9.10 instalation cd will not boot

[kma3211]

I burned the installation cd but my HP a730n (Intel Pentium 4) will not boot to the cd. The same machine will boot to an XP cd. I get an error msg that "NTLDR is missing." The hard drive is reformatted, there is no Windows left on the hard drive.

[jonest1]

My windows knowledge is next to nothing. The NTLDR is the windows boot loader. So, when you reformat the hard disk, the boot loader is still probably available in the MBR.

It sounds to me like you are not booting from the CD, but the boot is going directly to the hard disk. The NTLDR is complaining because the windows installation it expects to find is not on the disk.

There should be a function key to hit to get a list of devices to boot from during POST. Also, you can go into your BIOS settings and set the cd drive to be first to boot.

If somebody reads this and I'm way off about the NTLDR, please correct.