Member Avatar for rc_kobra

hey guys I'm fixing a computer, its a sony vaio, it comes with the installations disks, I have replaced the hard drive cuz the one it had was not working, now it gets about ten minutes in to the installation the it says "an Error occurred". when I restart it says cannot find NTLDR, can any you guys help me out. thanks

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Short expert summary and targeted steps.

This error means the machine can boot the disk controller but the Windows XP boot loader files were never available to the boot process (install/recovery aborted or the disk geometry/BIOS didn’t match what the Sony recovery expects). Given reported the original drive was 60 GB and the replacement is a 160 GB Maxstor in a Sony PCV‑RX640, two things are most likely: the recovery routine failed partway or the older BIOS/utility can’t handle the larger drive geometry.

Checks to do first

  • Enter BIOS and confirm the drive is detected and shows a reasonable capacity. If the drive is not shown or shows 0/incorrect size, check master/slave jumper and the 40‑pin IDE cable and port (drive should be on the primary channel and set correctly).
  • If BIOS shows the drive OK, the recovery may have failed before copying the XP boot files. Note that ’s safe‑mode suggestion won’t apply because there is no OS yet. and were right to flag manufacturer prep utilities and BIOS/size limits.

Repair steps (use a retail Windows XP CD / Recovery Console)

  1. Boot from the XP CD, press R to open Recovery Console, choose the Windows installation number, enter Administrator password.
  2. Run these commands (CD is usually D: in Recovery Console; change letter if needed):
fixboot c:
fixmbr
bootcfg /rebuild
copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
exit

If Recovery Console cannot be used (OEM recovery CD doesn’t include it) either create a primary partition smaller or equal to the original 60 GB and make it active so the Sony recovery will proceed, or perform a clean retail XP install and then load Sony drivers/utilities. Finally, check Sony support for a BIOS update for the PCV‑RX640 (may add larger‑drive support) before discarding the 160 GB drive.

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All 17 Replies

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

Any one?? come guys I need some help, I have candy..lol

Member Avatar for Dortz

give us a chance at least...

There's no info you can give on what kind of an error occured?

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

give us a chance at least...

There's no info you can give on what kind of an error occured?

sorry dude I didn't mean to be rude, you see I have a deadline which I need to meet thats all, I was insatlling the OS on a new hd when it said an error occured , then is restated and it said cannot find Ntldr,

Member Avatar for ithelp

I had simmilar problem, boot in safe mode and install ntl*.dll

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

You dont say which OS you are using.

Try these KB's from MS and see if it helps.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318728

it was windows xp for a sony vaio

Member Avatar for caperjack

reboot to the winxp disk to do a fresh install of windows ,delete the existing partition and do a full format not the quick one and reload winxp

edit ,never mind i see you have recovery cd's ,your drive is new did you get a install utilities disk with it ,use it to make the disk ready for install first .if you didn't get disk go to manufacturers web site for utilities disk

Member Avatar for dyamond

Causes of NTLDR Errors
There are a number of possible causes for NTLDR errors, including the most common "NTLDR is missing" error message. The most common reason for this error is when your PC is trying to boot from a hard drive or flash drive that is not properly configured to be booted from; in other words, it's trying to boot from a non-bootable source. This also would apply to media on an optical drive or floppy drive that you're trying to boot from.

Other possible causes include corrupt and misconfigured files, hard drive and operating system upgrade issues, corrupt hard drive sectors, an outdated BIOS, and damaged or loose IDE cables.

This link explains about missing NTLDR in Win XP and possible solutions.

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

reboot to the winxp disk to do a fresh install of windows ,delete the existing partition and do a full format not the quick one and reload winxp

edit ,never mind i see you have recovery cd's ,your drive is new did you get a install utilities disk with it ,use it to make the disk ready for install first .if you didn't get disk go to manufacturers web site for utilities disk

Yeah I got the install utiltites, but I talked to a guy form sony and he said becaues the HD to big it was not compatible

Member Avatar for caperjack

Yeah I got the install utiltites, but I talked to a guy form sony and he said becaues the HD to big it was not compatible

what was not compatible the utility or the hard drive was to big for you computer .

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

what was not compatible the utility or the hard drive was to big for you computer .

the dude said because it was not the original HD that it was not compatible with the PC (sony pcv-rx640) the hd is a maxstor ata/100 160 gb, he suggested I set the bios to the defaults settings, I tried but it didn't work.

the original HG was 60 GB

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

I had simmilar problem, boot in safe mode and install ntl*.dll

thank for the advice but the thing is I'm installing on a new HD so there is no OS thus no safe mode

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

This link explains about missing NTLDR in Win XP and possible solutions.

thanks for the link I check them out to see if there is any thing that can help

Member Avatar for caperjack

the dude said because it was not the original HD that it was not compatible with the PC (sony pcv-rx640) the hd is a maxstor ata/100 160 gb, he suggested I set the bios to the defaults settings, I tried but it didn't work.

the original HG was 60 GB

there are bios limits for big hdd. not sure what yours is ,so it maybe that you bios doesn't recognize the bigger hdd.

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

there are bios limits for big hdd. not sure what yours is ,so it maybe that you bios doesn't recognize the bigger hdd.

is there any way I can find out the limits to this PC?, it is kind of old for '03, like it gets to disk 3 which is the last recovery disk before it gives the error

Member Avatar for jbennet

it probably has a 120 or 160gb limit, maybe even at 60 or 80gb limit

Member Avatar for rc_kobra

it probably has a 120 or 160gb limit, maybe even at 60 or 80gb limit

I think it might, it is kind of an old pc, form 03, the new hd is 160, when I go in to the advanced setting for recovery there is one option to format and partition the drive, it had a little drop down box that has the the size of partitions you can make, it has 16-20-30 GB thats it.

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