NTLDR is missing?
December 9, 2009 12:40 PM Subscribe
Tried to fix external drive, now laptop gives a "NTLDR is missing" error on boot and will not go any further.
I am using Windows Vista on a Dell Inspiron 6400. I was trying to fix a missing external hard drive with TestDisk, using a walkthrough found here, and I am now getting the message "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" when I try to boot up. Pressing a key only repeats this message on screen. This is both with and without the drive plugged in.
How can I fix this? Thanks - this is quite upsetting!
I am using Windows Vista on a Dell Inspiron 6400. I was trying to fix a missing external hard drive with TestDisk, using a walkthrough found here, and I am now getting the message "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" when I try to boot up. Pressing a key only repeats this message on screen. This is both with and without the drive plugged in.
How can I fix this? Thanks - this is quite upsetting!
Response by poster: No, I'm not at all - I think that's what the problem is.
posted by SamuelBowman at 12:48 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by SamuelBowman at 12:48 PM on December 9, 2009
You also may want to check the boot order - I believe it's F2 on the Dell screen on boot to get into the BIOS - and make sure it's actually trying to boot to the correct drive.
posted by restless_nomad at 12:49 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by restless_nomad at 12:49 PM on December 9, 2009
Yeah good point restless_nomad, it might just be trying to boot from the external hard drive, disconnect it just to be sure and make sure its set to boot from the right drive.
posted by amil at 12:51 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by amil at 12:51 PM on December 9, 2009
Response by poster: No, I've done that – it's definitely taking the internal HDD first. Could TestDisk have changed where it looks for that, though? Please assume maximum stupidity on my part.
posted by SamuelBowman at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by SamuelBowman at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2009
Also, were you running TestDisk off the hard drive, or a bootable CD? It may still be trying to boot to the CD. (Back when I was a Dell phone tech, "Eject the floppy disk" fixed 95% of these cases because the systems all defaulted to boot from floppy first.)
posted by restless_nomad at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by restless_nomad at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2009
Response by poster: Yeah, from the hard drive. I thought I did everything exactly as the linked walkthrough said.
posted by SamuelBowman at 12:55 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by SamuelBowman at 12:55 PM on December 9, 2009
Have you tried to boot into DOS and checking if your data is still on the C drive?
posted by amil at 1:02 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by amil at 1:02 PM on December 9, 2009
If you have a Windows CD, you can boot to it, go into recovery mode, and run fixboot. Might take care of the problem. (It's been too long for me to rattle off the step-by-step, but those should be the keywords for Google!)
posted by restless_nomad at 1:04 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by restless_nomad at 1:04 PM on December 9, 2009
I just saw this on the Test Disk website, if fixboot doesn't work. It might be trying to boot into the DellUtility partition, instead of the NTFS partiton.
posted by amil at 1:08 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by amil at 1:08 PM on December 9, 2009
I've had this happen a couple of times. The easiest time I changed to boot order and was all set. So make sure you try that.
The other times, one the motherboard was toasted...could load bios but the SATA port on the motherboard was trashed. Wasted several days effing around with that. I think the other, the drive was trashed.
So: be prepared to a) have to eff around to figure out what the problem is and b) replace some parts.
I've found that it's either really easy or really hard to fix this problem.
Good luck. When it happens to me I know I have a bad couple of days coming.
posted by sully75 at 1:30 PM on December 9, 2009
The other times, one the motherboard was toasted...could load bios but the SATA port on the motherboard was trashed. Wasted several days effing around with that. I think the other, the drive was trashed.
So: be prepared to a) have to eff around to figure out what the problem is and b) replace some parts.
I've found that it's either really easy or really hard to fix this problem.
Good luck. When it happens to me I know I have a bad couple of days coming.
posted by sully75 at 1:30 PM on December 9, 2009
Response by poster: I don't have a Windows CD, so that's not an option right now. Does fixboot erase the hard disk if I run it? (I do have an old Ubuntu Live CD if that's any good.)
I've fiddled around with the boot order to no avail, but I'm 99% certain that this is caused by something stupid I've done with TestDisk. The "Dell error code" I'm getting from the boot diagnostics is the one that says the hard disk has failed, which makes me think that, in trying to fix my initial problem with the non-recognised external drive (I was trying to make it recognized again), I accidentally erased the location of the hard disk. (If that makes any sense – I obviously know nothing about computers.)
Thanks for all the help so far.
posted by SamuelBowman at 1:47 PM on December 9, 2009
I've fiddled around with the boot order to no avail, but I'm 99% certain that this is caused by something stupid I've done with TestDisk. The "Dell error code" I'm getting from the boot diagnostics is the one that says the hard disk has failed, which makes me think that, in trying to fix my initial problem with the non-recognised external drive (I was trying to make it recognized again), I accidentally erased the location of the hard disk. (If that makes any sense – I obviously know nothing about computers.)
Thanks for all the help so far.
posted by SamuelBowman at 1:47 PM on December 9, 2009
Which error code was it?
posted by restless_nomad at 2:22 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by restless_nomad at 2:22 PM on December 9, 2009
I would strongly suggest getting Hiren's Boot CD to start troubleshooting.
You have tons of partition tools, recovery software and even a full WinPE environment to use.
From then on, you can use the partition editing tools to make sure your drives are partitioned and bootable, you can then make sure you can access them with Mini WinXP, and hopefully recover the files you need to boot.
posted by PowerCat at 2:33 PM on December 9, 2009
You have tons of partition tools, recovery software and even a full WinPE environment to use.
From then on, you can use the partition editing tools to make sure your drives are partitioned and bootable, you can then make sure you can access them with Mini WinXP, and hopefully recover the files you need to boot.
posted by PowerCat at 2:33 PM on December 9, 2009
fixboot does not erase the hard drive, just the boot sector. I've seen it work miracles (for values of "miracle" that equal "a Microsoft product fulfilling its stated function)
Either they've changed their hard drive test, or you're looking at a different error code - I was expecting probably 4 or 7.
posted by restless_nomad at 4:45 PM on December 9, 2009
Either they've changed their hard drive test, or you're looking at a different error code - I was expecting probably 4 or 7.
posted by restless_nomad at 4:45 PM on December 9, 2009
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posted by amil at 12:47 PM on December 9, 2009