hard drive errors

[mackab24]

hi all just added a new hard drive to my pc but for some reason im getting an error message reading NTLDR. The new drive is working fine but when i try booting from the old drive i keep getting the same error message. when i go into the cmos screen the computer can detect the 2 hard drives but will not allow me to boot from the old one. can anyone give me some info about this problem and ways to fix it? thanks

[puzzlesRus]

Sorry, next to last paragraph should have said "menu option 1"

[puzzlesRus]

Next to last para. should have read "menu option 1"

[mackab24]

i try accessing the old drive through going into my computer. when i double click it it comes as the disc is not formatted do u want to format now. the old drive is set as drive e its showing as no gig on the drive but when i access it through another window it says 30 gig of volume but its a 80 gig hard drive

[puzzlesRus]

So presumably, you have a CD/DVD player or recorder which is listed as drive d ?

In my computer, if you simply hover your mouse over drive E, it should report size and amount free. From what you have reported however, it looks as though the disk has been wiped. If this is the case, you will need to reformat it and backup from drive C.

First of all though, i would suggest you disconnect your new drive (power and ribbon) then set the jumper on your old drive to MASTER and connect the ribboncable from your primary IDE port. Then see what error message you get when you try to boot.

[mackab24]

the error message we get is ntldr is missing press ctrl alt del. how could the disc have been wiped

[puzzlesRus]

That message does NOT suggest the disk has been wiped. It suggests missing or corrupted system files. It would have said "non-system disk", otherwise.

The thing to do now, is to try different jumper settings.

Suggest you set both drives as cable select, with your new drive on the first leg of the primary ribbon and the other leg on the old drive.

When you boot, do you see both drives listed on the initial screen ? If so, you should reach windows on your new hard drive and then you can see what is reported in my computer, for DRIVE D.

If only the new drive shows on the initial boot screen, you will need to experiment with different jumper settings (Different makes have different settings)

Please report back your findings

[puzzlesRus]

I'll be back online at about 7:30pm

[puzzlesRus]

9:00pm - Logging-off

[puzzlesRus]

If you still have not managed to access your old drive, the final suggestion is as follows :-

Disconnect the new drive, connect the old drive with jumper set to MASTER, go into the system bios, set your cd drive as the first boot drive,insert your XP Installation CD, boot to the CD and select CONSOLE REPAIR.

If the repair facility locates Windows, type CD C:\ and press ENTER. Then type DIR /A:S and press ENTER. This should give you a listing of the system files in the root directory. If this is successful, you should see, amongst others, the following files :-

Boot.ini
Ntldr

Did the repair console find a windows installation ? If so, what is the name of the windows directory and what are the contents of the boot.ini file ?

If the repair console was unable to locate windows, then I'm afraid a re-install is required.

Good luck !

[mackab24]

sorry for the delay i have tried everything but now it doesnt even recognise the old hard drive, all i get is a beep sound when i turn it on, i have tried all different jumper settings so therefore i have ran out of ideas. although last night i managed to log on through the new hard drive and i could veiw the old hard drive and its contents but when i turned it off and on again i lost it and havent been able to get it back??????????????????????????????

[puzzlesRus]

Check the orientation/security of the ribbon cable