HELP!!! NTLDR is missing

[shaithis]

When it says "Press R to go the the repair console" or "Enter to install Windows", press ENTER.

It will then scan your system for Windows installations and then you can highlight your install and press R to repair it.

[chudley]

Its really simple to fix and does not involve a reinstall

You are obviously next to a pc at the moment hopefully with windows XP on.

Navigate to the c drive ( or the drive with the windows OS on) click tools, folder options and view. Make sure show hidden files and folders is selected also make sure the hide protected operating system files is unchecked and save.

You are now looking for the following 3 files:


boot.ini
ntdetect.com
and the ntldr

Copy these to a floppy disk or usb disk (you need to enable it as first boot option in bios)

insert into the faulty pc windows should load normally, all you have to do is now copy these files to the root drive with the OS on the faulty pc.

Change your first boot options in the bios again and away you go.

look forward to see how you get on and hope you havent already formatted.

[BlindMelon7]

This happened to my brothers pc a few weeks ago. I ended up doing a fresh install after trying to repair it. I should really have posted here . What causes it? I got blamed because I built the computer.

[muddyfox470]

It can happen very randomly, new installs, old installs etc. On ours, the mouse froze, and after a restart it just wouldn't boot up any more.

Hope you get it sorted, before you do anything else my advice would be to salvage any data that is most valuable to you whilst you still can, altho repairing windows can work fine, I still like to back everything up, just in case

Ian

[Merlin4458]

Chudley i did wot u said, un checked/ checked etc. Ive copied 3 files onto my USB stick: boot, NTDETECT, NTLDR. Now wot do i do exactly? Do i boot windows as normal but with the usb stick in? do i enter windows setup through the CD, do i need to change it to boot from USB stick? cause there are a few boot from USB options in my bios, so not sure which one

[chudley]

Ok mate you have got the 3 files you need all you need to do is boot from the usb normally, it will load the boot files and then should continue to load windows normally.

Once it has loaded you need to check the root drive of the OS and make sure all these files are there ( they wont be as you have already said ntldr is missing) this should be the only one missing hopefully just copy ntldr into the root drive and it will load ok next time round.

FYI when loading windows NT (XP) checks these files in order boot.ini, ntdetect.com and then ntldr. Its been a few years but I will confirm in my books at work tomorrow if you wish.

Anyway back on track again, if it makes it easier and you have one you could always save it to a floppy and have that as your first boot device as you only get one option with that.

Once happy backup all your important work etc as it could prevent problems in the future, should be standard practice anyway.

Let me know how you get on.

[chudley]

I am off to bed soon so if you dont get a reply from me tonight I will check in the morning.

[MantisCSS]

chudley i cant see in boot priority options where boot from USB is? Wot would it be called?

this is merlin on bros pc, soz

[Merlin4458]

Ok, So far i have tried:
fixmbr
check disk
fixboot
Ive now put those 3 files onto my usb stick(which also contained a few pictures, so not sure if that wouldnt have helped)
>I set my boot to boot from USB-FD, USB CDROM, USB ZIP and none of them work
it still says NTLDR missing
It didnt give me any options at all when i tried those.
Am i doing something wrong here?
I may have to format now as im out of ideas

Someone above mentioned a repair, but i dont have any option to do that as i cant get into safe mode, or windows

[excalibur2]

Someone above mentioned a repair, but i dont have any option to do that as i cant get into safe mode, or windows

Is the NTLDR actually missing as it could be corrupted. Do you know how to use dos? and can you get into the "c" prompt on bootup?

[MantisCSS]

it says its missing, iduno if its lying cause i cant get into windows. i can get into windows recovery console? Thats all i can get into m8, as it says its missing on teh first screen right after boot from cd.
Excalibur do u have msn we could use as this method is long

cheers

[scrandman]

Have you tried temporarily disconnecting the second hard drive to see if that helps? If the problem still persists, you can then do a fixmbr or fixboot with confidence that you are repairing the boot partition on the correct drive.

If it still isn't working after that, the drive may be knackered.

You can download the Samsung diagnostic utility from their site (runs from a floppy or CD).

[MantisCSS]

would the samsung thing run from a DVD RW? cause i think thats all i got and a USB stick? And yeh i did unplug the 2nd hd

[excalibur2]

it says its missing, iduno if its lying cause i cant get into windows. i can get into windows recovery console? Thats all i can get into m8, as it says its missing on teh first screen right after boot from cd.
Excalibur do u have msn we could use as this method is long

cheers

Have you a floppy drive and a bootup floppy disk? It is so simple to solve if the problem is A MISSING FILE or even if the NTLDR file is corrupted. You just copy the file from the winxp CD to the root of your C drive, if the NTLDR file is corrupted it is very slightly complicated cos it's a read only file and you have to take the read only attribute off before you can copy over it.

BTW the NTLDR file would fit on a floppy disk if you can get it off another computer...saves going to the winxp CD.

[MantisCSS]

I have no floppy drives in the house m8, so i cant do ass suggested. Im jsut going to have to lsoe all my data and format,. My pateince is wearing thin

[excalibur2]

I have no floppy drives in the house m8, so i cant do ass suggested. Im jsut going to have to lsoe all my data and format,. My pateince is wearing thin

Well in that case go to your bios and select bootup from the CD drive, then reboot with winxp in the drive and select upgrade.