Fixing NTLDR problem..... simple?.... but need advice

[FozzyRFC]

Hi
I need some help please. I have read this forum and in particular a post about fixing an NTLDR problem on Win 7 but it's not quite exactly the steps I did to install or exactly the same problem, so I hope you don't mind me asking.

In the other post, someone commneted "lolwut? Any technician worth his or her salt can diagnose and fix a missing NTLDR problem in 10 minutes easily." well, can I just say I'm not a technician as such, it's not my living, and I've never been shown how to do this... so could anyone help please.

This is what I did (as complete as I can remember, please ask if you need any more info) :

- existing machine XP SP3, running on IDE disk
- installed additional disk - SATA
- booted from win 7 enterprise bootable CD
- installed to clean SATA disk - all ok... set up users, hardware etc. can see xp disk in explorer to copy any data (if I wanted to)
- when PC reboots, it prompts for which OS I want - Windows 7 or earlier version of windows
- both OSs boot okay if I choose them at that screen

problem :
if the IDE winXP disk is removed, I get the "NTLDR missing, press ctrl-alt-del to restart" message

I tried -
booting from bootable CD, letting it 'start an install' (i.e. load windows files etc.) and then I hit the repair option, it scanned and then said it would do something (I'm really sorry, I can't remember exactly) and then it finished and said to restart.

The problem is still there.

It's not a great issue, as I can boot and choose win 7 but eventually I want to dump the XP disk

So, two questions
(1) How do I fix it and
(2) What did I do wrong in the original install and/or repair........... just so I don't do the same again if I do this on any other machines.

Thank you in advance for any help and apologies if some of the info is sketchy but I am doing the best I can! 🙂

 

[Snow_Patrol]

1) You fix it by sticking the XP drive back in, that's one way. When you installed 7, it placed the bootloader over the one residing on the XP drive, and when that drive is removed 7 can't boot up anymore. Another option is sticking the drive back in, and booting into the command-line repair console, which you should be able to select from the CD in the first window. Once in, type in 'fixboot', to write a new bootloader for 7 on the harddrive that 7 is installed on.

2) However, I'm not sure I understand exactly what your problem is. You said 7 boots up just fine, so where is your problem now? Do you still want to boot into XP? You'll need the other hard drive for that.

 

[FozzyRFC]

Hi
Sorry... to clarify....

Win7 does boot up fine, but only if the XP drive is installed and the 'dual boot' screen comes up. What I want is to able to remove the xp drive totally and just get this booting of the win7 drive.

So..... I would like to be able to repair this install so that it will boot. Are you saying I boot from the Win7 CD to do that? As far as I recall, when it boots from CD it says ............. loading windows files, then goes to windows screen where you select language etc and then there is a repair option. How do I get to the command line tool?

Thanks for your help, and sorry that I didn't make it clear in post 1.

 

[saint19]

Boot from the XP CD, enter to DOS and write

chkdsk /fix mbr

Reboot..

Cheers!

 

[eyemaster]

If you remove the XP drive and just have the Win7 drive in, it won't boot. So put in the Win7 DVD and boot up with that. Then try a repair.

It's possible you did this already, but I had a hard time reading your post.

 

[badge]

saint19 wrote:

Boot from the XP CD, enter to DOS and write

chkdsk /fix mbr

Reboot..

Cheers!

I think the problem is when OP removes the drive with XP installed, the drive with Windows 7 installation no longer shows up when He boots to the Windows 7 installation disk or at least the Windows 7 install disk will not repair the boot sector. I have had this problem with a dual boot Vista/XP machine. I needed to reformat the drive with the Vista installation I left in the system so that solved my problem. So, booting from the XP install disk and performing a repair of the XP boot files repairs the Windows 7 HD with the Win 7 installation (no XP installation in the system)?