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NTLDR missing and I forgot Administrator password!
Need help!
System: Dimension 4600 60GB Running Windows XP with 1gb RAM
I was deleting the program Skype that was having trouble and was going to reinstall it when the screen went black and I was told NTLDR missing. I got out my Resource CD and tried repairing Windows, but I have either forgotten my Administrator password or completely messed up the system.
I tried contacting Dell Support, we ran a diagnostic on the drive and it said it passed. But they said Windows would have to be reinstalled. However, 'Vincent' had a slight problem understanding me and my husband and we kept asking him which partition should we use and he kept saying yes, we tried using partition 1 (not being very computer savvy) but of course it kept telling us it could not do it, not enough room. As 'Vincent' was getting a bit annoyed slight language barrier) we decided not to continue with the call. Was I supposed to use C: partition 2? (I think so!)
If this is any help I have listed below the information I have found out about the system.
57216MB Disk 0 at Id on bus 0 on atapi [M3R]
-: Partition 1 [FAT] 31mb (24mb Free]
c: Partition2 [NTFS] 57184 MB (13751 free)
Unknown disk
(There is no disk in this drive) PLEASE NOTE THAT 'VINCENT' WAS THE 3RD PERSON TO CONTACT US RE THIS PROGRAM, 'ADAM' AND 'BOB' WERE BOTH HELPFUL AND COULD UNDERSTAND US. We have not been able to get hold of Dell support since as they are busy.
Message Edited by Sashtal on 07-30-2007 06:36 PM
RoHe
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July 30th, 2007 22:00
2. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press F10, or press R to repair.
3. Press C to start the Recovery Console.
4. Copy the Ntldr file from the Windows XP CD-ROM to the root of your system partition by using the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command:
1. Type cd .. to go to the root of drive C. (Note the space)
2. Type the letter of the CD-ROM drive
3. Type cd i386 to change into the right directory
4. Type Copy ntldr c:
5. Type Exit
Ron
Message Edited by RoHe on 07-30-2007 05:00 PM
Sashtal
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July 31st, 2007 12:00
Message Edited by Sashtal on 07-31-2007 09:10 AM
Sashtal
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July 31st, 2007 13:00
RoHe
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July 31st, 2007 17:00
Read this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330184
If that doesn't fix it, you could run a Repair/Reinstall of XP using the CD. You won't (shouldn't) lose any personal files or software you installed but you will have to reinstall all XP updates and hotfixes again. So I hope you have a broadband connection.
Try following the instructions at the microsoft link first, and post back when it's fixed (fingers x'd) or you need to do the Repair/Reinstall.
Ron
Sashtal
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August 2nd, 2007 11:00
RoHe
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August 2nd, 2007 18:00
Sorry to hear you did a reinstall and lost everything. Unfortunately, that's Dell's typical response to any problem. Doesn't matter to them if you lose all your stuff, as long as they get you off the phone quickly, happy or otherwise.
Did they actually reinstall XP or use PC Restore (ctrl-F11)? The advantage to PC Restore is that it resets the hard drive to exactly the way Dell shipped it, but a full reinstall removes that hidden information, making it impossible to reset the drive with just a few quick keystrokes.
Either way, be sure to reinstall every Microsoft update and hotfix for XP, Internet Explorer, Office etc ASAP. Otherwise, you're open to infection by all kinds of malware.
Come back to the forum often, even if you don't have any problems. You'll learn a lot about your system and -if necessary- how to fix it without the pain of reinstalling. And be sure to back up all your files on external media such as a CD from now on.
Ron
Sashtal
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August 2nd, 2007 22:00