[holliendavid]

I am getting from what I can tell is a somewhat common error with Windows XP. During start up I get an error that says "system32/drivers/ntfs.sys is either missing or corrupt" and I have to restart the computer 20 times to get it to finally boot up.

My problem is this, I received this computer from my wife's friend, and I do not have the Windows Start Up disk, and add in that the CD-ROM drives on this computer are currently not working. Is their anything I can do once I finally get the computer to boot up? I have even tried replacing the ntfs.sys file with a backup of the file that was saved a while ago on the computer and the problem did not go away. Any help would be appreciated.

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The first thing to do would be to run memtest86 to check your memory. If your memory passes memtest i would then download the hard drive manufacturers utilities and run a diagonistic test on the HD( this is usually run from a floppy, but not always).

Microsoft says this.

To resolve this problem, replace the missing or corrupted Ntfs.sys file:
1. Use the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD to restart your computer.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to select the To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R option.
3. Type the number of the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then press ENTER. If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command):

cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

Note This step renames the corrupted Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old. If the Ntfs.sys file is not found, the file is missing.
6. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers
Where cd is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD, and drive is the drive where you installed Windows XP.
7. Remove the Windows XP CD from your CD-ROM drive, type quit at a command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console.
8. Restart the computer.

Of course, your problem with the cdrom drives will not let you do this. So you need to find out why the cdrom drives are not working. Look in device manager and see if the cdrom drive is listed there. If it is not listed then there are other problems with the computer. Usually a corrupt sector on the HD where the drivers for the cdrom drive are placed could cause this. Sometimes a disk defrag will cure this but quite a few times defrag has not helped for me. You need to check and see if another cdrom drive will work in the computer. If the cdrom drive still does not work i would suspect that the chipset drivers have also been corrupted. If you can get into the bios you could check to see if you can see the cdrom drive there.

You just have to be methodical in finding the problem. Start with the memory, then check the HD. It could even be as simple as a motherboard battery getting low in power causing the computer to lose its settings. You might try replacing the battery.

Try some of these and if none work we will move on to other areas that could be the problem.

SRX660

[SRX660]

The first thing to do would be to run memtest86 to check your memory. If your memory passes memtest i would then download the hard drive manufacturers utilities and run a diagonistic test on the HD( this is usually run from a floppy, but not always).

Microsoft says this.

To resolve this problem, replace the missing or corrupted Ntfs.sys file:
1. Use the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD to restart your computer.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to select the To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R option.
3. Type the number of the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then press ENTER. If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command):

cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

Note This step renames the corrupted Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old. If the Ntfs.sys file is not found, the file is missing.
6. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers
Where cd is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD, and drive is the drive where you installed Windows XP.
7. Remove the Windows XP CD from your CD-ROM drive, type quit at a command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console.
8. Restart the computer.

Of course, your problem with the cdrom drives will not let you do this. So you need to find out why the cdrom drives are not working. Look in device manager and see if the cdrom drive is listed there. If it is not listed then there are other problems with the computer. Usually a corrupt sector on the HD where the drivers for the cdrom drive are placed could cause this. Sometimes a disk defrag will cure this but quite a few times defrag has not helped for me. You need to check and see if another cdrom drive will work in the computer. If the cdrom drive still does not work i would suspect that the chipset drivers have also been corrupted. If you can get into the bios you could check to see if you can see the cdrom drive there.

You just have to be methodical in finding the problem. Start with the memory, then check the HD. It could even be as simple as a motherboard battery getting low in power causing the computer to lose its settings. You might try replacing the battery.

Try some of these and if none work we will move on to other areas that could be the problem.

SRX660

[holliendavid]

Thanks SRX660.

For the CD-ROM drives, I know that the one that the computer is reading does not work. I was told about $10 worth of change was put into it and caused it to malufuction. I tried plugging in the other and I was unable to get the computer to read it, but I will try again. If I can I will try and see if the people who had the computer before us still have the Windows start up disks.

I will also try replacing the battery, that would be nice if that were the problem.

Would pulling a different ntfs.sys file from a different computer and then downloading it to my broken computer fix the problem? Or is probable that something other than the file itself is causing the problem. It sounds like it could be anything.

[SRX660]

It is unlikely that installing another ntfs system file will correct the problem. From what i have read on the subject it usually is only a indication of something wrong. I looked for a month or so for fixes when i was brought a computer that displayed the same error message. I tried some different fixes and ended up reformatting the drive and reinstalling windows. At that time this was the expedient thing to do as i could not justify charging the price of a new computer to fix the old computer and i had already had a full days work into fixing it. That is the problem when you charge money to fix peoples computers. There is a breakpoint where you have to call it quits or get paid very low wages if you continue. Nowadays i can afford to get deeper into problems just for the knowledge of fixing something without reformatting and reinstalling. For many years my cheapest option was the reformat and reinstall.

SRX660