Hello all,

Im struggling with the infamous NTLDR is missing message. I was not able to
find my situation so after reading for a while I thought I would post. I dont
get why this is happening.

Here is my setup:
Two SATA drives, one 150GB (SATA1), and one 74GB (SATA2), plugged into the
same controller. I insert my WinXP SP2 DVD and boot, which triggered the
WinXP install routine. I install to the 74GB drive (SATA2), and install goes
well. Both drives have brand new partitions as a part of the install. Windows
assigns drive letter c: to the 150GB drive and d: to the 74GB drive, so when
booting into XP it is installed on the d: drive.

Here is whats happening:
Now that XP is installed it will not boot without the setup DVD in the
drive. If I try to boot with DVD ROM drive empty I get 'NTLDR is missing'. If
I place the setup disk back in the drive and boot I get the 'Press any key to
boot from CD.......' and I do not trigger a CD boot. The system then boots
right into XP.

I have re-run the setup disk and entered the recovery console to check the
boot.ini file (on the c: drive) which points to the right place (installation
on the d: drive) and bootcfg returns all correct info. All files appear to be
ok (no corruption). Also tried fixboot and fixmbr. None of these changed the
behavior.

I dont understand why having the disk in the drive makes a difference here.
I never trigger any action from the disk, yet having it there makes the
difference if my machine boots or not. Obviously I dont want to have to keep
the disk in there all the time just so my system will boot.

Any ideas?

"Mark G" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:F3D70E66-2159-4F75-88D6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello all,
>
> Im struggling with the infamous NTLDR is missing message. I was not able
> to
> find my situation so after reading for a while I thought I would post. I
> dont
> get why this is happening.
>
> Here is my setup:
> Two SATA drives, one 150GB (SATA1), and one 74GB (SATA2), plugged into the
> same controller. I insert my WinXP SP2 DVD and boot, which triggered the
> WinXP install routine. I install to the 74GB drive (SATA2), and install
> goes
> well. Both drives have brand new partitions as a part of the install.
> Windows
> assigns drive letter c: to the 150GB drive and d: to the 74GB drive, so
> when
> booting into XP it is installed on the d: drive.
>
> Here is whats happening:
> Now that XP is installed it will not boot without the setup DVD in the
> drive. If I try to boot with DVD ROM drive empty I get 'NTLDR is missing'.
> If
> I place the setup disk back in the drive and boot I get the 'Press any key
> to
> boot from CD.......' and I do not trigger a CD boot. The system then boots
> right into XP.
>
> I have re-run the setup disk and entered the recovery console to check the
> boot.ini file (on the c: drive) which points to the right place
> (installation
> on the d: drive) and bootcfg returns all correct info. All files appear to
> be
> ok (no corruption). Also tried fixboot and fixmbr. None of these changed
> the
> behavior.
>
> I dont understand why having the disk in the drive makes a difference
> here.
> I never trigger any action from the disk, yet having it there makes the
> difference if my machine boots or not. Obviously I dont want to have to
> keep
> the disk in there all the time just so my system will boot.
>
> Any ideas?

Your Master Boot Record points to a partition that does not
contain the boot files ntldr and ntdetect.com. Copying them
manually from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to c:\ and
to d:\ should fix the problem.

Modifying boot.ini is pointless. Just keep in mind the boot
order:
1. The BIOS boot routine runs.
2. The BIOS passes control to the Master Boot Record.
3. The Master boot record invokes ntldr.
4. NTLDR processes boot.ini.
5. Control is passed to ntdetect.com.

As you see, if ntldr is not present then boot.ini is never
processed.
: This file is is processed
***after*** the above boot files are loaded, not before.

Thanks. That was the key piece of data I needed.

Much appreciated!

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

[snip]
> Your Master Boot Record points to a partition that does not
> contain the boot files ntldr and ntdetect.com. Copying them
> manually from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to c:\ and
> to d:\ should fix the problem.
>
> Modifying boot.ini is pointless. Just keep in mind the boot
> order:
> 1. The BIOS boot routine runs.
> 2. The BIOS passes control to the Master Boot Record.
> 3. The Master boot record invokes ntldr.
> 4. NTLDR processes boot.ini.
> 5. Control is passed to ntdetect.com.
>
> As you see, if ntldr is not present then boot.ini is never
> processed.
> : This file is is processed
> ***after*** the above boot files are loaded, not before.
>
>
>