Windows XP crash

[Bill69]

Hi All,

My main computer has thrown up a message when I tried to reboot, it says NT loader not found. Windows won't start, it just sits there with the message on the screen and I can't do anything but switch off. Looks like I will have to reinstall Windows and that means lots of downloading to get all the upgrades again. I have SP2 and SP3 on CDs but there are hundreds of security upgrades for windows and for Internet explorer that can't be saved to disk before you install them. Why does Microsoft not think of this.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[Euphod]

Aw man, sorry Bill for your misfortune. I had a display driver go South on me once, and it caused the same result! Nasty things, just up and left one day, and no matter how I tried to put it back, it was having none of it!

 

[john259]

Check the BIOS settings. There's a chance they've got corrupted and that's what's causing the problem.

Or course there sadly are many other more expensive possible causes.

If it won't boot off the hard disk, try booting from a floppy (if it has a floppy drive), a CD or a USB memory drive. You can create bootable versions of these on another working computer if one is available. You may need to go through some tricks to access an NTFS formatted hard disk from a FAT bootable disk, sorry I don't remember the details but a bit of googling should find them.

If you can access the data on your hard disk, your first priority is to back up what you care about if you haven't done so recently.

HTH, John

 

[Bill69]

Hi John & Euphod,

I am not worried about my programs and data, they are on a different disk. The only things I will have lost are emails and my email address book they were on the same disk as Windows. But now another problem has reared it's ugly head, my DVD drive will not read my Windows disk. So I guess I will have to install a CD drive I have put away in the cupboard to see if it will read the windows disk.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[pommie]

You probably have not lost anything, do a google for 'NT loader not found'
there are thousands of finds, this is not a rare problem, it is after all winblowz.
This is one I found, but check others before doing anything

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There are two approaches to fix the missing boot loader in windows XP.

If your Windows is installed on FAT32 Partitions:
1. Boot your computer with a Win98 startup floppy.

2. Now, copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files from the i386 directory on your floppy to your windows installation drive (e.g in “c:\” in case the windows is installed on c.

If your Windows is installed on NTFS Partitions:
1. Arrange for the bootable Windows XP setup CD.
2. Boot from CD select R=Repair option, by pressing R key during the setup.
3. Select the windows installation.
4. You need to enter in the administrator password when requested, if you had not set any password for the administrator account just press enter without typing.
5. Type the following commands to repair the bootloader, where X is the drive letter for your CD / DVD drive.
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
6. Eject CD-ROM and type exit to restart.

We hope this helps to fix the trouble.

-----------------------------------------------

Cheers David

 

[Bill69]

Hi David (pommie),

I did know about that way but unfortunately it won't work on this system. I have an Acer comp. which comes with it's own installation and recovery disks, four of them. I have changed the DVD drive for a CD drive and can reinstall the system now. Thanks for the advice anyhow, that will work on my older computer for which I have a proper Windows XP pro disk but not on this one.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[Bill69]

All up and running again, TRS2004 and TRS2006 work with no problems CMP works with no problems. Did a diskscan on my C drive, no bad sectors show up so I still don't know why the problem started.
Thanks for all the helpfull suggestions.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[pommie]

Good to see you are up and running

Cheers David