NTLDR missing please help

dv0rn · 07-19-2009, 03:52 AM

Im looking at an Dell Ispiron 1526 Laptop For a friend, it is running Windows Vista Home Premium. when the computer is turned on a message saying NTLDR MISSING press any key to restart.
when i asked him what he was doing before it acted up he said that he had been downloading afile from rapidshare and had it set for open automatically, before he had a chance to scan it the file had been opened,
he said that a white gorrilla appeared on his monitor and was laughing at him, he shut off the computer and when he tried to restart, it gave him this message. using hirens boot cd ive been able to access the hard drive and scan, nothing had been founf, i also rebuilt the MBR using the bootrec.exe, and when that didnt work manually rebuilding it.

when i put in the vista recovery disk it show that vista as being present on the hardrive, but when i do /scanos or /rebuildbcd it finds no windows installations.

i tried looking for what could have infected him but no luck.
any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

**jcgriff2** · 07-19-2009, 04:33 AM

Boot-up with the same recovery DVD and select the option to REPAIR the system.

AustrAlien · 07-19-2009, 06:01 AM

You may find this link useful:

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD

usasma · 07-19-2009, 04:38 PM

Vista doesn't use NTLDR - rather it uses winload.exe
Sounds to me if there's a corruption of the boot files, maybe an attempt to install XP to see if it could they could crack into the system?

Startup Repair is the tool for this repair. Boot from the OS DVD, select the language options in the first screen, then select "Repair this computer" in the lower left of the second screen. Then select "Startup Repair" (dismiss the System Restore dialog if it pops up).

If that doesn't work, then I'd suggest slaving the hard drive to another system (with good, updated antivirus protection) and do a full scan on it.

dv0rn · 07-20-2009, 10:06 PM

so i followed the link that AustrAlien left and followed the "Nuclear Holocaust" Instructions, it has since fixed the missing NTLDR message (Thanks mate) but now it is giving me the message that the winload.exe is missing or corrupt , i tried the start up repair on the vista repair disk to no avail

any suggestions

(Thanks for all the help)

AustrAlien · 07-20-2009, 10:22 PM

Hmmmm .... that's to be expected. Just how much damage/how many problems did that white gorilla manage to create?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dv0rn

i tried the start up repair on the vista repair disk to no avail

Keep using the Visa "Startup Repair" tool until there are no errors/Vista loads properly. (I understand that it is not uncommon to have to use it more than once). I am not familiar with the other options available on this menu, although I have tried them all ..... awhile ago now.
Until someone comes along with a better idea ....

It may be useful to your cause if you were to recap the exact situation at the current time .... What happens when you do what .... etc. especially for anybody coming along that hasn't been following your thread .... oh, and for me too ... I like to keep things simple, and with precise detail ... so that would help me to help you too.

AustrAlien · 07-21-2009, 12:34 AM

Quote:

The automated repair only fixes one thing at a time, and you might need several things fixed (MBR, bootmgr, boot folder). So boot the DVD again and repeat the whole process. If it's still not working after repeating the automated repair several times ....

I found this in the link that I provided earlier .... and is what I was referring to in my last post.

Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.

usasma · 07-21-2009, 06:22 AM

Have you looked to see if winload.exe is still present on the system (through the command prompt portion of Startup Repair)?

You've done most everything by using the Nuclear option of the link above - so the rest of this post is for information only.

You can do most of the fixes needed in the Command Prompt section of Startup Repair.
You'll need to be familiar with the commands/syntax for BCDedit tho'
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...86(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...67(WS.10).aspx

Here's how the boot happens (from this link: http://usasma.vox.com/library/post/b...eshooting.html )

BIOS reads the MBR
MBR reads the boot sector
Boot Sector loads the BootMgr
BootMgr loads Winload.exe
Winload.exe loads Ntoskrnl.exe
Ntoskrnl.exe does a bunch of stuff after this (more info in the above link)
It loads Smss.exe (the start of user-mode stuff)
Then Winlogon.exe and userinit.exe are loaded

07-19-2009, 03:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
dv0rn Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2 OS: xp, ubuntu	NTLDR missing please help Im looking at an Dell Ispiron 1526 Laptop For a friend, it is running Windows Vista Home Premium. when the computer is turned on a message saying NTLDR MISSING press any key to restart. when i asked him what he was doing before it acted up he said that he had been downloading afile from rapidshare and had it set for open automatically, before he had a chance to scan it the file had been opened, he said that a white gorrilla appeared on his monitor and was laughing at him, he shut off the computer and when he tried to restart, it gave him this message. using hirens boot cd ive been able to access the hard drive and scan, nothing had been founf, i also rebuilt the MBR using the bootrec.exe, and when that didnt work manually rebuilding it. when i put in the vista recovery disk it show that vista as being present on the hardrive, but when i do /scanos or /rebuildbcd it finds no windows installations. i tried looking for what could have infected him but no luck. any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks

07-19-2009, 04:33 AM	#2 (permalink)
jcgriff2 Moderator, Microsoft Supp Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Great State of New Jersey - away from the gross corruption of the Riverside County, CA, S.O. . . . . . . . SHAMEFUL ACTIVITIES INDEED ! ! ! Posts: 10,163 OS: Windows 7, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: NTLDR missing please help Boot-up with the same recovery DVD and select the option to REPAIR the system. __________________ . . . . . . . . BSOD Posting Instructions B Expecting a reply and waiting > 36 hours ? Send a PM to me containing a link to your thread Glad to be home in the Great State of New Jersey ! !

07-19-2009, 06:01 AM	#3 (permalink)
AustrAlien Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: NSW, Australia Posts: 366 OS: XP Pro SP3, Windows 7 RC 64bit	Re: NTLDR missing please help You may find this link useful: http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD __________________ AustrAlien Google is my friend. Make Google your friend too.

07-19-2009, 04:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
usasma Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Southeastern CT, USA Posts: 1,722 OS: Vista (x64); Win7 (x32 & x64)	Re: NTLDR missing please help Vista doesn't use NTLDR - rather it uses winload.exe Sounds to me if there's a corruption of the boot files, maybe an attempt to install XP to see if it could they could crack into the system? Startup Repair is the tool for this repair. Boot from the OS DVD, select the language options in the first screen, then select "Repair this computer" in the lower left of the second screen. Then select "Startup Repair" (dismiss the System Restore dialog if it pops up). If that doesn't work, then I'd suggest slaving the hard drive to another system (with good, updated antivirus protection) and do a full scan on it. __________________ aka John MVP Windows - Desktop Experience "There are very few problems in life that can't be fixed by the proper application of high explosives" If I haven't replied in 48 hours, please send me a PM.

07-20-2009, 10:06 PM	#5 (permalink)
dv0rn Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2 OS: xp, ubuntu	Re: NTLDR missing please help so i followed the link that AustrAlien left and followed the "Nuclear Holocaust" Instructions, it has since fixed the missing NTLDR message (Thanks mate) but now it is giving me the message that the winload.exe is missing or corrupt , i tried the start up repair on the vista repair disk to no avail any suggestions (Thanks for all the help) Last edited by dv0rn; 07-20-2009 at 10:31 PM.

07-21-2009, 06:22 AM	#8 (permalink)
usasma Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Southeastern CT, USA Posts: 1,722 OS: Vista (x64); Win7 (x32 & x64)	Re: NTLDR missing please help Have you looked to see if winload.exe is still present on the system (through the command prompt portion of Startup Repair)? You've done most everything by using the Nuclear option of the link above - so the rest of this post is for information only. You can do most of the fixes needed in the Command Prompt section of Startup Repair. You'll need to be familiar with the commands/syntax for BCDedit tho' http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...86(WS.10).aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...67(WS.10).aspx Here's how the boot happens (from this link: http://usasma.vox.com/library/post/b...eshooting.html ) BIOS reads the MBR MBR reads the boot sector Boot Sector loads the BootMgr BootMgr loads Winload.exe Winload.exe loads Ntoskrnl.exe Ntoskrnl.exe does a bunch of stuff after this (more info in the above link) It loads Smss.exe (the start of user-mode stuff) Then Winlogon.exe and userinit.exe are loaded __________________ aka John MVP Windows - Desktop Experience "There are very few problems in life that can't be fixed by the proper application of high explosives" If I haven't replied in 48 hours, please send me a PM. Last edited by usasma; 07-21-2009 at 06:25 AM.