new build, do i need to install dos?

hi all,
again!
could you please share some knowledge? i have just finished my build (i think) and keep getting ntldr missing when trying to boot, have tried to boot from floppy and also cdrom both times adjusting boot device in bios/cmos to no avail have checked jumpers on cdrom and are fine, was going to copy win2k cd to hard drive then try to boot from that(but i dont think it'll work) so i suppose the questions are....do i need to install dos first? and if not..... does anyone have any idea what i need to do?.............
am using a gigabyte gb-8dml mobo
celeron 2.20 cpu
aopen dvd optical drive(dont remember model)

all advice gratefully received....... cheers

 

Something tells me that your choice in bios is not getting saved , recheck and find the right option to save. ed

 

yes both are fine that way,was speakin to a buddy he says its strange.... tried the win2k on the hdd thing. message says the same (ntldr missing) gives me the option to f11 recover programs when pressed the windows logo apears then goes... it tells me my bios wont recover them.
was thinkin my build was flawed from the start might just scrub it and start again. the guy i got the cpu(celeron 2.20) off said it would be fine for my mobo(gb-8idml) against my doubts i put it in, but i think it does require the p4 1.8ghz i was supposed to get.. my mobo is prob knackered now. what are the chances?? am new to this and am learning, prob the hard way!!!
any suggestions on the mobo?
is it scrap or could you get away with it?
sorry for going off topic

 

If you are getting into bios the cpu will run, maybe not at the right speed but that is not the problem right now, sounds to me it is trying to boot from a hard drive that has only a partial install on it. This may sound a little crazy to most but i have got around this by pulling the ide cable from the hard drive , rebooted and started installing files, as the files were being loaded, hooked up ide cable. Worked for me. This applies only if you can boot from cd rom. ed

 

Does it boot with the CD in the drive ? (not boot to cd just put the cd and it will boot to windows?)

I've seen this before several times and it came down to the boot drive not being the primary (HD 0 or whatever its called (I don't do hardware so much lol)

I've always been able to fix it by making sure the boot drive is the master (and on CS on the right port on the cable)

 

have tried to boot from win2k cd in the optical drive as well as the hddhave also made floppys to boot from.nadda.. kinda know what youre sayin about the the cable though, as i had an error on a hdd once which was freezing my pc whilst booting, i disconnected it then re-connected it when windows was running and was able to fix the prob on the hdd.. but not this time. diff prob! what you say about getting into bios.. that the cpu will run..is bios not on the mobo and would run anyway? dont want to have it running to long incase my mobo isnt frazzled yet

 

my primary master drive is my hdd
my secondary master is my cdrom
have had it booting from both, and floppy, as first device
i'm thinking its a prob with the cpu compatability..
thanks for your reply .

 

What happens when you insert windows disc and reboot, will anything come on the screen?

 

na just says ntldr missing.. press ctl alt del to restart

 

Then that means it is trying to boot from hard drive, you cannot do anything until you get it to boot from cd rom, either the ide cables are wrong or the bios is not set to boot from cd or removeable devices. This also sounds like the hard drive was in another pc, if the jumpers on the hard drive is set wrong you can get that error. ed

 

have made cdrom my first boot device and saved the changes, checked the jumpers but will check again 2mo. gonna sleep on it! does the celeron in place of the p4 not sound dodgey to you? will post 2mo to let you know if the jumpers were wrong.
.............cheers&
.............goodnight

 

Is it possible to REMOVE the hdd totally from the bios bootup options? I also have have had this problem, and removing the hdd from the bootup fixed the problem.

But, if you can boot to the cdrom, then after the initial install, make sure you put the hdd back into the boot order.

Also, try removing the hard drive cable (physically) and see if you can boot to the cdrom drive. If you still can't. Then change the cdrom drive to master, and check the bootup.

Question I have is, do you have more than one onboard ide controller? If so, then use two different cables to connect the hard drive and cdrom drive....

 

yes i have 2 ide controllers and also use 2 cables to connect the drive.
the drives all work fine and the jumpers are correct so i think the thing isnt working cos of the cpu and mobo mis-match gonna get a p4 off ebay and try that

 

Maybe this will help

 

Chances are there is NOTHING wrong with the Celeron, so don't go chasing your tail trying to fix a problem you don't have. If the Celeron was defective, you probably wouldn't be able to boot the system AT ALL, so check the link erikske provided to see if the information there helps you.

 

thanks all!!!.....malware killer you were right there was nothing wrong with the celeron, been reading some of your replies you seem to know your stuff...
the problem turned out to be the cd drive which is and was working in my other machine!! guess it just didnt get on with my new build(its back in my old pc working without fault) however i tried an old beat up cdrom i had lying around and bingo it did the job dont know why the floppy didnt work.
had a few other probs after that which were sorted by reading other peeps posts.....well thats my first build complete, learned alot doing it (mostly from you guys) cheers