[Fixer99]

Desktop
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
CPU: Intel C2D (Core 2 Duo) E8500 3.16G 775 45N
Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Video Card: XFX HD-477A-YDFC Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7
CD Drive: Sony 52X IDE
Monitor: S2209W 22 inch Wide Flat Panel Monitor

BIOS Flashed to version "FD" in order to run the E8500 CPU
Setup screen loaded with FAIL SAFE DEFAULTS, and OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS. Boot sequence set to boot from CD first. SATA RAID/AHCI mode set to AHCI and SATA port 0-3 Native Mode set to "ENABLE" as per instructions from Gigabyte tech services.

Hard drive came "bare", so it was formatted and partitioned using windows XP Computer Management/Disk management. The hard drive was up and running with Win 7 32 bit in the same computer as described above, but with a Pentium 4 Dual core 3.4 Ghz processor. The motherboard would not work with the E8500 processor with an older version of a BIOS rev. and until I got some feedback from tech services about flashing the BIOS, I was running the Pentium 4 to see if all the other components were working. All of the hardware is working.

The BIOS software to flash the BIOS called "@BIOS" would not run in Windows 7 32 bit. The @BIOS software would keep crashing using Win7 32 bit. I had to flash the BIOS through the setup screen using the F8 key.

Once I updated the BIOS in the new motherboard it would recognize the new E8500 processor, and the computer would beep once after the power was turned on, indicating that the Power-On-Self-Test didn't find any bad hardware. But the computer would stall immediately after the memory was tested. I couldn't get past that point.

I researched the "NTLDR missing error" on the internet and determined that the problem was probably coming from the new hard drive that had been formatted using Win XP.

I deleted the partition on the new hard drive, and didn't get the "NTLDR missing error", but Windows 7 installation would freeze up after all the installation files were loaded. So I can get the computer to the point where it loads all the Win 7 installation files.

I quick formatted the hard drive on an old computer running Win XP and put it back into the new computer build. Now I get the "NTLDR missing error" again, and the windows 7 installation files will not load.

With the new hard drive in the old computer, if I click on the hard drive in the Windows explore file manager I get an "ACCESS DENIED" error. Remember, the hard drive was up and running in the new computer with Win 7 32 bit and the Pentium 4 processor. I'm not sure what the implications of that are, but the permissions to the hard drive seem to be locking me out.

I read another post about some kind of utility program that can wipe the hard drive completely clean, but I don't know where to get a program like that. Even though I formatted the hard all over again, it seemed to retain something from the original windows 7 32 bit installation and the Pentium 4 CPU. I'm trying to install the Windows 7 64 bit version in the new motherboard with the new E8500 processor now.

I need a way to deal with that NTLDR missing error. I have an email sent in to tech services at Gigabyte, but I thought I'd post my situation here also, in case anyone in the future has the same problem. Hopefully I will get the solution soon and post it here. But if anyone knows how to solve this problem, please let me know. I thought about just buying another hard drive that was already formatted, and see if that would install windows 7 but I hate to go out and spend even more money, and have an extra hard drive that I don't need.