NTLDR file missing after defrag

[LaphLaw]

I recently tried defragging one of the partitions on my 160 gig drive,
and half way through the process, the computer restarted, and refused
to boot, giving me the dreaded "NTLDR file is missing". Why would
this happen after trying to defrag my hard drive?

 

[Eric McG]

First, verify that you didn't leave a disc in the floppy drive.

If the drive is empty then refer to this article:

HOW TO: Troubleshoot the "NTLDR Is Missing" Error Message in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318728&Product=win2000

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I recently tried defragging one of the partitions on my 160 gig drive,
and half way through the process, the computer restarted, and refused
to boot, giving me the dreaded "NTLDR file is missing". Why would
this happen after trying to defrag my hard drive?

Defragging is basically open-heart surgery: While your PC
is alive, you're re-arranging lots of bits and pieces. If the
process gets interrupted in the middle then anything can
happen. This is why I rarely defrag my disk. Other people
will disagree but my opinion is that the benefits of defragging
are barely noticeable in most cases, so why bother?

You now need to repair your PC. As a first step I suggest
you boot into the Recovery Console, using your Win2000
CD, then issue these commands:
fixmbr
fixboot

 

[LaphLaw]

That's all fine and dandy, but what if my computer doesn't have a
floppy drive? What's worse, there's no empty bays... on a side note,
I just screwed myself. I had (what I thought) a great backup plan...
I had made a ghost image spanning 3 cds from before, and I put that
in... all went well until the last cd, then I received some errors.
Long story short, the image was corrupted. Well, I had another backup
plan. I had another ghost image, but it was only the bare bones stuff
that needed to boot up. That worked, but unfortunately for me, I had
it format the entire hard drive, rather than just one partition. In
other words, about 60 gigs of data was destroyed. This NTLDR missing
problem has become quite the beast...

I still don't know how I got here in the first place.... from
innocently defragging my HD. /me shoots himself in the head.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Did you try the Recovery Console, as I suggested in my
first reply? It does not rely on floppy disks.

 

[Greg Hayes/Raxco Software]

Even though Windows 2000 will let you install Windows on a hard drive
greater than 7.8GB, the installer doesn't check to see if your computers's
BIOS is capable of addressing greater than 7.8GB on boot. It sounds like
ntloader got "moved" beyond the ability of your BIOS to locate.

- Greg/Raxco Software
Microsoft MVP - Windows File System

Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a
commercial defrag utility, as a systems engineer in the support department.

Want to email me? Delete ntloader.