Help PPRune POP!

[BOAC]

Trying to help PPRune Pop, who has a spanking new 'puter (WinFast mobi), and THOUGHT he had Win XP until yesterday. The 'system' drive is pretty new. He claims no changes since last boot.

Getting NTLDR missing message.

He tried a WIN XP CDROM 'install' but it would not recognise the CDROM in the middle of the process. I have taken him through the repair console, and that will not recognise his existing Windows installation - bootcfg /scan shows only the CDRom Windows. He is also 'forbidden access' to the 'copy ntldr' function. At this moment I have left him running a CHKDSK on the system drive.

Any ideas appreciated. Do we have a boot sector virus? Will 'fixboot' sort this out?

[Saab Dastard]

The MS site should be your first port of call - here (http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?q=NTLDR+missing+XP&l=1&mkt=en-US&FORM=QBME1).

[BOAC]

Dropped anchor there this afternoon, but no artificers available:) . Why is it not seeing his XP installation?

Update : chkdsk seemed to hang at 35%. Going through to Windows XP install it will not 'recognise' his genuine CDROM.:confused: :confused:

UPDATE 2: Panic over (temporarily:) :) ) - we have a new install of Windows, having disconnected the drive with the 'missing' XP. Tomorrow brings a reconnection of that drive - and I'm off sick.:)

[BRL]

Any joy?????????????

[PPRuNe Pop]

Here I am !!!!!!!

OS 'invited' me to install 'without any changes' on to a drive I use for personal stuff. Dead straightforward after I disconnected the drive that would not boot. Now all I have to do is spend the next three weeks putting things right!!!!!!

BOAC was more than helpful, as usual, and spent a long time on the phone with me. And....we have a crafty plan to avoid such a problem again. Love to know what caused it though. One minute a perfect drive, next it would not boot.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[BOAC]

I'd like to reinvigorate this thread. PPP has now had two of his hard drives become 'unusable'. Both had XP installs on them. What could cause 2 xp installations on separate drives to become unbootable in turn? Are we looking at a Windows boot sector virus, or is it just a coincidence?

Latest install on a different drive is ok so far.

[Jhieminga]

It's just a wild-ass-guess but I would try looking for a common denominator, such as a motherboard, power or controller issue. Since you're installing 'fresh' each time a virus is not a hard possibility in my view, but then I'm just guessing.

Good luck!

[vapilot2004]

Have a look inside of your boot.ini file on the working and non-working drives. This is located in the root of the C: drive and is hidden and protected. To show this file:

In any Explorer window, click Tools > Folder Options.
Select the View tab.
Check "Show hidden files and folders" and un-check "hide protected operating system files"

Compare the working drive and non-working drive(s) boot.ini contents.

Another comparison between the good and bad drives:
The exact size and modified dates of the ntldr file also on the root of C:.

Desktop: A confirmation that all 3 drives are configured for Primary (via jumpers/cable select and BIOS) and connected to Channel 0 (IDE 0).

If notebook, you may need to use the XP CD and boot to the recovery console to gain acess to the files.

Good Luck !

[PPRuNe Pop]

Thanks guys but I have done a major overhaul. I had already got a new mobo and CPU. A 'new' HDD (5 months old) somehow went belly up and I temporarily lost my stuff. I have all that back now after investing in a data recovery programme and I also bought a 250gb new SATA HDD.

All now working well but I intend to do backups, drive images with Acronis and anything else to avoid this ever happening again.

With the way that machines can be compromised these days I expect to do my best to avoid whatever it was that caused the horrendous shutdowns (Faulty power) I had.

So, thanks again. Onwards and upwards - I hope.

PPP

[BOAC]

Update on Post #6 - the new install on the 'C' drive is not working! PPP reports again that CMOS does not see the C drive reliably. Sometimes it does, and boots ok, sometimes it doesn't. It is a new Mobi. I'm stuck for ideas. Obviously change the CMOS battery is one, but if the machine is going through CMOS on boot then the drives should be autodetected and presumably therefore the battery state is irrelevant, so the 'Q' is why is CMOS not seeing the drive all the time? New cables, new power supply.

Anybody?

[Saab Dastard]

BOAC,

I sometimes get this on one of my PCs. The second HD has a bootable Win98 install, so occasionally I find that Win98 has started instead of WinXP!!

As this only ever happens from a cold (and I mean Cold!!) start, I THINK it has to do with the time that the primary master takes to spin up. If the 2nd disk (smaller) reports "ready" before the first, then it boots off it.

A quick "3-fingered salute" and all is sunshine and light.

I haven't bothered to investigate further, as it is a trivial problem - at least for me.

SD

[BOAC]

...but this should not affect autodetect in CMOS, surely?

PS You need one of those paraffin burners under the dirve overnight:)

[boguing]

Wondering about the cables. Were the other two drives IDE or SATA? If SATA, have you used a new cable? If thet were IDE and the new SATA has just done the same thing, it's very odd.

Edit. Have you tried a different power supply? Two reasons, wobbly volts will mean the drive won't run as expected. Too many and you can fry the drivers circuitry (data's usually safe though - speaking from experience here).

[BOAC]

The 'dodgy' drives have always been IDE. The SATA drive is brand new (and still working yesterday, although I understand PPP has now installed XP on it, so watch this space:) ), and has a new SATA cable.

Power supply is new, bought in new case to replace suspect PS.?????

[hobie]

I thought this link provided some usefull tips although many have been quoted above .... :confused:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

[PPRuNe Pop]

Thanks again for your kindnesses.

I have removed all ribbons and replaced them with round cables. The main problem with those is that they to tend to get rough handling simply by nature of their manufacture. Still it has worked and the CMOS is seeing the drive and I am back with a XP OS on my 'C' drive.

The SATA drive is also OK and looks as though it is going to be a winner - we shall see. As BOAC has said, and we talk most days, he thinks I should have dual boot and I am working towards that.

It is all very frustrating but I did discover a pin on the drive where my much needed data sits that there was a sunken pin - I have now pulled that back to sit level with all the rest.

The weekend is going to be interesting I fancy.

[boguing]

Ahh - the bent pin. I've done that too. In fact there is very little that I have not done to abuse computers....