What does "NTLDR is missing" mean?

I am trying to re-install Windows XP on my dv8000z and I'm getting this messing on a black screen at start up. It occurs right after "Press any key to boot from CD" and right before "Press ctrl+alt+del to restart".

When I press any key to boot from the CD, I get the blue screen and the start up routine starts, but it fails when trying to load the necessary files to install Windows. Is it because of this missing NTLDR? What is a NTLDR?

Thinking back to when I got the dv8000z, I never had this problem when installing Windows XP before.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

it means NT loader

 

Oh Ok,... thanks! Can you offer any help as to why I'm having some of these problems re-installing Windows on this laptop? Any insight as what I'm missing or doing wrong? Is this missing NT Loader causing my re-install problems? Where can I get this loader if it is not on my re-insall disk? I'm running out of hair to scratch and pull out!

 

It could be something to do with HDD drivers...does it manage to install any of the necessary windows files?

 

Seems to me an issue with the HDD.

What triggered the NTLDR error? This error appears if windows boot files are missing or corrupt. Windows repair would fix this.

Secondly, you mentioned about errors when installing windows from the installation cd. IF the installer is unable to copy files to the HDD, it can only mean that the HDD has gone bad.

The error you get when installing windows from the CD is not due to the NLDR.

 

Yeah it does. It will install several of the files, then stop on the next file and tell me either to punch 'Enter' to retry load hat particular file, or to punch 'Esc' to move bypass loading the problem file and move on to the next file. After many attempts, I've tried to see if there is a pattern or certain files having this problem, and there doesn't seem to be. I keyed in on a few easy to remember files,... 'cdaudio.sys', 'diskcopy.dll', and 'eombios.bin' to name a few, to see if there's a pattern. There's not,... somes files that fails to load on attempt #3, load fine on attempt #4. Then on attempt #5 only some of them may fail to load. It appears to be random as to what files fail to load. At about 60% to 70% through the process, the loading process stops and another screen appears stating the the install routine was stopped to prevent damage to my computer.

 

Kinda sounds like you are getting read errors from your XP CD - when the file copy fails then the system attempts to reboot. But, since the XP file system isn't fully loaded, then maybe thats why the NTLDR error pops up. I would try either a different XP CD, different/external cdrom, or maybe even both at worst case.

 

I thought the same thing. I read somewhere on here about the punching F10 immediately after seeing the HP splash screen and running the HDD test. I did this (both the quick test and the long test) and both passed. But maybe the test isn't asking the necessary questions of the HDD to find the problem. My question now is, will I have to replace both drives? This laptop came with two 80Gig drives,... a C and a D drive. I guess I'll only need to replace the bad one. But then again, I'm suspecting that both may be bad if this is the reason. I also tried re-installing Windows on the D drive as well. Same thing!!!

 

I thought CD too early on, so I used the Windows XP that came with my zd8000,... and got the same set of errors. I also used the brush style CD cleaner in the drive,... just in case. No change.

QUESTION: Is there a way to use to connect the zd to the dv using the USB ports? Kinda like using the CD drive in the zd to load the system on the dv? A thought that just hit me in the forehead!

 

Use a DOS-based rescue CD (like the here : www.ultimatebootcd.com )
Burn it the CD.Boot from it.Then use fdisk /mbr.
Then use your Windows XP cd.
Good luck.

 

Get to the recovery console with the XP cd, and run fixmbr and fixboot once or twice (I cannot remember which one you should run first so do it both ways). Reboot and hopefully that will help.

If the next message you get is HAL.dll is missing or corrupt, you'll need to re-install Windows most likely though.

 

Thanks night. I'm about to try that now. Just got back from BestBuys checking out some replacement HDs and one of the guys in the comp section told me I might be missing a raid driver. He says that this particular model of the dv8000 actually doesn't have two 80 Gig drives but one 160 Gig drive that's seen as a raid by the system. He told me to punch F6 at start up which will take me to a screen to configure raid and scsi drives.

Not that I don't believe him,... but I'd rather run this by this forum first before trying something like this. Does this sound right?

 

Hi, what is th exact model & part number of the pc as it is written on the bottom label of the laptop? With that it is possible to find on the HP website your exact specs and go forward from there...

 

Some dv8000 models had RAID so he *might* be correct. But if you hit F6, XP is going to ask for a floppy drive with your drivers on them.

 

Wow, what a helpful, insightful reply.....

Anyways, NTLDR is missing means the file "ntldr" is not located in the root directory of your harddrive (e.g. C:\)

It must be something with your XP cd, I've never seen that problem on an installation.

Try using another XP install CD.