Herman6930
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NTLDR is missing
I have a new Maxtor 30 Gig hard drive that I will load Windows 2000 on it. Maxtor asked what system will be loaded I answered Windows2000. After I format and reboot I get "NTLDR is missing please reboot". I can't go any further.
I did a little research and found out that I need to update my BIOS. The problem is the computer I am working on does not show me what brand the computer is in order to get the correct BIOS. All I have is a logo on the front of the machine that appears to say “d Macro”. The "d" in d Macro looks like Monotype Corsiva font so I can't be sure if it is a "d", "a", "o", "q" or I don't know what. Is there a way to get the BIOS without needing to find out the brand name of the computer? Also, where can I get instructions on how update BIOS?
I did a little research and found out that I need to update my BIOS. The problem is the computer I am working on does not show me what brand the computer is in order to get the correct BIOS. All I have is a logo on the front of the machine that appears to say “d Macro”. The "d" in d Macro looks like Monotype Corsiva font so I can't be sure if it is a "d", "a", "o", "q" or I don't know what. Is there a way to get the BIOS without needing to find out the brand name of the computer? Also, where can I get instructions on how update BIOS?
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To get bios info, on POST screen just prior to the screen exiting press the pause key to freeze the screen.
There will be somewhere on the screen ( usually bottom left) the bios date and revision. There will be a series of numbers and these are what you require along with name of the bios maker.
Post them all here and i'll lookup what mobo you have.
Have you looked in the box for any markings on the mainboard.
RE: bios update.
All mobo makers supply instructions on how to upgrade thier boards. These range from using tools than can update your system while connected to the internet to making a boot disk of which some of these are automated on reboot or you have to carefully type in the required commands.
Read the appropriate warnings and be very careful when using this process.
There will be somewhere on the screen ( usually bottom left) the bios date and revision. There will be a series of numbers and these are what you require along with name of the bios maker.
Post them all here and i'll lookup what mobo you have.
Have you looked in the box for any markings on the mainboard.
RE: bios update.
All mobo makers supply instructions on how to upgrade thier boards. These range from using tools than can update your system while connected to the internet to making a boot disk of which some of these are automated on reboot or you have to carefully type in the required commands.
Read the appropriate warnings and be very careful when using this process.
If the case of your computer doesnt have a brand name on it, it is probably a "white box" computer, which usually means the manufacturer assembled the pc with off the shelf components. What you need to do is determine the brand of your motherboard and/or bios. During the POST, it should tell you this info (hit pause if it goes to fast). You can also see this printed on the motherboard itself. A few bios are written exclusively for certain brand motherboards so I would start there.
As far as the hard drive, if you have a pentium 2 or faster class pc (or amd equivalent), you shouldnt need the maxtor disk. All that is going to do for you is configure the hard drive for you in the bios, and help you partion and format. If during post, you see your hard drive listed (primary master), the bios detected your drive and the maxtor disk would not be needed. I would upgrade the bios, boot to a floppy boot disk and run fdisk /mbr. This would clear any remaining maxtor stuff, along with the ntldr. I would then run fdisk and create 1 partition, then format the drive as fat32. Then boot to the windows cd rom and start the install
As far as the hard drive, if you have a pentium 2 or faster class pc (or amd equivalent), you shouldnt need the maxtor disk. All that is going to do for you is configure the hard drive for you in the bios, and help you partion and format. If during post, you see your hard drive listed (primary master), the bios detected your drive and the maxtor disk would not be needed. I would upgrade the bios, boot to a floppy boot disk and run fdisk /mbr. This would clear any remaining maxtor stuff, along with the ntldr. I would then run fdisk and create 1 partition, then format the drive as fat32. Then boot to the windows cd rom and start the install
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All computers made now will say NTLDR missing if there is no operating system. You used to get a error like "No Boot record found" its the same thing. If you can boot to a bootable floppy, which I am guessing you did since you were able to format the HD, then your problem is more than likely NOT a bios problem.