Added a dvd writer to XP..poof.."ntldr is missing"
 

I did some searching on how to fix the "ntldr is missing" problem...but none that I found seem to apply to my "raid" situation.

I added a NEC 8520a DVD-RW to my PC. I made my NEC a master and slaved my Plextor CD-RW. I then switched my IDE1 with IDE2 because of some problems with cable length (my raid IDE 3 and 4 were my boot disks). THis was all done at the sametime. I tried to start up...and poof...."ntldr is missing".

At boot up EVERYTHING is detected....for some reason...XP (or the MB) is not using the raid drive to boot (even though the bios is set to do so).

I tried :

-changing the boot disk from IDE 3 (raid port) to IDE 1 (didnt work...still go the "ntldr missing")
-returing everything as it was and using the recovery console (wouldnt detect the raid drives at the console)

Basically...I don't know what to do. Maybe someone has an idea. Thanks for any help.

My PC specs are

Epox 8K5A-Raid Motherboard
Win XP SP1
WD 13 gig 5400 (IDE1 - Master)
Maxtor 27 gig 7200 (IDE3 - Master Boot)
Quantum 30 gig 7200 (IDE4 - Master)
NEC 3420a DVDRW (IDE2 - Master)
PLEXTOR 12/10/32a CDRW (IDE2 - Slave)


Chutamango

You need to have your RAID drivers ready and press F6 (or whatever button it tells you) when the computer is booting to the Windows CD. Load the drivers as told and then go into the remainder of the setup which will lead you to the Recovery Console. Once there, with the RAID drivers loaded, follow these instructions.

or you can create a slipstream disc that already has ap2 and all your drivers including raid

OK...now im confused. I used the recovery console...and could not see my raid partitions. I ran bootcfg /scan at the consle...and got an error saying the boot.ini is damaged or something similar. Then i just reset....and.....XP started. FOr no reason. I did 20 resets...and all of a sudden it works. Why XP....why........

THanks for the help though...the information was very helpful as I am now interested in creating a slipstream disk. Ill do some searches on how to make one. Thanks again.

chutamango

pc-stats has a good guide.. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1703

I did it and one tip: think it through a couple times before you click burn.. .. I forgot to put my network card drivers in there and am gonna have to do it again (took like 45 min..)