NTLDR is corrupt and system cannot boot.

[Omega003]

I had a PC built last November and put Windows XP x64 on it. Today when I tried to start it I got this message :"NTLDR is corrupt, system cannot boot". I have a laptop as well so I googled it and I found out that I needed file, which I downloaded and put on a CD, but when I tried to restart the computer to use that file the computer didn't start at all.
I took the side panel off and I can see that the little green LED inside is on, so it gets power but for some reason when I press the ON button, nothing happens. Can anyone help please?

I was also thinking about taking the HDD out, putting it into my enclouser and reformatting it on my laptop and putting the OS back on it, then put it back into the PC. Would that work at all? But I don't think that would sort out the power issue anyway.

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Paul Komski]

Try booting to the installation CD and log on to the Recovery Console using the first presented repair option. The at the command prompt type and enter in succession:

fixmbr
fixboot
bootcfg /rebuild

Accep the default options for the first two and let bootcfg rebuild boot.ini for you. Google for the commands to get more info about them if you want or need to.

[nuz]

I took the side panel off and I can see that the little green LED inside is on, so it gets power but for some reason when I press the ON button, nothing happens. Can anyone help please?
Nothing? Not even a flicker? Do the fans at least start spinning for a second? Going with cheapest first, best get the PSU checked. Just because there's enough power to run the motherboard LED doesn't mean it can supply a running board + whatever HDD and peripherals you have.

[Paul Komski]

If you cannot boot back to a situation when you were getting text on the monitor and with no CD disk in its drive (and particularly if there is now no POST beep on startup) then consider detaching the main peripheral drives (HDD and CDD) and see what happens then. Otherwise it's a matter of trying to find the faulty hardware in question and that can be done via a BareBonesBoot (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1718).

Failed drives and PSUs or poor cabling/connections are common causes of your symptoms.

[Omega003]

Nothing? Not even a flicker? Do the fans at least start spinning for a second? Going with cheapest first, best get the PSU checked. Just because there's enough power to run the motherboard LED doesn't mean it can supply a running board + whatever HDD and peripherals you have.

I found the problem to this: accidently I unplugged the cable that comes from the button. So I sorted that yesterday, but I couldn't get the computer boot up. It did a few times, after several tries but then it crashed again before I could re- install the OS.

[Omega003]

Try booting to the installation CD and log on to the Recovery Console using the first presented repair option. The at the command prompt type and enter in succession:

fixmbr
fixboot
bootcfg /rebuild

Accep the default options for the first two and let bootcfg rebuild boot.ini for you. Google for the commands to get more info about them if you want or need to.

I tried to boot from the installation CD and it did a few times (it wasn't constant tho, sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't) but when it boot up and windows started a few minutes after that it crashed again and re-started a computer. Then the whole circle started all over again with the struggle to try and get it boot up again.

I was thinking if I took out the hard drive and put it into an enclosure, plug it into my laptop and reformat and install the OS from my laptop, would that work?

[Paul Komski]

These intermittent problems sound very typical of faulty hardware or a loose data or power connection. Check that all the cables are securely attached; SATA cables are particularly prone to being loose. A failing PSU can also be at fault. Basically if power is intermittent or occasionally broken the PC wont start at all or will stop unexpectedly and that is bad for the hardware and bad for the file systems which usually become corrupted. The culprit needs to be identified and then you can reinstall or repair without even considering utilising your laptop to attempt to help out.