NTLDR is missing in XP pro 1

[bErEsTh]

1.6 gHz Intel chip, 256 Megs of SDRAM. Friend had a problem with sound. In control panel the device in usage was the integrated sound card. His cables are running into the sound card he added 6 month ago. I chnaged it top the corrct device. Prompted me to reboot. When it did, it said "NTLDR is missing".

I went into the recovery console and tried the FIXBOOT, FIXMBR option, still didnt work. the NTLDR message still appears. I able to boot off of CD. If I let it go (the hit any key to boot from CD...) and dont hit it, XP will load.

How can I fix this persons computer? Thanks

 

[bcastner]

From the recovery console:

bootcfg /rebuild

 

[ken07734]

It sounds like you are trying to boot from the wrong drive, not the one it is loaded on. try looking at your bios to see if the boot drive is listed correctly. I had this happen to me and it was because I had moved the IDE cables around to test a drive I had and the Bios saw I had changed drives and made that change in bios for me. I had to go back to the bios and tell it how I wanted to boot.

 

[bErEsTh]

I havent tried bootcfg /rebuild, but I will

As for botting off the wrong drive that makes total sense, what is funny is I didnt move the drive and in the Bios they are listed correctly. I didnt even open the case. I did just for kicks switch the boot order to the other drive ans it freezes, forcing me to reset the box.

 

[Niall22]

I'm not trying to be a smart ass but did you make sure there is no floppy disk in the floppy drive that it's trying to boot off?



Niall

 

[bErEsTh]

There is no floppy in the drive.

I know you are not being a smart ass, and I appreciate event the most obvious of possibilities. Most of the time, the very obvious is generally the answer.

 

[wolluf]

When you've got it to boot 'from CD' (presume making CD first boot device), does the CD have to be in the drive for XP to boot?

Must admit I tend to agree with ken07734. One other thing you could try (though not sure what it proves) - boot from floppy (copy ntldr, ntdetect.com & boot.ini to newly formatted boot floppy) - just to see f that's being picked up correctly.

PS. Have you tried re-enabling onboard sound to see if that 'fixes' problem?

 

[bcastner]

From recovery console boocfg with the rebuild switch will search all drives for installed OS, and allow you to repair the boot order and location.

 

[Bobg1]

When you get the machine to boot, check to see if ntldr is even still in the root directory, if it is it may be corrupt. You could replace it.

 

[wolluf]

Bcastner - from M$ KB - Bootcfg is used to manipulate the Boot.ini for boot configuration and recovery (ie, same as editing boot.ini). Ntldr is missing message means it hasn't got to boot.ini yet, so I think we need to look elsewhere first.

 

[bcastner]

wolluf,

Note that if he inserts the CD and ignores the prompt to boot from CD, XP loads from his hard drive.

It is not a missing file, but a bad config.

 

[wolluf]

So the boot.ini file is obviously correct (or it wouldn't load XP when it does find ntldr). There's something wrong with the boot process. There have been other similar posts, where setting to boot from CD & ignoring boots from HD - but booting directly doesn't. Unfortunately I can't remember the successful outcome - if there was one!

 

[bcastner]

wolluf,

I agree there is something screwy. The benefit of doing the bootcfg /rebuild is that it scans every partition and hard disk to attempt to rebuild from what XP views as the "boot" assignment.

Just copying ntldr does not seem a sufficient solution in this case.

If either you or I were on site, it could be dealt with as an issue quickly.

But as a question, using rebuild is a hidden gem in the recovery console.

It is dubious that installing a sound card removed ntldr, but a crash and subsequent failures seems suggestive that there is something wrong at least in the boot initialization, and more likely in a totally screwed registry.

A registry repair does not sound unlikely to me.

 

[bErEsTh]

I will try to rebuild using bootcfg. If that doesnt work maybe copying the ntldr will work as well. I welcome all these ideas that have been presented as well as any others. PLease keep the ideas coming in. I will inform everyone what I did and what happened. Thanks a bunch to everyone. Stay tuned.

 

[jsundin3]

also try in the recovery console CHKDSK -r , this has worked several times for my clients....

JeffS

 

[linney]

For a comprehesive list of NTLDR Missing MSKB articles start with this one and follow the links in it. Even if some refer to Windows 2000 you may be able to adapt them to XP.

812492 - Error Message When You Start Your Computer with a Non-System Disk

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812492&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Try this method of running Chkdsk incase you have MFT corruption.

Chkdsk in Read-Only Mode Does Not Detect Corruption on NTFS Volume

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q283340

Try these threads.

Thread779-452265

Thread779-412872

Thread779-414928

 

[bErEsTh]

Sorry I havent got back to all who helped. I ended up doing a bootcfg rebuild in the recovery console and it works great now. Thanks to everyone!

 

[JBaileys]

I entered bootcfg /rebuild and it still gives me the NTLDR error. I noticed it also gave me a couple of questions: 1) Enter Load Identified and
2) Enter OS Load options

I left both blank. Still no results

 

[bcastner]

In your case:

Go to the Recovery Console.

cd c:copy X:\i386\ntldr
copy X:\i386\ntdetect.com

(where X: is your CD drive letter.

bootcfg /repair
fixboot c:


Note: The Recovery Console version of bootcfg is not the same, nor acts the same, as the version that could be run from a CMD session. In the Recovery Console the syntax is:

Use this command for boot configuration and recovery. This command has the following options:

bootcfg /add
bootcfg /rebuild
bootcfg /scan
bootcfg /list
bootcfg /disableredirect
bootcfg /redirect [portbaudrate] | [useBiosSettings]


In CMD mode:

bootcfg addsw
bootcfg copy
bootcfg dbg1394
bootcfg debug
bootcfg default
bootcfg delete
bootcfg ems
bootcfg raw
bootcfg rmsw
bootcfg timeout


bootcfg query