NTLDR is missing after installing new hard drive

I just installed a new 80 GB Hitachi hard drive into my HP Pavillion PC running windows XP Home edition (sorry, not sure of the exact model, I am at the library.) I originally installed the new HD as a slave drive where I copied all the files from my old HD (I had received a SMART warning of imminent failure.) After the copy was complete (using the included software, OnTrack) I rebooted and did a repair install of windows XP to make it bootable using my Windows xp upgrade CD. After I did this I rebooted and received the message "NTLDR is missing." I then tried to reinstall windows with the recovery disk that originally came with my computer (which has windows ME on it.) I received the same message when I rebooted. I am pulling my hair out over this. An help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Reads a bit familiar.

I have just one question which may or may not be relavant.

When you rebooted did you reboot from a power off to the HD or to the XP CD to do the repair install ?

BillyBob

PS.
Would I win if I bet on HD ?

 

I'm not sure what your asking. When I rebooted the first time I went to the HD and it gave me an error. I realized I needed to make it bootable so put in my repair CD and rebooted. After it rebooted it said "Press any key to boot from CD" and I did that and proceeded to the repair. Again, thanks for any help. I'm trying the Microsoft solution now.

 

I have tried everything on this site http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm except fixing the boot.ini file because I don't know how to do that. Nothing has worked. I'll continue searching for a solution.

 

What I have done in the past when I get the message ntldr is missing is to boot the computer with the XP disk in the drive. Continue until it asks you if you want to go into the repair console. its fixmbr if am not mistaken and that shoud clear your problem. It repairs the boot sector on your harddrive.

 

Thanks, I tried fixmbr and fixboot to no avail. I think I will try booting with a bootable diskette and see if I can relieve the problem of having to research a solution at the library.

 

Awk. I'm not sure a repair would be possible after that. ME never heard of NTLDR.

 

Agree with Newt, you will need to determine just what is on the hdd.

first find out what partition(s) the hdd contain , use ME fdisk or XP's partition program.

was the old hdd with XP a FAT32 or NTFS partition ?

 

Will some more knowing person please read the above and see if you see what I see. ?

I do not think the HD being worked with will EVER work as it is. Or am I missing something or thinking wrong. I also see XP home being mentioned And then later on I see XP Upgrade Mentioned. Is it the SAME as the original.

I am anxiously awaiting to be corrected.

BillyBob

 

I do not think that was what we would call a Better Idea either.

XP Home. XP ?? ME . What the H*** is really on that machine now ?

My honest answer. Nothing that will ever work.

And more than likely DRIVERS are shot to U No Where.

BTW.

If anybody does wish to question me about my ideas, you may not get answered till LATE tonight. Tonight is our Golf night with our Freind in Canada.

BillyBob

 

NO WAY are you out of line. You are doing as I asked.

I agree. I have done it. This 80 HD in here is a COPY of a 40. But I did not boot directly to the HD the first time. I used a floppy boot and did a 98SE ( SAME OS AS EXISTING ) reinstall from the D:\Options folder on the HD. It now has XP Pro on it and NEVER a problem. other than the Idiot USER on occasion

But I DID NOT COPY Files. I copied the HARD DRIVE. Is there possibley a difference in procedure. Or are we miss-understanding.

I also used the WD software that came packed with the HD.

(I had received a SMART warning of imminent failure.)

The above message concerns me a bit though.

Another VERY good question. If I remember correctly it needed to be Master - Slave setup.

BillyBob

 

I set the new HD to master. At this point I have given up the idea of using this HD in its current state and am ready to just format it. Should I format it with my Recovery Disk with windows ME on it and then use my update disk to uprgrade to XP? I don't really think I can do anything else. And when I format can I use my Recovery disk (with ME on it) first or will I have to reformat the drive with the program that came with the HD?

 

format your new drive and start over to copy the files from one drive to another using the ontrack software. and when its done copying you need to set the new drive to active. I did the same thing once where I copied everything with drive image and forgot to set the new drive to active. don't try to do anything with ME either.