"ntldr is missing" problem

[dandieu]

can someone please help me on this topic, i tried to slap a new computer together and by the time i was installing xp, it gave me a error message, by saying "ntldr is missing, can anyone help me on this, i tried everything, and i can get passed by it. i tried to install 98 on it, but still no luck, i dont know what to do anymore can comeone please help me please.

 

[magomago]

this happened to me a LOT on win2k.

try a low level format and then reinstall...then install SP1 for WinXP

 

[dandieu]

the thing is i cant even get passed, that error message, even when i pop in a disk or whatever.

 

[bgeh]

you can reformat by using a boot cd-rom and use a utility to reformat it(try a search on google)
if you want to set the boot arrangement, change the setting in the bios

 

[Reel]

you can use the repair program to fix the MBR I think was the solution. It has been a while since I had to deal with this problem. It was either one of the repair options or fdisk /MBR. I forget which but either is worth a shot.

 

[Krye]

What that error is telling you is that when the operating system attempted to load it could not find the ntldr file necessary to start up the OS. This is a windows NT file that carried over to XP. If you just did a fresh install of Windows XP here's some of the possible causes of the file suddenly "disappearing":

Sometime along the way your drive letter changed. I once dual booted a system and tried changing a HD out of my system. This caused my D: to become my C: for one boot and it gave me the same error, permanently. Had to reinstally windows to fix it.

Try restoring the file. Get yourself a bootable disk (if you are running FAT32 a Win98 boot disk would work and copy the file onto the disk. Then just copy the file onto your "c:\"

HD might have had errors on it toasting that file. A low level format would tell you if this is the case but use as a last resort.

 

[buleyb]

If you are running XP, get into the recovery console from the installation CD, and run 'fixmbr' an/or 'fixboot'.


If you can't boot off a floppy or a CDROM to get past this, than either you aren't useing bootable media, or your BIOS is set to look at your harddrive first, and dies.

I believe that the MBR points to the NTLDR (NT Loader) file, but if its not there, poof...

either way, booting off a 98 boot disk and running 'fdisk /mbr' will erase your MBR, and you can reinstall whatever you like. Installing Windows 98 alone will not do this, repartitioning will not do this, you need to erase or rebuild your MBR (which if you haven't been following, is the 'Master Boot Record', which is the first thing read off the harddrive, and tells the system where to look to boot the OS.

 

[ScrewFace]

It happened to me, too. Slip in your Windows XP into your primary CD-ROM drive then reboot and change 1st boot device to 'CD-ROM'. Save the changes then exit. It'll boot into Windows XP. Log in as the administrator (make sure you know your password). Go into the 'i386' directory and find the NTLDR file and copy it to your C: drive or whatever drive your Windows XP is on.