ntldr is missing

UNSOLVED

i edited this post to show all the solutions that i have tried

i get an error message when i try to boot my computer
"ntldr is missing press ctrl + alt + del to restart"

the computer worked the night before i got this message

i am using windows xp
i did not change the bios to boot fom hd first
i havent installed any new drives or adjusted any components inside the case
i emptied the disk trays
i dont have a thumb drive plugged in
i replaced the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files
i rebuilt the boot.ini
i repaired the windows xp installation

none of the things i tried worked

i am considering trying "fixmbr" but i am not sure if it will cause any adverse effects
if fixing it involves reinstalling windows is it possible for me to recover any files on my hd?

theres some weird stuff going on with my boot up screen.
like colored letters and stuff when it is normally all black background with white letters.
this is the error message and one colored letter
and then more colored letters

If you still have your Windows XP disk, you can repair it without reinstalling. Look at this.

Cause:
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.

Click to expand...

1 no i checked that, i emptied the disk trays, (it never messed it up before)
2 shoulnt be, i didnt chang any settings prior to this happening. i did however change a few things after it gave me the error message. i hardly know what im doing when it comes to bios settings.
3 i put my xp disk in and copied the files is told me to, with no luck
4 ?? no clue
5 nope
6 nope
7 ?? no clue
8 ?? no clue
9 shouldnt be, i havent opened it up or moved it in a while

Scroll down to Solutions:

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.

EDIT: Read number 3

It's either your boot.ini or a badly damaged filesystem.

Try rebuilding the boot.ini. If it fails, you can still reinstall.

undead: yeah i tried #3 already it didnt work for me.

enouwee: ok ill try this

on a side note i am really worried that while trying to fix this issue i will do something that i cant undo and it will cause me to be unable to get any of the files off my computer.



EDIT
i did what you suggested enouwee
but in this part...

* Prompt to enter the load identifier. This is the name of the operating system for the boot.ini. For example, Microsoft Windows XP Home users would enter "Microsoft Windows XP Home edition".

Click to expand...

i typed "windows xp home edition"
then i reread the instructions and then redid it
and typed "microsoft windows xp home edition" as the load identifier
both of those were without quotes when i typed them
i then typed "exit" and it restarted
when it got to the part where i usually get the error message
some random letters had changed color and it still had the error

Have you tried XPs "System Recovery" yet?

Go to start, click "Help & Support" and choose "I want to use the System Recovery". Then select a date where your system was running fine and go for it!

If for some reason this did not work, tell me pls!

It's normally a damaged boot.ini setup, however on my computer, I have encountered this when my OS Harddrive isn't the first one booted in the bios. If I set the one with my OS to the first booted HDD, it got rid of the error.

koma: i cant even boot my comp so i cant click start

ddr: right now mine boots from cd first then hd. ill try changing it to hd first but it didnt mess it up before i dont see why changing it would fix it.

side notes:
if i get another hd install it and boot from it, would i be able to access files on my other hd?
how do boot.ini's get damaged anyways?

If you have a flash-drive/external harddrive plugged into your computer, unplug it. Thats how I fix it when I get that problem.

ban-lord said:

If you have a flash-drive/external harddrive plugged into your computer, unplug it. Thats how I fix it when I get that problem.

Click to expand...

I already deleted your "suggestion" once, no need to repost it. If this happens, what about getting your boot order right (entry 1 in post #3)? Unplugging can hardly be considered a solution.

perkeyone said:

ddr: right now mine boots from cd first then hd. ill try changing it to hd first but it didnt mess it up before i dont see why changing it would fix it.

Click to expand...

Well you can have the CD drive boot first, it doesn't matter. That would only happen if you had more than on hard drive, and you can change what order the hard drives boots in. It doesn't matter what hardware boots first in this case, cd drives, hard drives, floppies, whatever.

so i tried changing the boot order so that my hd was first. no luck
im going to post some screen shots because theres some weird stuff going on with my boot up screen. like colored letters and stuff when it is normally all black background with white letters.

this is the error message and one colored letter


more colored letters


i dont have any thumb drive plugged in

one other thing i tried on my own was
i put in my xp disk, and once it loaded up all the way i hit enter to continue (not "r" like last time)
then at the second part i hit r to repair.
it deleted a whole bunch of files then replaced them.
afterwords i tried to boot but no luck.

I am considering trying "fixmbr"
i dont know if this is safe to do though
should i? what will happen if i do?

tiny bump, hope thats ok