"NTLDR is missing" - do I have to reinstall XP to get around this and boot up?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tdick
  • Start date Start date
T

tdick

Hello, I am getting error message "NTLDR is missing" when trying to
boot up my Dell Dimension 8250 XP box. F2 and F12 work but F8 (safe
mode) does not, at least I have not been able to get it to boot to safe
mode. Have rebooted from the XP boot disk and run chkdsk /r but this
does not solve it. Am advised by a local tech help person that only
solution will be to reinstall XP. Does anyone know of alternatives to
this? I would rather not do a full reinstall of XP if I can help it.
Thanks.
 
You could try booting from the install CD and seeing if you can run a
recovery. That's assuming Dell supplied a real CD that can be used to
recover with.
 
You could try an install from the CD and then just install over the existing
windows.
 
Thanks, I have done that, but does not work. . .
Click to expand...

No NTLDR is the message you get when you have re-formatted your
windows partition, you have either done this (which is unlikely as its
not easy to do without trying hard) or the HDD is dead / corrupt,
either way the PC can't find anything on the disk it can run and no
amount of fiddling will convince it otherwise.

You can only re-install windows at this point, the tech was correct.
If you have a proper full copy of Windows XP as opposed to a Dell
version you may get away with a repair install but I doubt it. In your
position I would put another HDD in, set up XP on it from scratch and
try to recover the data on the old disk via setting it up as a slave
drive (assuming its readable).

I use Acronis True image running a daily incremental image of my HDDs
so if I do get a disk failure I can restore my partitions & data with
ease on a new HDD.

Sorry there is no easy way to do this if you have no good backups.

Jonah
 
Have you checked to see if there's a disk in the floppy drive? Strange as it
seems, this will also generate the same error message.

--
Hope this helps,
Newt
Lat: 39° 59' 12" N, Long: 75° 24' 2" W


| Thanks, I have done that, but does not work. . .
|
 
Hello, I am getting error message "NTLDR is missing" when trying to
boot up my Dell Dimension 8250 XP box. F2 and F12 work but F8 (safe
mode) does not, at least I have not been able to get it to boot to safe
mode. Have rebooted from the XP boot disk and run chkdsk /r but this
does not solve it. Am advised by a local tech help person that only
solution will be to reinstall XP. Does anyone know of alternatives to
this? I would rather not do a full reinstall of XP if I can help it.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Check out this page first

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

Windows XP users

1.. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2.. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3.. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4.. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and
pressing enter.
5.. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that
password.
6.. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard
disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive
letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\


7.. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD
from the computer and reboot.
Ted
 
Hi

Try this:

Boot with your XP CD in the cd drive. Select 'To repair..' by pressing 'R'.
When in the Recovery Console type the following:

"copy X:\i386\ntldr C:\" - without the quotes.

Where X is the letter of your CD drive and C is the letter of your system
drive. Take the XP CD out of the cd drive and reboot into XP normally.

--


Will Denny
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
 
Will said:
Hi

Try this:

Boot with your XP CD in the cd drive. Select 'To repair..' by
pressing 'R'. When in the Recovery Console type the following:

"copy X:\i386\ntldr C:\" - without the quotes.

Where X is the letter of your CD drive and C is the letter of your
system drive. Take the XP CD out of the cd drive and reboot into XP
normally.
Click to expand...


Hi Will,
Do you know if the "bcupdate2.exe" will do the same thing?
 
MAP said:
Hi Will,
Do you know if the "bcupdate2.exe" will do the same thing?
Click to expand...

Apparently it can, but I've never tried. If/when I do get the 'NTLDR' error
message, I use the Recovery Console method


--


Will Denny
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
 
Hi

Try this:

Boot with your XP CD in the cd drive. Select 'To repair..' by pressing 'R'.
When in the Recovery Console type the following:

"copy X:\i386\ntldr C:\" - without the quotes.

Where X is the letter of your CD drive and C is the letter of your system
drive. Take the XP CD out of the cd drive and reboot into XP normally.
Click to expand...

Didn't know you could do that I am a re-install and reload image man.
I tend to think if the C Drive gets corrupted for any reason I am
better off doing a reformat / reinstall, paranoia I spose.

I will try that one on a test machine, very useful

Jonah
 
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