NTLDR Missing when trying to re-install after format

Can someone please help me with this problem?

It all began with constant error screens popping up out of nowhere and my laptop acting all strange so I decided to reformat my drive with the XP Home Edition CD I got with my laptop. The formating went fine, but when it came time to do the actual installation, my laptop re-started and I now get a "NTLDR is Missing Press Ctrl+Alt+Del" message. I did just that, and now it the CD-ROM won't even load the XP CD. I checked my Boot settings in the BIOS and they are in the following order: CD-ROM, Floppy, HardDisk, PXE.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi Mutt:

I "had" the same problem some time ago, and this worked for me: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=119467

 

Not an option

Thanks for the suggestion Suzette. Unfortunatly my laptop does not have a floppy drive.

 

Hello Mutt,

This seems to be a commom problem latelay, if you do a search on NTLDR is missing, lots of hits.

You can also try to use the Recovery Console to fix the boot.ini:

To start the Recovery Console from the Windows CD, follow these steps:

Insert the Windows CD and restart your computer. Follow your computer’s prompts to start from the CD. (You may need to adjust settings in the computer’s BIOS to enable the option to start from a CD.)

Follow the setup prompts to load the basic Windows startup files. At the Welcome To Setup screen, press R to start the Recovery Console.

If you have multiple options on the Windows startup menu, enter the number of the Windows installation you want to access from the Recovery Console.

When prompted, type the Administrator password. If you’re using the Recovery Console on a system running Windows XP Home Edition, this password is blank by default, so just press Enter.

At the command prompt, enter Recovery Console commands directly. To quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, use the Exit command.

You're going to have to judge which of the following applies: If the cfg command doesn't solve it, than try the Fixboot command.

The Boot.ini file is corrupt or missing:
From the Recovery Console, type bootcfg /scan to list all available Windows installations on all available disks.

Use bootcfg /rebuild to automatically replace the existing Boot.ini file; use bootcfg /add to append a Windows installation to Boot.ini without changing existing entries.

Another operating system replaced the Windows XP boot sector code, start Recovery Console from the Windows CD and use the Fixboot command to rewrite the boot sector code. Restart your computer. The boot sector code is where XP is, on C.

Regards - Charles

 

Will the laptop let you do a safe boot? It sounds like you don't have any "input" media other than cd-rom? Burn a "bootable floppy" onto a cd-rom. XP pc's have this capability. According to the link, they're saying you have a bad driver. My first action would be to remove the battery and work directly from AC----the wall...

The laptop does not sound old, try calling the manufacturer, i.e. Sony, IBM, Dell, Gateway and explain the problem.

At this point, it can't hurt to give these a try...

 

Completely Re-formated

When I power-on my laptop it seems as though it skips through the boot sequence, directly to the HardDisk boot skipping CD-ROM. The light on the CD-ROM just constantly flashes with no sound until I recieve the NTLDR message. Then it sounds as though the CD-ROM is being used. I have gone through the other threads on this matter but have not found a situation quite like mine. I have not attempted to create a boot CD, so I will try that see if it works. I'll be back with the results.

Thanks again.

 

Mutt, It might pay to try another XP install CD. The boot sector on yours may be damaged and won't allow the disk to boot.

Since you have already formatted the drive, you can forget any error messages you get when trying to boot it now. Of course it will say the NTLDR is missing. That's not the least of what's missing. Everything is missing!

If you can borrow another install CD from a friend, you can use your product code with it if it's the same version as yours.

If you can't get another CD, you'll need to create a bootable CD with enough tools and cd-rom support to try and run the install using it to access the i386 folder on the install CD. Just boot the created boot CD and then pull it and change to the i386 directory and run winnt.exe.

You may also consider creating a small FAT32 partition (using tools on the bootable cd) and copying the i386 folder it it. Then run the install from there, placing the install on a different partition(NTFS) which is created during the install process.

 

What now?

I managed to install XP and it seems to load fine. However when Windows was done loading, I inserted the Drivers CD I received with my laptop into the CD ROM and it didn't automaticly load. I tried to do it manually through "My Computer" but there is no CD ROM icon. Whenever I insert a CD into the CD ROM, it's light constantly flashes for a bit then I hear the sound of it in use but nothing. This is strange because after getting it to work and install XP, the CD ROM seems to be MIA both in the BIOS and "My Computer ". (By the way it's a DVD/CD RW combo drive.) Any ideas as to how this could happen and hopefully a resolution to it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions thus far and in the future.

 

Strange at first glance it seems like a mis-aligned laser or it had some dust on it.

The CDROM device doesn't show up in the BIOS setup menu? Is it a Dell laptop?

 

Where the BIOS settings read: CD/DVD ROM, the value next to it is NONE. My laptop is a Compal DCY30.

 

Can you change it to Auto or is it just a property?

 

My only BIOS options are: LPT port configuration, Passwords configuration, Boot sequence, USB Mass Storage Boot.

 

Mutt,

Have u tried typing NTLDR is missing,into a search engine and see what you come up with?

roy66

 

That is how I found this site.