Re: Install Problem at GUI Startup

Hi Anna:

Thanks for your reply.

The motherboard has two IDE controllers (one using the VIA chipset and one
using the Promise chip) - a total of eight IDE devices can be connected. In
the BIOS I have the "Onboard Promise Device" disabled. I am definitely using
the the VIA controller. BIOS allows me to select the boot HDD as either 0,
1, 2, or 3. I have been booting from HDD-0 but I tried the other three and
got boot disk failure messages for each since none of the other three are
present. Booting from HDD-0 gives me the "NTLDR is missing" message so I am
sure the BIOS is attempting to boot from the installed HDD.

I have been looking at mostly hardware issues. A question that comes to
mind is when install switches from text to GUI setup, should the system
reboot or should the display just change from text to GUI? Is it possible
that something is causing the reboot before all the necessary files are
loaded to the HDD?

Dennis


"Anna Clark" wrote:

Hi Dennis:

If you are not using the Promise in RAID mode, the raid drivers will go
unused.

Looking at the MSI web site, it shows three versions of a board called 6321,
none of which are Pro-AIR. But all three have standard, non promise, non
raid controllers in addition to the promise raid controller.

Is there any chance you are set in the bios to boot from the wrong
controller? And have you tried the non raid controller, instead?

In both cases you would want to be sure that the bios was set to boot from
the controller to which the hdd was actually attached.

Regards:

Anna


"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1CB99927-0DC0-4F84-B70A-0B3E72DA41F2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well this has certainly been a monumental effort today. FYI my
motherboard
is a MSI 694 Pro-AIR (#MS-6321). This board includes dual PIII
processors,
is populated with 1 GB of RAM, and has an onboard Promise RAID controller
(RAID 0 or RAID 1).

Since my last post I have done the following.....

1) I went to the MSI site and downloaded the latest BIOS (dated 11/22/01)
and latest Promise Driver (dated 9/29/00). I checked and the motherboard
already has the latest BIOS installed. The Promise RAID controller is and
has been disabled in BIOS setup.

2) I did a new clean install and selected F6 at the prompt for RAID
drivers. When is was time to install these drivers, I used the ones from
the
MSI web site. Setup gave me the the option of installing either a WinNT
version or a WIN 2000 version. Windows also said that the drivers I was
installing were older than ones that can with Windows but I chose to
install
the manufacturer's anyway. I went thru this install twice selecting one
option each time. In each case I had the same result as before.

3) I installed a new (sealed in the box) 60 GB HDD and had the same
result.

4) I tried to install WIN XP on this machine (it has a similiar text
based
install procedure) and got the same problem as when trying to install SBS
2003.

Also it would be helpful to know that prior to all this, that this machine
ran WIN NT 4.0 Server fine and that we were trying to updgrade this
server.
You mentioned possible RAM problems but this machine goes thru several
cycles
of RAM test on boot up with no problem.

Anna, you asked about formatting of the HDD. In all cases it has been
NTFS
and has been a complete format (not quick). You suggested that I load
files
from another server, but I do not have acces to any others.

As always, any and all help is appreciated.


Dennis


"Charlie Russel - MVP" wrote:

Does your IDE controller also function as an IDE RAID controller? If so,
that could easily be the source of the issue. If that is the case, I'd
download the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer, or from the IDE
controller mfg's site, and copy them to a floppy. Press F6 when the
prompt
appears during initial boot, and load the drivers.

Some specifics on the hardware involved might also help. What
brand/model of
computer/motherboard are we dealing with here? How much RAM?

The next step, if the above fails, is to run a thorough RAM test.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64


"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:48E67CB1-3CD3-4917-BBC3-88D3B2A2582A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have removed the Adaptec board, depowered the SCSI drives and have
disconnected an IDE tape drive. Right now besides the motherboard I
have
one
HDD. the CDROM/DVD drive and a floppy. There is also one PCI Ethernet
card
and a modem connected to the serial port. I checked the BIOS and the
PnP
Operating system option was previously disabled and I left it that
way.

I have redone the install from square one including repartioning the
HDD.

The result is the same.

Any other ideas?

Dennis


"Charlie Russel - MVP" wrote:

Try removing the Adaptec from machine until setup completes. My guess
is
that it is switching the Adaptec to be in front of the IDE for some
reason
at this point. There's a whole discussion about boot up and HD
controllers
on the older pages of my blog, but basically there are two different
loading
mechanisms happening here. There is text mode setup, which sees HDs
based
on
some very primative drivers, and then Plug and Play that kicks in at
the
GUI
mode, and loads things there.

One thing you can try - turn OFF "Plug and Play OS" in your BIOS if
it's
on.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64


"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0591934B-A8DB-4A89-AA8F-265FBE1DE4FC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have an Adaptec SCSI 2940 UW controller and plan to use software
RAID
for
data on that array once I have have SBS installed. The system is
being
installed on a 60 GB IDE HDD (20GB partioned for system and the
balance
currentlyunpartioned.


"cjobes" wrote:

Do you have a hardware RAID controller? Did you download the
newest
drivers
and select F6 during the initial setup or do you use the Windows
drivers?

Claus

"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:85E495BC-ADEC-4277-891E-797880E02B1D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am trying to do a clean install of Win SBS 2003. My server is
set
to
boot
first from the CDROM then HDD-0. The text install works fine
(its
formats
the HDD and loads the necessary files to the HDD). The problem
is
that
when
the install goes to switch to the GUI screen, the server tries
to
reboot
from
the HDD and I get the message "NTLDR is missing" with
instruction to
reboot.
I cannot get past this point.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.


Dennis








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