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HELP! Computer won't boot-up

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by bobbearden

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My computer (2.4Ghz P4)is on the fritz. Upon boot-up, I get a message "ntldr is missing" and "boot from CD". In my infinite wisdom, I take this to mean that something is wrong with my windows installation (?). I insert my XP Home edition disk and it launchs into the setup routine. I attempt to repair the installation. When I get to the screen that asks which installation to repair (1: C:\Windows), I select "1" and nothing happens (If I select "enter" it cancels the repair and reverts to the C prompt). If I attempt to do a new installation, after I hit F8 to get past the legal mumbo-jumbo, it asks me to insert a valid CD (listing every version of windows except XP). It is already inserts, so I attempt to proceed and the screen goes blank, then reappears unchanged, asking for a valid disk (my XP HE disk is a register, valid original disk, unscratched in perfect condition). This continuous loop gets me nowhere.

I have attempted to see if a virus is the culprit, using my Norton System Works (AntiVirus) CD and going through the Emergency Virus Detection Routine, only to have it say all is fine.

I switched hard-drives to see if another drive would boot-up, and the same exact symptoms occur, leading me to belive the problem is either the Bios, Memory, CPU or Motherboard. I reset the Bios to the Load Safe Defaults; no luck.

I have exceeded the depth of my limited knowledge and could use any help offered.

Thanks,

Bob

7 replies

by donmars

Did you upgrade to XP or was this a clean install? (is the cd you are using an upgrade version?) What do you mean you switched drives? You took a drive from another machine? Was the other machine identical to the problem drive?
Do you have a copy of the asked for OS to insert in the cd drive?

Try this: NTDLL.DLL is in c:winnt\i386\. Rename NTDLL.DLL to NTDLL.BAK using ren c:winnt\i386\ntdll.dll ntdll.bak (from the root, c: prompt)
Then copy the following files from the installation CD

>copy x:/i386/NTLDR c:
>copy x:/i386/ntdetect.exe c:

where x is your cd drive letter.
get back with results.

by donmars

you may want to try this if the above does not work (a long shot but easy)Make a Windows 98
startup disk containing the Fdisk.exe. Boot the system with this disk; at the command prompt, type and enter this command: FDISK /MBR
Remove the disk and reboot the system.

by mainprized

Hello Bob

This is one thing to check and its not too distructive. Check in your BIOS for the boot sequence ensure that it is not trying to boot from a network card.
Good Luck
Dave

by rirwin69

I have actually had call ins on this one. The person has a 3 1/2 still in the drive. Not always the case, but a good simple start.

by loungelizzard

I have run into this at our organization many times especially with systems that have been reimaged many times and I have used the command "FDISK /MBR" and reboot the system.

by dcox

First things first, Stick to the basics.

1. Check that all cabling is properly connected to the device(s) in question, and that all jumpers are properly set - make sure power and data cables are connected properly to the drives and motherboard (or SCSI card if using SCSI drives). On some drives you may need to set the jumper to single if it is the only device on the chain.

2. Verify that BIOS is confirgured to auto detect all disk drives (hard drives).

3. Make certain that all floppy, jaz, zip, CD-ROM or any other removable media are all removed.

4. During the Self Test, you should see the system properly detect the drives. If this does not happen, try using a known good drive. If this still does not happen, replace the board in question (motherboard or SCSI controller).

Good luck,

Danny

by kamach

Make 3 ERD floppies and boot from them. Edit your boot.ini to point to appropriate disk (your C: disk).

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