ntldr

[HoboOfDeath]

My friend gets a message that NTLDR is missing press any key to restart? It won't even boot from CD. I know the CD-ROM is working because it says that the CD-ROM was found. I have changed the boot sequence to cd-rom first but it just keeps on saying ntldr is missing. How do I get windows to boot again?

[mike breck]

When you start the PC with the XP CD in the CD-Rom drive you should get a message to "Press any key to boot from CD". You then press any key to boot from the XP CD.

Assuming this isn't a hardware fault and you can get into Safe Mode, you could try System Restore first.

Bootup the PC.
After the memory count, keep tapping the F8 key until the Windows Advanced Options Menu comes up.
In the Windows Advanced Options Menu, highlight Safe Mode and press Enter.
If another menu appears asking which operating system you wish to start, highlight Windows XP (Home or Professional, depending on which version you have installed) and press Enter.
When a box comes up stating you are running in Safe Mode, click "No" to use System Restore.
System Restore will restore the system to an earlier configuration, when it was starting properly.
In the System Restore window, select "Restore My Computer To An Earlier Time" and click Next.
In the Select A Restore Point page, click a recent bold date in the calender when you think the system was working.
On the same page, click a Restore point in the list and click Next.
System Restore will warn you to close programs and files.
Click Next.
System Restore will then Restore system files from the backup and will restart the PC.
It will then show a message saying the Restore was completed.

If that doesn't work and you are able to boot from the XP CD, then you could use the Recovery Console to extract a copy of to the C: drive. The command is:

"NTLDR COPY X:\I386\NTLDR C:\" and press Enter

Where "X" is the letter of your CD-Rom drive.

HTH

[KHT]

Just as a thought. Whenever I have a healthy NT based machine setup and running, I like to copy the NTLDR, NTDETECT and boot.ini to a floppy as a boot disk for these little annoyances.

Makes it much easier to fix.