new hard disk and os installation problem

[CaymanDave]

I have a PC that screwed up the HDD. When I bought a new HDD (80GB 800JB from Western Digital) and try to install Windows XP or Windows 2000 it keeps saying "NTLDR missing".

Is this related to the 33.8GB limit on my BIOS? If so how can I work round this. (when I run the 'tools' it only sees 33.8GB)

The RAM count also keeps restarting! Are these related?

Or any other ideas.

Many thanks

System:
MS-6368 motherboard AWARD BIOS V3.7
Pentium III (1GHz)
256MB RAM
No PCI cards installed

[Big Booger]

To replace damaged ntldr and ntdetect.com you can copy fresh files from the XP CD using the COPY command. Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (as above). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive letter) allowing the files to overwrite the old files
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

That is one way to fix this.


I think you are going to need a bios update:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=21&kind=1

Make sure you have the correct BIOS for your board.
THat may fix this issue.

[CaymanDave]

The copying of the files ntdetect.com and ntldr DO NOT work. I have even tried installing Windows 2000 to no avail.

I have the latest version of BIOS for my revision of motherboard.

Can I use the 'utility' from Seagate to fool the BIOS into thinking the hdd is a different size?

[Big Booger]

Yes, I believe sometimes the utilities provided by the HDD maker can fix the HDD size limitations. I'd give that a try.


Seagate has a page extensively compiled for this problem:

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/capacity/32_338/

I believe your issue is related to jumper placement on the drive itself:

Some computers may “hang” at startup if their BIOS detects a disc drive with a capacity greater than 32 Gbytes. To eliminate this problem, the drive includes a capacity-limiting jumper that sets the drive’s startup capacity to 32GB. Then to access the full capacity of the drive, you can use third-party software such as DiscWizard ™ or Disk Manager. Otherwise update the BIOS or use a third-party controller card to correct the problem.

If your drive is greater than 33.8 Gbytes, your system BIOS may freeze or lockup at Power On Self Test (POST). If the BIOS does not freeze, it may show the wrong capacity for the drive. There are three methods to overcome this limitation:

make sure to take a look at the seagate page above.

Further you might want to try the FIXMBR in the recovery console:

http://techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3975&highlight=FIXMBR

It may work, then again it may not.

Another option to try is to use the NTFS file system instead of the FAT32 file system with your installation. If you used NTFS try using FAT32..

If you are trying to upgrade from another OS, I suggest you to format the drive using a boot disk or the windows XP auto installer. Back up any data you have currently on the drive that you would like to save.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q228004

An article above talking about active partitions and that NTLDR ERROR.

Hopefully you can get this worked out. I have a feeling that the using the jumper setting or undoing that setting might be the fix to this NTLDR error.