"NTLDR is missing"

[fsw]

Hello, -
Today when I started up my PC - got the following message after the BIOS
boot
and hardware detection phase.

"NTLDR is missing"
"press Ctr+Alt+Del to restart"

The machine stopped at the point of the message and does not go on to run
Windows.

The machine has been working with no problems up till this problem.

Can anyone advise me on how I can get the PC working again.

Thanks In advance
Fraser

 

[Bioboffin]

Hello, -
Today when I started up my PC - got the following message after the
BIOS boot
and hardware detection phase.

"NTLDR is missing"
"press Ctr+Alt+Del to restart"

The machine stopped at the point of the message and does not go on to
run Windows.

The machine has been working with no problems up till this problem.

Can anyone advise me on how I can get the PC working again.

Thanks In advance
Fraser

Stage 1, remove any floppy disk from the disk drive.

Stage 2 (if no.1 doesn't work) do a google search on ntldr is missing!
(There are a few other possible causes).

John.

 

[fsw]

Thanks
Checked the cables - seem ok
Checked the BIOS - looks ok
Started up under the recovery disk
Went to repair menu
"looked" around the drive and could see the netldr file in the root along
with ntdetect.com.

What next ??

Fixboot, Fixmbr ??

Can someone tell me what each command does and if it works will I get the
same Windows Environment I had before ?

Thanks
Fraser

 

[Malke]

Thanks
Checked the cables - seem ok
Checked the BIOS - looks ok
Started up under the recovery disk
Went to repair menu
"looked" around the drive and could see the netldr file in the root
along with ntdetect.com.

What next ??

Fixboot, Fixmbr ??

Can someone tell me what each command does and if it works will I get
the same Windows Environment I had before ?

From the late, great MVP Alex Nichol:

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\ntdetec 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

HTH,

Malke