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i'd repartition the c drive and i wouldn't format it.the i'd try to install xp.i've always used xp to format and partition new drives and everything has run smoothly.also,i wouldn't have ANY additional hardware installed.

xp is very picky upon install.this is annoying,but it probably means a more stable machine.i have had the best results from stripped down machines loading the stock install(well i did choose to not install some things i would never use,like telephone dialing ).

your desire to make this machine work is enough to see you through.if you changed the name from zeus(deus) to something a little less powerful maybe it'll act more like a servant or a partner..........i call mine "machine".

Very funny first of all...

Well, I've already partitioned the drive with DiscWizard, and seing this problem, I've repartitioned the "C" partition with XP, trying preciselly to come back to normal, believing that the error was a partition one. After doing so, noghint happend, just the same message.

I don't think I expresed myself very well... sorry... I mean:

I first partitioned the Maxtor drive, with DiscWizard, to install XP, as recomended. Then I have done the NTFS format again, for a second time, due to the error message, believing this would remouve the error it, but it didn't. That's clearer...

yes i see...maybe xp doesn't like the partition.....(just a thought,i really don't know )

Same mesage again and again... What can I do...

Try this Nestor. And after that go directly to winXP installation without partitioning first. http://www.killdisk.com/eraser.htm

Thanks Immanuel, I’m going to try this too. But before going there, I have a couple of questions you perhaps can answer me…

What’s wrong if you format your HD several times to NTFS? Does it damage the drive in any sense?

How does it work the Zero Fill utility?

Cheers…

If you make a quick format, you do not realy erase all the data. They can still be found. The zero fill function writes 0s on every single little tine microscopic spot of your harddrive. There will be no data left. You say, that you last error message is related to having had win95/98 installed. After a zero fill, there should be no data left, and this will exclude the option, that a trace of a file is still on the harddrive disturbing winXP. Also after you run killdisc, there will be no bootsector on the harddrive - it will be EMPTY

You are realy living out my signature these days Nestor

Cheers Immanuel! Yes, it seems I started couting weeks... at least...

This is what I've got last time, and it's related to the NTLRS is missing error:

The following Value in the .SIF file used by Setup is corrupted or missing.

Value 0 on the line in section [SourceDiscksFiles] with key "SP1.cab".

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.

As soon as I have a couple of hourse, I'm gong to go throu the tutorial and will download the program you sugest, and will do the (hopefully) deep deeliging the drives needs, despites it's new!! Well...

Thanks for your explanations which help me continue on my way to success...

Are you using boot discs or do you install from the CD?

yes,please install from the cd......

I've tryed both ways...

Right now, I'm going to start downloading the Kill Disck utility, to do my little job, see you later...

Here I am... Zero Fillin it... let's see what results of all this...

Well, finally, the ordeal is over…

I'm glad to close this thread, so glad...

The amazing thing is that nothing from our long questions and answers thread was the problem… the fixing of it was straight forward and quite easy to perform. The difficult think was to figure out WHAT was causing for Win XP to fail installing.

I did the “KillDisk” pass, did a “Zero Filling” pass with “DiscWizard”, and nevertheless, even if the insidious “NTLDR is missing” did not repeat immediately, after trying to install for a second time cos the first always failed, it would come back regardless. It was very frustrating cos I had to format the primary drive 4 times in all, before getting XP into it! But it was not a formatting matter.

Solution:
The solution was a simple as going into BIOS setup, get the Legacy Floppy to “disabled”, the hard drive itself to “disabled”, etc, letting only the drive with XP as a bootable way. It was straight forward and nothing strange happened, the whole thing went right from the beginning to the end. All the formatting was done by Win XP itself, and the only strange thing I’ve notices, is that XP did see the Maxtor 80GBs as a drive of 78.168GBs, which is bizarre.

I completely forgot about the Seagate Barracuda SATA drive, and want to take a break from it… It’s just for storage, so I don’t care for the moment… I’ll see what I have to do to install it later, for the moment, just let’s get into a deep XP tweaking following the many optimisation tips existing in this forum.

After installing XP, I immediately went back to the BIOS setup and got everything as it just to be in the BOOT sector, so the “Legacy Floppy” is again the first bootable drive.

!So simple!

I guess the SATA story will be the same… it will be a stupid thing to figure out, that will be very easy to do. Nevertheless, I have to say that Seagate, despite all the information they have given, did not gave any good tutorial on installation of a SATA drive, in regard to it’s driver, and this is the only problem. The Promise 376 is in fact recognized by Windows, but I has always given an “18” error.

I so this problem to be incredible difficult for me, cos I had to go into deep matters which are not of my concern, but well… I did enjoy quite frankly, to go into all this…

I have to thank all the tremendous good disposition of all of you answering to my questions in this thread. Indeed! I did find the problem myself, but I think I could go to all this possible solutions thank to you, and without you I would have had an extremely long way to go… I have to say that I would not even had done it myself, I would have been forced to call a professional and ask him to do it for me… But… fortunately, I know how to!

Just one word for you all, and for myself:

!VICTORY!
Z Z Z

i love happy endings
Guess you'll have a break, before trying the same on that sata

Congratulations Nestor
You worked hard, and made your way. How did you get the idea to do so? By yourself or from other people?

Hey! Hello!

I did a research in the web, trying to see if there were other people going through the same problem. There were not people going through the exact same problem cos configurations varies a lot. There are very many set-ups and mine is quite unusual cos of the dongle and so on… So I didn’t find a direct answer to my problem, not even in the Seagate, or Microsoft or Maxtor sites…

I read as much as I could about the “NTLDR is missing” message problem and there were literally hundreds sites with hundreds of people going through it, in quite diverse ways. I tried to understand the bottom of it, but I would get lost once and over again, cos problems were so different from each other. There was somebody nevertheless, suggesting changing the boot device to a different one… and that kept holding in my head for a while… I didn’t understand why. I did tried this, but I didn’t work anyway, but the answer to the problem was very closed to this… I’m sure that without this information, I would have not come to realise what was happening.

Finally, I came to understand the problem was a mismatch of files, “sender – receiver”, everything is ok, but the directions files took were wrong. Or lets say that NTLDR changed his name slightly due to the fact that there were no drivers installed and I had formatted the Maxtor drive THROUGHT the dongle. Somehow, the dongle had interacted between the addresses of the files to be written before the installation… changing them to something different from the original, or perhaps, just in a different way than Windows through IDE would write the addresses.

Something is sure, it was a mismatch of files, and the problem was that there were MORE than one file written in a similar way, so the system gets crazy trying to find it, and filially, decides the file it’s not there telling you “NTLDR is missing”.

Sorry I’m not very technical to express it. I just understood enough to decide to close all drives, so there were no more than ONE device acting at the same time… Hmmm, I see, now I’m sure the problem was between the floppy drive and the CD drive… yes… I think so… cos every time the NTLDR message appeared was just after a little automatic search done to floppy drive… I mean, first the CD would start, trying to install, and then instead of loading the OS, continued thought the floppy disc like searching for the NTLDR. Well, something like that… the matter is that closing everything and letting only the drive you are going to use to install, did work!