NTLDR is missing, yet I don't even use Windows?

[frenchfry164]

I am putting together a new computer, and when I tried to start it up this morning, it said "NTLDR is Missing, Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart computer." Problem is, I don't even use a windows based OS yet, in fact, I was trying to boot off of a Windows ME boot disk. A WinME boot disk doesn't use NTLDR. But the floppy light doesn't even light up, and I got it set up to boot from floppy first. The harddrive has no OS on it, and it is currently formatted NTFS (although that will change to Ext3 once I get Linux installed).

Oh, and if you need some info:
Soyo SY-6BA+IV Mobo
64MB PC100 SDRAM
Intel PII @ 400 MHz
GeForce 4 MX 440 w/ 64MB DDR VRAM
Creative Labs 32-bit Sound Blaster Card
56k V.92 Modem
Seagate 5200 RPM 10 GB Internal HDD
1.44 MB 3.5" Floppy drive
24x CD-ROM
1.2 MB 5.25" Floppy Drive

I'm about to drop a 128MB stick of RAM in there, and a 32x8x42 CD-RW drive. The chip I got for free, so that is why it is just a PII (the motherboard supports up to a 850MHz Pentium III, which I'm going to upgrade it to. This dude is going to sell me one for $22)

[Xei]

The NTLDR message has nothing to do with Windows. I have only experienced it with corrupt partitions (or Bad Sectors), and when a HD from a removable bay wasn't inserted fully. Last time it happened to my HD (as a result of bad sectors) I ran CHKDSK from a CD and it fixed the inconsistency. Any kind of disk-checking / recovery utility should solve your problem, otherwise you got to clear your partition tables and star over again.

[frenchfry164]

I'm trying to boot from floppy though. The computer doesn't even check the floppy. I tested the floppy in another machine and it worked. If I can boot from floppy I can run a format on the HDD.

[Xei]

Check your BIOS boot routines. Also, make sure that Rapid-POST (or similar) is turned off.

[frenchfry164]

I got it set up like this:
A, CDROM, C

And fast POST is disabled.

[Xei]

Then it should be booting. Try www.bootdisk.com for some other boot disk images. If none of those work then consult your MotherBoard book.

(and to mention the obvious: Make sure your floppy drive has power & that the Floppy drive is actually registered in your BIOS.)

[confuted]

You could also set it to boot from CD if you have a CD burner handy that you can use to make a boot CD (or you could just use the Windows ME disk)

[frenchfry164]

blakrat> Windows ME can't boot from CD, you must put a floppy in first

Xei> the floppy is probably getting power, because when I go into the BIOS setup, it says the floppy drive is there and it is set up correctly.

[Xei]

If you have a burner, goto www.bootdisk.com and download something called: EBCD. It will allow you to boot to DOS 7.1 then you can load WinME install.