ntldr missing, caused by mthb?

[jsmc]

Hi,

I've got a problem with my second computer. this week we've lost electricity for a few hours, and since then when I boot it says NTLDR missing.

I've searched the web to solve my problem. I've tried almost all procedure and nothing works:

Using the xp boot cd i've been able to do the following:
- copied the ntldr and ntdetect.com to the c: and rebooted, nothing!!
- fixboot and fixmbr, nothing!!
- played with the cable, nothing
- i've done a complete repair of windows, recopy of the windows files, nothing...
- done a chkdsk and found one error, but don't know what error it is!

I'm thinking that the problem might not come from the hardrive but from the motherboard. I've already add the same problem with another hardrive after electricity loss. The mthb is a Abit kt7-raid and is old. Oh yeah, I've also lost a video card on this mthb, might be the AGP slot or the card, i'm not sure.

So can this problem come from my mthb, if not is their anything else I can do to fix this?

 

[Division]

I had the same problem but it kinda resolved itself. Were you running a RAID?

 

[jsmc]

no, I was not running a raid, simply normal IDE

what do you mean by it resolved itself??

 

[Milbo183]

Have you checked the boot device order settings in your bios?If for some reason it has changed the first boot device to raid or external dev. it can cause that problem.

 

[elpresidente2075]

Make sure you check your boot order. It is giving that error because it can't find the file to initialize the OS. If anything, hit the button to display the boot menu when the bios posts. Then select the hard disk to boot to windows. If that doesn't work (it should) I don't know what the problem is. However, if it is, make sure the boot order includes the hard disk, and you should be fine. Also make sure you don't have any floppies in the drive (if you have one).

 

[inshadows]

Also be aware that the cable may be knackered. Had the same problem with a SATA drive after moving my pc from home to uni.
Good luck

 

[mesarectifier]

NTLDR is a file on the hard disk, I don't really see how your motherboard would have anything to do with this.

This sort of error is why I always keep a secondary partition at the back end of the drive for a 'rescue install' on all my Windows computers.

I've had this problem a whole bunch of times - and I've not solved it that I can remember. Some people might say repair, I'd say reinstall.

 

[jsmc]

boot setup is okay

their's no floppy in the floppy drive

i've checked with 2 different cable, one 80 pins and one 40 pins IDE

I even reload the fail safe on the bios in case something was wrong, nothing!!

I know it's a file missing, but i've done everything I found on the web to resolve the problem, and nothing worked!!

If I reinstall I presume windows will have to format the drive?? If so I'm doomed, their's around 100Gb of data on that drive, it's signled partitioned (should have done at least 2 differents!)

 

[reaper]

boot setup is okay

their's no floppy in the floppy drive

i've checked with 2 different cable, one 80 pins and one 40 pins IDE

I even reload the fail safe on the bios in case something was wrong, nothing!!

I know it's a file missing, but i've done everything I found on the web to resolve the problem, and nothing worked!!

If I reinstall I presume windows will have to format the drive?? If so I'm doomed, their's around 100Gb of data on that drive, it's signled partitioned (should have done at least 2 differents!)

You dont have to reformat the drive when you reinstall your Windows XP, because there is an option to keep every file intact, you just have to select it. So it's not a big problem, the reinstallation will just overwrite the OS files you already have on your computer. The NTLDR file is missing due to a corrupted file/s on your computer.

 

[bornking]

I agree with Reaper.
Try a quick fix with the windows disc. Backup your stuff, and then do a real clean install.

Cheers.

 

[jsmc]

i've just tried to reinstall it!! guess what!!! NTLDR missing

 

[elpresidente2075]

What other devices do you have on this system? This is being caused by your harddisk's boot files not being recognized by the system. This may be caused by your old hardware starting to fail.

It seems to me like you are looking for an excuse to upgrade. This clearly would be a perfect reason to do so.

On a side note, how long does it take you to install windows? If it is an exceedingly long time, 2+ hours, it may be your hard drive starting to fail.

 

[Division]

I had the same problem. I formatted all the hard drives and tried to start clean but kept getting that error.

I had 3 hard drives previously, 2 of them running RAID 0. When I got a new mobo I ended up having to start over and reinstall everything.

Now when I went to reinstall I only partitioned the main drive I was going to install the OS on. The other 2 I left alone untill I was ready to set up the raid later. For some reason I kept getting the ntldr missing error.

Then I decided to go ahead and partition the other drives and BAM, it worked. Almost as if I'm installing the OS on one drive but it needs one of the others for the ntldr. It was weird. If I tried to switch those 2 to a RAID setup I'd get the ntldr error again. So right now I can't run a RAID.

 

[jsmc]

on my computer I have:

-sound card (sound blaster live)
-noname pci video card 8mo (it's my backup since the other one crashed)
-10bmit network card
-cd-wr
-1 x 250gb hd, NOT in raid setup

the computer is my old one and I used it to store the data and to do some networking. I've recently bought a 3000$ laptop, so I don't really want to upgrade the other one, just make it work!!!

the hard drive is new, and doesn't seem to have any kind of problem, I've done a chkdsk with the bootable CD and found only 1 problem, but of course didn't show what the problem was!!

I will try to create another partition without removing all the data!! then reinstall windows!!

btw thank you for your help!

 

[Hawkeye22]

It sounds like your boot.ini file is pointing to the wrong partition or drive. It should look something like this.

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Make sure the disk and partition are pointed to the correct place.

 

[vegettonox]

It is possible that a boot sector virus could be on your system. i know its probably not possible but is there a computer nearby you can swap boot drives with and see if that copy of windows loads ?

A simple format will usually not remove those viruses.

I would also recommend removing everything peripheral from your system. disconnect your cd drives, and floppy and just continue the boot and see what happens. If you get the message again with just the hd attached then try unplugging it and just leave in your floppy so it has a boot device. If you get the message again its definitly your motherboard although ive never seen this specific problem from a mobo. This sort of message almost only comes when it fails to load an os from any boot device.

one more thing... do you have any external storage device attached to your system because there are quite a few mobos that seem to swap boot devices when you plug one of these in. Most often i see the boot drive being pushed either down or out of the boot order and sometimes even out of the system configuration files in cmos when one of these babies are plugged in.