setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.

Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with Windows
98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to run FDISK and then
format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs

"eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
>I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I tried to
> format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it wont load the
> OS,
> it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I formatted
> and
> created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Anna]

> "eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
>>I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I tried to
>> format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it wont load the
>> OS,
>> it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I formatted
>> and
>> created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions? Thanks


"Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
news:OaBtRrj2HHA.464@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there would
> be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.
>
> Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various programs for
> setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.
>
> Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with Windows
> 98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to run FDISK and
> then format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs


eny:
Is there any reason why you can't simply start over and undertake a fresh
install of the XP OS with your XP installation CD? Forget about creating a
partition with your WD CD. Forget about formatting the HDD with any other
media other than the XP installation CD.

Use your XP installation CD to delete whatever partition(s) are currently on
the HDD and go through a normal install process with that XP installation
CD, creating one or more partitions as you please and formatting the same as
you go through the install process. I'm sure you understand that any & all
data on your WD HDD will be gone when you do this, however, I'm assuming
this will not be a problem for you. If it *is* a problem because you need
this or that data currently on the drive, then we'll have to try something
else.
Anna

 

[eny]

"Jerry" wrote:

> NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there would
> be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.
>
> Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various programs for
> setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.
>
> Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with Windows
> 98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to run FDISK and then
> format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs
>
> "eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
> >I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I tried to
> > format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it wont load the
> > OS,
> > it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I formatted
> > and
> > created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions? Thanks
>
> Jerry: You are so right, I know I really screwed this one bad, I have formatted many hard drives and this is the first one "different", I think you read my mind, prior to reading your advise I formatted the hd with the floppy and right now I am installing win98SE, from here I should be able to upgrade to wnxp, right? I still don't understand why after I formatted the hd with the floppy it won't read winxp cd! Thanks a lot.
>

 

[eny]

"Anna" wrote:

>
> > "eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
> >>I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I tried to
> >> format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it wont load the
> >> OS,
> >> it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I formatted
> >> and
> >> created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions? Thanks
>
>
> "Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
> news:OaBtRrj2HHA.464@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> > NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there would
> > be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.
> >
> > Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various programs for
> > setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.
> >
> > Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with Windows
> > 98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to run FDISK and
> > then format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs
>
>
> eny:
> Is there any reason why you can't simply start over and undertake a fresh
> install of the XP OS with your XP installation CD? Forget about creating a
> partition with your WD CD. Forget about formatting the HDD with any other
> media other than the XP installation CD.
>
> Use your XP installation CD to delete whatever partition(s) are currently on
> the HDD and go through a normal install process with that XP installation
> CD, creating one or more partitions as you please and formatting the same as
> you go through the install process. I'm sure you understand that any & all
> data on your WD HDD will be gone when you do this, however, I'm assuming
> this will not be a problem for you. If it *is* a problem because you need
> this or that data currently on the drive, then we'll have to try something
> else.
> Anna
>
> Anna: I tried your suggestions before posting but it wouldn't read the XP OS at all, it kept giving me the NTLDR error, what you suggested I have done many times and always worked, not this time. Thank you, I am doing it the old way, with the floppy and win98 se.
>

 

[Anna]

>> > "eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> > news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
>> >>I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I tried to
>> >> format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it wont load
>> >> the
>> >> OS,
>> >> it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I
>> >> formatted
>> >> and
>> >> created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions?
>> >> Thanks


>> "Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
>> news:OaBtRrj2HHA.464@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> > NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there
>> > would
>> > be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.
>> >
>> > Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various programs
>> > for
>> > setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.
>> >
>> > Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with
>> > Windows
>> > 98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to run FDISK and
>> > then format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs


> "Anna" wrote:
>> eny:
>> Is there any reason why you can't simply start over and undertake a fresh
>> install of the XP OS with your XP installation CD? Forget about creating
>> a
>> partition with your WD CD. Forget about formatting the HDD with any other
>> media other than the XP installation CD.
>>
>> Use your XP installation CD to delete whatever partition(s) are currently
>> on
>> the HDD and go through a normal install process with that XP installation
>> CD, creating one or more partitions as you please and formatting the same
>> as
>> you go through the install process. I'm sure you understand that any &
>> all
>> data on your WD HDD will be gone when you do this, however, I'm assuming
>> this will not be a problem for you. If it *is* a problem because you need
>> this or that data currently on the drive, then we'll have to try
>> something
>> else.
>> Anna


"eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsF65A74B-4009-421D-828A-EFD2DE60F013@microsoft.com...
>> Anna: I tried your suggestions before posting but it wouldn't read the XP
>> OS at all, it kept giving me the NTLDR error, what you suggested I have
>> done many times and always worked, not this time. Thank you, I am doing
>> it the old way, with the floppy and win98 se.


eny:
There is no way that I'm aware of that you could possibly get a "NTLDR
error" message that you refer to when you boot to the XP installation CD. It
would seem the reason you *are* getting that message is that you are *not*
booting directly to the XP installation CD, but rather to your dysfunctional
HDD. Make absolutely certain that your boot priority settings in your
motherboard's BIOS correctly indicates that the CD-ROM is *first* in order
of boot priority - before the HDD. Then try it again.
Anna

 

[C J.]

Eny... once you get back on track, you really should plan to make an
Emergency Boot Floppy using the same version of Windows XP you have
installed..

Just format a 1.44 floppy disk using Windows XP Pro or Home Edition. Next
you can expand copies of your NTLDR, and NTdetect.com from \i386 folder on
Install CD - or you can find and copy them off your harddrive onto the
floppy disk along with the Boot.ini. file.

Mark it as an Emergency Boot Disk - then try it to make good and sure that
it will work.

Recently, I had a dreaded "Disk Error: Press ctrl-alt-del to reboot system."
message. I was all WT#&#^ until I remembered I had a EBF disk I'd made a
couple of years ago. After finding it - I plugged the disk into my A
drive - and I was able to get back into my drive to see what was going on.
If anything - you should be able to back up your important stuff - before
attempting repairs to the drive.

eny wrote:
> "Jerry" wrote:
>
>> NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there
>> would
>> be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.
>>
>> Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various
>> programs for
>> setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.
>>
>> Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with
>> Windows 98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to
>> run FDISK and then
>> format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs
>>
>> "eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
>>> I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I
>>> tried to format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it
>>> wont load the OS,
>>> it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I
>>> formatted and
>>> created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions?
>>> Thanks
>>
>> Jerry: You are so right, I know I really screwed this one bad, I
>> have formatted many hard drives and this is the first one
>> "different", I think you read my mind, prior to reading your advise
>> I formatted the hd with the floppy and right now I am installing
>> win98SE, from here I should be able to upgrade to wnxp, right? I
>> still don't understand why after I formatted the hd with the floppy
>> it won't read winxp cd! Thanks a lot.

 

[eny]

"C J." wrote:

> Eny... once you get back on track, you really should plan to make an
> Emergency Boot Floppy using the same version of Windows XP you have
> installed..
>
> Just format a 1.44 floppy disk using Windows XP Pro or Home Edition. Next
> you can expand copies of your NTLDR, and NTdetect.com from \i386 folder on
> Install CD - or you can find and copy them off your harddrive onto the
> floppy disk along with the Boot.ini. file.
>
> Mark it as an Emergency Boot Disk - then try it to make good and sure that
> it will work.
>
> Recently, I had a dreaded "Disk Error: Press ctrl-alt-del to reboot system."
> message. I was all WT#&^ until I remembered I had a EBF disk I'd made a
> couple of years ago. After finding it - I plugged the disk into my A
> drive - and I was able to get back into my drive to see what was going on.
> If anything - you should be able to back up your important stuff - before
> attempting repairs to the drive.
>
> eny wrote:
> > "Jerry" wrote:
> >
> >> NTLDR stands for NT Loader - if you really formatted the drive there
> >> would
> >> be nothing on it to load so you must have really screwed things up.
> >>
> >> Go to the WD web site, www.wd.com and download their various
> >> programs for
> >> setting up and/or diagnosing problems on their hard drives.
> >>
> >> Also, if you have a floppy drive and access to a boot floppy with
> >> Windows 98SE or ME you could boot from the floppy and then try to
> >> run FDISK and then
> >> format the drive. www.bootdisk.com will have these files/programs
> >>
> >> "eny" <eny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:49A34B49-6162-4651-93C3-B6CC9CAA21DC@microsoft.com...
> >>> I have a western digital hard drive, it was working fine but I
> >>> tried to format it with wrong cd (media experience 3.1) and now it
> >>> wont load the OS,
> >>> it gives me the following error: NTLDR is missing, that after I
> >>> formatted and
> >>> created the partition for the OS with the WD cd, any suggestions?
> >>> Thanks
> >>
> >> Jerry: You are so right, I know I really screwed this one bad, I
> >> have formatted many hard drives and this is the first one
> >> "different", I think you read my mind, prior to reading your advise
> >> I formatted the hd with the floppy and right now I am installing
> >> win98SE, from here I should be able to upgrade to wnxp, right? I
> >> still don't understand why after I formatted the hd with the floppy
> >> it won't read winxp cd! Thanks a lot.
>
> C.J. Excellent sugestion, I will make a emergency boot floppy; last nite I was able to format the hard drive and reinstall winxp, at least with this particular computer I have an internal floppy drive so that made it easier. Thanks again to everybody that help me thru this. eny
>