Windows XP Pro ntldr is missing

Berger · 21 Dec 2009 at 19:33

My XP Pro corrupted, so formatted the drive and have tried to reinstall.

Im getting the above error when trying to boot from CD, have the hard drive I want to install on as the primary master, the CD is in the secondary master DVD drive. No other drives connected, no floppy drive, and no USB sticks plugged in. I am using a USB keyboard and mouse though.

Boot from CD selected in BIOS, just throws up the error NTLDR is missing, ctl alt del to restart.

I know the CD boots just fine as I have used it before, the drive is formatted in NTFS.

Indy500 · 21 Dec 2009 at 19:34

It obviously isn't detecting the CD first, tried another IDE cable?

PhoenixUK · 21 Dec 2009 at 20:59

Use the bootload shortcut at startup ? Not sure which one it is on your mobo but usually it's F8 - this will give you a menu to choose which device to boot from at the startup, choose the dvd drive from which you want to install.

Berger · 21 Dec 2009 at 21:28

sr4470 said:
It obviously isn't detecting the CD first, tried another IDE cable?

Ive not no, but the drives worked fine in windows etc...

Ill see if I can dig out a spare if I have one still (binned a load when moving house).

Ill go have a poke around and try the boot menu thing later.

dandos23 · 21 Dec 2009 at 22:33

I have the exact same thing. Tried different IDE cables and done the F8 thing and it still comes up with NTLDR is missing.

Indy500 · 21 Dec 2009 at 22:48

Berger said:
Ive not no, but the drives worked fine in windows etc...

Ill see if I can dig out a spare if I have one still (binned a load when moving house).

Ill go have a poke around and try the boot menu thing later.

Worth a try, it will at least eliminate that as an issue.

dandos23 said:
I have the exact same thing. Tried different IDE cables and done the F8 thing and it still comes up with NTLDR is missing.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/ntldrmissingxp.htm

The most common reason for this error is when your PC is trying to boot from a hard drive or flash drive that is not properly configured to be booted from; in other words, it's trying to boot from a non-bootable source. This also would apply to media on an optical drive or floppy drive that you're trying to boot from.

Other possible causes include corrupt and misconfigured files, hard drive and operating system upgrade issues, corrupt hard drive sectors, an outdated BIOS, and damaged or loose IDE cables.

Third result on my search engine. If you've tried all those steps let us know, oh and post your hardware specification\bios version please.

Liamalxd · 21 Dec 2009 at 22:51

if its a copied cd remake the cd, it could just be an error on the cd.

failing that, if you have 2 optical drives on 1 IDE cable it can give you errors just use 1 drive on 1 cable

failing both of those, try a new optical drive

dandos23 · 22 Dec 2009 at 04:22

I know its not the cd as I have used it several times. I only have 1 optical drive and the HDD, connected on seperate IDE cables. I will try a different optical drive in the morning.

To sr4470

I have done al of that aswell. I will get the hardwear spec/bios version in the morning.

Lakeland · 22 Dec 2009 at 06:30

long winded i know but a solution is to install xp onto a different drive, insert problem hd as storage and format in windows. disconnect xp hd then reinstall to the formatted drive. this has solved the problem for me in the past when i was banging my head against a wall!

mattyfez · 22 Dec 2009 at 09:31

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

Before you get the NTLDR error, do you (very breifly) get: 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.

audiolab · 22 Dec 2009 at 15:50

If you don't have a "boot any device" hotkey, go into BIOS and check that the boot sequence is set to CD/DVD first then HDD. Even when you "press any key to boot from CD" you can sometimes get this error if the HDD is in the boot sequence before the CD.

Change it back after as it will always wait for a CD on boot when set this way.

Hairybudda · 22 Dec 2009 at 17:24

Going to echo the sentiments of everyone else, it's not booting from the CD for some reason and the bootloader you're seeing is windows (from your HDD) looking for the meat and potatos of the bootup sequence. Try the CD as the primary master (with the HDD disconnected) and see if it boots then, if it does (its IDE right?) change the drive position jumer on the back of the device to either slave or cable select and make sure the HD is set to master or cable select too.