NTLDR missing unable to load boot disk

[Guest]

I installed a new DVD-ROM and then recieved NTLDR missing message. From
reading MS support it is a fault with fragmented NTLDR, OK, so I tried to
load my floppy boot disk, which does not recognise the Boot.ini and won't
load. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Guest]

One thing that you want to verify is that the jumper settings on the DVD-Rom
are correct, since it occured after you installed it. The second thing you
want to check is that the boot order is correct in the bios. Again I am
suggesting this because you said it occured after you installed the DVD-Rom.
Also you want to make sure that when you installed the DVD_ROm that the
primary and the seconday IDE's are correct. Windows needs to be on the
primary.
If this happeded right after you installed the DVD0-Rom I doubt it is
because the NTLDR is fragmented. This will also show when O/S system can not
be found, usually after hardware changes, if not configured properly

 

[Guest]

Thanks Eric - it seems so obvious now. I rechecked the set up - i initally
had dual HDDs and a CDRW, I have disconnected the slave CDRW and installed
the DVD RW as the secondary Msater: and the primary master has reappeared and
windows restarted (although the Primary Slave HDD is still showing as none) I
can breathe a sigh of relief at not having lost data or having to rebuild.

I will create a backup to DVD first before anything else....

Cheers Mark

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Also you want to make sure that when you installed the
DVD_ROm that the primary and the seconday IDE's
are correct. Windows needs to be on the primary.

Actually, Windows can be anywhere - Primary
IDE channel, Secondary IDE channel, Master HD,
Slave HD, Primary partition, Extended partition,
Active partition, non-Active partition - anywhere.
What is necessary is that boot.ini file (of the active
partition on the hard drive - having an MBR - that is
nearest the top of the BIOS's hard drive boot order)
point to the folder that contains the OS (usually named
"WINDOWS").

The boot process goes like this:

After Power On System Test (POST), the BIOS looks
at the boot order. If the boot is to be from a hard drive,
it looks at the hard drive boot order for HDs that have
a Master Boot Record (MBR). The BIOS chooses the
one nearest the head of the list and it passes control
to that MBR. The MBR looks for the Active primary
partition on its HD and passes control to that partition's
Boot Sector. That Boot Sector finds ntldr and passes
control to it. Ntldr then consults the boot.ini file to see
which OS to load and where to find it in terms of the
position of the hard drive in the BIOS's hard drive boot
order (i.e. "rdisk(x)"), the position of the active partition
on the HD (i.e. "partition(y)"), and the name of the folder
that contains the Windows OS (usually "WINDOWS").
Then ntdetect.com checks out the system environment,
and away it goes.

Notice that there are no references to IDE channel no.
and no references to Master/Slave jumpering. It all starts
with the BIOS's hard drive boot order and goes from there.
The stuff about Primary partition and Active partition has
to do with where ntldr/boot.ini/ntdetect.com are (since
logical drives in Extended patitions don't have Boot Sectors),
but nothing to do with where the Windows OS is to be found.

*TimDaniels*