I want to cry (NLTDR is missing)

wow exuberant

So after finishing fully building my computer/updating and adding my games to to my computer a couple of hours ago - I get this error message.

"NTLDR is missing
Press CTRL alt delete to restart"

What the ****? I usb installed windows 7 to my SSD, and I've restarted it multiple times today while installing update etc. and then I turned the PC off for a while and come back to this error message?

**** me this is so infuriating

wexie

Chances are it's looking for the wrong boot device.

Did you have the USB key in during those reboots?

Maybe try putting the USB key back in and see what happens?

tuxy

No idea how that happened. What you need to do is boot from the usb windows installer again and select repair.

wow exuberant

I think I have an idea of what happened, originally the pc didnt detect the HDD(it did in BIOS, but not after setup) and I had to do a few things in disk management to get it to work. I think this was the first restart since I did that, and I've seen people online have similar problems in terms of having both their SSD and HDD in at the same time, apparently it will load no problem if the HDD is taken out

wow exuberant

wexie wrote: »

Chances are it's looking for the wrong boot device.

Did you have the USB key in during those reboots?

Maybe try putting the USB key back in and see what happens?

I did have it in, I do have the option to start all over again but I really, really don't want to do that and if I do I'll just get this same problem again if I want to use the HDD and SSD which I'll need to

tuxy

What order do you have your boot devices selected?

wexie

wow exuberant wrote: »

I did have it in, I do have the option to start all over again but I really, really don't want to do that and if I do I'll just get this same problem again if I want to use the HDD and SSD which I'll need to

hmm...not really, however there's a chance the bootloader (the bit that tells the pc where windows lives) has been installed onto the USB key in which case you'd need to manually install it onto your boot drive.

The other possibility is that it's simply looking at your HDD rather than SSD. Have a look in the BIOS and see which is listed as the first boot device.

From what I gather your first boot device should be the SSD.

(if you just wanted to get back online you could simply learn to keep the usb key in? probably what I would do until I had a day to sort it all out again)

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

What order do you have your boot devices selected?

I originally had it so that the SSD was priority but I think when I enabled the HDD that took over priority and it won't let me change it in BIOS

wow exuberant

wexie wrote: »

hmm...not really, however there's a chance the bootloader (the bit that tells the pc where windows lives) has been installed onto the USB key in which case you'd need to manually install it onto your boot drive.

The other possibility is that it's simply looking at your HDD rather than SSD. Have a look in the BIOS and see which is listed as the first boot device.

From what I gather your first boot device should be the SSD.

(if you just wanted to get back online you could simply learn to keep the usb key in? probably what I would do until I had a day to sort it all out again)

I put in the USB and selected that as boot priority and got the same error message

tuxy

Does the HDD have an old install of windows on it?
That could be confusing things.
The bios will let you pick the ssd as first boot device you just have to figure out how.

wexie

wow exuberant wrote: »

I originally had it so that the SSD was priority but I think when I enabled the HDD that took over priority and it won't let me change it in BIOS

You'll need to change them somehow. Sounds like you installed it with the SSD as boot device and then changed the boot order.

So NTLDR is installed on the SSD but your PC is looking for it on the HDD.

partyatmygaff

Make a Ubuntu live CD/USB and then just use it to replace NTLDR in System32 with a fresh one from the i386 folder on your Windows installation USB/DVD. Usually does the trick.

NTLDR is the old boot loader (XP and earlier), it should be BOOTMGR for Windows 7. So there's no NTLDR to replace. This would suggest to me that the BIOS is trying to boot from the wrong drive, or it has the wrong boot sector on the SSD for some reason.

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

Does the HDD have an old install of windows on it?
That could be confusing things.
The bios will let you pick the ssd as first boot device you just have to figure out how.

No the hdd doesn't, also it won't let me pick it it doesn't appear on the drop down menu in config but I can see it(the ssd that is) in boot default, but when I click on it I still get the same message

wow exuberant

Karsini wrote: »

NTLDR is the old boot loader (XP and earlier), it should be BOOTMGR for Windows 7. So there's no NTLDR to replace. This would suggest to me that the BIOS is trying to boot from the wrong drive, or it has the wrong boot sector on the SSD for some reason.

How am I getting this error then if its for xp? :S

wow exuberant

wow exuberant wrote: »

How am I getting this error then if its for xp? :S

Either the machine is trying to boot from a partition that has been formatted in XP, or the boot sector on your SSD has been replaced with the XP version. I couldn't say why though. If it is that, you could try booting from the Windows 7 DVD (or USB) and running this from the command prompt (press Shift+F10) when the disc finishes booting and you're at the language selection screen:

bootsect /nt60 c:

wow exuberant

If i re-usb-installed windows 7 onto the ssd and did everything all over again would the same thing just happen again?

tuxy

Did you try a repair by booting the usb install yet?

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

Did you try a repair by booting the usb install yet?

I can't boot by usb install now it just goes the the NTLDR screen

tuxy

wow exuberant wrote: »

I can't boot by usb install now it just goes the the NTLDR screen

Maybe something is messed up in your bios. Load fail safe defaults and then see if you can select the boot device you want.

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

Maybe something is messed up in your bios. Load fail safe defaults and then see if you can select the boot device you want.

I don't think there is that option

old_aussie

Is it an older style BIOS or the newer style UEFI

wow exuberant

old_aussie wrote: »

Is it an older style BIOS or the newer style UEFI

UEFI I think

wow exuberant

what i might do tomorrow is remove the HDD and see if that works

wow exuberant

So I can try do the whole process over again, should I or will I just get the same damn problem?

tuxy

Well how can you if you can't boot from usb?
I would try to figure out why you can't boot from any device you want.
The setting might be called optimized defaults or something like that but there will be a load defaults somewhere in the bios.

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

Well how can you if you can't boot from usb?
I would try to figure out why you can't boot from any device you want.
The setting might be called optimized defaults or something like that but there will be a load defaults somewhere in the bios.

No I thought I couldn't but I figured out how to boot from the usb now

tuxy

So was the repair unsuccessful?

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

So was the repair unsuccessful?

I don't think I can? With the USB all I can do is install windows again

You can't do a repair install of Windows Vista or later by booting from the media, you can only do it if the OS is still bootable. You can try to do a Startup Repair, but I'd also suggest repairing the boot sector like I mentioned above.

wow exuberant

Karsini wrote: »

You can't do a repair install of Windows Vista or later by booting from the media, you can only do it if the OS is still bootable. You can try to do a Startup Repair, but I'd also suggest repairing the boot sector like I mentioned above.

I tried, it didn't work

tuxy

Karsini wrote: »

You can't do a repair install of Windows Vista or later by booting from the media, you can only do it if the OS is still bootable. You can try to do a Startup Repair, but I'd also suggest repairing the boot sector like I mentioned above.

That's not right, I just cheked with the usb install I have of windows 7. After you select language it looks like this

http://cdn.overclock.net/e/e3/e3f67c75_windows-7-startup-repair-4.jpeg

See the repair option.

wow exuberant

First thing I got was the language menu like Karsini said, tried the cmd and it didn't work. So should I just do the whole process over again?

tuxy

tuxy wrote: »

That's not right, I just cheked with the usb install I have of windows 7. After you select language it looks like this

http://cdn.overclock.net/e/e3/e3f67c75_windows-7-startup-repair-4.jpeg

See the repair option.

That just gives you the WinRE options (Startup Repair, System Restore, etc)

tuxy

Does startup repair fix the mbr?

wow exuberant

tuxy wrote: »

Does startup repair fix the mbr?

I cant use startup repair

wow exuberant

wow exuberant wrote: »

I cant use startup repair

How do you mean? Is it under the "Repair your computer" option? Or does it just not fix the problem?

wow exuberant

Ok I think what I'm going to do tomorrow is open the case up and disconnect the HDD, try see if I Can launch it off the ssd then and then update the BIOS and then re connect the hdd

wow exuberant

wow exuberant wrote: »

Ok I think what I'm going to do tomorrow is open the case up and disconnect the HDD, try see if I Can launch it off the ssd then and then update the BIOS and then re connect the hdd

I'd certainly do that, disconnect everything except the SSD and see if it boots.

wow exuberant

Karsini wrote: »

How do you mean? Is it under the "Repair your computer" option? Or does it just not fix the problem?

Idk I can't even use the arrow keys for some reason now to select the right option, the whole thing is just ****ed up majorly

Skill Magill

Maybe somethings loose, recheck your connections?
agree with previous post, disconnect hd, looks as if its trying to boot from it.

wow exuberant

eoing1 wrote: »

Maybe somethings loose, recheck your connections?
agree with previous post, disconnect hd, looks as if its trying to boot from it.

Will do, it looks like some other people are having compatability issues between their HDD and the brand of SSD I'm using (Crucial)

wow exuberant

I can't find which thing to download when I do it later (for windows 7)

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=970%20Extreme3&o=BIOS

wow exuberant

So I opened the case, disconnected the HDD and set it so that it boots from the ssd. I don't get the error message but what I do get is the message as if no OS is installed, I can set up the whole thing again but I'm afraid it won't do anything.

Skill Magill

wow exuberant wrote: »

I can't find which thing to download when I do it later (for windows 7)

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=970%20Extreme3&o=BIOS

Dont download or try to update the bios until you have this sorted. Maybe start from the beginning, disconnect the hdd and install the os on the ssd. When that is up and running, turn off and reconnect the hdd. This will (should ) have the effect
of booting to the ssd and seeing the hdd as local storage.

Forget about updating the BIOS unless you are sure it is causing the problem.

Go into the BIOS and reset everything to default. Double check all your connections and SATA cables, make sure SATA is set to AHCI (although it should be by default anyway). Then do a clean install with only your SSD connected. Use a legit Windows retail ISO and not something modified and riddled with rootkits. Use a decent USB stick as well.

Don't waste time installing all your games or plugging in secondary HDDs until you are sure the system is up and running stably.

wow exuberant

I reinstalled everything, the thing has been working fine all day, I'm afraid to activate my hdd now lol...

wow exuberant

wow exuberant wrote: »

I reinstalled everything, the thing has been working fine all day, I'm afraid to activate my hdd now lol...

Before you use your HDD you should full-format it (not quick-format), then check the health with CrystalDiskInfo. If there's any bad sectors on a brand new drive I would just RMA it. (normally I do a couple of full read/writes on a new drive to help identify if there are bad sectors).

Also familiarise yourself with the manufacturer diagnostic.

Also once you are sure the system is running stable, it is a good idea to take a system image before installing to much junk. It will just help get you back to square one that much quicker if you have any issues in the future.

wow exuberant

It turned out the HDD was activated from the get go, no problems since yesterday and the system has been shut off/turned on multiple times so fingers crossed the last problem was a fluke

Skill Magill

Maybe you changed the boot priority in the bios without realising it? Anyway, hope it stays up for you :eek: congrats

wow exuberant

Turned on PC today and it happened again, almost smashed my ****ing monitor.