NTLDR missing - Windows loads up though

[jeece]

NTLDR missing - Windows loads up though *solved*

Weirdest thing happened last week. I was playing some BF1942 on my Athlon 2500+ (OCed to 2.2 ghz @ 1.8V), and the game kept crashing and here I was staring at my desktop instead of some German dude's head through my sniper's lens. Since weather was kinda hot that day, and I don't have the best HSF around (SilentBoost), I took a look at my temps... 56Celcius, somewhat higher than usual (it's usually 51-52 under load) but still not *bad*. So I rebooted in order to use normal clock settings to get lower temps, just in case.

Restored the stock settings, (FSB, voltage, etc), all went fine. Saved the BIOS, and when it rebooted, NOTHING. No post, no beep, nada. Black screen and HD / power LEDs lit up steadily. Reset switch yielded the same result.

I turned the machine off by holding the pwr switch. Waited 5-10 seconds. Cranked it up. It kept crapping I then reseted the BIOS by removing the battery for a while. Tried to boot again, and, relief, it booted... Up to a point. I got an "NTLDR missing, press any key to RESTART" error after the DMI pool thingy. Damn computer didn't want to go futher. Tried some boot disks, nothing would do. But suddenly, when, out of despair, I tried "one more time", I pressed "any" key at the NTLDR message, Windows went on booting instead of restarting! I've been booting up this way for 3 days, and computer runs fine, like before, but with an extra "Welcome" msg when booting... :/

I know some of you must say: If it ain't broke, don't fix it... But I'm afraid this trouble could become worse. I of course googled the error code, but nothing really compare to my case:
It's not a NEW Windows XP installation/upgrade (been running a clean install of Win 2000 since February)
It's not an IDE cable problem (main drive is a S-ATA WD 120gb, got a IDE 60gb for storage though but no OS on this one)

So... to format or not to format?

 

[ADZ]

I had the very same issue with a fresh XP Pro installation. Kinda spooked me, so i ended up replacing a couple of things...one of which was the RAM. I havnt received the message since, but would like to know what caused it.

 

[Inaris]

have you check to see if NTLDR is in the systemroot\winnt\windows directory? If it's not, drop it in there from the system32 dir. Do a search to find it as it will be there...

My 2 cents

 

[jeece]

Only one I get is located into:
WinNT\ServicePackFiles\I386
and another instance into:
$NtServicePackUninstall$

I'll try and move it at the right place, and I'll get back.

Edit: Update.
Moved (copied in fact) the file in ServicePack into c:\WinNT
Rebooted.
Nothing is solved.

Edit 2: I've read your post again, and noticed you said to take the file from the System32 folder, but I don't have any NTLDR file into this dir. So, I copied the file from the same dir as above into the System32 folder.

And...

Still get the error code.

 

[sirsmokingham]

I would say you are lucky. I had the whole NTLDR missing message and i had to re-install windows. However i think i read somewhere that you can use the NTLDR that is on the XP CD ?? maybe you should investigate that first

 

[jeece]

MB: System restore? I have nothing to restore from. Next time I'll format, i'll do it, I swear.

I tried to replace the NTLDR from the one on the W2K CD, and from my 2nd PC's too. Still the same "error" msg.

Oh, and along with this trouble, an annoying sidekick came with it: The PC speaker beeps on Window's error/alert msg. When it's done emptying the trash, for example. I had this beeping "problem" before (without NTLDR missing), it lasted a month or so, and suddenly, one day, as fast as it appeared, no more PC beeping! And the very day the NTLDR msg began to show up, *beep*. Go figure.

I'll see if all come clean after a big format.

edit: For the beeping thing, I went around all Windows' sound settings, all sound files are here, and I can play them in WMP or Winamp, so the files don't seem to be corrupted.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I tried to replace the NTLDR from the one on the W2K CD, and from my 2nd PC's too. Still the same "error" msg.

I think that's because the NTLDR resides in the boot sector and thus just copying it from your CD to your HDD isn't gonna fix your problem. What you really need is to make a ERD and use the recovery console to effect your repair. But since you're pc is screwed up, there's no point in making a ERD now! - shoulda done it when it was in good working order.

 

[jeece]

Found out why... I just reinstalled all my system, and then it struck me. When I reseted the BIOS, it erased the boot priority/order... I tried HDD0 to 3, NTLDR was still missing.

My first partition on my "slave" IDE hard disk was formatted in FAT32 (easier and faster to load Windows install from there that from a CD). That's where the BIOS always thought to check, because it was, after all, an IDE drive (HDD). And it never saw the S-ATA HD first...

When I was lurking in my BIOS upon reinstalling, I thought, what the heck, I'll try something: First boot device = SCSI. It booted flawlessly. That was the trouble all along. Only thing is, now, Windows and all program files are installed on a D: drive (1st partition of S-ATA HD)... C: is my FAT32 partition on my slave HD...