ntldr missing

[vinayb]

hi, I got the " ntldr is missing, press ctrl+del+alt " is missing

after reading on Microsoft's site and the net, I solved the problem, but theres one catch. If I boot normally, the error comes up once again. However, if I force boot from the hdd in which windows installed, windows comes up fine...

I have Win XP Pro SP2

How do I remove this stupid problem???

 

[Allanv]

check the hdd is first in the boot order

 

[vinayb]

ive already fixed up the boot preference to hdd>cd>others in the BIOS

 

[AMCRambler]

I've had boot problems with some pcs not finding the OS when the keyboard ps2 cable is not plugged in snugly, weird as it may sound. I've only seen this on IBM's though so this probably isn't it. There could be a problem with the master boot record on the drive. Run fdisk /mbr from a dos boot disk to fix that. The other thing I'm thinking of is the boot string in your boot.ini file could be screwy. Check the format of the string make sure it's pointing to the install folder of Windows. Should look something like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Yours may have a different number for the disk(#) if you're booting off a drive that's a slave or plugged into the second ide port. Hope this helps.

 

[Doug117]

boot.ini wont have anything to do with it. ntldr LOADS boot.ini, so we're not even that far. Definately check to make sure the HD with XP on it is listed first in your boot order. That should do the trick (sounds like its not in your OP).

 

[vinayb]

the hdd with xp IS on the priority list...

 

[vinayb]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
I've had boot problems with some pcs not finding the OS when the keyboard ps2 cable is not plugged in snugly, weird as it may sound. I've only seen this on IBM's though so this probably isn't it. There could be a problem with the master boot record on the drive. Run fdisk /mbr from a dos boot disk to fix that. The other thing I'm thinking of is the boot string in your boot.ini file could be screwy. Check the format of the string make sure it's pointing to the install folder of Windows. Should look something like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Yours may have a different number for the disk(#) if you're booting off a drive that's a slave or plugged into the second ide port. Hope this helps.

Umm, Im not sure how the editing of boot.ini works. If u can tell me in detail, it'll be a BIG help. One more thing, my Master HDD has 2 partitions. One has XP installed, other is unformatted which I left open for when I wanna install linux too. My slave hdd is only for storage purposes..
hope this additional info helps in the boot.ini help...

 

[Bluestealth]

Put in your windows XP/2000 CD and boot into recovery console.... run chkdsk C: /p .... then fixboot...

if that fails try fixmbr... you want to do this second because it can damage your disk further.... microsoft's reasoning for the warning

Warning This command can damage your partition tables if a virus is present or if a hardware problem exists. If you use this command, you may create inaccessible partitions. We recommend that you run antivirus software before you use this command.

 

[vinayb]

thanks a lot u guys... for helping out... I will post if Bluestealth's idea worked... but MAN!! I posted this question on Microsoft's newsgroups and the next day, my post just went woot! it wasnt there!! and here I am, in Atech getting helped by you geniuses...
You all rock man..

 

[xtknight]

I've done fixmbr at least ten times and never had any problem whatsoever if that makes you feel any safer. fixmbr will then tell you which hard disk it wrote the fixed boot code to. You will need to select that hard disk to boot from BIOS in order for the BIOS to execute the MBR. Ideally, unless you recently changed your boot order, you shouldn't have to touch the BIOS afterwards though. The 'map' command in the recovery console will tell you which disk corresponds with the native UNC returned by fixmbr (like \Device\Harddisk0\Partition0). It will tell you if that is C:, D:, etc. in Windows and then you'll probably know which physical hard disk it's talking about.

 

[Bluestealth]

Originally posted by: xtknight
I've done fixmbr at least ten times and never had any problem whatsoever if that makes you feel any safer. fixmbr will then tell you which hard disk it wrote the fixed boot code to. You will need to select that hard disk to boot from BIOS in order for the BIOS to execute the MBR. Ideally, unless you recently changed your boot order, you shouldn't have to touch the BIOS afterwards though. The 'map' command in the recovery console will tell you which disk corresponds with the native UNC returned by fixmbr (like \Device\Harddisk0\Partition0). It will tell you if that is C:, D:, etc. in Windows and then you'll probably know which physical hard disk it's talking about.

I made things a lot worse once... but that HD was already dying. Only reason I included the warning.

 

[shelaby]

i just got this error message and went into the recovery console

i tried fixmbr, and it says a new boot record was recorded on \Device\Harddisk0\Partition0
but my C: drive is actually \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1

what is going on here? and neither fixboot nor fixmbr fixed anything

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: shelaby
i just got this error message and went into the recovery console

i tried fixmbr, and it says a new boot record was recorded on \Device\Harddisk0\Partition0
but my C: drive is actually \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1

what is going on here? and neither fixboot nor fixmbr fixed anything

Which drive is first in the boot order for your BIOS? Don't worry, MBRs can live on the other primary partitions just fine. I've had that before. I had a Linux boot loader on like my fourth partition, but I just selected that drive and it knew what partition the boot loader was on. Unless I am confusing MBR with a simple boot record. The MBR I guess is the one pointing to the boot record on some partition, I think that's what it is.

 

[shelaby]

i figured it out, here is what i did for your information vinayb

boot using xp cd> go to recovery console and get into your c: drive

type in these commands

cd ..
cd <your cd drive with xp cd>
now once you are in the cd drive type
cd <cd drive> i386
copy nltdr c:
and this will copy ntldr from the xp cd to your HD, and you should be set

 

[vinayb]

shelaby, I already did this... didnt help at all

 

[ajskydiver]

I've had this happen in the past ...

1. Make sure your cable is seated firmly on both the motherboard and the drive

2. If you're using a SFF or small case, make sure you don't have power cables running with the IDE cable or around it too snugly, it can cause interference

Good luck,
~AJ

 

[joeyconnick]

Originally posted by: xtknight
I've done fixmbr at least ten times and never had any problem whatsoever if that makes you feel any safer. fixmbr will then tell you which hard disk it wrote the fixed boot code to. You will need to select that hard disk to boot from BIOS in order for the BIOS to execute the MBR. Ideally, unless you recently changed your boot order, you shouldn't have to touch the BIOS afterwards though. The 'map' command in the recovery console will tell you which disk corresponds with the native UNC returned by fixmbr (like \Device\Harddisk0\Partition0). It will tell you if that is C:, D:, etc. in Windows and then you'll probably know which physical hard disk it's talking about.

I'm having a similar problem:

I'm running Win XP SP2. I have two partitions: C and D. XP is on C. I was using PartitionMagic to increase the size of the C partition by taking space (move the data "up") on the D partition.

When the operation completed, I got the dreaded "hal.dll file is corrupt or missing." I quickly figured out that PartitionMagic had somehow set my D: drive as the active/bootable partition because it now had the ntldr and ntdetect.com files in its root, so it was looking for hal.dll on the D partition when it was in fact on C.

I tried copying over the ntldr and ntdetect.com files to C: no luck.

So then I used the XP Recovery Console to do the whole:

chkdsk /r
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot
fixmbr

After that, I started getting the "NTLDR is missing" error.

I tried to repair my WinXP install. No luck.

Now anytime I do a fixmbr, it reports a problem with the MBR even when it's already been run to repair it.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I can still access the two partitions--I just can't boot off of C.

The only thing I can think of to do is to format the C partition and try doing a clean reinstall but I'm afraid that won't work either, since the problem seems to be getting the computer to boot from the C partition, not the status of the WinXP install on C. But I'd really rather not have to wipe all the partitions and start completely from scratch because all my data is on the D partition.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Joey

 

[nweaver]

did you read the PM warning about backing up your data?

I don't trust things like Partition Magic...to many bad things

 

[joeyconnick]

Originally posted by: nweaver
did you read the PM warning about backing up your data?

I don't trust things like Partition Magic...to many bad things

Yes, I did read the warning and I /do/ have a backup--in fact I specifically waited until I had enough time to backup my data before I made any modifications with PM--I would just rather not have to go through the painful process of restoring my data when it's in perfect condition on my hard disk already.

And I've used PM quite a few times before this without any problems.

 

[fire400]

i just deleted the files in the folder, and when XP restarted, WinXP re-assigned the hard drive boot files, only works well for single-use HD's with at least two partitions

 

[Jiggz]

If you have tried everything and the problem persists, go ahead and do a Repair Installation. Remember, this is not the Recovery Console. Instead, you will go through the entire installation process until you choose the option where to install XP and choose the same drive and partition as the existing one. Then XP will prompt you if you want to do a fresh install or a Repair. Choose Repair. After the repair installation, everything will be the same except for missing XP updates and re-activation. If you want to avoid re-activation, back up the WPA.dbl file and then restore it by replacing the new one. You still need to do the upgrades manually though.