HELP!!! NTLDR is missing

[Merlin4458]

PC has been working flawlessly the alst 4/5 months
I turn my PC off last night come bk this morning and i get
"NTLDR is missing, Press CTRL ALT DEL to restart"

Any ideas guys, cause i cant see anyway out of it

I did a CMOS reset

Cheers

[muddyfox470]

You need to do a FIXBOOT

that has sorted out my troubles before.

Try that first, if that fails then you may be in a bit of a Boo Boo

How many drives do you have connected? Try just connecting the one that has the bootsector / windows installation on.

But as I said FIXBOOT has always helped me before.

You will need the XP installation disc and choose recovery console

Hope that helps

Ian

[Merlin4458]

OK muddy thanks. I have a retail copy of XP PRO, so how do i do this fixboot exactly?
I have 2 hardrives
samsung spin - This one has windows on it. Well i think they both do but this one is the ones thats being used
maxtor

Cheers

[muddyfox470]

Here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

[Quote:***]FIXBOOT
fixboot drive name:
Use this command to write the new Windows boot sector code on the system partition. In the command syntax, drive name is the drive letter where the boot sector will be written. This command fixes damage in the Windows boot sector. This command overrides the default setting, which writes to the system boot partition. The fixboot command is supported only on x86-based computers.[/Quote]

and

here: http://www.short-media.com/printcont...print=r&id=313

Hope that helps

Ian

[Splash]

Boot from Windows CD, press R to repair using recovery console when given the option. Once the console loads (you will need any SATA drivers that you normally need to install Windows if they're not slipstreamed onto the CD) and will be asked which Windows installation to login to - make sure you get this right! Once you select the installation you need to enter the password of the Administrator account. and you will be at a command line.

If fixboot doesn't work then you could try fixmbr from the same location. If THAT doesn't work there's a few other ways around things, but you might be just as well biting the bullet and reinstalling...

Chkdsk /r has been known to help with this too.

[redlight]

I am probably stating the obvious but this has happened to me on more than on occasion. Are you sure its looking at the right drive to boot from. If you are not sure disconnect the other drive.

[muddyfox470]

You may always be able to recover data (before you reinstall) using a program (loaded from CD) called PE Builder - if the worst comes to the worst.

Ian

[Howard]

fixboot
fixmbr
<3

[Merlin4458]

Ok fixboot didnt work
tried reseating everything that didnt work

Just trying fixmrb, taking loooooooong
Really dont want to format as i have alot of wanted info on there :S

Will report bk

[shaithis]

Do you know what drive your bootloader was on?

Also, when you said "I did a CMOS reset" was the before or after the problem started?

[Merlin4458]

Well windows is being ran off my samsung spinpoint whilst my maxtor(although still has windows isntalled, is obviously not running it cause the samsung is) I just pressed 1 when it asked wot drive.
This fixmbr is taking hours

[Merlin4458]

Ok so this fixmr is checking % and it look ages to get to 70 odd and now its gone back to 50%. IS fixmbr worth doing cause this is getting nowhere

[muddyfox470]

I never trusted the fixmbr, as it can cause more problems if it goes wrong :s

I would start downloading a program called PE Builder and burn the ISO file to a CD to create a bootable CD (making sure that the CD Drive is set in the bios to boot)

And then you can mess around with a few settings and copy across files etc to save a bit of aggro It uses the window interface, it's all pretty intuitive.

(Just don't do something you don't fully understand)

Ian

[alsenior]

it looks like you may have to do a repair install. this goes throught the motions of a install but does not overwrite your files or programs there is an option for it on your windows disk

[Merlin4458]

where do i go to do a repair install? i have an option to press r to go to console or the other way where i have to delete a partition and instal xp...

[Howard]

I think fixboot/mbr is another one also