NTLDR...its missing -_-

[magomago]

Luckily I got mandrake up and runnignb4 this happened so i could post and solve this

But windows has decided that "NTLDR" has gone missing...I tried copying (via recovery console with windows) ntldr over, but it didn't work. I deleted NTLDR, and then restarted, and then recopied just to make sure it got the one off the CD...and still doesn't work (This error happened to me once before and i tried this and it works)

does anyone have any idea what to do? I don't want to lose my info on my windows drive, and i have homework online that requires windows to do so i'm in an iffy position. The NTLDR file i was trying to copy over was on the Crive (no folders or anything...just straight c)

but it keeps saying "NTLDR is missing" irregardless of what happens....

so can i get some help, becuase I'd really like to preserve windows without reinstall since i have so much junk? I'd so appreciate it...thanks

 

[decrypt]

HOW TO: Troubleshoot the "NTLDR Is Missing" Error Message in Windows 2000

 

[magomago]

I found out that it seems that Mandrake did f up windows for me ><
it installed the bootloader on the MBR, where windows wants it...and that messed it up

I found a site that said try the commands fixboot and fixmbr, and i tried fixboot and i was going to do fixmbr but it gave a warning that it could destroy all my partitions so i didn't excete that, b/c it scares me

I tried the NTLDR/NTDETECT method and nothing....I think i'm convinced that none of the methods microsoft lists will work b/c the MBR got replaced with LILO....

Do any of you Linux gurus have an idea of what to do? I want to preserve my windows installation right now (And its of the utmost importance) even if it means trashing linux since i haven't had a chance to accumulate shizzle like i have with windows....

Thanks

 

[Twista]

repair windows from windows cd

 

[decrypt]

Try MBRWizard. Set your Windows partition active and reboot. This will probably get your windows backup, and maybe you can try to work from there.

 

[decrypt]

I have been checking out some of the other linux boards I check out everyonce in awhile. This is a common issue with MDK 10, hopefully this can be fixed soon.

 

[magomago]

doesn't repair windows option FUBAR your registry and installed programs?


okay decrypt will try that right now

 

[magomago]

i downloaded that....and i can't run mbrwiz

even if i'm in the SAME folder as it, I type "mbrwiz" and it doesn't work at all...i tried the comand "mbrwiz /list" to see if it activated only with a switch and it didn't....

why not?

do you think if i try "fixMBR" it'll delete my partitions?


ugh....how could something like this slip thru the RC1? ><

 

[civad]

http://pchelplive.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=6

exboot by pchelplive.com. I have used it in the past, and it seems pretty useful to me!

 

[imported_Phil]

"fixmbr" won't delete anything. Always worked fine for me

 

[Farfrael]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend
"fixmbr" won't delete anything. Always worked fine for me

 

[magomago]

I did a few searches, and it seems fixmbr has deleted for ppl ><

Then WHY does fixmbr have a chance of deleting stuff? I'm confsed by that

 

[Farfrael]

Originally posted by: magomago
I did a few searches, and it seems fixmbr has deleted for ppl ><

Then WHY does fixmbr have a chance of deleting stuff? I'm confsed by that

Sorry to be an ass but that is what you get for doing something you didn't understand in the first place (i.e F! up your MBR)
Now, people have given you advice, if you don't want to follow them, fine but stop crying.

 

[magomago]

Well you have to realize as a not sure "uber" Linux user that I am going to make mistakes...that is just what will happen because that is how we learn. Therefore in order to really understand what is going on, it is going to require that I understand WTF I did (which I did get by browsing the net~ It seems NT/2k likes to install itself right on the MBR without asking and then Mandrake, without my knowledge, also installed itself there [whereas Fedora didn't]). I will think about doing a FIXMBR, but like I said I am hesistant because I haev seen people complain how they lost their Hard Drive because of that (and I'm not sure how to recover the partition without being IN windows with partition Magic)
So I'm sorry if I came across i the wrong perspective as a complainer who won't do anything, but its more my hesitancy to lose my information which I value dearly.

Either way...I will probably end up trying a FIX MBR after I go and try to salvage a few gigs of files onto CDs

 

[ryejay98]

I had a similiar issue happen... and after trying everything I could find on the net and then some...

I ended up just having to do a format with the driver manufactuer's utility and starting all over from scratch

 

[8ballcoupe]

It is unlikely in the extreme that use of FIXMBR will hurt anything (other than the loader for the Linux install).

If you perform a repair installation of Windows (It's Windows 2000, right?) the repair installation will NOT hose your software installations or data. At least not unless something goes wrong.

In both cases the most likely cause of something going wrong would be a sudden hardware or power failure OR using them on a system on which the partitions had been set up by a third party utility like PM -- especially if using features like drive hiding.

And, since no one else has said it, I have to ask why the heck were you setting up a multi-boot system without backing up your data first? That's the only dumb thing you did. You're right when you say that you have to experiment to learn, but you have to think about your data first! That's the lesson you need to learn from this incident.

Ernie

 

[fw3308]

irregardless is not a word-fyi

 

[Farfrael]

Originally posted by: fw3308
irregardless is not a word-fyi

What kind of useless, thread crapping comment is this ?
Don't have anything else to bring to the discussion ?

 

[Flatline]

THIS method has worked for me every time I have experienced that issue.

 

[Sianath]

FixMBR can cause problems if your MBR has been corrupted under certain circumstances, that's why the warning is there. In most situations you are fine, but if (for example) the 55 aa end-delimiter in the MBR has been wiped then the command can't properly determine how much of the MBR is to be overwritten during the correction, and it can overwrite partition definition information.

It's rare that you have that problem, but I've seen it.

If you want to verify it's a MBR issue, create an NTFS boot disk.

Format a blank disk, copy a boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com to it and try booting. Make sure you edit the boot.ini to point to the correct location for your boot partition. This bypasses the MBR on disk. If it works, you know you most likely have an issue with a corrupt MBR.

 

[Farfrael]

thanks for the detailed explanation Sianath

 

[ffman]

I had similar problem, found the install had stopped BIOS accessing the drive properly. Fixed it by going into BIOS and changing the hard drive MODE from AUTO to LBA, I dont know that this will work for everyone as I am very new to Linux but it worked for me. Good Luck!