On my Windows box, I had to install Vista. Here is why, Does anyone have an answer?

I went to install XP multiple times with different versions of the os. different disks. I kept getting this error, NTLDR is missing. Which I think is part of the boot loader. I can't get Xp installed.

I tried installing a lite version of Vista I have, 1cdr, Installs perfectly, runs good. So after I got Vista installed I tried reinstalling Xp on it, and no go. Vista installed pefectly once again.

I did have os x 86 on this hard drive as well. After I deleted that partion and reformated it, That shouldn't have made a difference.

I also scanned the boot sector for Viruses, and Nothing.

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And my girlfriend's computer has this same file come up missing as well 2 days ago, which is required to boot into XP. Weird as hell.

I ended up going to ntldrismissing.com (http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm) and following the cd directions. Was able to get into XP, but it kept bring up the options (try this 1st, try this 2nd, etc) at each boot, so I ended up doing a repair install of XP instead. Your problems sounds differerent, but I'm thinking that maybe there's some new virus or malware that is doing this out in the wild and is hitting the master boot sector (probably why your AV nor Kaspersky found it). Have to keep an eye out the next week or so and see if anyone post anything on the anti-virus web sites, and hope it doesn't hit any of my systems, though I was able to fix it on my girl's system.

And you suffer from a serious case of CRS (can't remember shit) I called you about this Friday asking you if you've ever come across this before (you stated yes) yet either you completely forgot the phone conversation or you failed to mentioned that it just happen to you this week.

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Last edited by The CandyMan on 11-19-2007 at 03:17 AM

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Yeah, This happened yesterday (Saturday). And yes this is a totally different problem, than what you had. I can't even install XP on the box, and the only Os that has been on it recently other than Vista is os X 10.4.8, So Avast would have caught it if it was a boot sector virus.

The case I was talking to you about was, Right after I UPGRADED from Vista to Xp.

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ive had this happen on machines at work and it was caused by a faulty ide cable

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I had this happen loads on my nforce boards, it was due to a mix of IDE and SATA drives. I had two SATA Raptors in RAID and an IDE for storage. I used to have to unplug the power cable from the IDE, then install windows on the SATA RAID, then on the first reboot after copying the files I had to set it to boot from the hard drive. After the install, I'd boot the PC down and reconnect the IDE. That always got it installed properly without that error. Hope it helps.

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i had a similar issue with a pc at work (it was an hp pavilion s3200t) that came with Vista, but my boss wanted to put XP on it (due to comp issues with the software ADP uses). anyways, the 800 number was useless, as you have to give personal information to get any help at all. found the solution here .


if i'm correct, this is your problem too.


hope this helps...

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I also had similar issues on my nForce 4 computer with both RAID and SATA enabled. In the BIOS, the RAID is set as bootable before the SATA, but when a bootable CD is present, this order is somehow reversed, so when I have finished installing the OS and I remove the bootable CD, it tries to boot onto the hard drive without the bootloader installed.

To fix this, I remove power to the single SATA drive while installing the OS.

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