ntldr is compressed 3

[ifix1]

hi folks
i have here a friends computer.he's running xp home and his computer won't boot, it gets an error message saying "ntldr is compressed press ctrl alt del to reboot"

i've tried using fixboot and fixmbr from the recovery console "didn't work"
i also tried to restore using my good ole 98 boot disk to get to the command promt "that didn't even see the c drive "i guesse i can't use it to see a nt file sys..

any suggestions?

THANKS FOR ANY REPLIES!!
here's some info if it helps
the computer is a hp
the h/d has 2 partions(from hp)
1 non-dos about 5g
1 nt remainding 35g

 

[bcastner]

New start meaning what?

. The HP restore partition seems questionable, but there should have been a bootable Restore CD. Again, I hate phones too, call the guys/gals at HP Tech Support.

. If your intention is a clean install of XP, including removing partitions, and a clean format, and an installation from another OEM Disk, it will not work.

. If your intention is to use a Retail XP CD to do the above, your "Key" will not work.

. If you insist on manuevering around these obstacles, at least see two threads:

thread779-739279
thread779-624396

I strongly urge you to call HP in this instance. If the computer is still under Warranty, they will cross-ship you a new box and give you thirty days to transfer everything. And if you are nice, they will send you a full CD of the XP OS. If out of Warranty, you pay $11 for a full XP licensed CD that allows you a clean install.

 

[ifix1]

new development
i set the 5gig non-dos partition active and now i can get to the f12 screen you mention,i choose the last known good config and i get a bsd saying
stop: c000021a {fatal system error}
the session manger initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc000003a (0x00000000 0x0000000)
the system has shut down

i'm going to play with this for a little

 

[steve38651]

Gentlemen, interesting reading here. I have an HP home pc with the same problem. Have you made any postive headway on the fix yet? I am the point of checking the warranty to see what they will do for me.

Steve

 

[krossnwguy]

Yeah definatly a HP problem, I'm working on a friends pc and what a surprise! It is a HP. I got the NTLDR fixed, then the boot.ini was messed up, workin on that now. Thanks.

 

[ahrgee]

I was having the same problem (XP Pro on an HP). After reading this post and thinking about it and my situation, I realized what my problem was. (This may not apply to you.)

I turned compression on in the filesystem. Therefore, NTLDR is compressed. Period. Nothing is going to change that except telling NTFS to uncompress the file.

Get into the Recovery Console, and see if NTLDR is compressed:

dir \ntldr

If the "c" attribute is shown, enter the command:

attrib -c \ntldr

exit (reboot), Windows boots up.

btw: I get (minor) errors restoring from the recovery partition. Anyone who calls HP should make sure to complain about having 5 gig of disk wasted and not having a proper Windows install disc. These complaints do eventually have an effect if enough people complain.

 

[Astromech]

This may sound like a dumb question, but how do you get into the Recovery Console?

Here's my situation. I've got an HP Pavilion with XP Home. It has the recovery partition built on the harddrive and didn't come with any recovery/restore CD's.

I tried creating a boot disk following the Microsoft article mentioned by bcastner. When I try to use it I get the following error:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Any thoughts on this would be great.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nyg]

krossnwguy


How did you fix the NTLDR problem:

We are now having the compressed ntldr problem with an hp machine.

When we start the machine we get the message
ntldr comprerssed
ctrl,alt,del to restart

tried all of above and no joy so far.
Thanks

=======

2 heads are better than 1, but 1 is better than a committee.

 

[gcssys]

I believe you can fix this from the recovery console by changing the attribute using the following...
attrib -c c:\ntldr
(this assumes your ntldr file is on the c drive)

 

[StarNab]

Hi there. I just signed up cause I had the same problem.

It just occured after i performed a HP restauration (cause my Internet connection didnt work properly).

Since then, i havent been able to start my comp on this hard drive. I read carefully what you wrote and i'm going to try what you suggested.

See you.

 

[bcastner]

From recovery console:

expand d:\i386\ntldr._ c:\ntldr

 

[bcastner]

Carey Frisch, MVP noted in the Newsgroups:

If you have a HP PC:

Run the Recovery (F10) Advanced Options, ALT D to Command Prompt.
Type the following .. (press Enter afer each line):

C:
ATTRIB -S -R D:\NTLDR
c:\windows\system32\compact /u d:\ntldr
ATTRIB +S +R D:\NTLDR

Restart your PC

When back in Windows .. go to My Computer .. right-click the C: drive .. Properties ..
and remove checkmark from "Compress Drive to save disk space: .. and Apply
(to stop happening next time you recover)

 

[erikp5]

After reading the above post I tried that method to fixing this problem (which I'm having as well) but...

I got a new error:

"Access denied - G:\i386\ntldr"

Note: my CD drive is G:, so I tried typing "G:\ntldr" with the attrib command again...

"File not found - G:\ntldr"

At this point, I want to throw my computer out of the window but I know someone out there can help me.

I'm also using an HP and having the same problems as the people above.

 

[bcastner]

You cannot use the ATTRIB command on a CD file (as you cannot write to the CD).

The drive "D:" above in Carey Frisch's discussion is referring to the recovery partition seen during the use of the recovery process, Advanced Options.