NTLDR is missing

well, its my first time using this forum so here it goes.

I got a new hard drive, and tried to install a windows xp pro, however, the cd got some scartch marks and keep asking me to retry to read a certain portion. So I had another windows xp pro and i put that on the cd drive. and it got stuck at one point. so I decided to restart my computer and reformat the hard drive and reinstall it again.

when computer restarted. "NTLDR is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"
but did not help.

I reset the boot sequence to CD rom first but it did not help.
the computer doesnt even read the windows xp pro cd anymore.
I am stuck at NTLDR screen and don't know what to do.

I have no floopy drive.

please help

Many of the times this problem can be seen when the PC is attempting to boot from a non-bootable floppy disk otherwise CD-ROM. You should first confirm that the floppy diskette otherwise CD is in the PC when you try to boot from a diskette. This issue can also be happen if the memory stick from the card reader and the computer is trying to boot from it.

I think this link will help you in solving the problem - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318728
try this and let me know

gd luck !
247techie

Ok, I know this is in regards to an old subject, but at the company i work for they are still using xp.

And our I.S. department is chock full of idiots

So I had to figure this out myself. I did the following as is mentioned elsewhere:

Windows XP users

1.Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2.When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3.Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4.Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5.You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
6.Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter, which in this case is "e." This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
7.Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

I kept getting access is denied when trying to copy those files.

so then I tried to change the access rights etc.. thinking it was that..

cd\
attrib -s -r -h c:\ntlr
del ntldr

I kept getting path errors or no such file...

also tried the fixboot and fixmbr as well to no luck

Ok... after alot of troubleshooting...

The big reason I was getting an access denied was because I was mistaken in which drive my cd rom was actually in. When I used the computer previously windows was C: drive, and the dvd rom was D:
so I thought I should be using the d: for the copy command. Ya know what they say about assuming... it made an arse out of u(the computer) and me.:p

to know exactly which drive your cd is in at the c:\windows prompt

type "map" (without the quotes)
that will tell you which letter is assigned to what drive.
I kept thinking mine was the d drive, and trying to copy from that kept giving me - access is denied.
after correcting that mistake, it copied the files with no problem using the correct cd drive letter. (in my case it was the f: drive all weird things)