Hard to Drive

Q: I upgraded my operating system from Windows 98SE to Windows XP. Since then I have been having problems. The computer will hang while it is booting up. I have reset the bios settings. I even reformatted the hard drive with Partition Magic with the intention to reinstall Windows 98SE. The problem is that I have not been able to reinstall it. In fact, the computer hangs while booting up and gives a message that says that “NTLDR” is missing. Is there a way around this problem or should I just buy another hard drive?
Christopher
A: In most cases, there is a way around problems. In your case, buying a new hard drive is not high on the list for solutions to your problem. The message that you received, NTLDR is missing, appeared because you tried to install Windows 98SE on a hard drive that has a file system set up for Windows 2000 or in your case Windows XP. NTLDR is the file that contains and loads the start menu and help files for NT based operating systems like Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Partition Magic is a program that can format and section your hard drive into small sections. The reason that Partition Magic didn’t help you was because Partition Magic looks at your hard drive and segments it based on the filing system that exists. If you have an unused drive, Partition Magic will ask you which type of operating system you want to install or if you want to use the drive to store files. If you are reformatting a hard drive, your choice of which operating system to choose is limited to those supported by the filing system that was detected on the drive.
The fix to your problem can be less expensive than purchasing a new hard drive. The first thing that you need is the boot disk for Windows 98SE. If you do not have the boot disk then you can go to bootdisk.com and download a copy of it there, free of cost. Next, boot your computer with the diskette. When you see “A :\>” type "sys c:" and press the enter key. You should see “System Transferred”. This means that the file system for the hard drive has been converted from one that supports Windows XP to one that supports Windows 98SE. If you do not have a Windows 98SE boot disk, you can use a Windows 98 or 95 boot disk. The important things are that the file “sys.com” is on the diskette and that the diskette is bootable.
Another option is to install the full version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP on the hard drive. This option works because both of these operating systems use the file system that is on your hard drive. Another bit of advice is not to change multiple areas of your computer at one time. It could lead you to create more problems, and make it harder to rectify the original problem.