NTLDR is compressed

[critt]

My Emachine,a bit over a year old, locked up good and tight.  Restart didn't help.  I couldn't use system restore or recovery from disk D. When I opened any of these, they stayed open and locked. I had to unplug to get a clear screen.  I decided to reinstall with emachine OS disk. 

I first tried the recovery option to save my files, but at the end when it was time to restart, the error NTLDR is compressed, hit crt,alt, del. to restart came up.  It would not restart. I tried many times. 

I then chose complete new install, wiping all my files, but the same error came up.  Now, I have wiped the machine clean and made it unusable. 

I inserted the windows disk and the screen said hit any key to boot from disk, then nothing happened.  The screen remains black.

I can't do anything with it.  My question:

Is there something I can do from Bio to decompress the thing?  F2 (I believe) and F10 are the only things I am able to access. 

Is there any hope for this poor thing?   

Thanks...

[mcxeb52!]

if you don't care of losing any file .......

Try loading linux operating system onto it, download it, it's free. If it works without error and you like it, you can use it. Else, you can now attempt to reinstall windows again by reformatting drive and going at it again.

 

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

if you don't care of losing any file .......

Try loading linux operating system onto it, download it, it's free. If it works without error and you like it, you can use it. Else, you can now attempt to reinstall windows again by reformatting drive and going at it again.

 

Ummm.....What??
First of all, not everyone likes or knows Linux. Second, you don't have to format the hard drive.

Critt, follow this advice here:
http://www.madboot.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=55&topic=4.msg18#msg18

[critt]

hee, hee  I've already wiped all the files so I have nothing to save.
I've also run the reinstall disk numerous times with the same results.  The restart just will not work.

I just happened to receive my Linux Freespire CD today and intended to install it in this older comp. I'm using now.  Do you think it will install without the restart working?   Since all the files are on the disk, I would think it would decompress them all, but I don't know.

Okay, about the linux.  I got the full install disk, do you suppose I will need to know anything about programming to get it up and going?  I need it to be complete and ready to go without anything from me.  I was going to practice on this one but it looks like I'm going to have to jump in and just do it.

Thanks a bunch, I appreciate the response.    

[critt]

Thanks.  I went over and read it, but when I insert the windows disk, it says it's checking the configuration, goes blank and never comes back.

I doubt if there's anything for it to see. 

Anything I need to know before attempting linux? 

Thanks for the help. 

if you don't care of losing any file .......

Try loading linux operating system onto it, download it, it's free. If it works without error and you like it, you can use it. Else, you can now attempt to reinstall windows again by reformatting drive and going at it again.

 

Ummm.....What??
First of all, not everyone likes or knows Linux. Second, you don't have to format the hard drive.

Critt, follow this advice here:
http://www.madboot.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=55&topic=4.msg18#msg18

[critt]

Well, I'm afraid it's the hard drive.  Linux couldn't install either, and a bunch of errors came up.  Actually two, but over and over.  One was hdc with a number and the other was something like - squash-?-something.
Looks like the machine is a gonner.   

[patio]

How was this drive initially compressed ? ?
From inside Windows perhaps ?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

On another note, to install another operating system, the drive needs to either be partitioned or formatted.