NTLDR is Missing - But only sometimes, computer on at the moment

reverie

Sorry, I know this has been asked lots of times and I have looked at all the links etc, however they all seem to refer to restarting with a boot disk in. I only get the NTLDR is Missing error sometimes though, and at the moment my computer is on and working fine. I am reluctant to turn it off just to get the error again to fix it, if that makes sense.

Can I just put a new version of NTLDR in a folder somewhere while the computer is now running?

Thanks so much.

Belnahua

You usually get this message when you leave a disk in the floppy drive on Windows 2000 (and it might also be the case if the CD is set to boot before the HDD in the BIOS too).

If that's not the problem, then I would start to suspect the integrity of the HDD and possibly even the computer! Backup all your data now!

Browntoa

you could put it in the same directory with a different name like ntldr.copy but would need some way of accessing the hard disk , a linux boot CD

Browntoa

could try this

http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm

Browntoa

or

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm#How%20to%20Repair%20the%20Boot%20Sector:

How to Repair the Boot Sector:
If XP won't start it may be due to a damaged boot sector or a missing or corrupt ntldr or ntdetect.com files.
To replace damaged ntldr and ntdetect.com you can copy fresh files from the XP CD using the COPY command. Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (as above). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive letter) allowing the files to overwrite the old files
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C: