I am trying to replace the HDD in a Sony Vaio VGN S1-XP but the CD drive does not work (appears to be a known problem with the Matsushita drives in this model).

So, I have been following William Wilson's tutorial - Install Windows XP without floppy or cd drives.

All went well until I refitted the new drive back into the laptop. I ran the WINNT.exe which copied all the files from the CD (or in my case, the newly created I386 folder on the HDD). It then got to the stage of the first reboot and I got the dreaded 'NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart'.

I have looked around at various causes but can't find any real clues. As it is so early in the process, I can't access the command prompt to look around, I can't boot in Safe Mode (F8 seems to be ignored) and can't access the rescue console.

I have tried it about 3 times, double checking each step with no luck.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

Sounds like you have managed to loose it in the process.

I seem to remember that you can copy a copy of this file from another working XP machine.

I had this problem when trying to get a Dual Boot with Vista. I fixed it with VistaBoot Pro - which has an option to reload the legacy boot loader. (XP in this case).

If you can get your pc to boot somehow it is the boot loader that you have to fix. The boot loader reads options from boot.ini and determines what to do at boot time.

Hopefully this have given you a few more things to look for.
Good Luck

You might want to try this:

I'v uploaded a replacement file here:
unzip it on your working desktop and place it on the root of your laptop HD
NTLDR.zip

Hope this helps
If it doesnt, I have another idea. (scary Hu? )

Thanks for the replies.

I know it's not missing because I plugged the drive back into te other PC and could see it.

This is my Daughter's laptop and she will not be back with it for the next 10 days so I am trying to get some ideas for when she returns.

I will try your file legomind as one of the options.

However I want to clarify a part of the instructions in the Tutorial. It is the part regarding where to position the drive on the IDE cable - quote:

attatch the drive to IDE 1, channel 2 and start up your computer.
- format the drive to FAT32 (you can always switch it to ntfs later, with a prog such as partition magic)
- shutdown the computer

*With the DOS cd in the drive

- switch the laptop drive to IDE 1 channel 1 for best chance of detection, DOS is not the smartest OS ever made

My PC is configured with a SATA drive and the CD drive on IDE2. I plugged the laptop drive into IDE 2 channel 2 (mid point on the cable?) and formatted it there.

I have now done this a number of times and have tried copying the I386 folder across in Windows and Dos with the same result. I started to read more not completely related threads on here and by piecing things together, I started to think the poition of the drive was more critical than I first thought. So I have now tried it without the SATA drive connected and with the Laptop drive on IDE 2 channel 1 but the same result.

Is this important? Should I do it again with the drive on IDE 1? I thought the position was only important in ensuring it was recognised correctly by the PC and had no impact once moved to the laptop. Is that incorrect?

Thanks.

The IDE cable that you use CAN determine the drive letter of the HD. My computer, with the dos from this site, usually detects the HD no matter where I put it.

Which cable you use can also determine speed. If the laptop HD is the only drive on the IDE cable, the transfer speed will be noticeably faster. (Ideal )

I am saying this from my own experience. The above is not law! What I am trying to say is that I have never run into a problem with switching ide cables, although it might happen.

Now about your problem, make sure that if you are copying in windows that you are NOT compressing them. Dos cannot "see" any files that are compressed by windows. Can you see the files in windows after you copy them? Do you get an error message?

I you are using dos, mistakes are easily made. I recommend using the "explorer" add-in, and visually coping the files from the left and right drives.
--
Also, I wanted to point something out. I'm not meaning to criticize the tutorial that you are following in any way, but formatting a drive fat32 and converting it to ntfs after you install windows, can be a HUGE mistake. You see, windows doesn't like anything moving the system folders, and that is what happens when you convert a drive to ntfs.

I HIGHLY recommend making two partitions, one fat32 (for dos) and one ntfs (for widows). Make sure that they are both logical drives and that the fat32 partition is the primary. install dos, and continue as the tutorial describes.

This is very tricky. You must really know what you are doing. I just did this whole thing a few days ago. If you need step-by-step instructions, just ask. But trust me, all of this trouble is worth it in the long run.

Legomind - I know that the drive letter can be assigned in this way but I assumed that it would be re\assigned when transferring it back to the laptop. Either way, when the drive was in the laptop (before I ran the install routine and after Dos had loaded) I could see the I386 folder and I did a DIR to see all the files, I also went in there to run Smartdrv so I am pretty sure that all was OK although I am going through every step in my mind ready for the bext attempt!

The logic of the dual partition soumds very sensible to me and whilst I think I have an idea how to achieve it I'd definitely appreciate the step by step guide

As for the original problem, I think I have established that the drive itself is ok as I had installed windows completely whilst it was attached to my PC just to prove all was ok, which it was. It is also recognised perfrctly by both PCs and does at least go through the start up and copy files phase so it must be recognised by the BIOS.

I am at a bit of a loss

Quote:
I assumed that it would be re\assigned when transferring it back to the laptop.

I am sorry, what do you mean by this? The drive letter is determined by the computer that it is installed in. The drive letter is not "written" to the drive itself, the drive letter may change when moving between computers, or it may not. (there is a logic to this, but don't ask me!)

sorry if i am being ignorant!

No just my explanation is at fault!

What I meant was that my assumption was that whatever drive letter was assigned whilst it was attached to the desktop was replaced by the one assigned when I transferred it to the laptop. Which is the same as you have said, just that your description was clearer.

OK. These are the steps for the dual partition.

Connect the Laptop HD to the desktop. I would HIGHLY recommend removing your desktop HD, to keep from losing any files!

The following assumes you have a clean HD, no partitions. If you need help doing this PM me. (note: fdisk my test the HD between the steps below. Just let it finish.)

Boot from a boot floppy or disk (98 will work)

1. At the DOS prompt type "fdisk" (without the quotes)
2. You might be asked if you would like enable large disk support. If so, choose yes (Type "y" and press enter)
3. Select "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive" (Type "1" and press enter)
4. Select "Create Primary DOS Partition" (Type "1" and press enter)
5. Enter "1500 and press enter (this is a gig and a half. if you go smaller, you may get an error in the setup. Better safe, then sorry!)
6. Fdisk will should to the main screen. If not press "esc"
You have just created the partition that dos and the xp setup files will stay in. Now lets do one for XP!
7. Select "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive" (Type "1" and press enter)
8. Select "Create Extended DOS Partition" (Type "2" and press enter)
9. DOS should ask you if you would like to use the rest of the disk for this partition. Choose yes (Type "y" and press enter)
You have created the partitions, but for the second one to "show up" we must "assign a drive letter"
10. Fdisk should ask you something about a logical drive. leave the numbers alone and press enter. If DOS did not ask you, then follow steps 10a - 10c.
10a. Return to the main screen
10b. Select "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive" (Type "1" and press enter)
10c. Select "Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition" (Type "3" and press enter)

OK. Now that's done, just reconnect your primary hard drive to your desktop, install dos, copy the xp setup files to the DOS Partition (the small one) and follow the steps below in windows. You must be in an administrator account.
To format NTFS:

1. Click start.
2. Click Control Panel
3. Click Administrative Tools
4. Double Click Computer Management
5. Click Disk Management on the left
6. Choose the appropriate disk (should be disk 2)
You should now see a graph on the bottom of the window
7. Right click the larger partition (should be on the right)
8. Click format
9. Make sure that it is in NTFS mode, and that "enable file and folder compression is not checked (it would be best not to do a quick format here)
10 Click ok

Yay now your done! Install XP like described in the tutorial!
Let me know if this helps!

Thanks, I don't get the laptop back until next weekend so I'll give it a try then. I'll let you know how it goes.