My computer displays an "NTLDR is Missing" error message.

There are three methods to fix this error. The method used depends on whether or not the computer has a medialess recovery partition installed.

Computers with a medialess recovery partition using the recovery partition

  1. Check for non-bootable media.

    Check the following for media:

    • Floppy drive
    • USB thumb drive or flash drive
    • MP3 players
    • External hard drive
    • Digital media/memory card reader
    • Printer with digital media/memory card reader

  2. Restart the computer.

  3. As the computer boots, press the F11 key to start the recovery operation.

  4. At the System Recovery Menu screen, hold down the ALT key and press the D key.

  5. At the Command Prompt, type SET and press ENTER.

  6. Find the line that says, USERPART = drive_letter:. The drive_letter can be any letter between D and Z. In most cases, the drive letter is D.

  7. Write down the drive letter.

  8. To change the drive path, at the Command Prompt, type D: (where D is the driver letter) and press ENTER.

  9. At the D:\ prompt, type CD Windows\i386 and press ENTER.

  10. At the D:\Windows\i386 prompt, type xcopy ntldr d:\. This copies the missing file to the root of the primary drive.

  11. After the file is copied, at the prompt, type Exit.

  12. Once back at the System Recovery Menu, click Quit. The computer restarts.

  13. If the computer starts up correctly, there is no need to continue with this checklist. If the computer does not start, continue with the next step.

  14. Restart computer, as computer is booting, press the F2 key repeatedly until you enter the BIOS.

    Note: If you see the Windows flash screen, restart the computer and try entering the BIOS again.

  15. Once in the BIOS, press the F9 key to reset the BIOS to set defaults.

  16. At the confirmation screen, press ENTER for Yes.

    Note: If the computer has an add-in audio card, disable the integrated (onboard) audio after setting the BIOS to defaults.

  17. Press the F10 key to save and Exit.

  18. At the confirmation screen, press ENTER for Yes. The computer restarts.

  19. If the computer starts up correctly, there is no need to continue with this checklist. If the computer does not start, continue with the next step.

  20. Restart computer, as computer is booting, press the F2 key repeatedly until you enter the BIOS.

  21. On the hard drive, make sure the cables are seated properly and jumpers are set properly. Refer to the computer's User's Guide for the correct procedures.

    22. Note: SATA drives do not have jumpers.

Computers with a medialess recovery partition using the recovery CDs/DVDs

  1. Check for non-bootable media in any of the drives.

    Check the following for media:

    • Floppy drive
    • USB thumb drive or flash drive
    • MP3 players
    • External hard drive
    • Digital media/memory card reader
    • Printer with digital media/memory card reader

  2. Insert the system recovery CD/DVD into the CD/DVD drive and restart the computer.

  3. As the computer boots, press the R key to display Gateway System Recovery options.

  4. Press R again to select Standard Gateway System Recovery options. The recovery process starts.

  5. At the System Recovery Menu screen, hold down the ALT key and press the D key.

  6. At the Command Prompt, type SET and press ENTER.

  7. In the displayed information, find the line that says, USERPART = drive_letter:. The drive_letter can be any letter between D and Z. In most cases, the drive letter is E.

  8. At the Command Prompt, type copy ntldr drive_letter:\ and press ENTER. Use the drive letter noted above. For example, copy ntldr e:\ copies the missing file to the root of the primary drive.

  9. After the file is copied, at the prompt, type Exit and press ENTER.

  10. Once back at the System Recovery Menu, click Quit. The computer restarts.

  11. If the computer starts up correctly, there is no need to continue. If the computer does not start, continue with the next step.

  12. Restart computer, as computer is booting, press the F2 key to enter the BIOS.

  13. Once in the BIOS, press the F9 key to reset the BIOS to set defaults.

  14. At the confirmation screen, press ENTER for Yes.

    Note: If the computer has an add-in audio card, disable the integrated (onboard) audio after setting the BIOS to defaults.

  15. Press the F10 key to save and Exit.

  16. At the confirmation screen, press ENTER for Yes. The computer restarts.

  17. If the computer starts up correctly, there is no need to continue. If the computer does not start, continue with the next step.

  18. Restart computer, as computer is booting, press the F2 key to enter the BIOS.

  19. On the hard drive, make sure the cables are seated properly and jumpers are set properly. Refer to the computer's User's Guide for the correct procedures.

    20. Note: SATA drives do not have jumpers.

Computers that do not have a recovery partition

  1. Check for non-bootable media in any of the drives.

    Check the following for media:

    • Floppy drive
    • USB thumb drive or flash drive
    • MP3 players
    • External hard drive
    • Digital media/memory Card reader
    • Printer with digital media/memory card reader

  2. Restart the computer.

  3. Place the Windows XP CD into the CD/DVD drive. If the computer is a desktop with multiple drives, use the top CD\DVD drive.

  4. Restart the computer. If prompted, select any options required to start the computer from the CD.

  5. When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press the R key to start the Recovery Console.

  6. Select the installation that matches your computer from the Recovery Console.

  7. Type the Administrator password at the prompt. If the administrator password is blank, press ENTER.

  8. Run a DIR command on each drive to determine which drive is the Windows boot drive.
    For example, type dir c: and press ENTER. Then type dir d: and press ENTER.
    Note: The most common location is C:\ or D:\. Look for directories titled Docs, Support, and Valueadd. The drive that has those directories is your CD\DVD drive.

  9. At the prompt, type COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C: (where X is the drive letter of the CD/DVD drive).

  10. Remove the CD from the CD\DVD drive, and then type Exit.

  11. Restart the computer.

  12. Re-enter the Recovery Console. At the Command prompt, type Boot cfg / rebuild and press ENTER. To rebuild the boot.ini file. Instructions can be found on the Microsoft website.

  13. At the Command prompt, type Fixboot and press ENTER.

  14. At the Command prompt, type FIXMBR and press ENTER.

If following the above procedures did not resolve your problem, please contact Gateway through one of the following methods: