almost there, can't boot from cd

B

bpimmerman

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 5, 2001
Messages
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I finally got everything powered up, but it won't boot from the CD. i'm getting a "ntldr error". any ideas? It's a win xp cd in the computer.

specs:

asus a7v,
t-bird 1.1
geforce 2mx
10g WD HD
old generic 10x cdrom
 
Make sure in your BIOS that 1st boot device is CDROM, also make sure everything is tightly snugged in for the cdrom.. Wires must be snug..
 
I made sure the BIOS setting was correct, and I unplugged and re-plugged in the cables. I tried the cd in another computer and I was able to boot. Maybe it is a bad CD-Rom drive, i'll try and dig up another one and see if that works.
 
a cd drive not able to read a particular disk is not uncommon.

i had an xp cd that i couldnt boot to this weekend, then we tried it in
my roommates computer. works fine there.
 
maybe i'll get a dvd burner in my main rig and then put the old cd-burner in this one....

 
So i grabbed another cd-rom drive, one that I have booted off before, and now things are getting bizzare. I keep getting the ntldr error, however one time I was able to boot from the cd and it started the installation process, only to tell me that some .sys file was corrupt. I tried the cd in another computer and it worked fine, and I even tried a different CD.

Could the fact that I don't have a floppy drive have anything to do with it? The only other thing I can think of is that the IDE cable is somehow bad.

 
Something I have had a problem with installing XP. Is if I'm doing a clean boot that it doesn't always allow me to do the installation. It'll sometimes just try to fix it and then boot up and then the whole OS is blown. My solution that I used is the HDD manufacturers utilities. (eg. Western Digitals Data LifeGuard Tools) It lets you prep the HD for installation of a new OS by automatically formating and wiping the old one. Most manufacturers have a program similar to that. Might want to try to have the utilities wipe and format the old HD and then run XP installation.
 
But how would I get those on the computer? The HD is blank, and I don't have a floppy drive. It's sounding like i might need a floppy.
 
Well mine are on bootable cds...although you might need a floppy drive if you can only find that version.
 
do you have an iso of those that I could download? I have another computer that has a cd burner...

 
Your IDE connectors might be bad.. That is what I figured on my Abit AV8 and the next week it won't turn on.. Fried sucka!!!!!
 
man.... so i tried to run the utility, but it hung and then gave me an error message. I'm wondering if the HD is fried. Though i'm beginning to think it may just be the system....anything else you guys recommend?
 
i'm not sure...it just flashed something that said error and some other info, and then disapeered
 
Was it after you were into the Data Life Guard program or before? If before make sure you select Auto for the ACPI (or something like that) selection which is option 3, and then option 1 to run the DLG app. There's some disk checking things there too.
 
Normally an OS not loading from CD is the fault of bad RAM if the CD works in other boxen.

 
[H]ugh_Freak said:
Normally an OS not loading from CD is the fault of bad RAM if the CD works in other boxen.

Click to expand...

that's interesting...there are two sticks in it, i'll try using them both individually. Thanks for the suggestion, i'll let you know.
 
ok, so i finally had some time to tinker, and the memory seems to be fine. I'm wondering if a lack of floppy drive is a problem?

Or the HD i have(it's a 10g used).

The farthest I got was to say it was copying setup files.

any more ideas?

 
Try this odd bit of "i'll never forget to check this again..."

I was having trouble loading XP once before. It would boot, then get about halfway through before telling me that a file was corrupt, and then crash. My main suspect was the memory, then the cables, then a different CD, all with no luck. I tried a different hard drive and it worked fine, so I thought my HD was fried. Out of desperation and being too broke to buy another drive, I tried one more thing.


Turns out I had the HD jumper set for master, when it should have been standalone. I had this drive running perfectly fine for a year, with the jumper that way. It just wouldn't take a new install.


I forget what brand it was, but I think I was a big maxtor fan at the time, so that's probably what it was.
 
wow. that's a really good idea. that could definately be the case. i'll check it out when i get home. thanks.

 
Had the same problem about 5 months ago and it was the hdd (Maxtor) and replaced it with a new one and problem solve. Now I went to Maxtor's website downloaded a utility program to fix the hdd and fixed it and now I'm using it in another pc. I hope this helps.
 
HD jumper set for master, when it should have been standalone.

by stand alone did you mean no jumper on the hd? Im a bit confused, if a hard drive is the only device on an ide channel should it be set to master or something else? or is it dependent on the drive?
 
arock1_3 said:
Had the same problem about 5 months ago and it was the hdd (Maxtor) and replaced it with a new one and problem solve. Now I went to Maxtor's website downloaded a utility program to fix the hdd and fixed it and now I'm using it in another pc. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

it's actually a wd, and i tried to run the disk fix, but i couldn't even get that to run from the cd - connect to the same ide cable...
 
rapid said:
HD jumper set for master, when it should have been standalone.

by stand alone did you mean no jumper on the hd? Im a bit confused, if a hard drive is the only device on an ide channel should it be set to master or something else? or is it dependent on the drive?
Click to expand...
Most drives have 3 jumper settings (sometimes a 4th for factory default), master/slave/cable select.

If there are 2 devices, one should be master and the other should be slave. (or primary and secondary to be PC nowadays...)

Some devices will work in master mode even if they are the only device on the cable. I found out the hard way that's not always the case though. Some devices are a little picky about using cable select too. The best thing is, if you're having trouble, try changing the jumper to see if that helps.
 
WD drives don't like to be set as master if there is no slave. The correct setting for a single drive on the cable is no jumber at all.

If all else fails, read the instructions that came with the drive (or check the website).
 
ok, that's it. i've played aroudn with the jumper settings, ad now the hd isn't even recognized. i've decided it's the hd, i'm going to try and get a new one. thakns for your help.
 
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