"NTLDR is missing" after case swap, won't boot from XP CD.

finsaah · 29 Nov 2009 at 13:53

I'll try to keep this brief;

I moved my current setup from one case to another and now I get "NTLDR is missing press ctrl alt del" instead of booting.

Had multiple boot options previously, so I thought this might be the problem, disconnected 2nd HD and tried to boot from XP CD. Won't boot from CD, get "NTLDR is missing" after "press any key to boot from CD". Could it be a DVD drive error? Drive is IDE, connected to my only IDE slot.

Have tested HD on another PC, working fine.

Have tried changing boot order in BIOS.

BIOS detects memory, HD, DVD drive and CPU.

HD is SATA, connected to SATA port 1.

Tried boot from USB option from here http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm. Didn't get to "Try this first" stage. Instead got message to reboot.

Please help!

flying grouse · 29 Nov 2009 at 14:02

put your second drive in port 1 your pc is looking for the Boot file which must be on the other drive

mattyfez · 29 Nov 2009 at 14:43

This solved it for me when i had this with a PC I was working on:

"Press any key to boot from the CD

Important: When you see this message press any key such as the Enter key immediately, otherwise it will try booting from the hard drive and likely get the NTLDR error again."

If you don hit a key stright away, it just locks up on the 'missing NTLDR' error.

finsaah · 29 Nov 2009 at 16:13

Flying Grouse, your suggestion worked perfectly. I swear I had the cables the other way round before though...

I'm hoping that mattyfez is also correct as I don't want this dodgy boot situation forever.

Thanks guys, as usual my problem is solved in 5 minutes on this forum!