NTLDR is missing - Partition magic

[Juha]

Hello,

My PC is stuck with "NTLDR is missing" situation when starting and I
have already tried the following actions:

* Copied NTLRD and detect.com files from XP install disc to c:
root(repair console)
* tried to run fixmbr and fixboot

This problem started when I tried to resize partitions with partition
magic 8.0. Result was that I lost one partition so that I was not
found on file system. Then I tried to format that missing
partition(with PM) and result was "NTLDR is missing" error. This XP
system is installed over old w2k system and that might have something
to do with the problems. I can look file system with Knoppix(Linux)
and NTLDR file is there in the right place. I do not understand why
system dont find NTLDR file althought it is there.

 

[Andre Da Costa]

Did you boot from the Windows XP CD-ROM and use recovery console to fix the
boot table, which it seems has become become corrupted?

You probably could do this too, install Partition Magic 8 on another
computer, create the recommended boot disk during setup and boot from them
on the computer that has the missing NTLRD Missing, its probably that the
new partition has hidden your boot partition for Windows XP.

Andre

 

[Bob Harris]

A couple of thoughts:

1. Copy the following files from the PC (or another PC with the same
version of XP) to a 1.44 Meg floppy, then reboot the PC. The PC should look
to A:\ before C:\, then BOOT.INI should direct it to the XP installation:

NTLDR
BOOT.INI
NTDETECT.COM

A note about BOOT.INI: Be sure that the pointer to the XP installation is
correct. If XP is on C:\, and if C:\ is the first parition on the first
hard drive, then BOOT.INI should have a line like:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect
Adjust as necessary for your PC.

2. This is a wild thought, but how about copying these three files to all
partitions that could be recognized by XP (i.e., FAT, FAT32, NTFS)? Again,
if the PC gets as far as processing BOOT.INI, the pointer must be to the XP
installation, and in your case it is possible that is not on the first
partition on the first hard drive. But, there are relatively few
possibilities to guess.