ntldr is missing please help

alright before my sledge hammer goes through this stupid dell i got this

Loading PBR for discriptor 2...done.

NTLDR is missing

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

i have a dell deminsion E520 with windows xp pro and i have the symantic restore partion to send it back to factory settings but I DONT WANT IT BACK TO FACTORY SETTINGS there is no way i know of to get any files off my hard drive and this is driving me insane i seriously have sledge hammer in hand and i need help for this pls pls pls help me i have no install cds none came with it WHAT DO I DO!!?!?!?!?!?!!?

Hi,

It is pretty simple. The NTLDR file got corrupted/missing on your computer that is the reason why you are getting this error. All you need to do is copy this file from the Windows XP Operation System CD and put it on your computer Hard drive . Follow the steps given below to copy the files..

Start the Windows XP Recovery Console:

1.  

   1. Insert the Windows XP installation CD into the CD or DVD drive.

   2. Restart the computer.

   3. While the computer is starting, repeatedly press F12 every 3 seconds to access the one-time boot menu.

   4. When the one-time boot menu appears, press the Down Arrow to highlight the CD-ROM option that appears, which is one of the following options: Onboard CD-ROM Drive or Onboard USB CD-ROM Drive.

   5. Press Enter.

   6. When the computer boots to the CD-ROM drive, press R to enter the Recovery Console.

   7. If prompted, select the number corresponding to the Windows installation you want to repair and press .

   8. Enter the Administrator password, if any, and press .

    

2. Type map, and press . Make note of the drive letter assigned to the optical (DVD or CD-ROM) drive.
   
3. Type copy x:\i386\ntldr c:\ (where x is the drive letter for the optical drive), and press .
   
4. Type copy x:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\ (where x is the drive letter for the optical drive), and press .
   
5. If you are prompted to overwrite the file, type y, and press .
   
6. Type exit and press .
   
7. As the computer restarts, remove the Windows XP CD.

Regards,

Shaggy

well my dell is so old i dont have a warranty anymore will this effect me getting these discs (i already sumbmited for them) and how long till i get them?

ok well here the flaw in your solution I DONT HAVE THE WINDOWS INSTALLATION CD and there files on my hard drive ill never get back need a different solution

tylrdubya 

You can request a set of backup discs containing the factory-installed operating system, specific to your system, from here.

Bev.

tylrdubya 

When I had order the reinstallation discs for my old 8400, they took less than 3 days to arrive.

Did you explain on the form, that the discs were never sent with the computer package, when you purchsed the PC?

Regards to recovering the files and folders on the E520 SATA hard drive, you could try removing the hard drive and using an USB adaptor similar to THIS to attach the hard drive to a working computer and see if you can transfer the files and folders to it.

You try borrowing a Dell XP reinstallation disc from a friend, but it must be the same version that was factory installed.

Bev.

i did this then i got a new error

"

Windows could not start because the following file is missing

or corrupt:

\System32\hal.dll.

Please re-install a copy of the above file.

"

Please help.

i did this then i got a new error " Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \System32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file. " Please help.

KamikazeSensei

What is your computer model and version of windows?

What did you do?

Bev.

well  i have a Dell Inspiron 9400   With Windows XP Media center version 2005

and what i did was that i got the ntldr is missing error, then i followed shaggys steps to fix it and then this new error showed.

I did try to add the file the same way as with the Ntldr, but instead of the cd i used a USB device to copy the hal.dll from another computer but it didn't work.

KamikazeSensei

You need to follow the excellent instructions posted by Shaggy_California, exactly and use the Dell reinstallation disc, or you could use the solution HERE from Dell.

Bev.

I guess my computer is doomed(roll eyes) i came to step 7 on the dell solution when this error encoured

"

Scanning all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while...

Error: Failed to succcessfully scan disks for Windows installations.

           This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would

           prevent Bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to

0      detect any disk errors.

Note: This operation must complete successfully in order for the

           /add or /rebuild commands to be utilized.

"

By the way i found a grammar miss in the error It say successfully with 3 c's instead of 2:D

And thanks for helping me guys! or i rather say gordie

I also test with the chkdsk command it say that everything is fine with the CD

Edit: i tested the chkdsk once more and it told me to test /p to check the volume of the disk and then it found a error but it didn't tell what or how to fix so i feel even more doomed now...  do you think my disk is broken? i have never used this cd before so it would be weird if dell send me broken disk.

hmm ok. thanks anyway for the help! and hopefully i don't need to ask more questions after this:D

KamikazeSensei

That's a bummer.    :emotion-6:

If none of the solutions work, you can always try restoring the computer, to it's factory settings, see HERE, but all the save data would be lost, unless you have backed it up to other media.

Bev.

Hi

this is a very simple issue that could have been resolved in just 2 minutes.

all u had to do is you have to turn off the system then with the system turned off press and hold  the F8 key on the keyboard and press the Mediadirect button.The system will turn on and will run a small reset on the mediadirect screen then in some cases the screen halts at the media direct screen  you can use the mouse and close the same and restart the system .Then a screen with recovery options appears - you should select Start windows normally and your system will start working fine.

Reason for this issue:

Media direct Runs similarly like  Windows 3.1/98 platform/architecture that requires an NTLDR file to boot that requires no Operating system.In your case as you tried to reinstall Mediadirect but did not complete it where the NTLDR file got corrupted.Hence as mediadirect requires NTLDR file and Vista has the address location no NTLDR but does not have an NTLDR but has been replced by a NT detect file hence as media direct has its own boot sector and vista has a seperate boot sector but still the acrchitecture is the same .In this case as mediadirect looks for the Ntldr file and as it finds no file in vista as well as its own partition the system halts on the Error.Running the reset is just like running an image reinstall for Mediadirect alone that will replace the complete file system for media direct.

for more details if required mail me :)

cheers

I am having this same NTLDR problem as I try to go into Ctrl+F11 Restore mode. I have not installed MediaDirect. I have checked the contents of the various computers I have, and none of them have a NTLDR file even in the DellRestore partition, so I cannot figure out why the computer wants it in the first place. Any help would be appreciated.