NTLDR missing on dual-boot system
Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 11:51 pm
Windows 2000 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by capnfutile
(5 messages posted)
I posted this over at the straight dope boards, but got no response, so here goes:
I've done a(nother) bonehead thing with my computer. I have a dual boot system (w98
and win2k). I'm planning on upgrading to XP soon, and have been backing up stuff
in preparation. Last night I decided I didn't need anything in the W98 partition,
so I deleted everything there. Dumb. Today when I power on, I get "NTLDR not found".
So obviously, I hosed some files crucial to Win2k.
I've done some Googling and tried something from the MS knowledge base (sys c:, that
got me a w98 command prompt instead of "NTLDR missing"). I can get to the Recovery
Console, and from there I have tried "fixboot c:" and "fixmbr c:" neither of which
did squat. Do I want to try "fixmbr d:"?
C: was where w98 was, D: is where win2k still is.
Here's a screenshot of PartitionMagic:
http://img209.exs.cx/img209/304/screenshot1lc.jpg
(Thanks Imageshack)
What I'd really like to do is to can everything except for D: (OS and program files)
and the NTFS Data partition. I'd eventually like to dualboot with Mandrake Linux
(there's an install there I can't get to but I'd prolly reinstall). Are the Linux
partitions in the right place or should they be after the Win2k partition?
Apparently, three files are needed in the bootable drive - ntldr, ntdetect.com, and
boot.ini. Boot.ini I can handwrite, but the others can only be gotten by copying
them from another win2k system, which I don't have handy. I can probably see them
from the recovery console, but the RC doesn't allow you to write to floppy, even
if you know the admin PW. ARGH. I do have a w2k CD and a "spare" system, but I'd
rather not install 2k over a good XP setup only to reinstall XP an hour later.
Thanks for any help. I've been Googling and banging my head for two days and my wife
wants her laptop back!
thanks,
capn
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