I was expeirencing severe problems with windows 2000 Pro, and it was suggested to me to do a clean install of XP. I cleaned my c drive using KILLDISK, and then attemted to install XP, problem was, I had no CD rom driver support. I downloaded the start-up disk set for XP from microsoft, but the disk are not recognized as being valid. I tryed someting a little unorthoxed by using an old win 98 strat up disk to fdisk and format my c drive. The generic drivers for the CD rom seem to work, but now I can not get the CD to work. I can not even run a DIR from the DOS prompt... I get "CDR101: not ready reading drive E:" they the opptions to abort, retry, or fail the action.

Please, let me know what I am screwing up, and how to fix this issue.

Thanks!

A Clean Install of XP gives you all the format options that you need.

What happens when you try to boot the XP CD?

Is the CD drive set to boot prior to the hard drive?

Are you sure that the CD drive works?

What exactly happens when you boot the XP floppies? What is the verbatim error?


As to your DOS error:

http://groups.google.com/groups?sour...0E&sa=N&tab=wg

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...eading+drive+E

Alright...

When trying to boot the XP cd, I get absolutly nothing. It goes right to the a C prompt.

When I hit F9 it allows my to specify boot from CD, but then it kicks it right back to a C propt.... I have two different copies of XP, and both do the same thing, blank screen right back to the C prompt.

I don't believe, that the drivers are set up for either the CD rom or the DVD drives, hence why I was trying to use the XP floppy start up disk. see next...

When trying to boot from the XP floppies, this is what my comp says,
"BOOT: I/O error reading disk"
"Please insert another disk"

Am I screwed?

Thanks,
2e

What is the make and model of the computer?

Does F9 put you into the BIOS Setup?


And just as an aside at this point you will need a distinct XP Product Key in order to install XP.

A single key can only be used on a single computer.

I built the comp myself back in 2003. I am running a biostart motherboard, with and AMD 2000 running at 1.6 Ghzt with 1 Gig of ram. I have two hard drives, a 40 and 20 gig, the 20 is full of stuff I didn't want to lose, and is slave to the 40 which I formated using a Windows 98 boot disk. I have an Opti storage CDRW that was made by Opti Inc. They made them for only one year per their tech support (I can not find the drivers for it) and the other is a DVD drive with generic drivers.

F9 does not put me into the Bios, but a seperate window that allows me to chose what to boot from first. DEL puts me into the bios.

After changing the boot order in the Bios, I am getting this message on boot up,
"NTLDR is missing"
"Press Crt=Alt=Del to restart"

I have two good CD keys, as both XP copies were purchesed leagally. One is installed on this comp that I am using now, and the other, just purchased is for the comp I am having problems with. I was just using both for troubleshooting purposes....

Thanks,
2e

Have you gone into the BIOS Setup (DEL) and verified the Boot Menu?

You perhaps know more about this than I do but I guess that at a BIOS level drivers are not an issue.

Unless you need to reload the BIOS.

If you can access the BIOS Setup I would doubt the need to reload at this point.

If the problem persists I would remove all unnecessary hardware. The second hard drive as well as the second (DVD) CD drive and try again.

"NTLDR is missing"

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
New hard disk drive being added.
Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm


Basically the computer is not recognizing any boot source.

I am searching and thinking

Just thought I'd pass this on.

I don't believe the bios is the issue. However, having formated the drive from a windows 98 boot disk in Fat 32 could be part of the problem. But, even so, when I had a clean drive (not formated or anything) the comp would not recognize the XP start up floppy disc.

As with you, I am a little baffled. I used the KILLDISK program on the comp I am using right now when I upgraded from windows 98 to XP, as well as the windows 98 boot disk to format the drive.... The NTLDR message is a new ont for me.

I have an old 24x CR rom that still works, I am thinking of taking the other two drives out and putting that one in.... At least then I will know that the generic driver on the 98 start up disk will work with it. Your thoughts?

Thanks,
2e

I would go with the drive change for the best test at this point.

If your XP CD's are Microsoft CD's and not OEM they should boot on a functioning motherboard with a functioning CD drive. The necessary drivers should be in place.

All of these other indications are that the motherboard BIOS is looking for a boot device. It is not recognizing your floppy or CD drive. Or else it is not recognizing the specific floppy or CD.

If your CD drive is functioning and set to boot first in the BIOS and a Microsoft XP CD will not boot then I am confused

But will keep looking into it