NTLDR missing ???

Question

Having a problem, I turned on my Dimension4550 and got the 'NTLDR is missing, CTRL/ALT/DEL to reboot' error message. It worked flawlessly yesterday, even passed a virus check yesterday. But today, it's deader than a doornail. I tried everything, f8 for safemode (doesn't work), booted using the WinXP CD and ran the recovery console, ran fixboot and fixmbr (no change), ran a diagnostic disk for Maxtor drives (the PC has a Maxtor in it from the factory) to no avail, reloaded windowsXP both as a 'repair' and as a 'fresh reload' (again, nothing). I tried logging in through F12/option 'Hard drive' (nothing). I booted using an old Win98 floppy and the PC doesn't recognize the HD, yet the PC's own onboard diagnostics (Ctrl/Alt/D) and F12/IDE diagnostics both recognize the HD and say it's fine. I read through Microsoft's site for NTLDR info and found nothing I hadn't already seen or tried. The only way to access the HD is through the lethargically slow Recovery Console. I also called Dell Tech Support on this TWICE, they didn't give me anything I hadn't already tried. I'm a hair short of chucking the whole thing out the window... anyone got any ideas ?

ChrisRLG · Answer

Found this with google:-
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/NTLDR.html
---------------Extract------------
Short for NT Loader, a program loaded from the hard drive boot sector that displays the Microsoft Windows NT startup menu and helps Windows NT load.
Often a user will see the message "NTLDR is Missing" after attempting to install Windows 2000 or Windows XP, or upgrade a Windows 95-based or Windows 98-based computer to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The message appears after the first reboot. This occurs only if Windows 95 or 98 has been installed on a drive with the FAT32 file system.

To correct the problem, the user must boot the computer with a Windows 95 or 98 Startup diskette or another bootable diskette with sys.com on it. Then, at the "A:\>" prompt, type "sys c:" and press "enter." A "System Transferred" prompt should appear and then the user must reboot the computer without the diskette.
--------------end extract---------
Hope this helps.

maaloxmoment · Answer

UPDATE - Still no luck. I just updated my BIOS from 4550 A01 to A08 to no avail. I then reinstalled WinXP again, but this time to a new directory on the original drive (so now I had two copies of XP on the original drive, one in the factory default location and a second in a new location) - no luck. I also pulled an old HD from storage and put it in the PC alongside the exhisting drive, loaded WinXP onto it in the hope of using the new drive to boot the system and then download a diagnostic program to pull my data off my original drive. Even with a second drive with a fresh copy of XP Pro, I'm still getting the NTLDR missing error. Now I have three copies of XP between two hard drives and XP still can't find its NTLDR file.

maaloxmoment · Answer

Hello, thanks for the info. Couple questions, though - where do I find a copy of sys.com ? I have an old win98 boot disk, but it doesn't have sys.com on it. Also, as for upgrading from Win95/98 to XP, my Dell came with XP Pro preinstalled, I did nothing to upgrade or alter that installation, so the case of 'NTLDR missing' showing up after an XP upgrade doesn't apply to me (as far as I can tell... ).

redwolfe_98 · Answer

try refomatting, doing a clean install, re-creating the patition(s) on the primary harddrive. if you get an error when copying files to the disk from the win xp cd, turn the machine off for a minute, and then try again.. try a couple of times, if necessary.

redwolfe_98 · Answer

it seems to be a common problem. i did a search on google for "NTLDR missing". here is one thread that i found.. http://www.techimo.com/forum/t37563.html . there is some good stuff on pages 6 and 7 of that thread.. in some cases, copying the "NTLDR" and "Ntdetect.com" files to "c" fixed the problem.. here is another article relating to this problem http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314079 .

Message Edited by redwolfe_98 on 11-23-2003 02:41 PM

redwolfe_98 · Answer

here is another article relating to the problem: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];320397 .

Windows General

NTLDR missing ???

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