Ntdlr Missing

[Brave01Heart]

Hi

I just got a message shown below when I started my computer (not this one):

NTDLR missing (I think that the correct name), and I need to restart the pc.

I tried pressing F8 during POST but I cannot get into SAFE MODE.

What's the easiest way to rectify this major problem without losing data please?

Regards

Brave01Heart

[~*McoreD*~]

Boot your computer with the Windows XP CD. When prompted to Setup or Repair, choose Repair. In the Recovery Console, enter the following commands.

C:
ATTRIB -H NTLDR
ATTRIB -S NTLDR
ATTRIB -R NTLDR
COPY E:\I386\NTLDR C:\
Y
EXIT

Cheers,
McoreD

[Bads]

Thanks McoreD

I will save this trick

[Brave01Heart]

Hi ~*McoreD*~

Many thanks for your advice which I have just tried but it did not work.

After following your instructions, I removed the CD and rebooted the pc but, after POST, I am still informed that the "NTLDR is missing".

Any other suggestions?

Regards

Brave01Heart

[Shiromagius]

A friend of mine was just recently trying to setup his computer with WinXP and I took him through the setup stage, but after the setup files were copied to the hard drive and it wants to boot off your hard drive to complete setup, he got the same message. Tried copying directly from the CD to the C drive, and it still thinks that ntldr is missing. I too am curious as to why this is and a possible fix.

[Brave01Heart]

Hi

After many attempts to rectify this problem by following the info given by ~*McoreD*~ and then still getting the NTLDR missing after POST, I decided to try a repair/update on the MBR and then rebooted without the CD and, yes, the computer booted right into Windows.

So it appears that the MBR was also corrupt ...... at least in my case anyway.
(Must make a mental note of that for future reference). )

Regards

Brave01Heart

[unicorn]

I remember I got that error message when I fiddled around with my partitions. So, it can be the MBR, the actual file missing, the whole partition gone (you should check that boot.ini doesn't point to the wrong direction for the system partition) and possible other things as well. The main error is that the loader doesn't find NTLDR.

[~*McoreD*~]

Hi BraveHeart,

Here is the complete set of commands I had, before modifying it to suit your case.

FIXBOOT
Y
C:
ATTRIB -H NTLDR
ATTRIB -S NTLDR
ATTRIB -R NTLDR
ATTRIB -H NTDETECT.COM
ATTRIB -S NTDETECT.COM
ATTRIB -R NTDETECT.COM
COPY E:\I386\NTLDR C:\
Y
COPY E:\I386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
Y
EXIT

Did you use FIXBOOT or FIXMBR?

By the way, also don't forget that if worse comes to worse, you can try Repair Windows. It reinstalls Windows XP and fixes any boot errors most of the times.

[Brave01Heart]

Hi ~*McoreD*~/unicorn

I am not familiar with the commands but I can use them and I will make a note of the full set for future reference.

After a good hour of frustration, I simply used a bootdisk that was in the floppy drive and FDISK /MBR, rebooted and it worked. I also checked the 'boot.ini' file and it was fine.

When I have had this error in the past, I have also used SAFE MODE and "Last known good configuration", which also worked.

The last resort would have been a full repair but I was looking for an easy way out.

Many thanks to all who contributed.

Regards

Brave01Heart