NTLDR with win 98?

[SufferWell1396]

as i understand NTLDR is a windows NT and up component for systems without MS-DOS running with the OS. i was trying to boot my computer on a different computer after mine had just failed :(, so i put it in the other computer, and i used to have a dual boot, it would ask me what i wanted to boot, XP Home or 98, even though i dont have XP anymore it for some reason still appears, so in the failed computer it would get to that stage, i could get into Win 98 and everything would go smoothly, but, now in the other computer it tells me that NTLDR is missing and i have no choice other then to reboot, what should i do? :confused:

[123456]

Does both PC's have floppy drives? If so, do what I would do...

Grab a floppy. Go to COntrol Panel, View tab, uncheck "Hide Protected OS files" or something. A dialogue will come up, say yes, then hit OK. Go to your C:/ drive and copy and paste these 3 files: NTLDR.exe, NTDETECT.com, and BOOT.ini to the floppy. Put the floppy in your failed PC and turn it on. It should boot properly.

[Sylvander]

"i was trying to boot my computer on a different computer after mine had just failed"
What does that mean? Could you explain?
Do you mean you swapped the HDD from the failed PC into another good PC?

"so i put IT in the other computer"
What is IT?

[Paul Komski]

If you want to boot win98 from a previous dual boot with WinXP you can either simply edit the boot.ini file to just reference C:\ or else sys the partition (assuming it is still a FAT formatted partition) from a Win98 boot floppy diskette.

Transferring a hard drive from one PC to another and expecting it to boot straight away is unlikely to be successful if that is what you have done.

The ntldr is missing message is because the partition was used to boot an nt based OS and has not had its boot sector restored to a DOS based OS.

[SufferWell1396]

IT is my primary HDD, a 160gig WD1600

[Sylvander]

I believe that for a Windows OS to see more than 120 GB of HDD capacity the Windows version needs to be at least Winxp SP2.

[123456]

Syl, SP1 or greater.

[SufferWell1396]

nah, trusty ol' Windows 98 reads 127! :eek:!! haha but ill try 123456's idea and try putting NTLDR.exe, NTDETECT.com and BOOT.ini, but wait..... will they be in my Windows 98 directory?, my eMachines doesnt have a floppy drive, and as easy as it is to just slip one in, my parents would be pissed :D

[SufferWell1396]

ah wait, removeable storage... sorry, im off the ball today

[SufferWell1396]

it says, -*INVALID SYSTEM DISK, REPLACE THE DISK AND PRESS ANY KEY*- so i took it out, hit the space bar, and it said it was missing again:(

[Paul Komski]

after mine had just failed
In what way did it fail? Perhaps there is some underlying problem with the HDD that you have simply transferred across.

Also - how many hard drives are attached to the second PC and if you run fdisk does it see any partitions on the HDD and is the correct partition marked as active? A better way of "examining" the partition structures is to use a utility such as Partition Magic or BiNG (in my sig).

You won't find ntldr (it has no extension as in the previously quoted ntldr.exe) ntdetect.com and boot.ini on the win98 cd since the first two are installation files belonging to a version of an NT based OS like WinXP and boot.ini is a text file created during installation.

You don't absolutely need these files for a Win98 single boot and they will become irrelevant if you sys the relevant drive. Even without sysing the drive you should still be able to get to the original dual boot menu unless boot.ini etc are no longer on the relevant partition because of a number of reasons. If that it the case boot.ini transferred to a floppy without editing is also likely to fail. It is also worth stressing that you must not only transfer those boot files to a floppy but that floppy must be formatted from within WinXP so that it has an NT boot sector (the same sort of boot sector that gives you the ntldr is missing message).

[SufferWell1396]

nah, the reason my other computer, my Gateway failed was because of a bad flash bios update

[Paul Komski]

Also - how many hard drives are attached to the second PC and if you run fdisk does it see any partitions on the HDD and is the correct partition marked as active? ... etc ...

[SufferWell1396]

alright, finisho, i did that, i found NTLDR and NTDETECT.... but no BOOT.ini, the only thing close was the file BOOT.ini.backup, what should i do?

[rond36]

What are the specs of your eMachines PC?

[SufferWell1396]

eMachines T5026
Intel Pentium 4 Processor @ 3.06GHz
1GB system ram
1 160 WD HDD
1 DVD+/-RW
1 CD ROM drive
Windows XP Home SP2

[SufferWell1396]

Well, i NEED boot.ini but idunno where to get it, all i get is BOOT.INI.BACKUP

[SufferWell1396]

:mad: i got a website that gave me the boot.ini configuration, i put it in Notepad & Wordpad both times saveing it as an .ini file, the floppy claims the file is a configureation file BUT MY COMPUTER SAYS ITS INVALID!!!!! What should i do!?:mad:

[Paul Komski]

You could try opening boot.ini.backup in Notepad and then Save As boot.ini as well as pasting the contents of the .backup file here.

Please also tell us whether you have more than one HDD on your system - you have been asked this twice already.

Boot.ini is only necessary it you want to boot an NT based OS. You can sys a Win9x drive from its floppy disk to return its boot sector and boot files from the NT based ones that would have been installed when WinXP was added. Get a Win98 boot floppy diskette for Win98 because the dos based floppy must match the OS in question. Boot to it and at the A:\ prompt enter sys C:. As long as sys.com was on the floppy you should get a system transferred message.

Finally re-note that transferring a drive from one PC to another may of itself make the disk unbootable in the new PC - although to be fair the ntldr is missing message makes it look as if the incorrect disk or the incorrect partition is being chosen as the system partition.

[SufferWell1396]

hmm, well, normally i only have the Western Digital 160 Gig in there, but sometimes i like to add my conner peripherals 340 meg just to hold music and such, but yeah, its usually only the WD. oh and as of now, the Conners doesnt have anything on it.Yeah, i just want to boot into my Windows 98, so what i just put Sys.com on it and it will work?, so you mean its trying to boot off the unused 33gig?:(

[Paul Komski]

so what i just put Sys.com on it and it will work?
No you need to run sys from the floppy, as already indicated. The command is sys C: from the A:\ prompt of a floppy that has sys.com on it. As long as the floppy is a Win98 boot floppy it will copy the correct versions of io.sys, msdos.sys and command.com to the C: drive AND MOST IMPORTANTLY will rewrite an MSDOS/Win9x boot sector - thus hopefully removing any references to NTLDR.

[SufferWell1396]

ok so your saying, Make an MS-DOS boot floppy disk, with sys.com on the floppy, and run it from there?, and should i delete NTLDR and NTDETECT?

[Paul Komski]

Use Win98 SE OEM from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm if you dont have a genuine Win98 startup floppy of your own.

You can leave or delete the NT boot files as you wish but they will do you no harm.