Adding a new hard drive

Iconic

I have been given an old HP desktop with no hard drive. I have connected an old one of mine to it but I am getting a 'NTLDR is missing' message.

A quick google seems to point to the hard drive not being formatted but I already formated it on another pc!

It might be a stupid question but if the computer did not have a hard drive it would not have an os. I have an XP disc but I cannot get it to boot from the dvd drive.

JasX

No I believe NTLDR missing will relate to the complete lack of an operating system on the drive.

you need to hop into BIOS, change the boot order to prioritise the DVD drive over the hard disk and boot off the XP DVD to install windows (and enter the fully legitimate license key of an appropriate version matched to your XP disk you no doubt own)

Iconic

JasX wrote: »

No I believe NTLDR missing will relate to the complete lack of an operating system on the drive.

you need to hop into BIOS, change the boot order to prioritise the DVD drive over the hard disk and boot off the XP DVD to install windows (and enter the fully legitimate license key of an appropriate version matched to your XP disk you no doubt own)

Thanks for your help.

I am a little confused because it says
Auto Detecting Pri Master...it then takes a couple of seconds and then
Searching for Boot Record from cd rom...not found
Searching for Boot Record from floppy..not found
Searching for Boot Record from IDE-0 ...OK

NTLDR is missing
press ctrl alt del to restart'

It then loops as above.

The computer has two drives and it will not boot the XP disc from either!

The computer also has a certified xp serial number at the side of it!

Hammyman

For the love of god....

IT IS SAYING IT BECAUSE THERE IS NO OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLED ON THE HARD DRIVE. FORMATTING THE HARD DRIVE DOESN'T INSTALL AN OPERATING SYSTEM ON IT BUT JUST WIPES THE HARD DRIVE.

Having a sticker on the side doesn't magically install an operating system either.

Shove a Windows XP installation disc in the CD drive, boot the computer from it and install Windows. You may have to go into the BIOS and set the IDE channel the CDROM drive is on to Auto and if its still not working, try another XP CD. It could be that the CDROM drive itself isn't reading the disc due to years of grime accumulating on the laser lense.

Iconic

Hammyman wrote: »

For the love of god....

IT IS SAYING IT BECAUSE THERE IS NO OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLED ON THE HARD DRIVE. FORMATTING THE HARD DRIVE DOESN'T INSTALL AN OPERATING SYSTEM ON IT BUT JUST WIPES THE HARD DRIVE.

Having a sticker on the side doesn't magically install an operating system either.

You have misread my post as I have already tried the XP disc in both drives however I will now try amending the BIOS as you advise,thanks.

Mondez

NTLDR normally means that a file needed for the windows boot process (ntldr) isn't in the place its expected to be. It doesn't mean that the HD isn't formatted or that windows isn't installed, it just means a mistake was made on the hard drive somewhere. 9 times out of 10 you can fix it if you have a windows XP disc. Put the CD in the drive and it should tell you to press a key to boot from the CD during startup since your system already appears to look for the CD first Iconic. Then when prompted press R to attempt a system repair. You will be brought to a black screen with white writing. You may have to type a number to tell it where windows is installed (normally 1) and you may have to enter a admin password (usually just press enter when asked unless you know different). Then type "chkdsk /r" without quotes a press enter. This will check your hard drive for mistakes and if possible will fix them. It can take a long time. When that finishes and assuming it says it fixed any errors, type"fixboot" and press enter and agree to any warnings. Then do the same with "fixmbr". Next type "bootcfg /rebuild" and press enter and follow the on screen prompts, typing something like "Windows XP" when asked for a description. Finally type "exit", press enter and your system should reboot and hopefully make it into windows. Edit: Didn't notice you had already tried and failed to boot the CD, the disc may be scratched and need replacing.

Iconic

After cleaning the DVD drive I have loaded windows and got the computer working. Thanks for all your help.