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'NTLDR is missing' error on startup...


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#1
Leachbot13

Leachbot13

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Hi all,

I had 2 HDD's in my system. One is a Samsung Spinpoint 250gb (D: used for OS and programs), and a newer Hitachi Deskstar 500gb (C: used for storage of music, photos etc). Both are SATA drives.

Recently, the Hitachi drive has started to make a strong intermittent humming noise that vibrates the case, and because the tower sits on the floor, you can hear this humming noise through the floor downstairs under the same room.

So, I bought a new Western Digital drive to replace it. However, when I remove the Hitachi drive and startup the computer, it comes up with the error message 'NTLDR is missing'. When I put the drive back in, the computer starts up fine with no errors. This is confusing me, as I said before, its the Samsung drive that has Windows files installed to it, not the Hitachi one.

Any ideas on what I need to do to remove this error so windows will start up without the Hitachi drive? Advice much appreciated!

Tom

PS. System is as follows:

MBoard: Abit AB9 Pro
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
RAM: 2 x 1GB Corsair XMS2 667MHz
GFX Card: ASUS ATi HD4670 512MB
HDD1: Samsung Spinpoint 250GB
HDD2: Hitachi Deskstar 500GB/Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 7 Pro
DVD Rewriter
Floppy Drive

Edited by Leachbot13, 15 April 2010 - 07:05 AM.

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#2
Ferrari

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Hi Leachbot13, :)

How positive are you that Windows installed on the Samsung drive and not the Hitachi drive? The reason I ask is this is very similar to an error for trying to boot to a non bootable drive. Did you install Windows with only the Samsung drive connected, or was the Hitachi drive connected as well?

To help me with finding this out, do this...

Go to Disk Management
  • Click Start
  • Click run (or type in Search box -Vista/7)
  • Type (or copy and paste) diskmgmt.msc
  • Click OK
  • Post a screen shot please.
How to post a screen shot:
  • With the window up you want to post a screen shot of
  • Press Print Screen
  • (Usually top and to the right after the "F" keys
  • Click Start
  • Click All Programs
  • Click Accessories
  • Click on "Paint"
  • Once opened, Press CTRL key and keep holding, then Press the V
  • Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
  • Save as file type JPEG only and save it to your Desktop
  • Attach it in your next reply
Posted Image

Also, very very good reading here... http://www.computerh...es/ch000465.htm Can you tell me which one you think fits your situation best? So far, I think problems #'s 1, 2, and 6 seem like they might apply.

Get me that screen shot, and we'll go from there. :)
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#3
Leachbot13

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Hi Ferrari,

Thanks for the reply :). I'm on my works PC at the moment, I'll get that screenshot uploaded as soon as i get back on my home PC. Im pretty sure that the Samsung drive is the OS drive as the Hitachi drive was bought for additional storage. However, I have re-installed Windows XP Pro since, but it was to the Samsung drive. I will get back to you asap.

Thanks,

Tom
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#4
Ferrari

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Sounds good. Same here, I'm about to go to work for the day, so I'll most likely follow up with you this evening.
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#5
rshaffer61

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How did you load the OS on the new system?
Did you do a full new install or did you do a clone of the old HD?
NTLDR would require a couple of steps to correct.
If you cloned the old HD there is a possibility of a corrupted clone.
Also when you have both drives in the system are they both IDE or SATA drives?
If IDE are they both connected using the same ribbon?
If so did you make sure to change the jumpers on the back so the new drive is Master and the old drive is Slave?
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#6
Leachbot13

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Full new install of Windows XP Pro to the Samsung drive. I don't think anything has been cloned. Both HDD's are SATA and do not have any jumpers on the back.
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#7
rshaffer61

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It would seem then the most logical reason is a doinked installation of the OS.
If I can add some help try the below.

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:

Posted Image

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:

Posted Image

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:

Posted Image

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
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