NTDRL is missing error on Win98 Install

[ciscokid1975]

Hello all, I'd like some help on a Win98 Install. I had win2K on an old PC
and formatted the HD then wiped it clean with Windows Washer via my Laptop. I
am now trying to install Win98 on the PC but I keep getting a "NTDRL is
missing error" when the CD-Rom tried to boot with the win98 CD. Can someone
help?

 

[Don Phillipson]

"ciscokid1975" <u45729@uwe> wrote in message news:8932b161f8d7a@uwe...

> Hello all, I'd like some help on a Win98 Install. I had win2K on an old PC
> and formatted the HD then wiped it clean with Windows Washer via my
Laptop. I
> am now trying to install Win98 on the PC but I keep getting a "NTDRL is
> missing error" when the CD-Rom tried to boot with the win98 CD. Can
someone
> help?

Win98 has no filename beginning with NT, which indicates
the different hard drive format (NTSC) used by later MS
operating systems, e.g. NTLDR is an essential system
file of WinXP and WinNT.

You will find it faster to reinstal from scratch beginning
with the correct boot floppy (from www.bootdisk.com) and
advice/checklists from http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

 

[John John (MVP)]

The computer is trying to boot from the hard disk, not the CD-ROM. Use
a Windows 98 Setup diskette to start the installation process. If your
disk is formated NTFS it will not be accessible to Windows 98, you will
have to use FDISK to delete and recreate the partition and you will then
have to format it, all of that can be done when you boot with the floppy
diskette. You can get a Windows 98 startup diskette from Bootdisk.com.

John

ciscokid1975 wrote:

> Hello all, I'd like some help on a Win98 Install. I had win2K on an old PC
> and formatted the HD then wiped it clean with Windows Washer via my Laptop. I
> am now trying to install Win98 on the PC but I keep getting a "NTDRL is
> missing error" when the CD-Rom tried to boot with the win98 CD. Can someone
> help?
>

 

[Lee]

On Aug 25, 6:48 am, "ciscokid1975" <u45729@uwe> wrote:
> Hello all, I'd like some help on a Win98 Install. I had win2K on an old PC
> and formatted the HD then wiped it clean with Windows Washer via my Laptop. I
> am now trying to install Win98 on the PC but I keep getting a "NTDRL is
> missing error" when the CD-Rom tried to boot with the win98 CD. Can someone
> help?

NTDRL is not a 98 file so obviously your job at wiping was half mast
at best. Since NT was on this drive it would best to actually wipe
the drive with a zero writing program such as Bart's Disktool which
runs nicely from a 98 boot disk.
http://www.nu2.nu/utils/

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.bale4/formatinstall.htm
http://freepctech.com/guides.shtml
http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/
http://cquirke.mvps.org/reinst.htm

 

[John John (MVP)]

Lee wrote:

> On Aug 25, 6:48 am, "ciscokid1975" <u45729@uwe> wrote:
>
>>Hello all, I'd like some help on a Win98 Install. I had win2K on an old PC
>>and formatted the HD then wiped it clean with Windows Washer via my Laptop. I
>>am now trying to install Win98 on the PC but I keep getting a "NTDRL is
>>missing error" when the CD-Rom tried to boot with the win98 CD. Can someone
>>help?
>
>
> NTDRL is not a 98 file so obviously your job at wiping was half mast
> at best. Since NT was on this drive it would best to actually wipe
> the drive with a zero writing program such as Bart's Disktool which
> runs nicely from a 98 boot disk.
> http://www.nu2.nu/utils/

I trust that there are no files left on the disk, there need not be any
files left on the disk to receive this NTLDR error. There is no need to
go through a lengthy wipe process to fix this, when you format the
partition and install Windows 98 the problem will disappear.

The error occurs because the partition was formatted by an NT operating
system and as such it has an NT boot sector. The partition could be
FAT32 or NTFS, it doesn't matter, as long as it was formatted by an NT
system it has an NT boot sector.

Very quickly condensed this is what happens when you boot a computer:

1- The Power Supply does a self-test, if the power is stable a "Power
Good" signal is sent to the processor.

2- The processor loads and executes the ROM BIOS, the BIOS does a Power
On Self Test (POST) routine, if the POST completes without errors the
BIOS reads the CMOS and determines which device it should boot.

3- When the selected boot device is a hard disk the Master Boot Record
(MBR) is read and loaded in the memory. At this point the BIOS passes
the boot process to the Master Boot Record.

4- A small piece of code in the MBR locates the Active Partition and
loads the first sector of the partition (the Boot Sector) into memory
and then in turn the MBR transfers the boot process to the Boot Sector.

5- The Boot Sector loads and executes the program that will in turn
start the operating system. This is where the NTLDR is missing error
occurs, because the partition has an NT boot sector the code is
instructed to find and execute NTLDR and of course as the partition was
cleaned of all files it cannot find NTLDR so it returns an error.

In the case of DOS/W9x the boot sector looks for the Io.sys file to load
the operating system, the boot sector which contains this information is
written when the partition is formatted and the operating system doing
the formating will write a suitable boot sector for its own use.

To write a DOS/W9x boot sector and return the boot process from NTLDR
back to Io.sys the partition can be reformatted with the proper
operating system or the SYS.COM command (SYS C can be used on the
partition (providing that the partition is a FAT version and not NTFS).
To return the boot process from Io.sys to NTLDR the Recovery Console's
Fixboot command can be used. When Windows is installed these details
will be looked after and done automatically by the setup program, there
is usually no need to do this manually.

Finally, this NTLDR error can also occur if an NT formated floppy is in
the drive when the computer is booted, one should always check that
before anything else.

John

References:

Chapter 19 - What Happens When You Start Your Computer
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...orkstation/reskit/en-us/booting.mspx?mfr=true

Description of the Windows 95 Startup Process
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/174018

The PC Boot Process
http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/unknownreference/articles/12284.aspx