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- Joined
- 6 Apr 2007
- Posts
- 27
I was watching a video earlier on YouTube when my computer stuttered and then restarted. This has happened several times before recently, and it has sometimes come up with blue error screens though they dissapear too fast to be read. All the other times the computer has booted when restarted or on a second restart.
This time when I booted I got redirected to the GRUB bootloader on my second Hard Drive that an Ubuntu install I'm part way through setting up put there. When I selected the Windows XP install, it tried to boot and came up with "ntldr is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart".
Rebooting didn't change this so I googled the error message and found this website. I followed the instructions to replace ntldr and ntdetect.com.
After loading the recovery console I logged in and typed in the commands with my correct drive letters(C for the windows disk and G for the CD drive). It gave an error saying the file could not be found. After digging through the HELP screen I found the DIR command(this is my first time using XP command prompt) and checked all the drive letters. Turns out my D drive has become C, my Q drive has become D, C has become E and my CD drive has become F. All the labels and contents are fine but the letters are all messed. I also managed to locate the two files that need to be copied using DIR. When I then tried to do the copy command with the messed up letters, I got the same error, that it can't find the file.
I am now at a loss as to what to do next, aside from reinstalling Windows. I can do it but it would be a pain I'd like to avoid if possible.
I'm running XP Home SP2 on an IDE hard drive, if thats important. If any other info is required I'll try to find it out.
Thank you for any help in advance.
Oh and when I booted into the Ubuntu install I could see all the hard drives and they were working fine, and the ntldr file appeared to be where it should. I couldn't do the copying in Ubuntu because it says all the hard drives are write protected.
EDIT: I've tried replacing the IDE cable and that didn't help.
This time when I booted I got redirected to the GRUB bootloader on my second Hard Drive that an Ubuntu install I'm part way through setting up put there. When I selected the Windows XP install, it tried to boot and came up with "ntldr is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart".
Rebooting didn't change this so I googled the error message and found this website. I followed the instructions to replace ntldr and ntdetect.com.
After loading the recovery console I logged in and typed in the commands with my correct drive letters(C for the windows disk and G for the CD drive). It gave an error saying the file could not be found. After digging through the HELP screen I found the DIR command(this is my first time using XP command prompt) and checked all the drive letters. Turns out my D drive has become C, my Q drive has become D, C has become E and my CD drive has become F. All the labels and contents are fine but the letters are all messed. I also managed to locate the two files that need to be copied using DIR. When I then tried to do the copy command with the messed up letters, I got the same error, that it can't find the file.
I am now at a loss as to what to do next, aside from reinstalling Windows. I can do it but it would be a pain I'd like to avoid if possible.
I'm running XP Home SP2 on an IDE hard drive, if thats important. If any other info is required I'll try to find it out.
Thank you for any help in advance.
Oh and when I booted into the Ubuntu install I could see all the hard drives and they were working fine, and the ntldr file appeared to be where it should. I couldn't do the copying in Ubuntu because it says all the hard drives are write protected.
EDIT: I've tried replacing the IDE cable and that didn't help.
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