# NTLDR is missing! [RESOLVED]



## wellmoon (Apr 6, 2007)

Hi,

I was messing about with my mobo bios settings and I set my FSB to 800Mhz but I think it only supports up to 400. After I saved and exited the PC just repeated a single long beep.

I removed the cmos battery for a few minutes and the computer then started to boot. Before it could get to the Windows loading screen it displayed a message saying NTLDR is missing.

I have tried a few things, going to the repair console and copying NTLDR from the windows CD to the c drive and also Fixboot, bootcfg /repair, fixmbr but nothing has fixed it.

Any ideas? Will a reinstall fix it? I gotta get this PC back up asap!


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

What maotherboard do you have?
Is your hardrive ide or sata?

Check your boot priority in bios then set your boot order to Cdrom 1st,hdd 
2nd


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## mattlock (Dec 28, 2005)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Hello Wellmoon, try the steps listed below. It'll rebuild the boot.ini file. 
Also, for future references, when you replace the NTLDR file you also need to replace the NTdetect.com file.

Step 1. Boot from your XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console
Step 2. Enter the command attrib -h -r -s c:\boot.ini
Step 3. Delete the file (del c:\boot.ini)
Step 4. Run bootcfg /rebuild
Step 5. Run fixboot

Post back with the results.

Matt


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## chauffeur2 (Feb 7, 2006)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Hi Wellmoon,

Just to add my 5½¢ worth....

There is a fairly 'simple' way around this *NTLDR* problem [I had it a couple of months ago]....
Here's the 'fast fix'...

You will need 2 things

1. A floppy Disc
2. A friend with a computer with the same version of Windows® Xp
[i.e: Xp Home or Xp Pro] If you have Xp Home then you will need access to a computer with Xp Home etc.

What you do is go to the 'good' computer and copy these files to the floppy Disc...

*Ntldr *; *NTDETECT.COM *; and, *boot.ini*

To view these particular files, you will have to "show hidden system files" from the Folder options.

Once you have these 3 files on the floppy, put it into the 'crook' computer, and start it up...Hey Presto! It Boots!
But wait there's more.....once you are up and running, you will have to check to see that the *boot.ini *file on your computer is reading the same for whatever version of Xp is installed.

That's about it...I did it this way and have not missed a beat since.

Give it a try and let us know the result.

Regards,


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## MoonShadow_1AU (Mar 23, 2005)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

This is the sort of problem I got when my HDD start order changed and the NTLDR (NT Loader) was missing on the first disc attempting to boot.

My solution was to go back to booting from the ATA IDE channel and using the SATA channels for data only. That way if the SATA channels ever dissapear the system will still start.

This always required me to enter the BIOS and reset which disc was on first, who was on second etc.


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## wellmoon (Apr 6, 2007)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Hi all, thanks for the responses,

I tried the full steps from matlock138, still didn't work, same problem, same message.

Chauffer, I tried copying NTLDR (and NTDETECT.com) from my windows cd back to the HD but this also did not fix it, same problem, same message.

The boot order is still set correctly and the SATA driver is still installed

My current set up is:

Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 mobo
SATA drive with windows installation on, IDE HDD for data on a hardware IDE RAID (so cant see it from BIOS)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
3Gb RAM

I'm going to try reinstalling windows without formatting so that at least some of my data (desktop, favourites, etc) should survive. If this doesn;t work then I'll try using the IDE as the main drive, but not sure how to change it to be the boot drive as the current SATA boot drive is set to HDD0 and it automatically looks for SCSI rather than IDE, but I guess there must be some way to change this....


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## chauffeur2 (Feb 7, 2006)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Hi again wellmoon, :wave:

Did you copy the *boot.ini.* file as well?...all 3 have to be done...the best way I found was to use the method that I did....but if that didn't work, try a *Repair Installation*, _without_ going into the *Recovery Console*.
If you are not sure how to do this, let us know and we will guide you.
Let us know if this works.

Regards,


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## wellmoon (Apr 6, 2007)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Hi Chauffeur2, yeah, I copied the boot ini file as well but could tell straight away there was still a problem following this.

Before the problem, my machine would go through several screens during boot, first screen was the usual screen, award bios, memory count, procesor ID etc, then it moved onto the SATA device scan, then it moved on the the IDE device scan , then there was another screen before finally the windows loading scren came up. Now the IDE screen and the next screen have been both put onto the same screen, not sure if this makes sense.

Tried a reinstall this morning without formatting but this did not fix it either.

Am going to try using the IDE drive as the main drive as this has never had a win installation on it and is purely a data drive (with loads of free space so I shouldn't lose anything...)

cheers


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## wellmoon (Apr 6, 2007)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Ok, tried using my IDE drive as primary master and installing onto that, but now I don't even get to the NTLDR is missing message (or the prompt to boot from CD)

Arg.

Any other ideas? My mobo does not seem to have any way of factory-resetting it. I tried using some other RAM just incase that got fried but no go.

Maybe if I tried the NTLDR, NTDETECT and boot.ini files from a working PC rather than the windows CD?

Or do I just need to face the fact that I've killed my PC...


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*



> I removed the cmos battery for a few minutes and the computer then started to boot. Before it could get to the Windows loading screen it displayed a message saying NTLDR is missing.
> 
> I have tried a few things, going to the repair console and copying NTLDR from the windows CD to the c drive and also Fixboot, bootcfg /repair, fixmbr but nothing has fixed it.


When you said you tried to copy the files in your first post and it did not work I had a hunch that there was another problem thats why I ask about the drives and what board you had.

Connect the orginal sata boot drive and remove the ide hardrive.
Connect the cdrom to ide 1

Clear the cmos by removing the battery with the machine unpluged. Start the computer and load the bios defaults.

Now go to the "advanced bios features" and highlite "SCSI/RAID Cntlr Boot Order" and press enter. There are two options too choose, first try ITE RAID Controller. Check the boot order and set to cdrom 1st and hdd 2nd.

Don't forget to save when you exit bios.

If this won't let you boot from your sata try setting "Silicon Image RAID Controller" under "SCSI/RAID Cntlr Boot Order" in the "advanced bios features"


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## wellmoon (Apr 6, 2007)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Hi, 

I tried this, in the Advanced bios settings section, I have to change the boot device to SCSI in order to gain access to the SATA/RAID/SCSI boot order and in this menu there is then three options, SCSI, RAID and SATA.

I have tried all three options, and then gone back to the boot order and changed it back from SCSI to HDD0 (and now the boot screens have gone back to how they used to look) but now I get a missage that there is a problem with the disk configuration and that it could not read from the selected disk...


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## wellmoon (Apr 6, 2007)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Right, success!

Set SCSI/RAID boot ctrl order to SATA then did another bootcfg /rebuild and it worked! 

I am now back into windows, reinstalling all my apps and stuff again and didn't lose any data...

Cheers for all the advice :grin:


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## mattlock (Dec 28, 2005)

*Re: NTLDR is missing!*

Fantastic! Glad you're back up and running.:smile: 

Nicely done Doby, nicely done.ray: 

Matt


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Yes glad you got it all sorted and kept your data,,,,
Thanks Matt!


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