Infamous NTLDR error

I have searched for this for hours now, and I can't find anything that works.
I copied my wife's laptop hard drive to a new one because hers is going out, and I get a perfect copy. However, when I put the new drive in, I get the NTLDR not found, press any key to continue message. I have tried manually adding the files from the original XP disk, I have tried to modify the mbr as well as fast boot, and I have checked the boot.ini file to verify that everything is correct (which it appears to be). No matter what I do, I cannot get this to load.
It's on a Compac N620c laptop, so I don't have any access to the BIOS to check drive assignments either.
If anyone has ANY fixes to this, I am open to anything at this point.

Thank you for your time.

 

hairbear21,

Your title sums it up. I can't recall seeing an easy fix for this not uncommon problem.

By the way, how did you copy the laptop HD? Software? Technique?

Compaq laptops have atypical CHS geometry which can cause cloning problems.

 

I used Disk Director and the copy function. I had the original hard drive in the laptop, and the new drive in a USB enclosure. I started the software, it rebooted, and then did the copy after the reboot. I didn't receive any errors during the copy process, and when I look at the drive, it appears that all files are there, including NTLDR, and NETDETECT. I tried repairing XP using my XP disc, but no luck. I also went into the install function of the disc, and it asks you again if you want to repair it. I try that, and it still doesn't work. Lastly, I installed XP onto the new drive, hoping that the laptop would put it's information on the disk, and then tried to copy again. But I think that once I cleared that space so that it was unallocated, it wiped that information. So, at this point, I'm back to square one.
I'm hoping that there's a workaround to this, because it's imperative that this is an EXACT copy, because this is used for my wife's work, and the software that she uses has to be on the machine.

--Just out of curiousity, would it be possible for me to install XP on the new drive, do a backup of the old drive, and then transfer it to the new drive?

 

Anyone?

 

You can try putting the new drive into the laptop and the old one into the USB enclosure and then copying the old drive to the new drive. This is what's generally required with a computer that uses non-standard CHS geometry.

 

How would I get XP to boot? I don't have an option in the BIOS to boot from USB.

 

Can't you boot from the DD CD?

 

I agree with MudCrab. The old HD must be in the USB enclosure for your partition copy to work with a Compaq laptop. The new (empty) HD must be installed in the laptop.

Boot from the DD CD.

 

That makes perfect sense! I'll try the CD, but when I boot from it, if I try the USB support option, my mouse and keyboard don't work. Any idea on what that could be?

 

Is it the built-in keyboard that's not working? Do you have a USB keyboard attached?

Check the BIOS for a Legacy USB option. If it's disabled, enable it and see if it helps.

You can also try the quiet acpi=off noapic option detailed in Section II of the PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST thread.

Another option is to try the Safe Mode version of DD. Depending on the computer's BIOS, it may be able to detect your devices better. However, USB speeds are usually limited to USB 1 (very slow).

 

I am able to get a mouse to work, I just plugged one into the USB port. At the moment, I am in the process of doing the copy.

 

Okay, after the copy, it seems to boot up fine, but then I get to the blue screen that says Windows XP just before the login screen, and it hangs there.

 

OK. Almost there. It's likely a drive letter issue but I'm not that familiar with copying partitions using DD to explain how it happened. Zeroing the DiskID should fix the booting problem. See Method #3

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm#method3

I expect you don't have a floppy drive but this boot CD will do the same thing to the DiskID.

http://www.acronis.com/files/support/mbrautowrite_en.iso

 

Looks like Acronis have removed this link.

You can zero the DiskID with Clear Sig from BING.

Download BootIt Next Generation from http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm

Use makedisk.exe to create a bootable CD. Boot from the CD. DON'T choose to install BING. Work from the CD. Click Partition Work, View MBR, Clear Sig, Apply, etc.

From BING, click Reboot and remove the CD.

Hopefully WinXP should be fixed.

 

PERFECT!!! Do I need to leave Bing installed?
Thanks for all of the help, you have all been wonderful!

 

Excellent. If BING is installed, uninstall it.

I think I know what happened with your final clone. You probably broke rule #1.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

You should always clone into unallocated space. Was the new HD partitioned?

At least you beat the NTLDR problem. That's a first.