Missing NTLDR, please help !.

[Rob Tandy]

Hi there,

Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not sure of the
best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to resize my hard
drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this process and
did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from hard disk
to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not want to
format and re-install and guess that with a little help from someone and
maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for this. I have
tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using NTFS,
maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.

All the best,
Rob.

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Rob,

Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:

copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\

Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it =
accordingly.

BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition settings?

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - =
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Rob Tandy" > wrote in message =
...
> Hi there,
>=20
> Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not sure =
of the
> best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to resize my =
hard
> drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this =
process and
> did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from hard =
disk
> to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not want =
to
> format and re-install and guess that with a little help from someone =
and
> maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for this. I =
have
> tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using =
NTFS,
> maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
>=20
> Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
>=20
> All the best,
> Rob.
>=20
>

[Rob Tandy]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your reply. I gave it a try but to no avail, it turns out that my
partition table has became corrupt and I have no idea have to tackle this. I
have downloaded bcupdate which deals with fragmented boot sectors but I
cannot run this. Any ideas ?. Thanks again.

All the best,
Rob.

"Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
...
Hi Rob,

Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:

copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\

Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it accordingly.

BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition settings?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
...
> Hi there,
>
> Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not sure of
the
> best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to resize my
hard
> drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this process
and
> did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from hard disk
> to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not want to
> format and re-install and guess that with a little help from someone and
> maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for this. I have
> tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using NTFS,
> maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
>
> Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
>
> All the best,
> Rob.
>
>

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Bob,

What was the error message you received?

Also, can you run bootcfg /rebuild from the recovery console?

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - =
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Rob Tandy" > wrote in message =
...
> Hi Rick,
>=20
> Thanks for your reply. I gave it a try but to no avail, it turns out =
that my
> partition table has became corrupt and I have no idea have to tackle =
this. I
> have downloaded bcupdate which deals with fragmented boot sectors but =
I
> cannot run this. Any ideas ?. Thanks again.
>=20
> All the best,
> Rob.
>=20
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> ...
> Hi Rob,
>=20
> Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:
>=20
> copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\
>=20
> Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it =
accordingly.
>=20
> BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition settings?
>=20
> --=20
> Best of Luck,
>=20
> Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - =
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
>=20
> "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi there,
> >
> > Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not sure =
of
> the
> > best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to resize =
my
> hard
> > drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this =
process
> and
> > did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from =
hard disk
> > to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not =
want to
> > format and re-install and guess that with a little help from someone =
and
> > maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for this. =
I have
> > tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using =
NTFS,
> > maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
> >
> > All the best,
> > Rob.
> >
> >
>=20
>

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Assuming you are right about the boot sector corruption, you can boot
the XP CD, select the first repair option and logon to the Recovery
Console and run "fixboot" and "fixmbr". If you are using a third-party
boot/partition manager, then follow their instructions for recovering
the MBR.

--
Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows



"Rob Tandy" > wrote in
message ...
> Hi Rick,
>
> Thanks for your reply. I gave it a try but to no avail, it turns out
that my
> partition table has became corrupt and I have no idea have to tackle
this. I
> have downloaded bcupdate which deals with fragmented boot sectors but
I
> cannot run this. Any ideas ?. Thanks again.
>
> All the best,
> Rob.
>
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> ...
> Hi Rob,
>
> Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:
>
> copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\
>
> Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it
accordingly.
>
> BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition settings?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x -
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi there,
> >
> > Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not sure
of
> the
> > best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to resize
my
> hard
> > drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this
process
> and
> > did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from
hard disk
> > to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not
want to
> > format and re-install and guess that with a little help from someone
and
> > maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for this.
I have
> > tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using
NTFS,
> > maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
> >
> > All the best,
> > Rob.
> >
> >
>
>

[Rob Tandy]

Hi Rick,

Whan copying the NTLDR to C:, it copied across fine but still gave me the
NTLDR is missing on startup. When I use the partition magic 8 boot disc to
run PM, it shows the disc partition in yellow and tells me that there is a
problem with the partition table. I know there is software to cure this on
the web but I don't want to pay for something that may or may not work.
I gave bootcfg /rebuild a go and got 'error: failed to successfully scan
disks for windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt file
system......' then I ran chkdsk /p to analyse the disc and that told me that
'The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems'. Looks
bad doesn't it ?.

Cheers for your help,
Rob.

P.S. Why nutcase?, do you base jump or something ?.

"Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
...
Hi Bob,

What was the error message you received?

Also, can you run bootcfg /rebuild from the recovery console?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Rick,
>
> Thanks for your reply. I gave it a try but to no avail, it turns out that
my
> partition table has became corrupt and I have no idea have to tackle this.
I
> have downloaded bcupdate which deals with fragmented boot sectors but I
> cannot run this. Any ideas ?. Thanks again.
>
> All the best,
> Rob.
>
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> ...
> Hi Rob,
>
> Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:
>
> copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\
>
> Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it
accordingly.
>
> BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition settings?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x -
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi there,
> >
> > Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not sure of
> the
> > best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to resize my
> hard
> > drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this process
> and
> > did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from hard
disk
> > to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not want to
> > format and re-install and guess that with a little help from someone and
> > maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for this. I
have
> > tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using NTFS,
> > maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
> >
> > All the best,
> > Rob.
> >
> >
>
>

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Rob,

Yes, it looks bad. I recently ran across the same error message and =
there was no recovery possible for that partition. After trying a number =
of disk utilities, I accepted the inevitable. Fortunately I had recently =
imaged that partition, so recovery was quick and little was lost.

You might try this group, where some very knowledgable people frequent:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.file_system

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Rob Tandy" > wrote in message =
...
> Hi Rick,
>=20
> Whan copying the NTLDR to C:, it copied across fine but still gave me =
the
> NTLDR is missing on startup. When I use the partition magic 8 boot =
disc to
> run PM, it shows the disc partition in yellow and tells me that there =
is a
> problem with the partition table. I know there is software to cure =
this on
> the web but I don't want to pay for something that may or may not =
work.
> I gave bootcfg /rebuild a go and got 'error: failed to successfully =
scan
> disks for windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt =
file
> system......' then I ran chkdsk /p to analyse the disc and that told =
me that
> 'The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems'. =
Looks
> bad doesn't it ?.
>=20
> Cheers for your help,
> Rob.
>=20
> P.S. Why nutcase?, do you base jump or something ?.
>=20
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> ...
> Hi Bob,
>=20
> What was the error message you received?
>=20
> Also, can you run bootcfg /rebuild from the recovery console?
>=20
> --=20
> Best of Luck,
>=20
> Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - =
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
>=20
> "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi Rick,
> >
> > Thanks for your reply. I gave it a try but to no avail, it turns out =
that
> my
> > partition table has became corrupt and I have no idea have to tackle =
this.
> I
> > have downloaded bcupdate which deals with fragmented boot sectors =
but I
> > cannot run this. Any ideas ?. Thanks again.
> >
> > All the best,
> > Rob.
> >
> > "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > Hi Rob,
> >
> > Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:
> >
> > copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\
> >
> > Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it
> accordingly.
> >
> > BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition =
settings?
> >
> > --=20
> > Best of Luck,
> >
> > Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x -
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> > Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> > www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> > Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
> >
> > "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Hi there,
> > >
> > > Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not =
sure of
> > the
> > > best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to =
resize my
> > hard
> > > drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this =
process
> > and
> > > did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from =
hard
> disk
> > > to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not =
want to
> > > format and re-install and guess that with a little help from =
someone and
> > > maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for =
this. I
> have
> > > tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using =
NTFS,
> > > maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
> > >
> > > Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
> > >
> > > All the best,
> > > Rob.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>=20
>

[Vibora]

Hi Rob and Rick

can you give us a good reason to have this (anyway interesting) thread
crossposted on an .it NG?
Crossposting is seldom necessary, but being the case, netiquette oblige to
warn readers and ask for replies on a specific NG.
People here are supposed to speak italian and may also lose messages from
other sources.

--

Vibora
--
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build
bigger and better idiot-proof programs,
and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots.
So far, the universe is winning."
~ Rich Cook
--
rimuovi NO_SPAM per risposte

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hello Vibora,

Rob chose the list of groups for crossposting, I merely responded. I =
don't generally remove the groups selected unless they are =
non-microsoft, are severely overloaded, or are horribly inappropriately =
cross-posted.

I did not notice the fact that one of the groups listed was Italian, and =
I will remove it from any further responses. Perhaps Rob thought "it" =
stood for "Information & Technology".

My apologies.

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Vibora" > wrote in message =
...
> Hi Rob and Rick
>=20
> can you give us a good reason to have this (anyway interesting) thread
> crossposted on an .it NG?
> Crossposting is seldom necessary, but being the case, netiquette =
oblige to
> warn readers and ask for replies on a specific NG.
> People here are supposed to speak italian and may also lose messages =
from
> other sources.
>=20
> --
>=20
> Vibora
> --
> "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to =
build
> bigger and better idiot-proof programs,
> and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots.
> So far, the universe is winning."
> ~ Rich Cook
> --
> rimuovi NO_SPAM per risposte
>

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

I've started seeing this syndrome recently in the groups and it seems to
be a boot sector corruption with a currently unknown cause. If you boot
the XP CD and select the first repair option, logon to Recovery Console
and run the commands "fixboot" and "fixmbr" you may be able to recover,
if you are using the native NT boot loader.

However, if you are using Partition Magic, then you should follow their
instructions for recovering the boot sector and the PM extended MBR.

No matter what, I'd appreciate feedback on what vendor/model you have,
whether XP is OEM, an upgrade or a clean retail install and what might
have happened on your last shutdown or startup that might be related.
(Yes, I know that last question is quite difficult, but I'm looking for
clues.)

There are a number of vendors whose computers suffer boot damage at
shutdown, but the error messages are "unmountable boot volume" and
damaged SYSTEM registry hives or damaged user profile registry hives. To
date, they haven't involved missing NTLDR errors, which is usually
caused by a floppy in the drive at boot.

--
Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows

"Rob Tandy" > wrote in
message ...
>
> Whan copying the NTLDR to C:, it copied across fine but still gave me
the
> NTLDR is missing on startup. When I use the partition magic 8 boot
disc to
> run PM, it shows the disc partition in yellow and tells me that there
is a
> problem with the partition table. I know there is software to cure
this on
> the web but I don't want to pay for something that may or may not
work.
> I gave bootcfg /rebuild a go and got 'error: failed to successfully
scan
> disks for windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt
file
> system......' then I ran chkdsk /p to analyse the disc and that told
me that
> 'The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems'.
Looks
> bad doesn't it ?.
>
> Cheers for your help,
> Rob.
>
> P.S. Why nutcase?, do you base jump or something ?.
>
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> ...
> Hi Bob,
>
> What was the error message you received?
>
> Also, can you run bootcfg /rebuild from the recovery console?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x -
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi Rick,
> >
> > Thanks for your reply. I gave it a try but to no avail, it turns out
that
> my
> > partition table has became corrupt and I have no idea have to tackle
this.
> I
> > have downloaded bcupdate which deals with fragmented boot sectors
but I
> > cannot run this. Any ideas ?. Thanks again.
> >
> > All the best,
> > Rob.
> >
> > "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > Hi Rob,
> >
> > Boot the XP CD, run the Recovery Console, run:
> >
> > copy X:\I386\ntldr C:\
> >
> > Where X is whatever letter is assigned the CD drive, change it
> accordingly.
> >
> > BTW, when using PM8, did you mess with the active partition
settings?
> >
> > --
> > Best of Luck,
> >
> > Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x -
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> > Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
> > www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> > Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
> >
> > "Rob Tandy" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Hi there,
> > >
> > > Sorry for the cross post but I am a bit new to this and was not
sure of
> > the
> > > best group to post to. I have just used partition magic 8 to
resize my
> > hard
> > > drive but unfortunately, it gave me an error message during this
process
> > and
> > > did not fully complete. My problem now is that I canot boot from
hard
> disk
> > > to get back into windows, I get NTLDR not found. I really do not
want to
> > > format and re-install and guess that with a little help from
someone and
> > > maybe with the recovery console that there is a quick fix for
this. I
> have
> > > tried FIXBOOT c: from the recovery console with no joy. I am using
NTFS,
> > > maybe I can copy the missing file from one computer to another ??.
> > >
> > > Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me to solve this.
> > >
> > > All the best,
> > > Rob.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

[MJ@MJ.com]

On Sun, 25 May 2003 09:35:25 -0700, "Kent W. England [MVP]"
> wrote:

>I've started seeing this syndrome recently in the groups and it seems to
>be a boot sector corruption with a currently unknown cause. If you boot
>the XP CD and select the first repair option, logon to Recovery Console
>and run the commands "fixboot" and "fixmbr" you may be able to recover,
>if you are using the native NT boot loader.
>
>However, if you are using Partition Magic, then you should follow their
>instructions for recovering the boot sector and the PM extended MBR.
>
>No matter what, I'd appreciate feedback on what vendor/model you have,
>whether XP is OEM, an upgrade or a clean retail install and what might
>have happened on your last shutdown or startup that might be related.
>(Yes, I know that last question is quite difficult, but I'm looking for
>clues.)
>
>There are a number of vendors whose computers suffer boot damage at
>shutdown, but the error messages are "unmountable boot volume" and
>damaged SYSTEM registry hives or damaged user profile registry hives. To
>date, they haven't involved missing NTLDR errors, which is usually
>caused by a floppy in the drive at boot.

I've used PM a lot and I have encountered this missing ntldr a lot, to
the extent that my faith in PM took a severe beating. It has always
occured after restoring an image that I've made. Sometimes repeating
the restoration is successful. Sometimes not. I've also frequently
encountered another missing file - something like hbrfil - I can't
remember it exactly. I always use the dos discs to work PM but on one
occasion I couldn't get the restored image to boot no matter what I
tried due to one of these two missing files. Even adding a working
bootable drive, then copying the missing file from the backup image to
the unbootable partition failed. In desperation I resorted to running
PM from the windows interface to copy the backup image and much to my
surprise it worked. Eventually I'll get round to entering in to some
dialogue with Powerquest on the matter.

MJ



----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

I think ntldr and ntdetect.com need to be within xx MB of the start of
the partition. Perhaps PM is putting them back in the wrong place?

hiberfile.sys is the hibernation file. All the files you mention are
hidden.

Thanks for the feedback!

--
Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows



> wrote in message
...
>
> I've used PM a lot and I have encountered this missing ntldr a lot, to
> the extent that my faith in PM took a severe beating. It has always
> occured after restoring an image that I've made. Sometimes repeating
> the restoration is successful. Sometimes not. I've also frequently
> encountered another missing file - something like hbrfil - I can't
> remember it exactly. I always use the dos discs to work PM but on one
> occasion I couldn't get the restored image to boot no matter what I
> tried due to one of these two missing files. Even adding a working
> bootable drive, then copying the missing file from the backup image to
> the unbootable partition failed. In desperation I resorted to running
> PM from the windows interface to copy the backup image and much to my
> surprise it worked. Eventually I'll get round to entering in to some
> dialogue with Powerquest on the matter.

[Rob Tandy]

Hi Rick, Kent & MJ,

Thanks for all of your suggestions, I tried them all but the corrupt
partition table issue seemed to be one factor that I could not solve and in
the end I downloaded the Maxtor Maxblast software and formatted the disc
(which even the partition magic boot disc would not do !). Strange thing was
that when setting up XP Pro again (from the Evesham Micros recovery CD) it
seemed to detect a previous install of windows so I changed the install
directory to /window2 instead of /windows expecting to get a dual boot of 2
windows installations so I could then edit the time the boot selector screen
is diplayed to zero and delete the /window2 directory. But that failed so I
wiped the disc again and used the default install settings.
On the subject of partition magic, this is my first experience of drives
larger than 120GB (it is 200Gb) and the operation which failed and corrupted
the boot sector/partition table was a resize from 200Gb to 160Gb. The drive
was already larger than the 137Gb boot boundary so that shouldn't have been
an issue plus I'm sure that XP can deal with rediculously large hard discs.
So now I have a fresh install with all the latest drivers and also some
valuble Norton Ghost recovery discs, lesson learnt -> make backups more
frequently and a recovery disc is a windows disc !. Thanks again guys.

All the best,
Rob.


"Kent W. England [MVP]" > wrote in message
...
> I think ntldr and ntdetect.com need to be within xx MB of the start of
> the partition. Perhaps PM is putting them back in the wrong place?
>
> hiberfile.sys is the hibernation file. All the files you mention are
> hidden.
>
> Thanks for the feedback!
>
> --
> Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows
>
>
>
> > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > I've used PM a lot and I have encountered this missing ntldr a lot, to
> > the extent that my faith in PM took a severe beating. It has always
> > occured after restoring an image that I've made. Sometimes repeating
> > the restoration is successful. Sometimes not. I've also frequently
> > encountered another missing file - something like hbrfil - I can't
> > remember it exactly. I always use the dos discs to work PM but on one
> > occasion I couldn't get the restored image to boot no matter what I
> > tried due to one of these two missing files. Even adding a working
> > bootable drive, then copying the missing file from the backup image to
> > the unbootable partition failed. In desperation I resorted to running
> > PM from the windows interface to copy the backup image and much to my
> > surprise it worked. Eventually I'll get round to entering in to some
> > dialogue with Powerquest on the matter.
>

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

If you have a partition larger than 137 GB, you need XP SP1 and you need
a certain registry key switched on that is off by default.

If, for some reason, you were running XP without 48 bit LBA enabled as
above, then who knows what might happen to your 200 GB partition. If you
had it enabled and then did a system restore back to before SP1, you
might experience partition corruption.

200 GB partitions are a bit risky on XP. You can't assume that Partition
Magic can handle it all. Your BIOS has to support 48 bit LBA and so does
XP (via SP1 and the switch). Anything less risks a corrupted disk. You
can always partition a 200 GB drive in two and avoid the issue.

--
Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows



"Rob Tandy" > wrote in
message ...
> Hi Rick, Kent & MJ,
>
> Thanks for all of your suggestions, I tried them all but the corrupt
> partition table issue seemed to be one factor that I could not solve
and in
> the end I downloaded the Maxtor Maxblast software and formatted the
disc
> (which even the partition magic boot disc would not do !). Strange
thing was
> that when setting up XP Pro again (from the Evesham Micros recovery
CD) it
> seemed to detect a previous install of windows so I changed the
install
> directory to /window2 instead of /windows expecting to get a dual boot
of 2
> windows installations so I could then edit the time the boot selector
screen
> is diplayed to zero and delete the /window2 directory. But that failed
so I
> wiped the disc again and used the default install settings.
> On the subject of partition magic, this is my first experience of
drives
> larger than 120GB (it is 200Gb) and the operation which failed and
corrupted
> the boot sector/partition table was a resize from 200Gb to 160Gb. The
drive
> was already larger than the 137Gb boot boundary so that shouldn't have
been
> an issue plus I'm sure that XP can deal with rediculously large hard
discs.
> So now I have a fresh install with all the latest drivers and also
some
> valuble Norton Ghost recovery discs, lesson learnt -> make backups
more
> frequently and a recovery disc is a windows disc !. Thanks again guys.