NTLDR is missing on Clean Install (attempt) of W2K Pro

[louv68]

When you moved the PATA drive with w2k from my old PC into the new one, did you install SATA drivers before attempting new install. Win2k setup should give option to choose partition to install under "Advanced" during setup process, but it probably won't see SATA drives without drivers installed which would explain why no choice given if drives aren't seen. Note you may need to edit boot.ini before removing old drive if new install does complete to be able to boot to SATA drive.

What you said makes sense. How can I do this from scratch onto the SATA drive? Will editing the boot.ini on the 1st floppy change things?

Someone on another forum offered this advice - "At this point I would focus on HDD installation and BIOS HDD setup. You report 2 HDDs. Maybe I would install just one and add the other one after 2000 is up and running. Also look in BIOS and disable native SATA support (might be listed differently in your BIOS.) The fact that BIOS shows your drive(s) doesn't mean 2000 installer can see them too." What setting on Gygabyte MB's does this? Pardon my ignorance, but this is my first experience with SATA drives. I thought the install would be a snap.

[buttzilla]

What baffles me is how the CD-Rom recognizes and boots the HDD software CD but not the W2K CD?

Are you hitting enter when the cd prompt's you when you start the computer. Windows disk do not auto boot. They give you an option. Some disk do like your hdd software some dont It does not automaticly boot from the cd just because you have bios set to boot from the cd. It prompts you and if you don't hit enter fast enough you will recieve the error you have been seeing. You must make sure you have the boot priority set to cd drive first in the bios.

[louv68]

What baffles me is how the CD-Rom recognizes and boots the HDD software CD but not the W2K CD?

Are you hitting enter when the cd prompt's you when you start the computer. Windows disk do not auto boot. They give you an option. Some disk do like your hdd software some dont It does not automaticly boot from the cd just because you have bios set to boot from the cd. It prompts you and if you don't hit enter fast enough you will recieve the error you have been seeing. You must make sure you have the boot priority set to cd drive first in the bios.

That's the problem; it never prompts anything. It just displays the error. I will attempt some of the suggestions, and hopefully get this baby up and running.

[bevills1]

Don't use any floppy. Connect and boot from old PATA drive, install SATA drivers, and then run setup to do new install on a SATA drive which should give option to choose where to install under "Advanced" during setup. Once new install completes you need to edit boot.ini to correctly boot to new install before removing old PATA drive and restarting, or it won't find the new install.

[Des]

There might be an over lay program on the HD from the manufacturer. Western Didgital and Hitachi often do this. It is a bootloader that interferes with the W2K (and XP) boot loader and causes the exact problem and frustration you are having.

Did the drive come with a utlility CD? If so, there should be a means to remove the loader on CD. Run it, you may want to reformat the drive and start again.

Also if you have W2K SP2 or SP4 install disk this will have support built in for larger capacity HDs (over 127 gb I think).

As for special SATA drivers, some MBs need them and it seems some newer ones may not. If you need them then when the W2K install is saying 'inspecting you r hardware, etc.' hold the F6 key down for a few seconds. Later on the install will ask you for a floppy with the SATA drivers.

Have Fun!

--dES

[buttzilla]

Don't use any floppy. Connect and boot from old PATA drive, install SATA drivers, and then run setup to do new install on a SATA drive which should give option to choose where to install under "Advanced" during setup. Once new install completes you need to edit boot.ini to correctly boot to new install before removing old PATA drive and restarting, or it won't find the new install.

Booting from the old pata drive and editing boot.ini will not solve his problems. He needs to figure out what the problem is now, so he does not have this problem again in the future. He should not have to use jimmy rigged solutions to install windows. It should not be that complicated.

[bevills1]

Exactly what kind of Win2k disc are you using? Your last post seems to indicate CD is missing necessary boot files which may result from creating a slipstreamed disc the hard way, and any floppies created from such a CD would be missing same files. Try making another disk on the old system the easy way. Get free download of nLite from http://www.nliteos.com/. Don't forget to check any desired service pack and especially the boot option when nLite is run. This will eliminate moving drives around and save time if it works.

[ozymango]

Wow, this is weird. But fascinating!

So, any luck yet? If not, do I read you correctly in that the Windows 2000 CD will not boot period? That is, you set the first boot device to be CD, you put in your other bootable CDs, they'll boot, but put in the 2K CD and no boot?

If so, we know what the problem is -- screwed up boot sector. Which could happen, and I've fought enough "ntldr not found" problems in the past to know it's really easy to bung up a boot disk.

But I suspect, after the problem with both the CD and the floppies (same errors with each method) that the problem is that your PC isn't trying to boot from them at all. I think it's trying to boot from some other device in your system, possibly the IDE drive (does it still have 2K on it?), and that's where the error is coming from. As to why it's trying to boot from the IDE drive, I dunno, but try this experiment:

Remove all the connections from your drives, except for the CD. That is, unplug SATA, IDE, floppies, disconnect everything from your PC except the CD. Set that to be your boot drive in the BIOS. Then, try to boot from CD.

It should at least get to the point where it starts to boot and then says, "No drives found, can't install." If not, you've found the problem. If this works -- and I'll bet it does -- plug back in your drives one at a time, until the problem happens again.

Again I suspect it's your defunct hard drive, assuming it's physically connected and it has even the remnants of an OS on it. I've seen weird stuff like this happen before, even when the BIOS order is correct, and as for why it happens -- you got me. But it does.

[louv68]

It's an original full install disc, with all new hardware, minus a used but functioning floppy drive. I have inched my way a little closer. I configured the SATA channels to ATA mode and now when the system POSTs, it shows Press F10 to enter RAID setup utility. I don't want to create an array. Am I still supposed to set something up in this utility? I have chosen to exit it, but then a new error displays when attempting to boot installation (same for CD or floppies) DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER Will I eventually need to create a SATA driver disk when I get this damned thing to work, even if I am not intending on creating an array?

I just disconnected all the drives minus the CD-ROM from the MB, and I get the same error as above. I tried this again with just the Floppy connected....same error. I did change the boot order prior to each attempt. This is killing me.

[Des]

There is usually a jumper on the MB or a setting in the BIOS to turn off the RAID and use the bus for single drives.

--dES

[louv68]

I can't take this any more. Will attempting to install an OEM of XP give me the same problems? Is it possible there is something wrong with one of the components? It should at least boot or something!

[classfour]

Not certain - depends on the motherboard: Some require a BIOS flash to boot SATA HDDs, some don't. On my latest Dell E521, I've wiped the HDD, installed Vista (Clean), installed a smaller HDD and installed XP Pro - without issues. I do know that other mobos that I've owned would not boot SATA HDDs for install purposes.

Check your motherboard manufacturer - read the manual -

XP might drop right in, stranger things have happened.

[Nelson37]

First, Please fill out your PC profile, this is particularly helpful in diagnosing hardware issues.

Now this is fairly simple and straightforward, you have some choices but keep it simple.

I do this crap for a living, not a hobby.

Disconnect all but single SATA drive, floppy, cd. No disk in CD. Boot floppy, Fdisk, Remove all partitions, stop, shut down, power off, reboot floppy again. Verify in Fdisk that there are NO partitions. Do NOT use that HDD utility, put that disk FAR AWAY to the side. It is VERY likely to be one source of the problem. When you're all done, burn it.

Remove floppy disk, disconnect ALL hd, insert W2k CD, verify that it does indeed boot. Got to set the foundations. Do not tell me that it Should boot, verify absolutely, also simply and easily in under 3 minutes, that it does, in fact, boot from the CD. If that don't work we are dead in the water.

Verifying the bootability of an installation CD can not be validly done with a partially installed HD present on the system. It will detect the HD has reached a point where it is supposed to boot to finish the install but when the HD can NOT boot, you can get an error much as you are describing. This exact, same error could occur if the CD itself is FUBAR. Shutdown, disconnect HD power and data, CD in drive, no floppy, reboot. Categorical answer to this essential question in less than 60 seconds if you're pushing it. Entire test including return system to normal connections and commence second boot 3 minutes tops.

Problem number one is W2k lacks support for drives over 128 MB, there is a patch or update for this but you need a slipstream install in your case. This install can be done but you have another complication.

Problem number two is that W2k lacks support for SATA controllers, you can add this during install but the drivers have to be on a floppy or the installation CD. They should be on the CD that came with the motherboard.

Problem number three is the options you have for the MOBO RAID. There is no absolute right answer here. Consult your manual, there should only be a few paragraphs on SATA and PATA controllers, RAID options, and setup. Basically you want whatever gives best performance and fits available hardware.

Typically, by limiting the number of old-style IDE devices used, a greater number of SATA devices can be used without using RAID. Turning on RAID gives an option for an array, but can be used with single drives and may yield better performance. It usually uses a fundamentally different controller, with different drivers and device handling.

Many boards after 2 IDE and 2 SATA you cannot add more drives unless you use RAID. Most boards under these limits you do NOT have to use RAID. It Depends.

Changing from one type of HD controller to another often involves a complete partition and format of the drive. But sometimes not. As with the performance gains possible above, But sometimes not. It Depends. That's why they describe the individual options for that individual revision of that individual board in that manual or PDF file. Yeah, the RTFM one.

You have to decide on the controller setup FIRST. Then Fdisk, blow away partitions, power off, reboot, verify NO partition. Remove floppy disk.

If you put that HD utility CD back in with this drive connected again I will come over and beat you with a stick.

Now, once you have the CD confirmed to boot, re-connect one SATA hd, no other. Boot Cd, commence install. Hopefully you have another PC to copy the drivers from the MOBO CD, you can do it on this one but DO NOT commence the install till the drivers are on a floppy. You will see the prompt others described about additional drivers and F6, press it, insert disk, install drivers.

I'm going from memory here but you let W2k install the drive as 128 MB, do the installation, reboot, yadda, yadda, install the patch for large drives and either expand the partition or create a second one. There is a method for a slipstream install to recognize the larger drive at installation, but this will complicate things somewhat. Using Windows to do the partition expansion after installation and patching is a reliable way to get it done.

Once this is done, then you can add the second SATA drive and format it as one big drive or however you want.

I know what you are thinking on this last part but the answer is no, you don't. The slipstream install is the only other way to go and it's not worth the hassle, no need.

[louv68]

Thanks for all the great info. I will print it out and try it in the next day or so. Will let you know how things go. These are the parts I used for the build.

GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 GF6100 AM2 w/ BIOS F1 - BIOS F3 is available.
64 X2 4600+ AM2 (65W)
Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 2 sticks
2 WD Caviar SATA 200GB drives
Pioneer DVR-112
Panasonic Floppy Drive - pulled from old pc and works fine
VGA SAPPHIRE 100192L X1050 256MB GPU

MB Manual: http://america.giga-byte.com/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_ga-m61p-s3_e.pdf

[DarrellS]

This is from Western Digital............

Error Message: "NTLDR IS MISSING" during Windows boot.

Question Error Message: "NTLDR IS MISSING" during Windows boot.

"NTLDR IS MISSING" error message encountered during Windows NT/2000/XP boot.

Cause:
The NTLDR is missing error can be caused by many different things. Generally, it is when a Windows NT, 2000 or XP installation either fails or did not properly complete. This can also occur when the partition table on the drive has become corrupted.

Resolution:
Windows NT/2000/XP will allow you to run the operating system installation process in order to fix a corrupted partition. There are two ways that you can boot your system to start this process:
Boot to the floppies supplied by the operating system.
Set your computer's boot sequence so that you can boot from your operating system installation CD-ROM.
While performing the installation, choose to repair the partition instead of reinstalling the entire operating system. If using the operating system to repair the partition does not work, you may need to obtain specialized data recovery software or contact a Western Digital authorized data recovery service.

More information about this error message can be found in the following Microsoft Articles:

Microsoft Article 318728 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q318728

Microsoft Article 314057 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q314057

Microsoft Article 255220 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q255220

Microsoft Article 318948 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318948


How to configure a Serial ATA drive as a boot device.

If your Serial ATA (SATA) controller is a bootable controller (the vast majority are) you may boot from the SATA drive. You may need to enter Setup and change the boot sequence so that the SATA controller is the first boot device listed. In most cases, if the SATA controller is embedded (not an add-on controller card) on the motherboard, the BIOS Setup utility will have an option to choose the SATA drive as the first boot device. Look for Boot Sequence, Boot Options, Boot Order or a similar setting to make this change. If Setup does not allow this change, your system BIOS may not allow the SATA controller to be designated as a boot device at the BIOS level. In such cases, you still may be able to boot to the SATA drive as long as there is not a bootable EIDE drive installed in the system as
well.

Note: When installing Windows 2000/XP to a Serial ATA drive, you may need to specify the SATA controller drivers early on during the installation. For specific details, see...

"No mass storage device found" reported during Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/XP 64-bit installation.

Question My drive is connected to a controller card or built-in SCSI, EIDE, or Serial ATA port. Why is it not recognized during Windows NT/2000/XP installation?
Answer Problem:
An EIDE, SCSI, or Serial ATA (SATA) drive is not recognized during the installation of Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 or XP 64-bit. The installer reports that there is no drive present for the Windows installation, even though the controller recognizes the drive.

Cause:
The drive may not be detected during the installation of Windows because you have not yet loaded the drivers for your EIDE, SCSI, or SATA controller.

Resolution:
During the initial installation of Windows, you will need to press F6 almost immediately when "Setup is inspecting your hardware..." appears on the screen. You will then be asked to provide any mass storage controller drivers you may have. At this point, use the drivers supplied by your controller manufacturer (or motherboard manufacturer). After performing the steps above, the drive will be recognized and the install should continue without problems.

Note: In many cases, specialized ATA or RAID ports, SCSI ports, and SATA ports integrated directly into the motherboard must have their drivers installed as shown above.

Error Message: "DISK I/O ERROR", "INVALID SYSTEM DISK", or "NO OS FOUND"

Question Why do I encounter a "DISK I/O ERROR", "INVALID SYSTEM DISK", or "NO OS FOUND" error message when I boot my system?
Answer Problem:
"DISK I/O ERROR", "INVALID SYSTEM DISK", or "NO OS FOUND" error message encountered while booting to Windows 95/98/ME.

Cause:
One of the conditions below exist:
There is non-bootable media in the floppy drive or CD-ROM drive
The boot record of the boot drive is corrupted
Resolution:
If non-bootable media is not present in the floppy drive or CD-ROM drive, the boot record of the drive must be rewritten.

Note: Any time you make changes to your boot sector, you run the risk of losing access to your data. Make sure you have a backup of your important data before attempting any repair procedures.

If EZ-BIOS was not used to originally set up the drive:

Boot to your Windows 95/98/ME startup disk.
At the A: prompt, type FDISK /MBR, then press ENTER.
This should rebuild your partition table if possible. After doing this, eject the disk and reboot. You should be able to reboot into Windows and access your data.

How to install, partition, and format a Serial ATA drive in Windows 2000.

Question How do I install, partition, and format a Serial ATA drive in Windows 2000?
Answer Perform the following prior to installing the Serial ATA (SATA) drive in Windows 2000:

Physically Install the SATA drive. For details, see Answer ID 981

If the drive will be a boot drive, see Answer ID 989

for assistance with configuring the SATA drive as the boot device. You will need your Windows 2000 CD-ROM (if installing a single drive).


Single Install:
For proper installation of a drive using Windows 2000, simply allow the operating system to partition and format the drive during the installation process. Step-by-step instructions follow below:

Insert the Windows 2000 CD into the CD-ROM drive and restart the system. When installing Windows 2000 to a Serial ATA drive, you may need to specify the SATA controller drivers early on during the installation. For specific details, see Answer ID 127

During the installation process, you will be given the option to create partitions. Create the partition size you want by pressing C when prompted. Continue with the installation of Windows 2000, as instructed by the installation program.
Note: If you are formatting using the FAT32 file system, partitions cannot be larger than 32GB. For additional information on this limitation, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 184006.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q184/0/06.ASP

Adding Second Drive:
Click the Start button and then access Control Panel - >Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management. The Write Signature & Upgrade Wizard displays.

Note: When you see the message, "No signature found on Disk 1", press YES. You must use this wizard to write a Signature to the drive. Otherwise, it will not work in Windows 2000. Drives are numbered as follows: drive 0 being the boot drive and drive 1 and above are all other drives.

Using Write Signature & Upgrade Wizard:

Click Next on the first screen, and then select the drive you wish to install (in this case Disk 1). Select the drive you are writing the signature to. On the next screen, select the drive you are upgrading/installing. The next screen shows the drive you have selected to write the signature to (if this is a new drive install only a signature will be written, making the drive a Basic Disk).

Partitioning/Formatting:

Once the above step is complete, right-click in the unallocated space of the drive. Click on Create Partition. The Create Partition wizard is displayed. Click Next to continue. On the next screen select Primary, Extended or a Logical Partition and click Next to continue. Assign a drive letter not in use by other devices. Click Next to continue. Select the type of format (NTFS or FAT32). Leave allocation unit size at default and label the drive as desired. Edit the partition size. If using FAT32, don’t create anything larger than 32GB. Click Finish when complete.
Note: If you are formatting using the FAT32 file system, partitions cannot be larger than 32GB. For additional information on this limitation see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 184006.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q184/0/06.ASP

This is from MSI ( couldn't find a Gigabite forum )............MSI Operating System Installation Guide

http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=106.0
http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=102943.0
http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=103980.0

I don't know how your BIOS is but this is how I got my SATA to work on my board. I am using an 80GB IDE drive for my OS, a 200GB IDE drive for storage and a 300GB SATA drive for storage.

Since you are using 2 SATA drives and they don't seem to be plug and play like they would be on ASUS boards, I assume this is your problem. BIOS is not seeing a bootable hard drive with the default BIOS settings. The second two MSI topics will explain what to do on an MSI board. It might be alot different on your board.

[bigstusexy]

Windows disk do not auto boot. They give you an option.

This is somewhat incorrect. the NT boot loader will give you an option if it detects a bootable system on a drive, otherwise it will just start the local system on the disc.


The best solution to get to the bottom of the problem was said by someone else and I agree.

Remove all hard drives from the system and try to boot with the CD. Tell us what happens and we can go from there.

[Nelson37]

Edit, I said 128 MB, that should be GB, when W2k initially sets up the drive. Yes, you need to make it NTFS, and the OS drive needs to be first in boot order, before any other bootable drive, Figured you knew this stuff but ya never know.

As regards to fixing a problem partition on a blank drive during a new install, this is like discovering the foundation is bad BEFORE you build the house, then going ahead and building it and repairing the foundation later. If the foundation is defective or even questionable, and nothing is built upon it, you rip it out and start from scratch and build a good foundation from the start.

Extending a partition on a single empty drive into unused space is just about the ONLY partition change which does not justify a complete backup (if necessary) re-partition and re-format, with possible drive replacement. When you discover major cracks in the foundation of your home, you must be prepared to move, and fast.

[louv68]

Windows disk do not auto boot. They give you an option.

This is somewhat incorrect. the NT boot loader will give you an option if it detects a bootable system on a drive, otherwise it will just start the local system on the disc.


The best solution to get to the bottom of the problem was said by someone else and I agree.

Remove all hard drives from the system and try to boot with the CD. Tell us what happens and we can go from there.

I tried that but get the following error: DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER I get the NTLDR error if I disable the SATA Controller. I am stuck. My cousin says he has an extra copy of XP that came with his laptop that he never used. I may try using that, but I have a feeling it won't work on my build, as it was intended for a Dell laptop.

[bevills1]

The current problem isn't with any partition but rather with CD and floppies because system won't boot to them. Try to boot old PC to same disks should fail and thus confirm this; old system should fail to boot to CD and floppy but boot to Windows on HD with Windows install if it's still connected.. DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER is symptomatic of neither CD nor floppy being seen as bootable, the system then looks on next boot device until the error is finally given when no boot device is found that's bootable. There may or may not be a partition problem, but that won't be known until boot to CD and setup is able to start.

The OP should also know original Win2k doesn't support drive space above 137 GB which was fixed in SP4 which is another advantage to creating slipstreamed disk suggested in my 5/23 post. Ditto for XP which was fixed in SP2 if memory serves.

[TBoneit]

The Dell disk will not work. It may boot but the install will fail.

You say one disc works and another disc doesn't. Did you try the failing disc in another computer? Did you try another CD-rom drive. I've seen cdroms that only work with somes discs.

[bigstusexy]

I tried that but get the following error: DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER I get the NTLDR error if I disable the SATA Controller. I am stuck. My cousin says he has an extra copy of XP that came with his laptop that he never used. I may try using that, but I have a feeling it won't work on my build, as it was intended for a Dell laptop.

Did you physically disconnect all drives from the system? Not just disable them in the bios, remove all power and data cables from the drives, except the CD or DVD drive you are using to boot. Also don't have anything in the diskette drive... go ahead and disable that in the bios and remove it too. Just have the Optical drive connected to boot.


The two things that happened in your reply led me to believe that the drive were still connected or accessable when you tried and that the system seems to be looking to boot from the drives and not the CD, once we verify that you can boot the disc we can look for other problems.

[louv68]

Did you physically disconnect all drives from the system? Not just disable them in the bios, remove all power and data cables from the drives, except the CD or DVD drive you are using to boot. Also don't have anything in the diskette drive... go ahead and disable that in the bios and remove it too. Just have the Optical drive connected to boot.

Nothing! DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER error

I took the time to read thru printouts of the above replies and also went thru the MB and WD manuals. I wanted to see what would happen if I placed an old PATA drive w/ Win 98 on it. I turned off all boot devices with the exception of the CD drive. I placed the w2k installation disk and it booted the OS. I took out the drive with Win 98 on it and put in an old PATA drive I used to use for storage. This drive with some data on it (but no OS), gave me the DISK BOOT FAILURE error.

[DarrellS]

I would get a WD P-ATA 40GB drive for $40 to load the operating system and programs and use the SATA drives for storage.

Make sure it is placed at the end of a dual cable as master and your DVD combo drive is in the middle as slave.
Make sure the power supply cable is hooked up.

How to use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to partition and format a drive smaller than 137GB (128GB binary).

Question How do I use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to partition and format a drive smaller than 137GB (128GB binary).

Answer The Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD will allow you to partition and format an internal hard drive. To set up your hard drive using the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD, please follow the steps below if your drive is smaller than 137 GB:

Boot your computer and insert the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD into the CD-ROM drive.

Set your BIOS to boot to your CD-ROM drive first. Save the setting and exit the BIOS.

You will be presented with a menu, choose option 1 which is Run Data Life Guard.

Click I Agree to accept the License Agreement.

You may see a message telling you that the drive is not set up for use in your system. If you receive this message click on the YES button.

On the next screen choose the operating system you plan to install and click Next.

Select Easy Installation (Recommended) and click Next.

You will see a window showing how the drive will be set up, click Next. (make sure it sets the drive up to use NTFS)

Data Lifeguard will partition and format the drive based on your previous selections. When it has finished click on the Done button.

Click on the Exit option.

Select choice 4 which is Quit.

Remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive and press any button to continue.

The drive should now be ready for you to install your operating system.


If you want to use the SATA as the OS drive, connect one only for now and use the Data Lifeguard Tools CD to set it up as your Boot drive.


How to use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to partition and format a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary) in Windows 2000/XP.

Question How do I use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to partition and format a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary) for Windows 2000/XP.

Answer The Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD will allow you to partition and format an internal hard drive larger than 137GB. To set up your hard drive using the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD, please follow the steps below:

Please Note: You may need to set your BIOS to boot to your CD-ROM drive first (before your hard drive).

Boot your computer and insert the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD into the CD-ROM drive.

You will be presented with a menu, choose option 1 which is Run Data Life Guard.

Left-click on I Agree to accept the License Agreement.

You may see a message telling you that the drive is not set up for use in your system. If you receive this message left-click on the YES button.

On the next screen select the operating system you plan to install and left-click on Next.

Select Advanced Installation and left-click on Next.

Read the warning messages and select I'm certain my system supports drives larger than 137 GB. and left-click on Next.

Left-click on the Add button.

Select the partition size you want. If you wish to use the whole drive for one large partition, leave the partition size at 100%.

If you wish to make a smaller boot partition then adjust the partition size accordingly.

Once you have set the partition size the way you want it, left-click on OK.

Left-click onNext.

You will see a window showing how the drive will be set up, left-click on Next.

Data Lifeguard will partition and format the drive based on your previous selections. When it has finished left-click on the Done button.

Left-click on the Exit option.

Select choice 4 which is Quit.

Remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive and press any button to continue.

The drive should now be ready for you to install your operating system.

After your OS is installed, connect the second SATA drive and use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to set it up as a large storage drive.

[louv68]

Having a PATA drive for the OS is not favorable in my case, as the GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 only has one IDE controller, and I'd like to be able to put in two optical drives.

Is it remotely possible that the current bios "F1" may not be able to handle the install? F3 is currently out, but I'm hesitant to flash the MOBO just yet.

I had a Texas Instruments TI 49A computer back in 1982 when I was a kid, and that was easier to work on than this! I used audio cassette tapes for storage as
hard drives were outrageously priced back then.

[bevills1]

You said, "I turned off all boot devices with the exception of the CD drive. I placed the w2k installation disk and it booted the OS. I took out the drive with Win 98 on it and put in an old PATA drive I used to use for storage. This drive with some data on it (but no OS), gave me the DISK BOOT FAILURE error." Is this the new system or the old PC as it's not exactly clear from statements? Also that's a very strange BIOS if boot devices can be turned off because every BIOS I've seen has option to change boot order but not disable boot devices. Does the statement "I placed the w2k installation disk and it booted the OS" mean it booted to Windows normally or started the setup program? It should boot Windows normally if it's the old PATA drive because it can't see a CD that's not bootable and looks to next boot device until it finds one that's bootable. Giving the BOOT FAILURE error for the drive with files but no OS must occur due to lack of boot disk.

Bottom line is you can only install any OS only if you either
1. have a bootable CD or floppy, or
2. temporarily put in a bootable HD, install SATA drivers, run setup to create new install on SATA drive, edit boot.ini, remove temporary HD and finally boot to new install on SATA drive.
It seems to me making a bootable CD on the old PC is by far the easiest and has added benefit of slipstreaming SP4 to make drive space above 137 GB usable.

[Nelson37]

You are not following instructions, you are not giving clear explanations, and most especially you have not filled out your profile.

No further help from this 15-year PC support professional. Since you will not stop wasting my time, I will stop wasting yours.

Bye

[louv68]

You said, "I turned off all boot devices with the exception of the CD drive. I placed the w2k installation disk and it booted the OS. I took out the drive with Win 98 on it and put in an old PATA drive I used to use for storage. This drive with some data on it (but no OS), gave me the DISK BOOT FAILURE error." Is this the new system or the old PC as it's not exactly clear from statements? All this was attempted on the new pc. Also that's a very strange BIOS if boot devices can be turned off because every BIOS I've seen has option to change boot order but not disable boot devices. I worded it incorrectly by saying I turned them off. What I meant was that I made all three boot order choices CD-ROM Does the statement "I placed the w2k installation disk and it booted the OS" mean it booted to Windows normally or started the setup program? It went straight to Windows 98, not setup. It should boot Windows normally if it's the old PATA drive because it can't see a CD that's not bootable and looks to next boot device until it finds one that's bootable. Giving the BOOT FAILURE error for the drive with files but no OS must occur due to lack of boot disk. Does this possibly mean that both the CD and Floppies are corrupted or maybe it may be a hardware issue/defective MB? The drives work fine on my old pc. The weirdest thing to me is how the WD utilities CD boots, but not floppies created from the OS CD or boot floppies made from downloads.

Bottom line is you can only install any OS only if you either
1. have a bootable CD or floppy, or
2. temporarily put in a bootable HD, install SATA drivers, run setup to create new install on SATA drive, edit boot.ini, remove temporary HD and finally boot to new install on SATA drive.
It seems to me making a bootable CD on the old PC is by far the easiest and has added benefit of slipstreaming SP4 to make drive space above 137 GB usable.

To further clarify what I did. I physically disconnected all data/power cables from the MB & PSU to devices, with the exception of the "old" PATA drive and CD-ROM. Upon bootup, only those two devices were recognized.

[louv68]

You are not following instructions, you are not giving clear explanations, and most especially you have not filled out your profile.

No further help from this 15-year PC support professional. Since you will not stop wasting my time, I will stop wasting yours.

Bye

I apologize for that. I had placed my configuration on a reply above, and it just dawned on me that I had not placed it in my Profile where it belongs, as you suggested. I have since filled it out.

[Des]

You are not following instructions, you are not giving clear explanations, and most especially you have not filled out your profile.

No further help from this 15-year PC support professional. Since you will not stop wasting my time, I will stop wasting yours.

Bye

Wow, I don't want to start to digress and begin a flamey type thing, but lighten up a little. I know it can be frustrating to help someone when the information is sometimes drawn out and incomplete, but Louv68 put the question out to the community as a whole here and it is each persons choice to help or not help or discontinue help as they see fit and not mandatory to help.

Wow, I am proud of the structure of that run-on sentence, think I'll keep it

Anyway, my point is, it seems to me that along with asking his questions Louv68 is also genuinely trying to learn and work with all of the information that is being given to him. There's a learning curve and a lot to digest.

--dES

[Cornucopia]

All this was attempted on the new pc.


I worded it incorrectly by saying I turned them off. What I meant was that I made all three boot order choices CD-ROM


Does this possibly mean that both the CD and Floppies are corrupted or maybe it may be a hardware issue/defective MB? The drives work fine on my old pc. The weirdest thing to me is how the WD utilities CD boots, but not floppies created from the OS CD or boot floppies made from downloads.


To further clarify what I did. I physically disconnected all data/power cables from the MB & PSU to devices, with the exception of the "old" PATA drive and CD-ROM. Upon bootup, only those two devices were recognized.

That's NOT what Nelson37 said to do:

Disconnect Power&Data cabling to EVERYTHING EXCEPT CD DRIVE only!
Try to boot. Does it?
1. Yes...Proceed from there...
2. No...You've got a CD boot problem (with either MOBO/BIOS, or MORE LIKELY badly written CD--eXpecially if your other BootableCDs work fine.

ONE STEP AT A TIME.
FOLLOW DIRECTIONS EXACTLY.

Scott