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I want to cry (NLTDR is missing)

  • 16-12-2012 10:47PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭


    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


«1

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,478 ✭✭✭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?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭tuxy


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭tuxy


    What order do you have your boot devices selected?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,478 ✭✭✭wexie


    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)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,478 ✭✭✭wexie


    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.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Posts: 18,160 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Posts: 18,160 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭tuxy


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭tuxy


    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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,409 ✭✭✭old_aussie


    Is it an older style BIOS or the newer style UEFI


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭wow exuberant


    old_aussie wrote: »
    Is it an older style BIOS or the newer style UEFI

    UEFI I think


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭wow exuberant


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭wow exuberant


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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,980 ✭✭✭✭tuxy


    So was the repair unsuccessful?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


  • Posts: 18,160 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭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


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