NTLDR Missing…
August 5th, 2016
Upon entering Windows XP setup by putting CD in on bootup, it couldn’t get to 100% setup because the files could not be copied, I tried skipping this stage which led to an unstable system.
Now, when the PC boots up I’m getting;
“NTLDR is missing, press CTRL + ALT + DEL to restart”
I’ve tried EVERY website that ‘helps’ this problem including;
ntldrismissing.com
computerhope.com
And all of the links I get back when searching in Google haven’t been any help, and I’ve tried creating a bootable disk which just doesn’t work at all.
Is there anything I can do to get this problem sorted as quick as possible?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Well you have only one solution and that is to get a perfectly working XP disc and then running the setup again.
Upon entering Windows XP setup by putting CD in on bootup, it couldn't get to 100% setup because the files could not be copied, I tried skipping this stage which led to an unstable system.
Now, when the PC boots up I'm getting;
"NTLDR is missing, press CTRL + ALT + DEL to restart"
NTDLR usually means that the hdd could not be found. Perhaps something changed in your bios ie boot sequence and/or you added h/ware? Maybe windoze did something stupid. You should id why set-up failed, whether its the cd or hdd that was at fault. If the system has proved unstable be very cautious about relying on that hdd.
Personally, I’d boot from CD perform and then re-install, including a full (not quick) format, you’ve nothing to lose if its been unstable.
I’ve tried to reinstall Windows by putting the CD in, but it doesn’t boot and within seconds of saying “booting from CD” it skips to the NTLDR error.
I’ve tried to copy the required files to the hard drive which hasn’t worked because the ‘fix’ as you would call it, hasn’t and doesn’t go anywhere near fixing either.
The HD is IDE-1 which I could change over with a 20GB SATA-I hard drive that previously had XP on, but maybe erasing the disc completely deleted all files which it obviously does being an erase tool, but I’ve erased my HD’s before using Active KillDisk and I’ve still reinstalled Windows afterwards numerous times.
And do you think a genuine XP disc would work?
the hdd apear in bios? do you set on boot device: 1. cd-rom and 2 hdd?
The Xp that was on the SATA (& presumably OK), is that the same XP that you installed to IDE? Or are you trying one of these ‘tweaked’ versions which seem tobe problematic quite often.
You should go to manufacturers site and d/l their disc diagnostics. Its specific to your hdd /group and operates at a dos level. That would confirm hdd ok or offer to repair.
Both I and suspected that the boot sequence is wrong, but since you get booting from CD thats probably not the case. Kill disc leaves the hdd clean and ready for install.
The hard drive appears in BIOS, and the version of XP I’m trying to install is XP Professional SP2, standard issue, retail copy.
I presuming it could be the old 98 hard drive, and I’ll download a disc diagnostics bootable and see what it says, and I’m also going to install 98 and see if that makes any difference.
I’m aware of Kill Disk and I’ve been using it for a couple of years now and it’s never completely messed up a HDD, not once. I’m presuming it may likely be the HDD? The specifications are rather remarkable to say it used to be a 98 system, it’s got 512MB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6200 and Gigabyte 98 motherboard, not quite sure what the model is however.
try reburning the OS iso at the lowest rate possible, like 4x, if you think it’s the CD
or
get/use a boot disk to format the drive before you start XP install
and getting the disk mfg diagnostic app to check the disk is not a bad idea
or
go into the XP disk’s repair console and try the “fixboot” command
Make sure the HD or HD partition you are trying to load the OS into is set to active. Use HirensBootCD (Partition Magic) to check this out. Also, do a quick HD check and quick format of your HD using Partition Magic.
Reset your BIOS using the jumper on the motherboard. Then Check in the BIOS that the boot order is CD\DVD drive first then the HD second.
If you have two CD/DVD drives, disconnect the one you are not using inside your PC case. If you have two HD’s, disconnect the one you are not using then try to install OS. You can always reconnect HD’s and CD/DVD drives once OS is installed.
I have had similiar problems in the past when trying to install an OS. Files would not copy across. Now I have three CD’s of the same OS and whenever I have that file copy error I take out the CD that’s in the drive and put one of the others in. This usually works a treat and all files eventually copy across.
No wait I had this problem…
None of these will help you let me find the file… hope you have a USB flash drive or A drive.
Go here.
http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm
Download that file.
Make sure you have a blank floppy in drive or a blank USB flash drive in. I used USB stick and it worked fine. This will reactivate your HDD.
Let me know what happens.
I’m gunna go up to the library and use their floppy drives, this does work right?
I’ve been trying to fix this PC for quite some time now, beginning to annoy me and the owner
Thanks for replying, I’ll get back to you when I’ve got a floppy disk bootable ready.
LOL just go buy a cheap USB flash drive…. 10 dollars.
I do have a personal experience of this situation and so I shall suggest you the following.
NTLDR missing in your case is due to a faulty installation because all the files required for the installation were not copied from the disk due to your disk being scratched or being one of poor quality. Usually the other case of NTLDR missing is when your boot loader is corrupted which is NOT the case here. So replacing files or using Windows repair is unlikely to help.
The solution as I mentioned earlier is to burn a fresh disc using a freshly downloaded ISO or get a copy of XP from your friends. Then try reinstalling again by simply formatting your HDD from the XP setup.
Hope this helps.
Ah I see, I’ll try another version of Windows XP and see if this helps. And I’m going to replace the hard drive was one that was previously running XP and see if this works.
Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated
I don’t think that is going to help you.
You have to physically load the NTLDR file to activate the hard drives in your pc. OS install will not do this. Why didn’t you try what I told you? It really is an easy fix you just have to do it. Let me know when you get done playing around with OS’s… they have nothing to do with NTLDR file.
I don't think that is going to help you.
You have to physically load the NTLDR file to activate the hard drives in your pc. OS install will not do this. Why didn't you try what I told you? It really is an easy fix you just have to do it. Let me know when you get done playing around with OS's... they have nothing to do with NTLDR file.
I haven’t played around with no OS , for that matter I haven’t gone anywhere near the machine yet and I’m awaiting my new library card to access the machines with floppy drives, modern days don’t require floppies and I actually thought the last time I’d see one was the last time I ran Windows 98
Thanks for your… comments and your wittiness, really could do with some livening up
I don’t understand your problem I think.
And yes modern days do require floppy drives. Laptops, I have a 2006 model, require SATA drivers to be loaded by floppy only. When you install an operating system, other than the restore package you get with it, you will need a floppy USB drive (A.
Is this the problem you are having?
You tried to load a new OS on a machine and half way through loading the computer “got” restarted. Now everytime you restart the PC to resume or re-install the OS yo get NTLDR error?
I am sorry if I came off in the wrong tone. I am just 1000% percent sure that if the above is your situation, I can show you how to fix it.
Thanks for your... comments and your wittiness, really could do with some livening up
I also struggled to see what he was adding and particulalry how he’d missed that all comments were pre-o/s related.
If it was win98, its was a fat32 disc. Kill disc should perfom a low level format leaving it like a new disc and if the disc was faulty, I’d expect that to be flagged(75% sure). We’re always hearing how stuff can be recovered from a drive. I remember that if win 98 was cloned from another drive of different capacity, 98 ran fine (subject to bios settings) but upgrading to xp was problematic. You seem knowledgable enough, so just offering the thought that the mbr may have been screwed in some way by this combination of events. Maybe nothing, on the other hand…………
Good Luck, I sympathise with your frustrations and sincerely wish I could offer a concrete theory + resolution – sadly I cant.
NTLDR is the NT Boot LoaDeR and it is installed when you install XP.
Use HirensBootCD to check out your HD setup (use Partition Magic on the CD)
Make sure the drive you are installing the OS into is set to active. If any other partitions are set to active reset them to none. If you have any partitions set to hidden, unhide them. If possible use primary and not logical partitions.
Format your drive (or partition) and do a fresh/clean install.
NTLDR is a hidden system file and you can only see it if you uncheck the view system files in the folder options/view tab in Windows Explorer.
to fix the problem boot with ur xp cd. choose r on the first option screen to get into the command prompt. then just type:
fixmbr (to fix master boot record)
and fixboot (to fix boot sector)
its always worked for me. if that doesent work and you cant reinstall xp from scratch, just repair the installation. PM me if you need
Well it seems no one seems to grasp the fact that he skipped the reading of some files from the CD during installation.
NTLDR error in this case is due to faulty installation of XP due to error in the XP disc. The other type of NTLDR error occurs when the boot loader and system files get corrupted which can be solved using fixboot or fixmbr but that wll not help here because he might be missing a number of system files due to skipping of the files during the XP installation.
So the HDD is perfectly all right. I guess the need is to run the installation again from a fresh XP disc.
Okay, well thankfully I’ve got 5 copies of Windows XP, all retail copies and I’ll try to re-install XP. I’m also going to put ‘fixntldr’ onto a floppy disk and see if that works.
Thanks for all your advice, really much appreciated, I thank you all for your kind support and if you ever have any problems that I might be able to sort out myself – just give a shout!
to fix the problem boot with ur xp cd. choose r on the first option screen to get into the command prompt. then just type:
fixmbr (to fix master boot record)
and fixboot (to fix boot sector)
its always worked for me. if that doesent work and you cant reinstall xp from scratch, just repair the installation. PM me if you need
If you get the NTLDR error is as soon as you turn on your pc… you will never see anything ..or does it have to do with the OS.
It is the file that tells the computer how to and where to handle the hard drives.
i had that problem on my computer, it could mean that youu have no operating system on ur computer, i dont think its the CD change ur boot sequence so that it recognises the CD-ROM drive FIRST, that way it picks up that there’s a CD before anything else!!!
trust me, i had the same problem!!! and its not the computer or harddrive.. just change ur boot sequence, get F8 or F11 or F12 (cant remember loll) at start-up and you’ll get some screen, look for boot sequence there
hope it helps
ratty
Yeah thanks man, I will try all the tips given to me and see which works. Thanks for your advice, very much appreciate it
a great help can be ERD Commander or Wincare 2007. Search in WBB
many times erd commander saved my bottom and the first time I lost ntldr I repaired with erd commander. Give a try.
Have fun
maybe memory is bad?
its definately the boot sequence! i had the same problem on my computer, there’s no operating system on the machine, it cannot start up, the computer has to be able to recognise the CD-ROM drive before anything else so it can copy the files!!!
NTLDR..file
http://~ Dead file host ~/files/74613739/ntldr.rar
Alright i just solved this problem when my computer got this error. I did a bootable USB from this guide and resolved the problem… Then I reformat windows…
Note: Make sure Boot Sequence is in the right order… Floppy at 1, CD at 2, and lastly IDE at 3.
http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm