NTLDR is missing????

[Zafiras]

Ive just formatted/installed windows xp 3 times now trying to get it working right, once i get it up to how i want it and restart (or shutdown), when it starts up in black screen area comes up looking like the following:

Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM:

Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM:

NTLDR is missing

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to Restart


so then i press ctr/alt/delete and it loops to the same again... and again... til i decide i best be starting the re-installation of XP again.

All i had done was install:
XP
Security UPdate CD
Norton
Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D
Zone Alarm
Direct Connect (once only)
Yahoo Messenger

anyways what is NTLDR? and is there any way of preventing it from disapearing, or if it goes any way of repairing windows from the the repair console (in dos mode) - im sick of re-installing everything for something to go missing like this, dont really want to restart until i find out whats going on... dont want to lose the lot again.

Also windows wont format my spare HDD - it formatted in dos mode but windows wont recognise its formatted - when asked to do it it says "windows was unable to complete the format" - any ideas on that one??

[nivek329]

Try looking here m8
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

Microsoft have a trouble shoot on it aswell.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;318728

[acal3000]

I saw the same problem with machine of a cousin. i re-formatted but I had problems again the hd was damaged. i don't know if that is your case but you should check the hd. Also before you re-install I suggest to delete the entire partition then create a new partition and then re-format. Not format over the same data

[Zafiras]

have a new hard drive (barely used)so im hoping its not that - so far i have reformatted completely (as u suggest with deleting partions, etc) - have done it a further 3 times since original post.

atm im doing trial and error - havnt done any windows updates to see if thats part of the prob.

the file NTLDR is located at c:/windows/servicepackfiles/i386 .... so im also keeping an eye on that.

thanks for the links Nivek... am checking them out now :)

[Skullcrusha]

I had the same problem once. It turned out that I had too many of my power cables that run my fans in my case attached to the power cable that runs my hdd. After disconnecting them and rearranging them to run from different power sources it worked fine.

Other than that, is your bios detecting your hdd during POST?

[sublime]

try setting your bios so that it attempts to boot from the hdd before the cdrom.

[TriForce190]

agreed with sublime... Check ya BIOS, maybe your HD0 is not set as a boot record set it as first or second.
BTW... if ya NTLDR is missing ya will not be able to start ya computer this is the hart of your OS to start up.
NTLDR is a basic "program" (it is not really a program) that loads all the system sources like all of the DLL files if these not can start up ya will not start ya computer up
If your BIOS is set alright... check the jumper settings on the HDD maybe ya have 2 masters set or maybe ya have selected cable select and ya computer won't detect it...
so put HDD as MASTER and CD-ROM as SLAVE
Good luck with it m8
cheers

[NorthViking]

Short for NT Loader, a program loaded from the hard drive boot sector that displays the Microsoft Windows NT startup menu and helps Windows NT load.

Often a user will see the message "NTLDR is Missing" after attempting to install Windows 2000 or Windows XP, or upgrade a Windows 95-based or Windows 98-based computer to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The message appears after the first reboot. This occurs only if Windows 95 or 98 has been installed on a drive with the FAT32 file system.

To correct the problem, the user must boot the computer with a Windows 95 or 98 Startup diskette or another bootable diskette with sys.com on it. Then, at the "A:\>" prompt, type "sys c:" and press "enter." A "System Transferred" prompt should appear and then the user must reboot the computer without the diskette.

Hope that easy solution works.

You should use NTFS format on the harddrive when using XP.

[Zafiras]

had the system working a-ok now for 2 days - info given has been very helpful, im leaning towards a mixture of solutions - i know its not my hdd settings as they were both working fine (one set as master and one as slave, etc) and all cables in properly, i dont run excessive fans (yet) but will keep that one in mind to... I will be upgrading next week so hopfully a fresh start on everything - software included

once again thanks :)

[NorthViking]

Zafiras,
Did you try what I wrote.

Want to know if that solution works.

[Zafiras]

just come off my last incident just now... unfortunately that didnt work m8... i have bought myself a new copy of XP and hope maybe my other disc was marked or degraded - if this doesnt work i will look back at hardware

[Attakorn]

I also had the NTLDR missing problem too. What i did was "sys C:" (or the windows drive) like "NorthViking" said.

About problem formatting in Windows...I think its because you didn't complete a format once..Try using fdisk (in WinME or Win98 bootable disk) PartitionMagic Rescue Disks and delete the partition and create it again then format it as FAT32 or NTFS then it should be working fine!

[NorthViking]

Yes it's possibly due to the upgrade or format as said earlier.

Zafiras, I doubt changing XP CD will help, but try.

Reformat as as Attakorn said.

[Zafiras]

tried a new cd but to no avail... consulted the computer shop i go to and he said pretty much what you guys said... i gave up and completed my mobo/cpu upgrade and not a problem since.

The computer shop looked at my old mobo/cpu and said there wasnt much thermal glue on the heat sinc (hmm not bad seeing they did the original job) and they pointed fingers at that saying it was heating to much... i dont beleive that one tho - more so that there was some part of my hardware failing... none the less it seems to be working fine now