NTLDR is missing

Forum: USB booting
Topic: NTLDR is missing
started by: Andeplane

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Posted by Andeplane on Feb. 20 2006,12:04

I burned the image on a CD. I boot, and rightclick on the desktop -> Apps -> Install to USB-pendrive -> USB-HDD.
the options i use is: dsl vga toram dma

When I get to the computer, i get "NTLDR is missing"..and ofc, nothing more happens. Why do I get this message? Its not any Windows version installed on the system either.

What have i done WRONG?

Thanks for help

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Posted by mikshaw on Feb. 20 2006,15:53

You probably had Windows installed at one time, and the master boot record is still intact.  The MBR thinks Windows should be there, so it tries to boot it.

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Posted by Andeplane on Mar. 20 2006,01:36

Thanks for answer, man, but;

this is on an arcademachine (a dancegame like Dance Dance Revolution) running linux. I can guarantee that there is,and it has never been any windows on it. Can this problem appear when I MAKE the usb-install?

Edit: I guess you meant that I have used it with windows, and thats true ;)

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Posted by ~thc on Mar. 20 2006,08:09

to be more specific, this message is shown by the boot record loader routine of a windows nt based boot sector (nt, 2000, xp) - it means your pen drive has at least once been formatted under such an os. this loader could be located in the master boot record (usb floppy mode) or the boot sector of the first partition on the pen drive (usb hdd mode).

the 'install to usb pendrive - usb-hdd' program _should_ have repartitioned and reformatted your pen drive (replacing the boot loaders in the mbr and the boot sector with the correct routines) - somehow the old boot loader survived that procedure ;).

when you boot from cd, your pen drive should be accessible via '/dev/sda' (depending on your machine - check it first). you may try 'blanking' it prior to installing dsl by opening a root shell and typing

dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=512

this will overwrite the first 512 sectors of your pen drive with null's and wipe any surviving boot loaders.

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Posted by Andeplane on Mar. 20 2006,15:27

Thx ;) This seems logical for me, so I'll try that!
I guess it'll work =)

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