NTLDR is compressed

I reloaded Windows XP on a Compaq Presario. This was a standard, non-destructive recovery. After re booting, I received the error message NTLDR is compressed Press C tl+Alt+Del.. The fix is to go to a command line and enter attrib -c ntldr . When I do this I get the message that -c is an invalid switch. In looking through other material I do not see where c is a switch for the attrib command, but I can see where it could be used to "turn off compression" in ntldr. What am I missing here.. Last year I did something similar, not this specifically, and it worked for a compressed disk problem.

 

-a clears the archive attribute, could this be the one?

 

You can run compact /u <filename> and it should de-compress your file.

Conversely, compact /c <filename> will compress your file.

Edit, I should mention for sake of others reading this later, if you are using the NTFS file storage system and NTLDR is compressed, the system will be unbootable. You have two obvious choices, invoke the dreaded Recovery Console and use the Expand command (the compact command is not available in the RC) from the command line to work a cure or get a "Quick Boot" floppy or CD and boot the system and de-compress the file manually. Just right click it and select "Properties" and then click the "Advanced" radio button and uncheck the "compress file to save drive space" box.