Resolved Boot up stalled

A member has Boot failure .last lines of boot screen = Verifying DMI Pool Data.
Update Success.
NTLDR missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to Restart.
But it goes back to NTLDR missing.
I am told this is an old 'Tiny' Midi that has been adapted by a friend and has worked ok for over a year, the changes were over a year ago, a 250 gb hd was installed as master and a slave drive added .( the owner is a retired ? cartoonist ).
I will have to telephone answers.
Thanks in anticipation.
Spanner
PS I think they may have been trying either to install Windows 7 or failing that re-installing XP,

 

My PS was based on an assumption that this was what they were attempting to do, they had been talking about it at the forum, the PS was not offered as facts, hence it being a Post Script, it was offered as a 'what if'.
However I scrolled down past posts on this subject in Windows BBS and found a thread by Miracleman 16th July headed 'NTLDR missing ' with replies by Mr Bill,
I will follow the advice given in that post as it was Resolved.
Will leave this open to post results.
Spanner

 

Further to my previous message , re'NTDLR missing' post by Miracleman 16th July. I advised them to follow the instructions how to 'Clean install Windows XP' by MR Bill , and came to a halt at 'Windows Professional Set up'
'Setup cannot copy the fileala.ttf
and Setup cannot copy the file: default.pif.
It gives the options to Skip but warns it may not be able to complete setup.
They did a complete format of drive, no partitions on it.
What next?
The installation disk is the same one that was installed before.
Thanks in anticipation.
Spanner
Another PS, they cleaned the installation disk, found no scratches.
Like you , I am relying on the reliability of the information by others , in this case over rhe phone.
Thanks again.
Spanner

 

I have managed to get hold of the PC.
Have installed Windows XP by using an " Already Installed" disk, did a full format (Not Quick format).of C: Installation completed ok. But get the following = " Stop:C0000218, unknown Hard error, beginning dump of physical memory. physical memory dump completed.
contact your system administrator or technical support group. "
Started again by going into 'Last known that worked etc,'
Also get "Windows could not start because this file is missing <Windows root> \ system 32\hal.dll.
Also got a suggestion that the HD may be defective ( would not surprise me) and try check disk.
However I have put the Installation disk thru again and typed 'r' for repair.
This is it working now but not sure what will happen next.
Any ideas ?
Spanner.

 

Checked out Piriform Speccy to find drive details, ( What a great info gatherer that is)
HD Master shown as Western Digital 233 GB ( should be Slave) with two partitions.
Partition 'o' ( should be 'E' ) 109 GB
Partition '1' ( should be 'F') 121 GB
Optical Drives
IDE DVD-ROM 16x showing 'E' on Speccy
Artec WRR-52Z showing 'F' on Speccy.
what happened to the 112 GB master HD that the OS is on ?
'My Computer' shows C: as 112GB
And a second drive ( Slave ?) not partitioned ( should be 2 partitions 'E 'and 'F' ). Managed to do a chkdsk, assuming it worked because I am typing this on the computer and it has Not gone into black screen with error notices, I hope these are not " famous last words "
I vote for'Speccy'
Thanks in anticipation.
Spanner

 

I physically checked out the drives, (took the case sides off)there is Master drive it is a Maxtor 80 GB and the jumper is in 'master' position.
The Slave is a Western digital 250GB . This was supposed to be partitioned ' E' 112 GB and ' F' 120 GB.
It looks as if the OS has been installed on the slave partition 'E' but the drive letter has been changed to C:
How do I get the OS installed on the Master (Maxtor 80 GB) and transfer the files that are on the present C: ( should have been on 'E' on the slave)/WE need the Windows OS on the Master drive C: ( Maxtor)and the slave with two partitions 'E' 112 GB and 'F' 12 GB.
How did Speccy miss the Maxtor ?
What next please?
Spanner.