Getting "NTLDR missing" on TI9.0 Image Archive Restore

[mtinpa]

I performed a full image archive using TI9.0 a few months ago. When my hard drive crashed I installed a new internal drive and performed a full image archive restore via TI Bootable Media Image from an external USB drive. The restore checked out fine by TI9.0, however when I went to boot up I received the message “NTLDR is missing”. I have an HP Pavilion and am running Windows XP Media Addition. The down side for me is that I never used any of the PC Recovery Tools to create any recovery CDs. Also, I do not have XP Media Addition on external medium. In an effort to get more information on restored drive contents, I downloaded and ran the Acronis Report Utility. It just hung and wouldn’t boot via floppy. I then decided to try and verify that restored drive data was good so I installed it in another machine as a second drive. All the data checked out fine. I could see and access all my data. I then reset the jumpers and reinstalled as the primary boot drive but got the same “NTLDR is missing” message. What should I do next?

[Brian K]

Any of these causes apply?

1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.

Are you familiar with BartPE?

[bodgy]

This might help taken from NTLDR thread 130609 (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=130609)

-{ Quote: "Please boot up from the Windows Bootable CD, then go to the Recovery Console (the first Repair option you come to).

From the command prompt please type the command in the following sequence:

FIXMBR C:
FIXBOOT C:
COPY CDDrive:\I386\NTLDR C:\
COPY CDDrive:\I386|NTDETECT.COM C:\
BOOTCFG /rebuild

After that, please reboot your computer." }-

Microsoft have more info in their knowledge base on their site.

Colin

[MerlinAZ]

This happened to me recently.
The only thing that worked was to take another drive, put a clean windows install on it, then add the original disk as a slave and when that happened, windows recognized a FAT issue and repaired it.
I then put the original disk back in as the master and it booted fine without losing any data.
Realize, though, I spent a few hours looking at other possibilities like Brian K. mentioned.
I tried what bodgy recommended, but the drive couldn't even be recognized to copy the files over.

[Brian K]

This is certainly worth trying.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305595/

As you don't have an operational computer or a WinXP CD, the floppy will have to be created on a friends computer. You can get the Ntldr, boot.ini and the Ntdetect.com files from their C: drive root but you have to untick "Hide protected operating system files" in Folder Options otherwise the files aren't visible.

Boot to the floppy and hopefully WinXP will start. If it doesn't then edit boot.ini so it points to partition 2 and try again. If no success edit boot.ini to partition 3.

It's worth keeping one of these floppies.

[Brian K]

mtinpa,

You posted a few days ago about a catastrophic problem. I hope the absence of posts from you indicates that your problem is solved. The forum members would greatly appreciate knowing the steps you took to resolve your non-booting situation. This is how we learn.

[jeremyotten]

Dudes just check your boot.ini after the restore.

Your bootpartition number will be invalid!

[Brian K]

-{ Quote: "Dudes just check your boot.ini after the restore.

Your bootpartition number will be invalid!" }-

Number 4 in the list, but my first choice too. Apart from a floppy still in the drive.