I need to save my laptop

[Guest]

Last night, I was unable to log in to Windows. I had an error message at the
Windows startup screen, lsass.exe. No login screen showed up, it just a blue
screen. Eventually after restarting many times, the lsass.exe error stopped
showing and the login screen showed. I logged in correctly, but it freezes
at a point where it says "Loading Personal Settings." I restarted many times
and keeps freezing right there.

I went to use the setup CD, but that didn't work either. I had some message
saying, "NTLDR is missing."

What do I do? I have alot of files on that computer.

 

[MAP]

Last night, I was unable to log in to Windows. I had an error message
at the Windows startup screen, lsass.exe. No login screen showed up,
it just a blue screen. Eventually after restarting many times, the
lsass.exe error stopped showing and the login screen showed. I
logged in correctly, but it freezes at a point where it says "Loading
Personal Settings." I restarted many times and keeps freezing right
there.

I went to use the setup CD, but that didn't work either. I had some
message saying, "NTLDR is missing."

What do I do? I have alot of files on that computer.

From a newsgroup post by late Mr.Alex Nichol, Microsoft MVP:

The MBR code hands the boot on to the Active partition; the boot code in

that loads NTLDR. There are two cases:

"NTLDR not found" at all may arise because the incorrect partition has been
set as active. This can happen if you have a dual boot and have messed with
the files in that partition that boot; this is not the XP one, or have
shifted the boot to the XP partition which does not have NTLDR in it.

"NTLDR damaged" means what it says, the file is there but not working.

Either way, if you have a proper retail type XP CD, not some maker's
recovery disk:

Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead of
Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password requested is
blank, and TAB over. Assuming this sees the CD as D (likely) give:

COPY D:\i386\ntldr C:\
COPY D:\i386\ntdetect C:\
(a file that may also be missing)
then rebuild the boot configuration boot.ini file by
Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
(if not found skip the next line)
DEL C:\boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320397

| Last night, I was unable to log in to Windows. I had an error message at
the
| Windows startup screen, lsass.exe. No login screen showed up, it just a
blue
| screen. Eventually after restarting many times, the lsass.exe error
stopped
| showing and the login screen showed. I logged in correctly, but it
freezes
| at a point where it says "Loading Personal Settings." I restarted many
times
| and keeps freezing right there.
|
| I went to use the setup CD, but that didn't work either. I had some
message
| saying, "NTLDR is missing."
|
| What do I do? I have alot of files on that computer.
|

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

If you can start the machine in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you can try a
command line system restore:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449/

If that doesn't work, try booting to the XP CD and perform a repair install
(method 2):

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;315341

Doug Sherman
MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[Guest]

I cannot do the first suggestion. My main problem is I cannot log on to
windows, so I can't enter command prompt when asked to log in as
administrator.

The second suggestion I cannot do. I inserted the XP CD, restarted it, then
the comp boots as normal. The setup screen does not show up.

 

[Guest]

My XP CD doesn't work. I did the proper procedure. I had it boot the CD
before the hard drive. I inserted the CD, restarted the computer, and no
setup screen was displayed. It just booted like normal.

 

[Roberto le Corneille]

My XP CD doesn't work. I did the proper procedure. I had it boot the CD
before the hard drive. I inserted the CD, restarted the computer, and no
setup screen was displayed. It just booted like normal.

It's possible you have a hidden restore partition on your
Notebook's HDD, if you can activate this during boot then you can
do a repair of XP with the manufacture's software.

With my Acer Notebook if I hit the F10 key during POST it allows me
to access the hidden partition and either repair XP or reinstall
[format]. As you haven't said what make yours is, you will have to
consult your manual or contact the maker of your Notebook to confirm if
this option is available to you.

rgds
Roberto

 

[Guest]

I own a HP Notebook computer. I pressed F10 at the beginning of the boot. It
takes me to the "PhoenixBIOS Setup." It didn't say anything about a hidden
partition.

When I attempt setup, it says "NTLDR is missing." There's pretty much
nothing left to do since I'm locked out of my own Windows account.

Are there other ways to fix my log on problems other than using the XP CD?

My XP CD doesn't work. I did the proper procedure. I had it boot the CD
before the hard drive. I inserted the CD, restarted the computer, and no
setup screen was displayed. It just booted like normal.

It's possible you have a hidden restore partition on your
Notebook's HDD, if you can activate this during boot then you can
do a repair of XP with the manufacture's software.

With my Acer Notebook if I hit the F10 key during POST it allows me
to access the hidden partition and either repair XP or reinstall
[format]. As you haven't said what make yours is, you will have to
consult your manual or contact the maker of your Notebook to confirm if
this option is available to you.

rgds
Roberto

 

[Roberto le Corneille]

I own a HP Notebook computer. I pressed F10 at the beginning of the boot. It
takes me to the "PhoenixBIOS Setup." It didn't say anything about a hidden
partition.

When I attempt setup, it says "NTLDR is missing." There's pretty much
nothing left to do since I'm locked out of my own Windows account.

Are there other ways to fix my log on problems other than using the XP CD?

F10 was by way of an example only, [it may be F12 in HP's case I
don't know] contact HP because unless you have destroyed the hidden
partition by formatting the HDD, it will be there.

FWIW HP and possibly all other OEMs do not provide installation
media[XP CD] so they are required by MS to provide a means of
reinstalling windows should the need arise,the hidden partition is their
method of doing it.

rgds
Roberto

My XP CD doesn't work. I did the proper procedure. I had it boot the CD
before the hard drive. I inserted the CD, restarted the computer, and no
setup screen was displayed. It just booted like normal.

It's possible you have a hidden restore partition on your
Notebook's HDD, if you can activate this during boot then you can
do a repair of XP with the manufacture's software.

With my Acer Notebook if I hit the F10 key during POST it allows me
to access the hidden partition and either repair XP or reinstall
[format]. As you haven't said what make yours is, you will have to
consult your manual or contact the maker of your Notebook to confirm if
this option is available to you.

rgds
Roberto

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

Try creating a boot disk and see if you can logon that way:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305595/en-us

Doug Sherman
MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[Steve N.]

I cannot do the first suggestion. My main problem is I cannot log on to
windows, so I can't enter command prompt when asked to log in as
administrator.

The second suggestion I cannot do. I inserted the XP CD, restarted it, then
the comp boots as normal. The setup screen does not show up.

The system prompts you to press any key to boot from CD but the prompt
disappears in a few seconds and normal boot takes place.

Steve N.

 

[Guest]

my laptop doesn't have a floopy disk drive. Would it matter if I use create
boot CD(on blank CD)?

 

[Guest]

This same thing happened to me recently, I unfortunately only have OEM repair
and restore and after days of trying everything, often with MS Support on
phone all I could do was a full restore back to factory specs. I was told
that the very first message you got ( although I got no messages just no
progress pass blue screen) meant a virus and that you had to rename an object
in dos to be able to boot. I found no access to dos at the time and am not
sure if it was a virus as I have real time and scheduled virus protection,
but since I noticed that if you insert the repair or recovery disk hit
restart and the sec you see the boot from disk hit space bar the disk loads.
From there if you purposely give incorrect password access for a repair or
just hit return a couple of times it takes you to a C:/Windows prompt. I
discoverd that too late to be of any help for me and don't know if that helps
you whatsoever. I wish you the best and will watch this closely as I hope I
never go through anything like that again and if I do I hope to be able to
recover somehow without the OEM disks for many reasons. Also, I found MS
support by phone inconsistent and in some cases were given bad and/or
redundant advice while my core issue seemed a mystery to them. All I seem to
get is cauliflower ear and frustration.