Solve : NTLDR problems?

1.	Solve : NTLDR problems?
Answer» So everytime I start my computer I get a message NTLDR missing, now ive googled this alot, and come across alot of advice, most of the solutions involve a windows CD. Im useing windows xp home, and have no windows cd. Even with all usb ports unpluged, all disks and cds out I still get the message. I was able to boot and access my harddrive without any problem useing a live knoppix cd, which I would GUESS means the harddrive is functioning properly. I read about too many files on the root in windows causeing it to mess up the partition or something, this problem has happened about 5 times, each time requireing me to reinstall XP from a rescue partition on my drive. each even is about 4 or 5 months apart, so Im thinking that is the problem but I dont know, is there any advice or solutions anyone can give me out there?Everyone needs a Windows CD...this would be the first place to start. NOTE: You can borrow one as long as it is a Microsoft XP CD and not an OEM ( HP, Compaq, Acer etc.) as long as the version and Service Packs installed match... In other words if you are running XP Pro with SP2 installed then that is the CD you need to facilitate repairs...Coldlogic - Welcome to the CH forums. If you can access your hard drive search for NTLDR, there may be a copy of it lurking in other folders. The size should be 250,048 bytes. If found copy it to the root of C: and reboot. Quote I read about too many files on the root in windows causeing it to mess up the partition Well, yes, maybe. I believe that file fragmentation is the main cause of NTLDR going awol, to protect its integrity it is moved to a secondary (mirror) Master File Table which is not searched during the boot sequence. IMHO maintenance of the system partition is crucial in avoiding such error conditions. (CCleaner, Defrag etc). Good luck.thanks for the replies! appretiated, I have no access to an XP disc, I really dont know anyone with one that I can get ahold of anytime soon, also I did a search for the ntldr file, which i couldnt find, however i did notice I accually had a copy on my root drive c: is there a common place a backup of this file would be stored?Quote also I did a search for the ntldr file, which i couldnt find, however i did notice I accually had a copy on my root drive c: Yep, that's normal, NTLDR is not missing, it's just not in the file table which is searched during boot. Please supply some details of your hardware, in particular do you have a floppy diskette drive, access to a pc running XP? i have a floppy drive in both my computers, and one of them has a working version of xp running on it.That's good news. On the working pc copy the files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to a clean floppy. Put the floppy in the non-working pc and boot from it. Note that you might have to change your boot sequence in bios to boot from the floppy first. If my memory serves me right the files on the floppy will be used to boot your pc and the copy of Windows on your hard drive will be loaded. After loading Windows you can copy NTLDR from the floppy to the root of C:, remove the floppy and reboot. I then suggest that you immediately do some maintenance on your system partition (C:) such as DiskCleanup (altho' I prefer CCleaner) and certainly Defrag and get into some regular routine of maintaining integrity on the system partition. Hope this is helpful, please post back with your results. Thanks.ok heres what i did, I copied those 3 files from my working xp computer, put them onto the root drive c: replaceing the original files, the result was different, i didnt get the NTLDR missing message, but the pc froze at the same spot with no message this time. I then rebooted it and it came up with the original message NTLDR missing. I made backups of all of the files I replaced, when i changed the boot.ini back to the original the exact same THING happened, it froze up the first boot, then on the second it came up with the missing NTLDR message. I checked and the boot.ini is not being altered in anyway between the two boots. Quote ok heres what i did, I copied those 3 files from my working xp computer, put them onto the root drive c: replaceing the original files, the result was different Why did you copy the three files to the root of C:? That's not what was asked of you, my post says Quote On the working pc copy the files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to a clean floppy. Put the floppy in the non-working pc and boot from it. Note that you might have to change your boot sequence in bios to boot from the floppy first. and Quote After loading Windows you can copy NTLDR from the floppy to the root of C:, remove the floppy and reboot Try booting from the floppy disk, go no further, and please let US know what happens. I can assure you that booting from the floppy does work, I've used this METHOD countless numbers of times, but you must follow the procedure, going off on a tangent might cause mayhem. NewBedfordKnight: Please start your own thread. For clarity, this one is dedicated to coldlogic's problem. --dahlarbear

Answer»

So everytime I start my computer I get a message NTLDR missing, now ive googled this alot, and come across alot of advice, most of the solutions involve a windows CD. Im useing windows xp home, and have no windows cd.

Even with all usb ports unpluged, all disks and cds out I still get the message.
I was able to boot and access my harddrive without any problem useing a live knoppix cd, which I would GUESS means the harddrive is functioning properly.

I read about too many files on the root in windows causeing it to mess up the partition or something, this problem has happened about 5 times, each time requireing me to reinstall XP from a rescue partition on my drive. each even is about 4 or 5 months apart, so Im thinking that is the problem but I dont know, is there any advice or solutions anyone can give me out there?Everyone needs a Windows CD...this would be the first place to start.

NOTE: You can borrow one as long as it is a Microsoft XP CD and not an OEM ( HP, Compaq, Acer etc.) as long as the version and Service Packs installed match...

In other words if you are running XP Pro with SP2 installed then that is the CD you need to facilitate repairs...Coldlogic - Welcome to the CH forums.

If you can access your hard drive search for NTLDR, there may be a copy of it lurking in other folders. The size should be 250,048 bytes. If found copy it to the root of C: and reboot.

Quote

I read about too many files on the root in windows causeing it to mess up the partition

Well, yes, maybe. I believe that file fragmentation is the main cause of NTLDR going awol, to protect its integrity it is moved to a secondary (mirror) Master File Table which is not searched during the boot sequence. IMHO maintenance of the system partition is crucial in avoiding such error conditions. (CCleaner, Defrag etc).

Good luck.thanks for the replies! appretiated, I have no access to an XP disc, I really dont know anyone with one that I can get ahold of anytime soon,

also I did a search for the ntldr file, which i couldnt find, however i did notice I accually had a copy on my root drive c:

is there a common place a backup of this file would be stored?Quote

also I did a search for the ntldr file, which i couldnt find, however i did notice I accually had a copy on my root drive c:

Yep, that's normal, NTLDR is not missing, it's just not in the file table which is searched during boot.

Please supply some details of your hardware, in particular do you have a floppy diskette drive, access to a pc running XP?

i have a floppy drive in both my computers, and one of them has a working version of xp running on it.That's good news. On the working pc copy the files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to a clean floppy. Put the floppy in the non-working pc and boot from it. Note that you might have to change your boot sequence in bios to boot from the floppy first.

If my memory serves me right the files on the floppy will be used to boot your pc and the copy of Windows on your hard drive will be loaded. After loading Windows you can copy NTLDR from the floppy to the root of C:, remove the floppy and reboot.

I then suggest that you immediately do some maintenance on your system partition (C:) such as DiskCleanup (altho' I prefer CCleaner) and certainly Defrag and get into some regular routine of maintaining integrity on the system partition.

Hope this is helpful, please post back with your results.

Thanks.ok heres what i did, I copied those 3 files from my working xp computer, put them onto the root drive c: replaceing the original files, the result was different, i didnt get the NTLDR missing message, but the pc froze at the same spot with no message this time. I then rebooted it and it came up with the original message NTLDR missing.

I made backups of all of the files I replaced, when i changed the boot.ini back to the original the exact same THING happened, it froze up the first boot, then on the second it came up with the missing NTLDR message. I checked and the boot.ini is not being altered in anyway between the two boots.

Quote

ok heres what i did, I copied those 3 files from my working xp computer, put them onto the root drive c: replaceing the original files, the result was different

Why did you copy the three files to the root of C:? That's not what was asked of you, my post says Quote

On the working pc copy the files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to a clean floppy. Put the floppy in the non-working pc and boot from it. Note that you might have to change your boot sequence in bios to boot from the floppy first.

and

Quote

After loading Windows you can copy NTLDR from the floppy to the root of C:, remove the floppy and reboot

Try booting from the floppy disk, go no further, and please let US know what happens.

I can assure you that booting from the floppy does work, I've used this METHOD countless numbers of times, but you must follow the procedure, going off on a tangent might cause mayhem.

NewBedfordKnight:
Please start your own thread. For clarity, this one is dedicated to coldlogic's problem.
--dahlarbear

Solve : NTLDR problems?

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