NTDRL error message on reboot after power system upgrade

S

Smain

Although I understand that your problem may have occured
following an "electrical charge", I hope that the
following article from Microsoft which has not been
pulished yet, would help you. Could you let me know the
outcome ?

SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to install Windows XP or to upgrade to
Windows XP on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows 95,
Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium
Edition (Me), you may receive the following error message
after the first restart during the installation process:
NTLDR is missing
Press any key to restart
This behavior occurs only if Windows 95, Windows 98, or
Windows Me is installed on a large-capacity drive that
uses the FAT32 file system.
CAUSE
This behavior can occur if your existing Windows 95,
Windows 98, or Windows Me installation was cloned and
then applied to a drive that has a different geometry
from that of the source drive of the cloned copy.

One possible scenario is as follows: You are running
Windows 98 on a 4-gigabyte (GB) drive. After you upgrade,
for example to a 30-GB hard disk, you use a third-party
disk-imaging utility to make a mirror image of your
Windows 98 installation and apply the image to the new
drive. At a later time, you then upgrade to Windows XP,
installing Windows XP over the cloned image of Windows 98.

For this behavior to occur, the following conditions must
exist:
The system/boot partition is formatted with the FAT32
file system.
The computer boots by using INT-13 extensions (a
partition larger than 7.8 gigabytes with a System-ID type
of 0C in the partition table).
Because of the cloning procedure, the Heads (sides) value
in the FAT32 BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) does not match
the geometry of the physical drive.
The Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me boot code
ignores the Heads value in the BPB and starts those
programs even though the value is invalid. However, the
boot code in Windows 2000 and Windows XP needs this
value, and the boot process does not succeed if the value
is invalid.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior, correct the invalid Heads
(sides) value in the FAT32 BPB to enable the Windows XP
boot process to continue. The easiest way to update the
field is to rewrite the Windows 95, Windows 98, or
Windows Me boot code by using the following procedure:
Restart the computer by using a Windows 95, Windows 98,
or Windows Me startup disk that contains the Sys.com file
(this file is included by default).
Make a backup copy of the msdos.sys file in the root
directory of your system drive. To do this, type the
following commands from the command prompt:
attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys
rename msdos.sys *.ysy

At a command prompt, type sys c:. This command rewrites
the Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me boot code with
accurate BPB information. If this command runs
successfully, skip to step 4.

If you are using a Windows Me startup disk and you
receive an error message, "Cannot find the system file in
the standard locations on drive C:", one or more files in
the Windows Me installation have been removed. Use the
following steps to place the correct files on the drive
so that the sys command can locate them:
Start a command prompt by using the following commands
(that is, type the commands and press ENTER after each
command):
c:
cd\windows

If Windows is installed in a folder other than the
Windows folder, adjust the commands accordingly.


Try to switch to the Command folder by using the
following command:
cd command

If an error message indicates that the path is not found,
use the following command to create the Command folder,
and then run cd command again:
md command

Switch to the EBD folder by using the following command:
cd ebd

If an error message indicates that the path is not found,
use the following command to create the EBD folder, and
then repeat the cd ebd command:
md ebd

In the EBD folder, use the following commands to copy the
Io.sys file from the root of the hard drive and to rename
the Io.sys file as Winboot.sys:
attrib -s -h -r c:\io.sys
copy c:\io.sys winboot.sys

Winboot.sys is the file that Sys.com needs.


Switch back to drive A, and then run the following
commands:
a:
sys c:

Type the following commands, and press ENTER after each
command, to restore the original msdos.sys:
attrib -s -h -r c:\msdos.sys
copy c:\msdos.ysy c:\msdos.sys

Press Y to overwrite the existing MSDOS.SYS file. You
should receive a "1 FILE(S) COPIED" verification that the
file was overwritten.


Restart the computer to Windows 95, Windows 98, or
Windows Me, and then try the Windows XP installation or
upgrade procedure again.

NOTE: Alternatively, after you run the sys c: command,
you can boot to the Recovery Console, and then use the
fixboot command to rewrite the Windows XP boot code. This
procedure enables the original installation to proceed
typically.
 
J

jb

Actually that article is already published in the
Knowledge Base. I found it was more than a bit daunting,
and didn't seem to fit this situation, but I've printed
out your copy and will study it more carefully after I try
the XP floppy "workaround."
Also I want to re-emphasize that XP didn't crash. It
didn't exhibit any problems at all while the power system
was raising a toxic stink that nearly peeled the varnish
off the table - it closed down sweet as you please. I'm
very careful to avoid electrical discharges, and it's hard
to believe that simply replacing the power system could
cause this software problem. My conclusion is that XP is
simply a very unstable system.
jb
 
J

JB

The workaround didn't work. And I don't see how the
article you copied applies. If the problem were incorrect
Heads values in the BPB (from an earlier reinstall of W98)
then Windows XP would never have run in the first place.
But it was running just fine for a couple of weeks.
However I just got new information about the problem:
apparently XP did crash. My daughter told me that while
she was closing an application, it went to black screen
before she could shut down Windows. So it's more
understandable if there was some kind of damage. Still,
CHKDSK/R didn't report any errore.
I'll call MS Support again on this and try to get some
better instructions on creating an XP boot floppy

jb
 

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