Win 2K boot problems

[dhousedog]

I recently tried to run a recovery console on a windows 2000 machine. I keep getting a message that I am missing a ntldr file upon start up of the machine. I tried to run the recovery console and it went through and did it's usual. Then it said that it was unable to copy ntdetect.com, ntldr, arcldr, and arcsetup. I have found that these files are all in the windows service packs, so they are not on the original setup disk. Is there any way that I can get these files loaded back on the drive without formatting? Any help will be appreciated.

[John Prophet]

Welcome to the forum!

ntdetect.com, ntldr should be on the Windows 2000 CD.

Keep checking back and someone will post more about restoring the ntdetect and ntldr

(or do a search on google, cuz thats all we are going to do anyway! lol)

JP

[John Prophet]

Actually all those files you listed ARE on the Win2k CD..they are in the \I386 folder

JP

[originel]

yeah...those files are part of the windows bootup and are necessary to run windows. is your hard drive having issues? it's possible it can't copy them because it can't write them. also make sure your win2k cd isn't scratched or dirty.

[dhousedog]

I also tried to run the repair from the windows setup section through the cd boot up, and it said that the files that I had listed were not the original that had been installed from the cd and that it could not copy those files. I have tried just about everything that I can think of, short of formatting. I have alot of work that will be lost if I format though. So that is an absolute last resort. Thanks for your help.

[meese]

Those files may have changed with the service packs. What service pack did you have on that pc? You may need to download the service pack (complete file) then copy those files you need. Do you have another pc that you can use to download the service pack? The you could take the drive with the problems out of the pc and make it a slave in another w2k machine. Then copy the files to the bad drive.

[dhousedog]

Making it a slave was my next step. I wanted to wait and see if anyone had any other steps to try first though. I believe I had all of the service packs offered by microsoft right now. I do have another machine that I can use. Was just a little unsure of that process though. Thanks for the help

[John Prophet]

Cany he just copy the files straight from the Windows cd to the hard drive using recovery console?? Those files are on the CD, I looked for myself last night and they are in the i386 folder.

I was researching it as you posted Meese, I was going to type up the commands to copy them over but I wasnt sure if they go in the C: or C:\winnt folder.

Where do those files belong? I am sure they go in the C:\ .

So wouldnt the following approach work then??




I dont think you need to run any kind of "repair"...if you are still getting the ntldr missing errors etc, you just need to start the recovery console and then copy those files over from the Windows CD to the hard drive.

So after you boot to the cd and you select "repair" using the recovery console....you do something along theselines

It will probably be sitting there at c:\winnt

So first you type in a simple "d:" without the quotes.

That should have you then sitting at a d: prompt.

From there you type in "cd i386" again, all these commands with no quotes. That command just means "Change Directory to the i386 folder". so that should leave you at the D:\i386 folder.

that is the folder that contains the files you need.

So from there just type copy ntldr c:\ and do the same for the other file names such as copy ntdetect.com c:\
(and yes, you do need the last little \ at the end, lol.)


Is that correct guys?

JP

[John Prophet]

I am not too familiar with w2k, but I have a bad feeling that if you ran something like "fast repair" etc..that it copied an olddddddddddddddd copy of your registry to the comp and so when you do boot you will have lost programs and settings etc etc.....if that is the case I suppose you will still be able to copy your "work" and files etc to a backup and then you might be reformatting anyway.

JP

It is my understanding though, that "ntldr missing" is a basic fault and that it is a simple matter of copying the files from a Windows cd to the root of the boot partition.

[meese]

John,

Yes, you should be able to copy directly from the CD without running repair. Any time I install W2K or XP I create an i386 directory on the c: drive and copy all the files from the i386 directory on the cd. This way you don't need the cd each time you add a device or something.

He could copy those files directly off the cd, but I don't know why the repair won't install them. It appears they may have changed. This can happen with new service packs. I recommend getting the latest service pack or find a machine with the same sevice pack and try to copy those files.