NTLDR problem-unusually more difficult

[david dao]

hi everyone,

I have google searched this problem for a long time and tried everything.  My computer will not boot up Win XP unless i boot through CD-ROM first.  Once that happens i let the CD-ROM time out so it goes to the OS select Menu.  There I have 2 Win XP (one on a partition E: and another on C:)  Both works fine but thats the only way i can get in there.  If i set the FIRST BOOT to Hard Drive I get the NTLDR error or if I load without the Win Xp cd I get the same NTLDR error.

I've tried copy H:\ntdlr C: but i get "access denied."  H: is my bootup disk that i am using to load the ntldr file.  It will only copy to the E:  So i restart again and the same problem occurs.  I also tried to mess with the boot.ini but couldn't find that when i used "cmd" and i tried to play around with the "system and recovery->edit" but to no avail.  I basically am stuck to booting up through my Win XP.  Can anyone help.

Thankls

[merlin_2]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314057

[Computer_Commando]

...I also tried to mess with the boot.ini but couldn't find that...

Try again.  If both partitions boot, boot loader is bad.  Read this:  http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

Part of this reads:
Edit the boot.ini on the root directory of the hard disk drive and verify that it is pointing to the correct location of your Windows Operating System and that the partitions are properly defined. Additional information about the boot.ini can be found on document CH000492.

[david dao]

hey thanx for the help, but i've used botht those sites before to try to fix the problem.  I am only able to copy ntldr and ntdetect.com to my E: partition but not to my C: which says "access denied."  I'll look over it again but like i said, its a weird one.

[Chir6]

Not sure if I understand the problem correctly, but are you trying to copy the ntldr file to your c drive from a dos prompt?  It sounds to be like your C: drive might be formated with a NTFS partition, which DOS cannot read without help.  Maybe you could boot into windows xp the way you have been, and try to copy the files from your bootdisk to your C: partition from there? From within Windows XP.  Just guessing.

[Mac]

Which drive, the C: or the E: drive is normally set active?

Can you see the drives using the fdisk program?