HELP! SUSE deleted NTLDR!

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netguardianii · #1 Post by **netguardianii** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:18 pm

I tried installing OpenSUSE, and all went well for the first CD. After it rebooted, however, I wanted to switch over to Windows, but it wouldn't boot ( all I received was a blank screen with a caret at the top-left corner). Then I rebooted and tried the blue "Access IBM" button, but the Rescue and Recovery refused to load, giving the message, "NTLDR is missing Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart".

Any hints, anyone? This is my only computer and I'm running it off Knoppix right now.[/b]

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:19 pm

If dual-boot screwed up the master boot record or did other permanent damage, your options may be limited. If this is your only computer and attaching to another computer (to pull the data off your HD) is not possible or practical, then you may have to purchase a second hard drive to install and back off your data and files. Then re-install Windows.

I know this is late (and in this case useless) advice, but playing with Linux is really and truly best done with VMware. This prevents the problem you have encountered. Maybe someone else will benefit.
... JD Hurst

Later note: I found this:
http://www.computing.net/linux/wwwboard ... 26592.html
on google, and they strongly suggest Partition Magic to re-size the partitions before trying to dual boot. I run Linux inside a virtual machine, but I have used Partition Magic to resize my laptop drive and install another OS. That worked fine. ... JDH

kaiser · #3 Post by **kaiser** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:17 am

another option would be to get a bootable XP-install CD and use the repair-console, or what it is called in English. Then you could do a "fixmbr" and "fixboot", to make the MBR look like XP thinks it is right and install ntldr.

egibbs · #4 Post by **egibbs** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:27 am

Get thee to a DOS prompt and enter fdisk /mbr. Should be ok afterward.

Ed Gibbs

Edward Mendelson · #5 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:32 am

The 100-percent-guaranteed solution to this problem is the one described in the message from kaiser. You'll need an XP CD; just boot from it, choose the option to go to the repair console, and issue the commands listed by Kaiser. I've used this method successfully more than once.

You might also try IBM's "Rescue and Recovery - Recovery Diskette" (download and burn on another machine); that can repair a master boot record messed up by the Linux boot loader; I've used it successfully to do exactly that.

Fdisk/mbr probably won't fix the situation, but it won't hurt to try it.

Unless you allowed Suse to delete your XP partition, your data is perfectly safe. Errors inflicted on the Master Boot Record are NOT permanent, do not affect your data in any way, and can be easily fixed with one of the methods listed here.

Suse has a terrible installer, and it's a terrible distribution. Ubuntu Breezy is much better, much more stable, and much more friendly.

lophiomys · #6 Post by **lophiomys** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:24 am

For the MRB issue:
I had the same with SUSE 9.0, but not with Suse 9.3.

Save your MBR beforehand installing Linux besides Windows XP:
"Tools and References for the MBR and OS Boot Records"
http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/as ... lsRefs.htm

Besides an issues I encounered with the GRUB boot menu:
After installing Suse 9.0, the boot loader menu loaded into a graphics mode which my desktop LCD dispalyed as "black screen", even so the boot menu was functional via the arrow keys. This was gone on my machine with 9.3.

Hope this helps,
JoHo

netguardianii · #7 Post by **netguardianii** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:51 pm

Thanks for your help, guys. I'm typing this from a console at school. I managed to borrow one of my friend's XP CD's to restore the old mbr, but XP still wouldn't boot (apparently, the file NTLDR was deleted), so then I had to restore entire installation. XP didn't format my disk, so I didn't lose any data. Quite the contrary - the XP install seemed to have cost me about 2 GB. Better than nothing, I guess.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

JD Hurst, Partition Magic doesn't seem to effect anything on the hard drive unless you pay for the software. I used Knoppix's QTParted - is that the same?

I think I might take a break from Linux now, though. Still a tad traumatized...

Edward Mendelson · #8 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:21 pm

Hmm... We should have suggested copying NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM from the CD. That normally isn't necessary, but it would have worked. The 2GB that you lost is recoverable, but tricky to get right. If you really want everything back, backup the data, format the disk and do a clean install.

#9 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:23 pm

I'm glad you didn't lose your data. I keep a desktop and laptop plus a second drive in the desktop. Critical data lives on three drives. It is not worth the risk to me to do less. Anyway, good luck to you.

I purchased Partition Magic, and I don't know about competitors. Perhaps others do. ... JD Hurst

egibbs · #10 Post by **egibbs** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:45 pm

Qtparted is an open source Linux clone of Partition Magic. Aside from the usual bugs and lack of many megabytes of animated displays, it is functionally equivalent to Partition Magic.

I always thought it was cute that you can make a DOS floppy rescue disk for PM that has a fully functional version of PM and fits on a floppy, but the Windoze version wants 60 or 70 MB.

Ed Gibbs

netguardianii · #11 Post by **netguardianii** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:23 pm

Ed Mendelson, I did exactly what you said. Worked like a charm. Thanks for that clean fix.

I've got another slight problem here, though, but I've posted it elsewhere to avoid going off topic.

EDIT: It's here.

Edward Mendelson · #12 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:28 pm

Quick question: which part worked: the copying NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM or the two commands from the Repair console?

netguardianii · #13 Post by **netguardianii** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:44 pm

Edward Mendelson wrote:Quick question: which part worked: the copying NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM or the two commands from the Repair console?

I was referencing this comment:

Edward Mendelson wrote:If you really want everything back, backup the data, format the disk and do a clean install.

But before that, I first tried restoring the MBR, but that yielded nothing. Then I re-installed XP to access my estranged data. So I think the MBR was fine; NTLDR was most likely somehow deleted (perhaps it was fragmented) during the partition resizing process facilitated by the openSUSE installer.

HELP! SUSE deleted NTLDR!

HELP! SUSE deleted NTLDR!

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