Installation problems

speedmaster

Beta member
Messages
3
Hi, i'm new here so hello people :D

Ok my problems,

firstly,

the pc i'm using at the moment seems to not like my cd-rw drive. Upon bootup i get a message stating that the cd drive is not adapti (or however you spell it) compatible...errr well it was in the last pc it was fitted in :confused: hitting F1 lets the pc continue and all is fine. Even the cd drive works fine :confused:

Secondly,

I've been given my mums old windows 98 pc. 10gb HD 256mb ram, 600mgz P3 cpu. It's been working fine since my mum bought it in '98. Upon me getting it i wanted to upgrade it to xp.
I have xp pro corporate edition (the version that doesn't require activation). I did the usual, boot from cd etc, and got as far as 'preparing installation'. The pc then restarts itself but upon restart all i get is 'NTLDR is missing' and the pc won't do anything else. I cannot get '98 back nor will it boot from the cd :confused:

Help!
 
One the first problem I would suggest you go into your BIOS and see what thats all about. Tinker around with things, and if it dosen't work and won't boot up alls you have to do is clear your CMOS or just Load Optimized. Actualy now that I think about it try and just Load Optimized and resart and see if it gives you the error.

As for you mothers computer with XP I doubt that a P3 with 256MB can run XP so please don't try...Anyways reset your CMOS (try and find scamitics if you cant just tell me the make and model and I will help research) when that is done DELETE DELETE (try to get into your BIOS "DELETE DELETE" is just a simple term to say get into your BIOS), anyways see if you can boot from CD again. If you can't then tell me and I'll try to reaseerch in further depth.
 
speedmaster said:
Hi, i'm new here so hello people :D

Ok my problems,

firstly,

the pc i'm using at the moment seems to not like my cd-rw drive. Upon bootup i get a message stating that the cd drive is not adapti (or however you spell it) compatible...errr well it was in the last pc it was fitted in :confused: hitting F1 lets the pc continue and all is fine. Even the cd drive works fine :confused:

Secondly,

I've been given my mums old windows 98 pc. 10gb HD 256mb ram, 600mgz P3 cpu. It's been working fine since my mum bought it in '98. Upon me getting it i wanted to upgrade it to xp.
I have xp pro corporate edition (the version that doesn't require activation). I did the usual, boot from cd etc, and got as far as 'preparing installation'. The pc then restarts itself but upon restart all i get is 'NTLDR is missing' and the pc won't do anything else. I cannot get '98 back nor will it boot from the cd :confused:

Help!
ok, for your 1st question is this a usb RW-drive ? is so you wont be able to boot from it, unless it's supported by your bios. if not then here is waht i would do.

when booting up, right after your computer logo disappears, repeatedly hit the f1 or f2 key, not sure which one...might even be the esc key. depends on your computer make. now once in bios, go though and make all settings default.

and in the boot process order, make sure it's like this:
1st boot is cd-rom drive
2nd boot is hhd
3rd boot is floppy or hhd

now for your second question:
(The pc then restarts itself but upon restart all i get is 'NTLDR is missing' and the pc won't do anything else. I cannot get '98 back nor will it boot from the cd
confused.gif
)

ok this is known as a hhd problem, check to make sure the jumper on the back of the hhd is set as master, also check the connection of the ide cable going from the hhd to the mobo.
 
Hi, thanks for the reply.

The pc i'm using now is a P3 450mhz 256mb sdram and that is running the very same xp pro that i'm trying to install, and it works perfectly :)

My mums pc is an HP vectra vl (well that's the model written on the front).

Btw i've never really delved into the bios settings before so you'll have to run through it with me.

I haven't touched any of the jumper settings so should be working. I'll have another look at the connections. Cd drive is an internal affair. Came with an Xp machine that blew up two years ago.
 
NTLDR missing could be as simple as as a floppy in the FDD. what this message means is that there is media in a bootable device(dependent on boot order as specified in the BIOS) that does not have ntdetect, boot.ini and ntldr files installed. These are the basic files needed for booting to take effect and point to an OS...

you can read more about it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318728/

since you mentioned your cdrw isnt working properly, this may have exasperated the problem. This is NOT a jumper issue since the previous OS was working fine. Try disconnecting the CDRW drive and see if W98 boots up. if not, you have probably hosed that OS. There may be a way to fix it using sysrestore i think, but i havent messed w/w95/98/98se since they wen EOL per MS, so dont expect me to remember :p
 
I thought i'd try the hard drive in my working pc and it booted up as if nothing was wrong, so i can rule out an HD problem.

Boot order came up as

removable device
hard disk
cd drive.
 
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