[delnz99]

Hey guys - me again,
This time the problem is with my Aunty's laptop. We can't get into Windows despite trying the following options through the Recovery Console:
chkdsk /r
chkdsk /p
fixboot
fixmbr
bootcfg /rebuild
copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

And still we get the ntldr is missing message.

Here are her specs - anything not listed that you require, please request it.
Acer Aspire 1640Z
Windows XP Home Edition

She's had the laptop for 4 months & bought it new but it was the display model. I have noticed also that it's partitioned & I have no idea how to work around that.

Info from the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility:
CPU Type: Intel ® Pentium ® M processor 1.70GHz
CPU Speed: 1700 MHz

Back when the problems first started, Windows would freeze & she couldn't do anything at all except physically turn the laptop off to reboot it (& just then, when we were in the BIOS settings, it froze that way again). Initially, she would get a blue screen for about 1 second with a message UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME then it would go to a black screen spouting off about technical problems & offering a menu with safe mode, etc. But now we are only getting the ntldr is missing message unless we use the windows xp cd to boot from.

Any help would be much appreciated as she has a lot of files she doesn't want to lose on her laptop but if worst comes to worst, she can deal with losing them as long as she can use the computer again.

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With what you have done it is time to check the boot.ini file. It should read similar to this.

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

If it is not similar, then this is the problem. If your boot ini file is the same 1 of 2 things may be wrong with the laptop.

1. The connection between the computer and the hard drive is poor so at times the motherboard is not seeing the hard drive. These connectors are usually hard soldered in so a motherboard replacement is the usual fix.
2. The hard drive is going bad and needs replacing.

http://www.computerh...es/ch000465.htm

One last thing is it could be that the windows OS is so badly corrupted that only a wipe and reinstall will fix it. If you have data you need to save you may be able to install the laptop drive as a slave in a desktop computer, with an adapter, and save much of the data to the desktop hard drive. Such an adapter looks like this.

http://www.pcsforeve...ducts_id=106981

SRX660

[SRX660]

With what you have done it is time to check the boot.ini file. It should read similar to this.

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

If it is not similar, then this is the problem. If your boot ini file is the same 1 of 2 things may be wrong with the laptop.

1. The connection between the computer and the hard drive is poor so at times the motherboard is not seeing the hard drive. These connectors are usually hard soldered in so a motherboard replacement is the usual fix.
2. The hard drive is going bad and needs replacing.

http://www.computerh...es/ch000465.htm

One last thing is it could be that the windows OS is so badly corrupted that only a wipe and reinstall will fix it. If you have data you need to save you may be able to install the laptop drive as a slave in a desktop computer, with an adapter, and save much of the data to the desktop hard drive. Such an adapter looks like this.

http://www.pcsforeve...ducts_id=106981

SRX660

[delnz99]

So, how do I check the boot.ini file?

[SRX660]

Well, if you can't even get to windows, trying to check the boot.ini file is useless. If you can then open notepad up and click File/Open and go to the "C" drive where you will find the boot.ini file.

SRX660

[delnz99]

Unfortunately, we can't get into Windows. All we get is the ntldr is missing message, press any key to restart & then it comes back to that message again.