This morning, my brother turned on his computer and notice a error message on the bios screen that say, "NTLDR is missng. Press CTR+ALT+DEL to restart computer." However, the computer won't restart even if I press CTR+ALT+DEL and it's still at that screen as I type this post. Please help!

NTLDR is a nessary component of windows that is nessary to boot.

You must reinstall or repair your OS

|Drew|

You can use the recovery console to repair your installation. Follow the instructions at the following link to load the recovery console:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm

Once you are at the command prompt, enter these commands:

fixmbr c:
fixboot c:
copy cddrive:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy cddrive:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

Replace C: with the appropriate drive letter if needed.

In all of the above commands "cddrive:" is to be replaced by whatever the drive letter is, such as D: or E:, where your XP CD-ROM has been placed. You end the Recovery Console session by typing the command EXIT, which will reboot the computer.

Is there a disk in your floppy drive? If there is, take it out. I know its obvious, but I have it happen a number of times!

Good tip! Definitely check this before trying to repair Windows.

it might be due to hard drive failure

check if the bios sees the hdd.

other reason would be a virus could have deleted it or simply your brother could have accidentally deleted the root core files..

action to take:

1. go to bios and set the 1st boot device to your cd rom

2. put your xp cd into your cd rom

3. press any key at "press any key to setup etc."

4. do as u'd normally install xp, press f8 enter enter

5. at one point its gonna say a previous version of windows has been found, what the **** do u want to do

6. press repair "r" button

and it should do it for u!@

Instead of going through the hassle of doing a complete repair install, Sgt_Strider should at least try using the recovery console method first. It's a lot faster and windows updates won't need to be reinstalled. If that doesn't work, then yes, do a repair install.

Will the recovery console delete all the data files inside my brother's computer?

Not at all. It's basically a simple command prompt that loads from the CD so you can replace missing or corrupted files. There are also commands that will allow you to rebuild the Master Boot Record and the boot.ini file.

You should run a diagnostic utility on the hard drive. Find out the manufacturer of the drive, and go the their site. Get a spare floppy, put it in the drive, and boot. Follow the instructions. If the drive comes up bad, there is your problem. Otherwise go ahead and repair the installation.

You can use the recovery console to repair your installation. Follow the instructions at the following link to load the recovery console:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm

Once you are at the command prompt, enter these commands:

fixmbr c:
fixboot c:
copy cddrive:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy cddrive:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

Replace C: with the appropriate drive letter if needed.

In all of the above commands "cddrive:" is to be replaced by whatever the drive letter is, such as D: or E:, where your XP CD-ROM has been placed. You end the Recovery Console session by typing the command EXIT, which will reboot the computer.

Hey man, I just tried the commands that you listed and it still doesn't work. It said files were copied successfully and yet, I still get the ntldr file is missing error message. What else can I do?

Guys, I can't even go to the desktop to try any utilities and the recovery console isn't working for me. I entered the commands that jrzycrim suggested and it still doesn't work, despite the message telling me that it copied successfully. I typed exit to exit the console and the ntldr is missing message pops up. I don't want to format the computer because there are very important files on the hard drive...

Since that didn't work, the next thing to try is a repair install. You don't have to format and you won't lose any data on your drive. Just follow XtremeMaC's instructions in this thread.

You will need to re-install any service packs (unless they are slip-streamed on your cd) and windows updates.

Again, a repair install will not erase your programs and data that you currently have on your drive.

it might be due to hard drive failure

check if the bios sees the hdd.

other reason would be a virus could have deleted it or simply your brother could have accidentally deleted the root core files..

action to take:

1. go to bios and set the 1st boot device to your cd rom

2. put your xp cd into your cd rom

3. press any key at "press any key to setup etc."

4. do as u'd normally install xp, press f8 enter enter

5. at one point its gonna say a previous version of windows has been found, what the **** do u want to do

6. press repair "r" button

and it should do it for u!@

Hi xtrememac, where do i press f8? I don't see that option anywhere

that's the eula screen u've to press f8 to accept it. if u ever installed windows u definitely should have seen it...