NTLDR problem again :(

alison74

My comp crashed a few weeks back because it came up with NTLDR is missing etc.

Anyway, it did it again yesterday and I wanted to cry.

I phoned the man at the shop where it was repaired the first time and he says he will look at it for free since it only happened a couple of weeks ago.

He says it might be a problem with the actual hard drive since it is failing to recognise windows etc and it's now a 'recurring' problem.

He says I might have to get a new hard drive - would this be about right or is he trying to get some business out of me ? He talks in jargon to me, so I would like to come back at him with other resolutions that my kind friends on this board give me

Also............ since it happened the first time, I bought an external hard drive and used the free Acronis image from Computer Active magazine and backed it up aswell as with the WD software to go with the external HD. Its all sitting on that hard drive (if I backed it up right - the acronis was about 80gb worth !)

Please tell me it is easy to put my computer back to how it was as it took AGES to reinstall things like my keyboard, messenger, google earth and all programmes like that I use.

Thanks in advance

albertross_2

have you left a CD or floppy in the drive?

if not, then ntldr is a windows disk corruption, not a physical hard disk problem, so I doubt replacing the HD will make any difference.

At least you have a disk image this time, which makes life easier.

alison74

No I hadn't left anything in the drive when it happened but interesting that you are saying it's not a hard drive problem.

How does the computer crash from a windows disk corruption that has never been anywhere near the computer ?

alwaysskint96

I think Albertroos means that its the software on the hard disk that is corrupted (ntldr is part that loads windows up) - and this wouldnt be causewed by a physical fault on the hard drive itself

If you was to replace the hard drive then you would reinstall windows on the new drive and that would work- but then so would reinstalling it on the old drive

If it had happened before then I would probably do a low level format of the drive beofre reinstalling- get rid of everything on it- inc hidden partitions

alison74

I am still a bit confused, but yes i created a rescue disk which I labelled - "do not delete you numpty - this is a rescue disk"

So yes, I have one and I assume that I put that in the comp when I get it back and start restoring from there ?

alison74

alwaysskint96 wrote:

I think Albertroos means that its the software on the hard disk that is corrupted (ntldr is part that loads windows up) - and this wouldnt be causewed by a physical fault on the hard drive itself

If you was to replace the hard drive then you would reinstall windows on the new drive and that would work- but then so would reinstalling it on the old drive

If it had happened before then I would probably do a low level format of the drive beofre reinstalling- get rid of everything on it- inc hidden partitions

Ok, I understand that I bit clearer and I don't know what the shop did to the drive to fix it - but the guy said this time that he would run 'extensive tests this time' which to me means that they just fixed it before and didn't find out the problem.

Thanks everyone

Chippy_Minton

See http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm