[tommary0517]

Dear Friends,

yesterday i was watching a movie I had on my pen-drive and all of sudden an error message appared on the screen saying that in about 35 seconds the computer would shut down. Now, it did and when I try to restart, it gives this message "NTLDR is missing....press Ctrl-Alt-Del to Restart"
I re-installed windows xp completely but after a couple of hours, while installing some software for my printer the message came again and now I am again there with NTLDR is missing....

My computer, a pc, should be a pentium 4 with windows xp on it.
I would be very grateful for any help, please!!
Tommy

[lawson_jl]

Sounds like you have a dying hard drive to me. Could be another problem of course but the hard drive issue is the most likely.

[tommary0517]

Yes, may be? meanwhile though I have made a total reset of the hard drive and re-installed anew windows xp. So far everything went fine.
But now I have the issue of the sound: it does not work. The video is fine.
I do not have installation CDs of those.
Now, my issue is the following:
How do I know my sound card tipe ? The video is Nvidia Geforce 2500
And, how do I find the softwere to solve the problem with the software?
Thanks

[sludge3000]

You can find out details of your hardware by using device manager. Right click on my computer and select manager. Go to device manager.

If you don't have a dedicated sound card look on the site of your motherboard manufacturer and there should be audio(and all other) drivers on there.

[TBH-LSVC]

If you can't know what is the type of your sound card, try the following:
- If the sound card was onboard integrated, then search for the sound chipset and see what is the name of the brand written on it or the chipset name. Another way is to search the site of the motherboard for the drivers of its components as sludge said.
- If the sound card was a PCI or other type, take out the sound card and also look on the chipset and the brand would be there, with the version of it, when you do that, post the information here and we'll try to help you getting the driver.

[tommary0517]

Dear Friends,
thanks for your help. But I guess the problem is even worse, maube. The computer, even after the total re-intallation of Windows xp, with a complete reset of the hardware, shut down with the same problem. It would start again with this message:
NTLDR is missing....press Ctrl-Alt-Del to Restart.
What is wrong with the computer?
Tommy

[sludge3000]

Originally Posted by lawson_jl

Sounds like you have a dying hard drive to me. Could be another problem of course but the hard drive issue is the most likely.

As above if you have performed a full re-installation then it appears as though your hard drive is knackered. NTLDR is a program which starts loading the windows environment. As this cannot be accessed it suggests that your hard drive is the cause of the problem. Would suggest getting a new hard drive to install windows on. Hard drives are pretty damn cheap nowadays so hopefully you wont be too much out of pocket.

[tommary0517]

All right then, it goes for a new hard drive.
I question then, how do I chose it? Does it depend on my computer brand?

[TBH-LSVC]

If you want to buy a hard disk, there are some measures you got to check:

-What is your motherboard-supported connection type ( IDE, SATA )
-How much is the hdd spinning speed ( 5400 rpm, 7200 rpm,.. sure the more the better)
-HDD is brand independent usually, so any general hard disk should work on most computers
-Take into consideration how much of storage is your need, I advise you to get double your need ( e.g: if you think that 250 GB is all your need, bring 500GB, you won't throw it, but at a later time you would need a larger one, so the hdd would be sufficient for a while)

[tommary0517]

Dear Friends,
Thank you very much for the tecnical support.
You are really the best.
Tommy

[tommary0517]

Hi Friends,

I have purcheased a new hard drive as suggested, and installed again windows xp, which I had new.
But after a couple of hours, when restarted the computer, the same problem came up:
NTLDR is missing....press Ctrl-Alt-Del to Restart.
What is wrong with my pc?
Tommy

[TBH-LSVC]

Tommy say what??!! same problem!

Well, I'm gonna ask you a question: did you notice that this problem is being displayed after a specific program you install, or a driver for a device?

[tommary0517]

I have made three attempts of installing windows xp, and the only commun installation was 7zip and the software for the -scanner-printer, which I have used for about 1 year without problem. The issue only came up after a while. This time, for example, only at the restart of the PC.
Tommy

[TBH-LSVC]

Hey, sorry for taking long, I haven't been here a while.
Anyway, just a question, is it the same version of windows xp? I mean have you tried another clean installation from another cd?

[tommary0517]

Yes, as a matter of fact the wondows xp I am trying to install is a totally new CD I had bought later on.
That means that the problem should lie on the installation program.
Tommy