How do I fix: "Selected entry failed.. \NTLDR missing or corrupt" ???

D

duppypog

Member
I wiped partition 1 of an HDD containing three OS's to do a clean re-install of win7. Partitions 2 & 3 contain separate instances of winXP. I saved a BCD backup file, as well as a text copy of the partition table and a screenshot of the binary MBR... for safeguard.

Seems I've got a genuine mess!! There are three HDD's in the system. All show up in the BIOS. All disks are visible in win7's "Disk Management"... though the ordering is different than it was. The HDD with the three OS's *was* Disk 0... and is now Disk 2. Some Drive Letters have changed! Unfortunately, I did not screenshot the the previous layout, and, there are "21" partitions in total! (Oy.)

When I boot, and select either entry of XP, I get a message that says:

"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware of software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:"

1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair you computer."

If you do not have disc, contact admin or manufacturer for assistance.

File: \NTDLR
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because app is missing or corrupt.


I wanted to ask here before following these instructions, because, 1. I'm not sure whether to insert the XP or the 7 disc... and 2. I read in your documentation that REPAIR INSTALLING was a "sledge-hammer to crack a nut", and might lead to other problems!

Please advise. Thanks.
 
First check your BIOS boot sequence. It sounds like the OS HDD isn't top of the pile where it should be.
When you boot directly from the OS HDD it should appear as disk 0 in Disk Management.
Then use Disk Management "change letter" to reset all of your other partitions and devices to the letters that were previously allocated in W7. (disk letters are just registry entries in the running OS. You've created a new one and it will have allocated letters in the PnP detection sequence of the hardware it finds)
When everything looks like it used to do, use EasyBCD latest build and delete the XP entry(s) from the BCD then add a new one for each of your XP systems (not auto-detect). Specify the disk letter for each that W7 now sees them as.
(Don't worry that the entry in the BCD does not have the letter you just specified - that's correct)
 
Thank you both, I will resume working on this today, and report back... I had to let go of it for a couple days to take care of some other matters.

@ SIW2, no, I was not saying the number of partitions had changed! Only that I have 21 to sort out! (and didn't screenshot a "previous" map... which would have allowed a much easier fix!)

Addendum:

okay, here's a couple screenshots of what's happening. I "reloaded" both XP entries to BCD and used "auto detect" and for whatever reason, this time they both will start... only; the XP_SP2 version on "V" drive is a corrupt mess. Drivers all out of whack, etc... but, that's ok... it's old anyway, and so, I'm willing not to mess with keeping it. I'll just copy any impt files to another drive; delete it; and start it freshly as well.

Also... the "D" drive is an old Win2K system... that I thought was "hidden"... but, is apparently not! It has never even shown up in BCD before now! I don't need it... it is deletable, but, I'm guessing based on what I can see here... is that this "D" drive contains the boot files for either one or both of the XP systems, because it's showing as "Active" and the XP systems are not!! Is that possible? How can I be sure where the boot files for those two XP systems are located?

So, what I'll ask is... what will happen if "D" does hold the boot files for the XP systems... and I delete it? I do NOT want to lose access to the "U" drive XP_SP3 system... or, corrupt it... or, have to reinstall it, as well! (but, don't mind deleting "V" drive as I said."

Thanks.

Addendum:

This is screenshot 1:

9k=
 
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lets try that again... here are two screenshots:
 

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The boot files in use for booting XP are in your C:
"system" = "where all the windows boot files are"
There will be some in the original XP partition(s) or possibly in D: depending on how you installed them at the time, but those are not in use whilst you are booting via Vista/7 bootmgr. It has copies.
I said don't use auto when you have multiple XPs.
Auto uses the XP NTLDR which cannot have multiple entries in the BCD, and in consequence gives you a two-stage boot.
Make use of Neosmart's EasyLDR, which is a custom XP loader capable of supporting multiple XP entries in the BCD.
It wouldn't matter if you lost the XP boot files anyway, EasyBCD creates everything necessary in the correct location.
 
Thanks Terry, I deleted "D", and, XP on "V"... and, assigned the letter "D" to the XP I'm keeping. Then, I edited the (xp) entry in BCD, giving it the letter "D"... and, it wouldn't start. Perhaps editing instead of adding new, was the reason? So, I used auto... after it didn't start by me editing its letter. "Auto" labeled XP as drive: C \ NST\ntldr, like you said, and it starts. I've decided not to have two XP's but install Ubuntu instead. So, I've prepped some room for that. (Ubuntu and a swap partition.) I'll be a newbie with Linux. Any recommendations?

...another question... XP in win7 is "D"... and, XP in XP is "W". Is there a way out of that (so each system matches)? Not really a big deal I don't guess, but XP didn't appear to let me change its own letter!

michael
 

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Once Windows installs as x: you're stuck with it as x: unless you reinstall.
Windows installs as C: if you install it from the booted distribution disc, and in XP's case, it also can't see any other Windows. (Vista and 7 will be C: when installed from the booted DVD even if there are others around)
There's no problem with Windows running as notC: (for Windows itself), though you will get problems with 3rd party apps putting some files in C:\Program Files\Common Files even when you tell them to install in x:\MyProgs.
Adobe is particularly guilty and because of the ubiquity of their offerings, it will cause a clash with the installation of the same app in the real C: system.
For that reason, you should not let any Windows OS on notC: have access to a C: disk that does contain Windows.
If you are interested in the integrity of your system restore points, you should not let XP see Vista or W7 in any case.
System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete - Vista Forums

btw there's no reason why you shouldn't make XP W: on W7 too if you want to. (delete and add the XP BCD entry again if you do)
 
hmmm, interesting. that makes sense. I hadn't thought about potential trouble with 3rd party apps, so thanks!! and, OMG... this may very well explain why I had no system restore points when this whole shake up began!!! I'm restructuring everything right now (not that I wasn't due for it anyway) because, after installing SP1 on win7... my whole system started suffering random freezes and black screens. (rock solid before SP1!!) I couldn't simply restore it to a previous time because... conveniently, I had NO restore points, prior to SP1 !! I was thinking that MS released a buggy SP1... till, I couldn't do a fresh win7 install w/o the DVD freezing and black screening. This is all after updating to latest BIOS, as well. Banged my head for days... and, wrote Gigabyte boards (w/o a successful answer). I'd been through all BIOS settings again and again... then, I inadvertently noticed that the BIOS home screen said 1333 for the DRAM. Since I knew my memory was 1600... I changed the "AUTO" setting in the BIOS... to a manual setting of 1600... and voila, not a freeze since. So, I may have been through the ranks of the past few weeks because of my own unawareness... but hey, I've learned a lot!

sorry to divert; re: multi-boot questions... since I use Adobe products with both OS's, would you recommend a reinstall of XP over the regedit method described above? and, what if I installed a 2nd win7 partition, or in the future a win8 partition? what is the cleanest way to assemble from where I am at... with the goal of ending up with:

(2) win7 partitions
(1) XP partition
(1) linux partition (w/swap)
(1) win8 partition (future)

thanks.

Addendum:

and, I presume that XP is calling itself "W" in this case, because it could see win7 when it was installed. So, how can I re-install XP as "C" when another windows OS is on the system? Can I hide win7 from being seen by a re-install of XP? Aren't they each mutually exclusive to themselves when in operation? (so that 3rd party apps install items to the corresponding OS's partition?

Addendum:

...well, I checked and sure 'nuff, had NO restore points in win7. So, I applied the XP reg tweak and now win7 restore points are holding... after accessing XP. Thanks, for the heads up on this!
 
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If you reinstall XP as C: by disconnecting/hiding everything else, you'll avoid 3rd party problems if the "live" system is always C:, but it doesn't affect the restore point problem.
That's purely because system restore was completely redesigned with Vista to use the volume shadow copy service along with backup. Unfortunately they didn't take the simple step of making the restore folder name different from XP, so when XP sees a Vista/7 folder, it thinks the contents are corrupt and "fixes" them by reinitializing. Not only do you lose your restore points every time you boot XP, all your (MS) backups get scrubbed too. The only solution is to make sure XP can never see a partition containing a Vista/7 SR folder. In practice that means it must not see the OS or any partition containing apps for the OS.
 
Vista and W7 are mutually (and backward) compatible. They won't damage each other or XP. It's purely an XP lack of forward compatibility. XP will damage every Vista/7 it sees.
 
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