XPS 600--how to verify a motherboard failure??? Anyone know??

 "NTLDR missing" is a Windows (software) error. It's unlikely to be caused by a hardware failure, with the possible exception of a failing hard drive on which the Windows file NTLDR (NT Loader) was either lost or corrupted.

What  color are the 4 diagnostic LEDs on the front of the tower when you attempt to boot. If not all green, look up the error codes here.  If all green, then your problem is unlikely to be failed hardware, with the possible exception of a failing hard drive -as I noted above.

You can read this from Microsoft for tips how to recover from the "NTLDR missing" message. 

Don't know why Dell won't replace the XP CD if it's defective.  Are you sure you're actually booting from the CD when you tried to use it?  I will flag this thread for the moderators and maybe they can help you get the disk replaced for free. It will probably be Monday before any of them see the flag, so be patient.  In the meanwhile use the Microsoft tips to see if you can get the system to boot up from the hard drive.

Ron

EDIT: Are you sure you didn't leave a non-system (data) disk in any of the optical drives or the floppy drive? :emotion-5:

vgratias,
To add to what RoHe has posted, check out this 5 Star Support article. The steps there typically fix a missing NTLDR error unless there's a physical problem with the hard drive. I seriously doubt you have any kind of motherboard problem with that XPS 600.

No, I didn't leave any disk's in the drives.  Interesting that you asked because I ran an express test from my Resource CD.  It gave me this error code

0F00:136C

MSG IDE device failed: blank media or no media is present in optical drive. Test requires media with digital data [Resource CD, Installation CD].

Of course, the resource cd was in at the time.

Lights 2&3 are most often on.  4 also was on. [I'll check that out].

I really appreciate all the help we can get. 

none of the solutions for NTLDR missing has worked.  results include file not found..

Hi Ron, Thank you for your help.  My floppy drive does work. 

The 4th light came on at a separate time by itself.  #2 & 3 are most consistently on together.

I have made sure all cables are secure, and each time I unplug, discharge etc, I recheck cables.

How do I check to make sure my hard drives are properly recognised?  Under bios, they show up under sata 0 and sata 1, they have a serial number listed. 

what would you suggest my next move be?  I am trying to go slow, methodical and when I am not too wiped out to think ( :

Thanks,

Val

Are your 2 hard drives set up in a RAID array? RAID(0) means that different bits of a file may be stored on both drive, and RAID(1) means the second hard drive is a mirror image backup of the primary drive and each drive contains all of the data for every file.

If they show up in BIOS with a serial number, and not as "unrecgonized", BIOS is seeing them correctly, even if they're damaged. 

If this a RAID(1) array or just 2 independent hard drives, remove the cable from the drive connected to SATA1 and use it to replace the cable on the SATA0 drive. Reboot and check the LEDS while it boots. Then run BIOS setup and disable SATA1. Save the change and exit setup.  If you're lucky, it'll boot. 

If that doesn't do it, then you may have a defective primary hard drive if RAID(1), or it could be either drive if it's RAID(0).  If it's not a RAID setup, you could connect the second drive to the SATA0 connector, boot from the XP CD and reformat the drive and load windows. This assumes all the files on that drive are backed up on CDs or other external media because reformatting and installing Windows will wipe everything off the drive.  You could also try to install that new drive you bought in place of the SATA0 drive, format it and install XP. Again, that assumes you don't have a RAID(0) configuration.

Ron 

Hi Ron,

Thank you for your continued help and support.  Yesterday was a bad day...brother in law lost his job...economy...and my husband got his job cut back.  It seems like the banks think this is a limbo--seeing how low can they take us.

At any rate I think I must have a raid setup.  I put power & cable from sata 1 to sata 0 [with cable 0]

Result: LED light #4 with 2 beeps.  Then error: Drive 0 not found: sata 0

I then disabled sata 0

Results with sata drive 1: NTLDR error  with LED 2 & 3

I rebooted with windows 2000 pro OS cd [because my reinstallation cd for this machine is bad].

I got number 4 LED with 2 beeps

I then went to sato 0 with sata 1 disabled. Result : could not determine the type of mass storage device, wanted "manufacturers supplied hardware support disk" .  I tried my resource cd-closest thing I could think of.  Result: machine wanted txtsetup.oem.

I was able the other day to format the second hard drive [I believe Sata 1]  using the WD set up disk. I have since returned that to Best Buy as WD support said they're Sata drive would not work.

What next?  get the Reinstallation DVD, windows xp media center edition 2005?

thank you again for your valuable time assisting us ( :

Val

When it rains...

I'm totally confused!  When you connected the data cable from SATA1 to the SATA0 drive, did you move the other end of that cable to the SATA0 connector on the motherboard?  Or did you just connect the SATA0 drive to the SATA1 port? The idea was to see if the SATA0 cable was bad, not to connect the SATA0 drive to the SATA1 port on the motherboard.

We really need to know if you have RAID and what type (0 or 1) it is. If it's RAID0, it's going to be very hard to recover your files if either of the drives failed. If it's RAID1 you should be able to recover, assuming only 1 drive failed.

2 beeps is not a listed error code in the manual. But LED 4 is a USB error. So did you disconnect all USB devices except mouse and keyboard? What happens when you boot after you disconnect USB mouse and keyboard too?

And I'm confused about which drive you reformatted with the WD setup disk.  Did you reformat your SATA1 drive or the new drive from Best Buy? If you reformatted your SATA1 drive and you have RAID0, you've killed any chance to recover your files.  So the only thing is to reformat and start over. Sure hope you've got the important stuff backed up on CDs or DVDs.

Why do you say the reinstallation CD (DVD?) for this machine is bad? Are you getting an error message? 

Ron

Hi Ron,

I apologize for my bad communication skills.  I took notes and then typed them later.  I should have relayed what I did at the time I did it. 

Anyway--I tested each data cable on sata 0, both are good cables.

I had not disabled my dvd, floppy and cd drives.  After I did that no LED lights are on, and no beeps.

I ran hard drive diagnostics at that point and both hard drives show up and say 'pass'.

I now get the NTLDR error.

The reinstallation OS dvd is simply not seen in either computer.  It has never been used so I don't know why that would be.  But I have a new one on the way.

I do not know how my raid system is.  Under system set up it says the drives are set up for raid...but don't know whether raid was in use or not as the option "on" was selected as opposed to "raid on".

I do have most everything backed up on a removable hard drive and offline file.  Therefore I did try to format Sata one, hoping  I could just format and reload an operating system and get going again.  My machine had me confirm it was going to erase data.  And said it was formatted--but then I could not get an OS on it.

I hope I cleared up my communication and this makes sense. 

Thanks,

Val

Since most everything is backed up on external media and because you've reformatted SATA1, the thing for you to do now is use that reformatted drive as your new boot drive, without a RAID setup. Make sure your floppy, DVD, and CD drives are connected. Connect the reformatted drive to the SATA0 connector on the motherboard. Disconnect the other hard drive from its cables.  Run BIOS Setup and set SATA0 to ON and SATA1 to OFF. Save the changes and exit setup.

When it starts to reboot after exiting setup, press F12.  The boot menu should appear. Select (highlight)  the DVD drive as the boot drive. Make sure the XP DVD is in the drive and then hit Enter. It should boot from the DVD and allow you to install XP.

Ron

It boots from a dell installation cd, but not the one that came with the system.

When it gets to repair or install, it comes back that it cannot find a mass storage device.

What next??  Does this mean motherboard?

Thanks much,

Val

Val,
Exactly what version of Windows shipped on your XPS 600? I ask because initially you referred to the installation media as an OS CD but in one of the posts you wrote yesterday you said it's a DVD. Since you were able to boot the system to your Resource CD and a Windows 2000 CD I'm wondering if the master optical drive in your computer is a CD-ROM instead of a DVD drive. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen a Dell desktop that had a Windows OS for which the media is a DVD-ROM but the system had a CD-ROM or CD-RW installed as the master drive. Take a look at the engraving on the front of the drive tray and post back with what kind of drive it is. If it's not a DVD-ROM (or burner) but the bottom optical drive is then you'll need to enter the BIOS and disable the master optical drive. You should then be able to boot to the OS DVD by putting it in the bottom optical drive.

EDIT: After re-reading the entire thread I saw that you have XP Media Center Edition. The disc for that is definitely a DVD. The above will work for you provided the master optical drive is in fact not a DVD-ROM or burner.

Hi, my dvd drive was second.  I wondered why the installation cd said dvd, which is why I wrote exactly what it said.  Too bad Dell support didn't tell me that when I paid $50 and the tech told me I would have to buy a new installation set.

Okay, so I was able to install the OS on the second hard drive.

The first hard drive with the original error message "Ntldr" has been disconnected and is as the day it began its issue. 

I disconnected the reformated and operational hard drive, and connected the problem one.  Using the correct drive I can get it to the system repair.

However, I would appreciate help using the right methods and commands to see if I can overcome the NTLDR error and have a chance at any of the data.

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,

Val

If you had RAID0 and you reformatted one of the drives (SATA1), there's probably little chance to recover anything from the "first" (SATA0) hard drive. RAID0 means files are "striped" across 2 drives, with bits of a file on SATA0 and another bits of the same file on SATA1.  That's why RAID0 isn't a good choice for most people. If one drive fails, as in your case, you lose the data on both drives.

You  probably should just connect the reformatted drive as SATA0 and install XP on it. Once that's up and running, you can connect the other drive on SATA1 and see if anything can be recovered.

Remember that you have to install things in the correct order:

XP

Desktop System Software

Chipset driver

SATA driver

Video driver

Audio driver

Network driver

etc.

You can download them and burn on a CD from here.

Ron