NTLDR is missing (WinXP)

[PDASquare]

Hi guys,

I'm facing the "NTLDR is missing" problem for WinXP system.
What can I do to resolve the problem?

 

[fredtam]

Boot from the XP cd and use the repair console to replace it.
See this page for instructions. Its about half way down the page. Do a text search for NTLDR.

You can also boot from the XP cd and do like you were going to install it. When it finds that there is already an occurence of XP on the disc choose repair. This will take longer but also replace anything else that may be missing.

 

[beer]

This could also be indicative of a mechanially failing hard drive. NTLDR is one of the first things to load in the windows boot process, IIRC

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Elemental007
This could also be indicative of a mechanially failing hard drive. NTLDR is one of the first things to load in the windows boot process, IIRC

yeah ive had this error arise before imminent hard drive failure. be careful

 

[kssewerrat]

Make sure you don't have a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive when you turn on the computer or just eject the floppy disk and hit any key on the keyboard after you get the error message.

If the bios is set with the floppy drive as the first boot device and there is a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive, you will get this error.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: kssewerrat
Make sure you don't have a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive when you turn on the computer or just eject the floppy disk and hit any key on the keyboard after you get the error message.

If the bios is set with the floppy drive as the first boot device and there is a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive, you will get this error.

??? no you dont, you get a "insert bootable media" or some crap like that, not NTLDR is missing



edit: yeah i just tried it, definitely didnt get NTLDR error

 

[dnuggett]

If the bios is set with the floppy drive as the first boot device and there is a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive, you will get this error.

Never heard of this. Unless you have a bootable disk, you will get a message saying non system disk or disk error.

 

[clicknext]

Originally posted by: dnuggett

If the bios is set with the floppy drive as the first boot device and there is a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive, you will get this error.

Never heard of this. Unless you have a bootable disk, you will get a message saying non system disk or disk error.

I got the NTLDR is missing error when I had a floppy disk in.

 

[przero]

Are you overclocking? Sometimes I get that error if I try to run it a little "hot".

 

[Smilin]

You'll get an ntldr missing if you boot with a floppy that was formatted under nt/2k/xp/2k3. If formatted with any other OS you'll get a different message. It all depends what the os has written to the MBR & Boot Sector of the disk.

Assuming you're not a tard and this isn't the case:
First use the recovery console and copy over ntldr from your xp CD.
It's likely something else is missing. Be sure your boot.ini is correct and possibly run a repair.

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: kssewerrat
Make sure you don't have a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive when you turn on the computer or just eject the floppy disk and hit any key on the keyboard after you get the error message.

If the bios is set with the floppy drive as the first boot device and there is a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive, you will get this error.

??? no you dont, you get a "insert bootable media" or some crap like that, not NTLDR is missing



edit: yeah i just tried it, definitely didnt get NTLDR error

I had a floppy in my drive, and it gave the NTLDR error message. Maybe each computer reacts differently due to BIOS, service packs, and etc . . .

 

[Smilin]

You'll get an ntldr missing if you boot with a floppy that was formatted under nt/2k/xp/2k3. If formatted with any other OS you'll get a different message. It all depends what the os has written to the MBR & Boot Sector of the disk.

Here is an example of a Boot sector on an NT formatted disk. Note the readable text near the bottom in line 01A0:

Primary Boot Sector
Sector Location 63 (0x0000003f)
-------------------------------------------
0000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20-20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00 .R.NTFS.........
0010 00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00-3f 00 ff 00 3f 00 00 00 ................
0020 00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00-7d 86 bb 00 00 00 00 00 ........}.......
0030 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-67 b8 0b 00 00 00 00 00 ........g.......
0040 f6 00 00 00 01 00 00 00-02 84 56 dc ab 56 dc 98 ..........V..V..
0050 00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e-d0 bc 00 7c fb b8 c0 07 ...........|....
0060 8e d8 e8 16 00 b8 00 0d-8e c0 33 db c6 06 0e 00 ................
0070 10 e8 53 00 68 00 0d 68-6a 02 cb 8a 16 24 00 b4 ..S.h..hj.......
0080 08 cd 13 73 05 b9 ff ff-8a f1 66 0f b6 c6 40 66 ...s......f....f
0090 0f b6 d1 80 e2 3f f7 e2-86 cd c0 ed 06 41 66 0f .............Af.
00a0 b7 c9 66 f7 e1 66 a3 20-00 c3 b4 41 bb aa 55 8a ..f..f.....A..U.
00b0 16 24 00 cd 13 72 0f 81-fb 55 aa 75 09 f6 c1 01 .....r...U.u....
00c0 74 04 fe 06 14 00 c3 66-60 1e 06 66 a1 10 00 66 t......f`..f...f
00d0 03 06 1c 00 66 3b 06 20-00 0f 82 3a 00 1e 66 6a ....f.........fj
00e0 00 66 50 06 53 66 68 10-00 01 00 80 3e 14 00 00 .fP.Sfh.........
00f0 0f 85 0c 00 e8 b3 ff 80-3e 14 00 00 0f 84 61 00 ..............a.
0100 b4 42 8a 16 24 00 16 1f-8b f4 cd 13 66 58 5b 07 .B..........fX[.
0110 66 58 66 58 1f eb 2d 66-33 d2 66 0f b7 0e 18 00 fXfX...f..f.....
0120 66 f7 f1 fe c2 8a ca 66-8b d0 66 c1 ea 10 f7 36 f......f..f.....
0130 1a 00 86 d6 8a 16 24 00-8a e8 c0 e4 06 0a cc b8 ................
0140 01 02 cd 13 0f 82 19 00-8c c0 05 20 00 8e c0 66 ...............f
0150 ff 06 10 00 ff 0e 0e 00-0f 85 6f ff 07 1f 66 61 ..........o...fa
0160 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00 a0-fb 01 e8 03 00 fb eb fe ................
0170 b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74-09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 .......t........
0180 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 64-69 73 6b 20 72 65 61 64 .....A.disk.read
0190 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 6f-63 63 75 72 72 65 64 00 .error.occurred.
01a0 0d 0a 4e 54 4c 44 52 20-69 73 20 6d 69 73 73 69 ..NTLDR.is.missi
01b0 6e 67 00 0d 0a 4e 54 4c-44 52 20 69 73 20 63 6f ng...NTLDR.is.co
01c0 6d 70 72 65 73 73 65 64-00 0d 0a 50 72 65 73 73 mpressed...Press
01d0 20 43 74 72 6c 2b 41 6c-74 2b 44 65 6c 20 74 6f .Ctrl.Alt.Del.to
01e0 20 72 65 73 74 61 72 74-0d 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 .restart........
01f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-83 a0 b3 c9 00 00 55 aa ..............U.