[haziqdaM5fanatic]

Hello guys,

I have a problem with my other laptop, which I can't even boot it up. It says '' NTLDR is missing press CTRL, ALT and DEL to restart ''... I'm not sure why but before this happened, there was a message of svchost.exe error.

I really need you guys help. Thanks

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If you have Windows CD...

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into your CD and assure that your CD-ROM drive is capable of booting the CD.
2. Once you have booted from CD, do NOT select the option that states: Press F2 to initiate the Automated System Recovery (ASR) tool.
You’re going to proceed until you see the following screen, at which point you will press the “R” key to enter the recovery console:



3. After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (typically number “1").
Select the installation number, and hit Enter.
If there is an administrator password for the administrator account, enter it and hit Enter (if asked for the password, and you don't know it, you're out of luck).
You will be greeted with this screen, which indicates a recovery console at the ready:



4. There are eight commands you must enter in sequence to repair any of the issues I noted in the opening of this guide.
I will introduce them here, and then show the results graphically in the next six steps.
NOTE. Make sure, you press Enter after each command. Make sure, all commands are exact, including "spaces".
These commands are as follows:

CD..
ATTRIB -H C:\boot.ini
ATTRIB -S C:\boot.ini
ATTRIB -R C:\boot.ini
del boot.ini
BOOTCFG /Rebuild

Note about the above command.
BOOTCFG /REBUILD command which searches for pre-existing installations of Windows XP and rebuilds sundry essential components of the Windows operating system, recompiles the BOOT.INI file and corrects a litany of common Windows errors.
It is very important that you do one or both of the following two things:
A.) Every Windows XP owner must use /FASTDETECT as OS Load Option when the rebuild process is finalizing.
B.) If you are the owner of a CPU featuring Intel’s XD or AMD’s NX buffer overflow protection, you must also use /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN as an OS Load Option.
For the Enter Load Identifier portion of this command, you should enter the name of the operating system you have installed.
If, for example, you are using Windows XP Home, you could type Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition for the identifier (it's not crucial, however what the name is, as long, as it's meaningful).
Here is your computer screen:



5. Following command verifies the integrity of the hard drive containing the Windows XP installation. While this step is not an essential function in our process, it’s still good to be sure that the drive is physically capable of running windows, in that it contains no bad sectors or other corruptions that might be the culprit:

CHKDSK /R

6. This last command writes a new boot sector to the hard drive and cleans up all the loose ends we created by rebuilding the BOOT.INI file and the system files. When the Windows Recovery Console asks you if you are Sure you want to write a new bootsector to the partition C: ? just hit “Y”, then Enter to confirm your decision:

FIXBOOT

7. It’s time to reboot your PC by typing
EXIT
and pressing Enter.

With any luck, your PC will boot successfully into Windows XP as if your various DLL, Hive, EXE and NTLDR errors never existed.




Thanks To Broni For The Instructions

[rshaffer61]

If you have Windows CD...

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into your CD and assure that your CD-ROM drive is capable of booting the CD.
2. Once you have booted from CD, do NOT select the option that states: Press F2 to initiate the Automated System Recovery (ASR) tool.
You’re going to proceed until you see the following screen, at which point you will press the “R” key to enter the recovery console:



3. After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (typically number “1").
Select the installation number, and hit Enter.
If there is an administrator password for the administrator account, enter it and hit Enter (if asked for the password, and you don't know it, you're out of luck).
You will be greeted with this screen, which indicates a recovery console at the ready:



4. There are eight commands you must enter in sequence to repair any of the issues I noted in the opening of this guide.
I will introduce them here, and then show the results graphically in the next six steps.
NOTE. Make sure, you press Enter after each command. Make sure, all commands are exact, including "spaces".
These commands are as follows:

CD..
ATTRIB -H C:\boot.ini
ATTRIB -S C:\boot.ini
ATTRIB -R C:\boot.ini
del boot.ini
BOOTCFG /Rebuild

Note about the above command.
BOOTCFG /REBUILD command which searches for pre-existing installations of Windows XP and rebuilds sundry essential components of the Windows operating system, recompiles the BOOT.INI file and corrects a litany of common Windows errors.
It is very important that you do one or both of the following two things:
A.) Every Windows XP owner must use /FASTDETECT as OS Load Option when the rebuild process is finalizing.
B.) If you are the owner of a CPU featuring Intel’s XD or AMD’s NX buffer overflow protection, you must also use /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN as an OS Load Option.
For the Enter Load Identifier portion of this command, you should enter the name of the operating system you have installed.
If, for example, you are using Windows XP Home, you could type Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition for the identifier (it's not crucial, however what the name is, as long, as it's meaningful).
Here is your computer screen:



5. Following command verifies the integrity of the hard drive containing the Windows XP installation. While this step is not an essential function in our process, it’s still good to be sure that the drive is physically capable of running windows, in that it contains no bad sectors or other corruptions that might be the culprit:

CHKDSK /R

6. This last command writes a new boot sector to the hard drive and cleans up all the loose ends we created by rebuilding the BOOT.INI file and the system files. When the Windows Recovery Console asks you if you are Sure you want to write a new bootsector to the partition C: ? just hit “Y”, then Enter to confirm your decision:

FIXBOOT

7. It’s time to reboot your PC by typing
EXIT
and pressing Enter.

With any luck, your PC will boot successfully into Windows XP as if your various DLL, Hive, EXE and NTLDR errors never existed.




Thanks To Broni For The Instructions

[haziqdaM5fanatic]

Thanks for the instruction rshaffer61 and Broni. But unfortunately I don't have the XP disc. In that case, I won't be able to proceed the procedure

Looks like I need to send the laptop to a shop for them to have a look. Thanks again for your help guys

[rshaffer61]

You can always borrow a XP of the same type you have...Home, Media or Pro to do the steps.
What is the make and model of your laptop?
Did you get any recovery cd's with it?

[haziqdaM5fanatic]

I'm not sure if my friend has one. Mine is Home and the laptop is a Compaq C700. I bought it used 2 years ago and I did reformatted it last year due to some virus infection.

Do you think that it has something to do with the svchost.exe error that I got before I shut it down? I got tons of those messages about application error, error debug such...

[rshaffer61]

It could be a OS problem and running the steps I gave would fix the ntldr issue and hopefully allow us back into t OS to fix the other problems.

[haziqdaM5fanatic]

I hope so becuase the svchost.exe is a Windows system file. I think it's better for me to take the laptop to the shop to let them have a deep look inside.

I appreciate your help mate, thanks!!

[rshaffer61]

If you have to take it to a shop I will tell you normally their resolution is to format and reinstall the OS.
This will result in complete data loss.
If you need data there is a way to get the data without the OS. This means using a Linux Live cd to boot the cd to gain access to the data. If you are not worried about data then the reformat and recovery should be capable of done from the recovery partition on the drive.
This recovery partition can be reached by doing the following.
reboot and when you see the compaq logo hit F10

Edited by rshaffer61, 09 April 2010 - 10:19 PM.

[haziqdaM5fanatic]

Yeah I will format the whole computer and make it fresh again. I'm not worried about the data at all since I have my other laptop which is the primary one. The Compaq is just a travelling and gaming laptop. I'll take it there tomorrow or this evening...

Thanks for your help mate, cheers

[rshaffer61]

OK then try the highlighted text in my last post. That is the recovery partition step that will allow you to format the drive and return the system back to factory settings. It should work unless the recovery partition has been erased.
If not then taking it to a shop or purchasing the recovery disk from Compaq would be the next steps.