missing ntldr - sata drive

bornslippy · 27 Sep 2007 at 12:23

Hi,

Recently changed my motherboard (GA-P35-DS4) and various other existing components, so I'm still using my old HD which had XP Pro already installed on one partition. The other partition is programs and data.

I installed everything without a hitch, but came to boot up from the nlite copy of XP Pro I had made (with SP2 slipstreamed), from my IDE DVD driver. Formatted the system partition ok, and afterwards it began to check the disks. Said it couldn't read the operating system from the disc (even though it was reading it before).

Now when I boot, I get missing NTLDR - press ctrl/alt/delete to restart.

I set the boot priority to CD rom first etc, but no joy. There are options in the bios to change the sata to achi, which I did prior to installing and I think this is what has caused the problem (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface).

Will resetting cmos help?
Is there another workaround that anyone is aware of?
Or would I be better to install xp on another hard drive and start from scratch?

Thanks

Bornslippy

mattbill · 27 Sep 2007 at 12:28

Format the HDD then install again... should be okay, its just missing the loader file. Could try a repair.

I think you can replace the NTLDR file yourself by manually putting it there, but its a bit fiddly lol.

Stelly · 27 Sep 2007 at 12:29

have you made sure that there is no floppy disk in the floppy drive?

Stelly

mp260767 · 27 Sep 2007 at 14:12

check google, you can find instructions about booting to cd, going into repair install and copying the necessary files.

ns400r · 27 Sep 2007 at 14:30

Formatting the system partition has removed the ntldr.exe file. Bite the bullet, backup your data and start again.

bornslippy · 27 Sep 2007 at 15:29

Cheers for the quick replies! There's no problem starting again, and wiping the system partition but I cannot get that far because it comes up with the missing NTLDR bit when booting with the XP disk.

I'm assuming that resetting cmos will clear everything in the bios, leaving me free to boot from the XP disc and reinstall. I will try that tonight, and if no joy I will try installing to my spare IDE disk I guess. At least if I get up and running, I can do a bit more.

Don't have a floppy drive, sent them all to the tip!

dovey · 27 Sep 2007 at 16:19

Try getting ntldr on a flash drive and sticking it in on boot. I sent a friend mine from my C drive and it picked it up off the flash drive upon boot, saved him bringing the hard disk round to paste it on!

bornslippy · 28 Sep 2007 at 02:04

In the end, I installed xp on an ide drive and, surprisingly, ran into the same problem as above. That is, it formatted the partition, then said it couldn't read from the disk.

Then I tried a previous xp slipstreamed copy and it installed without half the fuss! I guess that the latest slipstreamed version I made was not bootable in some way. Oh well, I'm up and running and can always reinstall to the sata drive at a later date. Bit of a pain this way round, but ta for the help anyway!