ntldr is missing

adonis

When i start my pc i get the message ntldr is missing press ctrl alt del to restart,
now i know there is a lot of info about this but i am wondering if i connected the problem disc as slave and boot from another as the master could i access the files on it.
I am using xp and the problem disc does not have any partitions on it.(in case that makes a difference).

Red_Rose_Exile

Have a read of this page

aardvarkuk

If you have a copy of XP you can boot to the XP disc, also make sure a floppy disc isnt left in.

More here - http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm


Windows XP users

Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\


Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

adonis

Tried the floppy download, it didnt work.

Red_Rose_Exile

Do you mean the floppy down load from the site that I linked to?

adonis

Yes thats the floppy i tried,
i also tried the installation cd repair option but i could not copy the files.

totalsolutions

The message ntldr is missing is because it does not "exist" has become corrupted or been renamed. It also needs to be on the boot partition and located in the same drive/partition as mentioned in the boot.ini file It is also a system file and is hidden.

scorpiolady

Hi, I had the same problem on my laptop and someone suggested going into safe mode by pressing F8 on startup , then doing a system restore , but that didn't work for me, now i'm told the hard drive is totally buggared and i need a new one
Sandra :mad:

Browntoa

your Cd drive may not be E:, can be or C:....depends on the Pc

check which letter is your CD drive when you boot with the XP Cd

this does work as I have done it several times

richhol

Hello - I had this problem and the BIOS seemed to have forgotten which hard disk to look at to find the offending file. If you have more than one hard disk then try this (this is for a Gigabyte motherboard):

- Enter BIOS at switch on (often press 'delete' key fairly soon after switch on)
- Select 'Advanced BIOS setup' using cursor keys and return
- If there is a Hard Drive 'Boot Priority' entry, press enter and check that the top entry in the list is the hard drive where you boot from (ie. where the offending file should be). Save settings if you change anything, otherwise just back out of the menus using the 'Esc' key.

Perhaps a long shot, but a possibility..

Rich

totalsolutions

Hi scorpiolady
I don't think the hard drive is damaged (could be dead over heated jammed stuck) but have you tried the aardvarkuk solution?

Does the drive show up in the bios screen? Has it been noisy/ticking sounding?

Laptop drives are cheap £35ish for an 80Gig if you really need one.
They is a utliity, Spinrite from www.grc.com that will reinstate your drive, if you want to try this let me know