NTLDR Is missing?

godinman

godinman

godinman

Soldato
Joined
26 Feb 2007
Posts
8,573
Hi Guys,

Just building a pc for a friend and it hasnt been going too well.

First the machine BSOD while installing XP, and then on restart this message comes up.

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

The machine is as follows,

MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel
Intel E4600
2 x 1GB OCUK Ram
Some fairly low-end Nvidia GPU I had lying around
500 Watt Antec Earthwatts PSU
And some fairly nasty case of a friend.

Any ideas what this could be? Have googled it and it has something to do with loading up the operating system? Though it BSOD before I could install XP...

Have tried clearing the CMOS but to no avail.

Any help would be muchly appreciated:D
 
Thanks for the reply:D

Just tried it, and tried them in different dimm slots and I get the same NTLDR is missing message anytime.

Any other ideas?
 
Yeah, afaik NTLDR missing means it can't find the part to boot from on the HDD, so either your install is corrupt or it just didnt install.
 
Hi,

The controllers set to raid.

Think I may have found at least part of the problem, when I reset the CMOS the boot sequence switched back to boot from HDD first. Which was why I was getting the NTDLR error even with the XP disc inserted. Now i've gone in and changed this it's loading from the disc, and installing XP as I type.

Thanks for the help:D Will let you know how it went.
 
Also check there is nothing else plugged in that is being seen before the boot disk or Windows XP CD. e.g. memory stick, floppy disks etc.
 
godinman said:
Hi,

The controllers set to raid.

Think I may have found at least part of the problem, when I reset the CMOS the boot sequence switched back to boot from HDD first. Which was why I was getting the NTDLR error even with the XP disc inserted. Now i've gone in and changed this it's loading from the disc, and installing XP as I type.

Thanks for the help:D Will let you know how it went.
Click to expand...

Yeah, first boot HDD is usually default, so if the HDD doesnt have a Windows install you'll get the NTLDR is missing error. :)
 
Oh darn:O

Getting a reboot on install again:(

Had another look at the sata contoller settings and it was infact set to IDE and not RAID as I stated earlier. I tried it on AHCI and RAID, and it doesn't detect the HDD's.

Could having it set to IDE be the reason for it not installing windows? And if so, it looks like I have to install some drivers onto the PC before windows it installed?

This is off Solats link.

"For Intel chipsets (for example, Intel ICH9) drivers are available from either an OEM motherboard or computer manufacturer. For the Intel versions, the driver must be loaded before loading the OS (by pressing F6 as setup starts, then using the floppy disk when prompted).The Intel drivers will work for both XP and Vista. Also, in the case of ICH9, an unsupported method to enable AHCI on ICH9 is available."

Will have to dig out a floppy from somewhere...unless I can load these from USB?

Thanks again
 
If the SATA is set to IDE it shouldn't need any drivers, only RAID or AHCI need drivers to allow windows to detect it!

Have you set the PC's memory voltage accordingly?
 
Good:D Have set it to IDE.

When you say the PCs memory voltage? Do you mean to RAM voltage or something else?

Have tried lots of times to install xp, on verious settings. But everytime, as soon as I get to the part where you press enter to install, my machine reboots:(
 
Yup the RAM's voltage. It should say what it should be set to on a sticker thats on the ram itself (and perhaps on the packaging it came in). Make sure its set to what the recommended rating is just to rule that out!
 
Have set that correctly. Think the mobo was setting it a touch low...

Still no install tho:(

Any more ideas?

May just RMA the fing thing.

Cheers:D
 
Had this before use, BartPE useful tool to fix this sort of stuff. Make a bootable CD. Download NTLDR is Missing.zip, extract and save the 3 files to the C: drive once you have booted from the Bart CD and are in the windows environment.

Reboot, should be ok.
 
Been on to OCUK Tech, they said that the OC Ram can be a bit twitchy (crap), and may be incompatible. Tried it with some of my Corsair ram, and touch wood, it's installing windows now.

Thanks for all your help, hopefully I wont have to bother you with this today:D
 
Insert the Windows CD and start the computer.
When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press R.
Type a number corresponding to the Windows installation you wish to repair (usually 1) and press Enter.
When prompted, type the administrator password and press Enter.
From the command prompt, copy NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM from the i386 folder of the CD to the root folder of the hard drive. In the example commands given below, C: is the hard drive and D: is the CD-ROM drive. You will need to change the drive letters if appropriate:
COPY D:\I386\NTLDR C:\
COPY D:\I386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
Remove the Windows XP CD from the drive and restart the computer.
 
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