After EZUpgrade(Apricorn)-Missing NTLDR; won't boot

[Freehold Fred]

Background
Client used EZ Upgrade to clone an IBM (Lenovo) Thinkpad laptop 100 MB drive.
Thinkpad has hidden partition; clone copied this partition as well.

Problem
Replaced drive, but system won't boot: Missing NTLDR.

Attempted (client was rushing me and I didn't want to spend a lot of time):
Recovery Console: fixboot, fixmbr - still no go. Do these replace the NTLDR?

Checked and compared boot.ini - ok

Advised client to try another clone on this drive. Client has done this successfully on other Thinkpads.

Also, like Rich Mentzel's idea on another thread: 1) Install clean o/s 2) restore from image.

Any other suggestions?

[Seth]

Download and run the XP Quick Boot Disk from here (http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm). It fits on floppy. Boot to it and it will replace the NTLDR as well as a few other boot files.

If that doesn't work, run a chkdsk /r.

And failing that, run a bootcfg /rebuild. Instructions are here (http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251).

[Freehold Fred]

Seth,
No floppy drive.
I'll suggest the others.
Thnx,
Fred

Download and run the XP Quick Boot Disk from here (http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm). It fits on floppy. Boot to it and it will replace the NTLDR as well as a few other boot files.

If that doesn't work, run a chkdsk /r.

And failing that, run a bootcfg /rebuild. Instructions are here (http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251).

[mylanta]

Fred,
Also makes a bootable cd...but you know more and more, we need to have these:
http://3btech.net/exusbpoblfld.html

[Freehold Fred]

After a similar problem upgrading my wife's computer, I resolved the problem as follows:

1) Make sure the BIOS autodetects HD
2) Boot into the Recovery Console.
- Copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
- Copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\

In this resolution, I lucked out bec. my configuration was purposely screwy (don't ask):
Windows was on the 1st physical partition of Primary Slave, but assigned as drive D; subsequently reconfiged jumper as Primary Master and disconnected a 2nd physical drive. Still assigned as drive D.
In the Recovery Console, it became located in C:\windows and a second partition D contained data

Boot.ini was in tact, okay, and not changed.

Bootcfg /rebuild per Doug Barrow's post did nothing.

Acronis partitioning tool also did not work to add the new drive properly. It seemed to work, allowed image to be restored, but DISKPART in RC indicated that the partition space was unallocated. I wound up repartitioning with DISKPART and doing a quick format as NTFS in the RC. I am getting to like RC more and more as I find some tough situations.

Bottom line, again, was to copy the missing file + ntdetect.com from the CD or it could have been from a bootable floppy.



Replaced drive, but system won't boot: Missing NTLDR.

[Seth]

Fred,

That's great news. BTW, that was me, not Doug.

The XP quick boot floppy contains boot.ini, ntdetect.com, and ntldr.

An ntldr error often indicates a hard drive problem; hence the chkdsk.

Often as well, the error doesn't come alone. Once the ntldr is replaced, a typical error is "missing hal.dll" (even though it's not missing); hence the bootcfg /rebuild.

[mylanta]

Fred,
One thing I do to avoid main drive being set as D is disconnect every drive but the one I want to install Windows on when doing clean XP install to avoid having XP install to "D" or some other ridiculous...

[Freehold Fred]

'Advice on this forum' is like a box of chocolates...You never know which one your going to get. I was referring to:http://www.kickenhardware.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3050&highlight=rebuild

I probably saw your post as well. So take credit, also. :applause::applause::applause:



Fred,

That's great news. BTW, that was me, not Doug.
.

[dbarrow]

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

The critical part to the whole deal:
1. Boot.ini/ntldr must reside on the first partition of the drive BIOS boots to. This can often be confusing when setting the BIOS with two identical make/model drives.
One way to be sure it will boot, copy ntldr, boot.ini, and other startup files to the second drive as well. Should the first ever fail, change the boot order and the second one will boot. (providing XP lives on a different drive.)

2. Figure out the Boot.ini. This is what tells it where XP lives. You can have XP on any drive/partition of your choice. The boot.ini is what tells it which drive and partition to look for it on.
If you change the partition or drive, boot.ini has to be edited accordingly.
Disk 0= first drive on bus
Disk 1= 2nd drive

If XP lives on a SATA drive or another drive controller bus other than the IDE, good idea to figure out which bus/controller and cable you are booting to and mark it on the cable and drive somwhere.
I can look inside my case and see SATA 1 cable goes to top drive in rack 2 and that is the XP drive. (Saves confusion if you ever swap drives and cables around.

Note that Acronis sees drives/partitions differently than Windows.
Disk 0= drive 1 Windows
Disk 1= drive 1 Acronis kernel
It also sees drive letters in a different order.
To avoid that confusion, I keep my OS partition E: 10g = 9.76 Windows size and avoid having any other partition the same. No matter what the naming convention, I know the OS partition by size.

Fixboot will generally find the OS and re-write boot.ini if you can log into Repair Console.

[Freehold Fred]

I got lazy and didn't want to open the case, so I disabled it in the BIOS. I guess it came back, just like a smelly cat.

Fred,
One thing I do to avoid main drive being set as D is disconnect every drive but the one I want to install Windows on when doing clean XP install to avoid having XP install to "D" or some other ridiculous...