Dell 4550 w/HD Problem

[Slickwillie]

A friend's Dell P-4 w/120g HD computer is giving me a fit. I scanned it for viri and it was loaded. Every time you went to start it up it would freeze. When I went into Safe Mode and came out for reboot would do the same thing. I ended up disconnecting the ribbon cable and power from the Dell and connecting it via 40 pin to USB adapter cable to my computer. I then proceed to format. Once formatted and hooked back up, regardless of reinstall Dell XP or boot disk, I can't get it to accept anything. Comes up Windows 32 file missing or NTLDR missing. What should my next step be? I was thinking about hooking back up to my computer via USB from HD and try to partition it.

 

[BASSMASTER]

did he just get it? Did it come with an OS already installed and when he got home it wouldn't boot?

A little more info please

 

[nuke]

Because you haven't completed your installation of the OS, the OS files that remain in the HD will record this. and remind you the installation is still on.
The solution is simple, use a w98 boot diskette to boot your PC, and use "format" to format your HD, then you can continue your CD installation from the first begining.

 

[Slickwillie]

did he just get it? Did it come with an OS already installed and when he got home it wouldn't boot?

A little more info please

It's a Dell and came with a reinstall desk. He's had it for about a year and it was so loaded with viri that it couldn't open the start menu completely without freezing.

 

[Slickwillie]

Because you haven't completed your installation of the OS, the OS files that remain in the HD will record this. and remind you the installation is still on.
The solution is simple, use a w98 boot diskette to boot your PC, and use "format" to format your HD, then you can continue your CD installation from the first begining.

I formatted the drive by hooking up to mine via USB to his hard drive without removing it from tower.

 

[BASSMASTER]

And just so I understand, you have your system set to boot from the cd, and when you boot from the XP CD you're still getting a missing NTLDR error?

 

[Slickwillie]

And just so I understand, you have your system set to boot from the cd, and when you boot from the XP CD you're still getting a missing NTLDR error?

It's turned me around. I finally downloaded a Fdisk from a fellow on another sight and it recognized A:\, but wouldn't accept commands. Another person said he thought info was still on drive, so I'm formatting again. Thanks for the feedback. This is a great sight.

 

[Slickwillie]

Dell Still having trouble

Still no luck. Open for suggestions. I have a USB cable w/a 40 pin end on the other end that I can connect the Dell HD to my computer w/out taking it out. Should I attempt to install the Dell reinstall disk through my computer?