did the pc just do an install of sp3? that is happening a lot to some computers that got sp3 through auto updates
First try this, it has worked for many.
try plugging a flash drive into a usb port and trying to boot with it in the usb port

also try getting to safe mode by tapping f8 when it tries to start up once in safe mode go to in the lists where it says automatically restart you want that to off.

can you use last known good in safe mode?

I have no idea what is on this computer.
The OS choices are Windows XP in the boot menu.
Someone brought the computer to me to fix.
I don't know if it has sp3 on it or not.

I just tried booting with a USB flash drive plugged in.
No change.

I tried booting into safe mode. No change.
I tried disabling automatic restart. No change.
I tried last known good configuration. No change.
But I did notice for the last 3 that when I hit Enter
to choose the OS, there was a quick message saying NTDETECT Failed.
The message just quickly flashed before rebooting.
It went by so quick I almost didn't see it.

I'm gonna stick a Knoppix disk in it to make sure all the
hardware checks out. See what else I can throw at it.

Do you know of any other things to try?

Pooh Bear

Normally in this situation you would do a Windows repair with the XP CD.

Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
You will then be prompted for your administrator password.
The administrator password is blank by default, so unless one was actually set, just press Enter.
You'll see C:\WINDOWS>
type in:
COPY D:\i386\NTLDR C\:
COPY D:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
where D is the drive letter for your CD drive.
Remove the CD and type exit.
Reboot your machine and see if that has fixed the problem.

well with the linux live cd you can at least get their important files off of it before doing any kind of repair, reformat or anything destructive.

Hopefully a repair will help.

I bet it did just get sp3 and something caused a conflict. We are seeing all kinds of weird stuff popping up now that it is going out on auto update and people are not turning off all security apps prior to install.

I googled the NTDETECT failed message and got lots of info.
Basically the fix is what you described above.
-------------------------------
When you start your Windows NT 4.0 / Windows 2000 / Windows XP computer,
the boot process fails with:

NTDetect Failed

NOTE: Windows XP will restart immediately.

This can be caused by a missing or corrupt Ntdetect.com.

If you have a boot floppy, you can use it to start the computer
and copy the file from another computer or the CD-ROM.
------------------------
I'll work on this tomorrow.

Amazing. If I hadn't noticed that one short quick message
I probably would have never figured this one out.
Hitting the F8 key helped tremendously.
Thanks for pointing that one out.

I'll post back tomorrow with how it turns out.
It may have further problems after I get past this one.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

Here is a link that might be useful: ntdetect failed message

No progress so far. I thought I had it whipped.
I downloaded the Ultimate Boot CD and planned on using the
utilities on it to copy the files I need. Turns out the
CD I had was for the Linux OS so I couldn't use it.

How about if I just pull the drive out and mount it into
another computer and copy the files over to it that I need.
Like to know before I start tearing it apart.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

if you have a linux live cd you can indeed use it to get all your files off that pc if you can put the cd in and have it boot to that cd.

Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer

How to recover files from an unbootable/dead computer

there are 2 different step by step instructions on how to do it. You can download and burn an iso of ubuntu or any other distro from www.distrowatch.com
or run up to any book store and pick up a linux magazine that has an included ubuntu live cd free in it.
This is really about the easiest way to get the files

I have it downloading now.
It's gonna take a while.
I'll let you know when I get more info.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

Finally got Ubuntu downloaded and burned to CD.
It wouldn't boot normal. Don't know why.
It would boot if I chose Safe Graphics Mode.
It will access the USB Flash drive.
It will probably access the a: drive but I saw no reason to try.
But it still won't access the c: drive.
It gives me this message:

{{gwi:1496489}}

Where do I go from here.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

Okay you said you are working on it. Ask if this problem just started or has it been a minor problem ie: once in a while now and then type of thing earlier? This sounds just like a problem I saw a while ago. It turned out to be a short in the motherboard. This was after the system was totally reloaded and the info was lost. Might not be the problem but it is worth a shot. Yours is doing all the same things as this one was.

I worked on a PC a few months ago that had a similar problem. I could not get past the boot sequence. It turned out to be a corrupt startup BIOS. After downloading the correct BIOS and flashing it, the PC ran fine.

I can't be sure what is causing your problems, but I thought I'd mention the similar occurrence I had. What does your IDE configuration look like when you boot into setup? The PC I worked on kept changing IDE configurations. I would make changes, but they would get lost on the next boot. After a new battery didn't help, the BIOS flash did.

I haven't opened the computer up yet and peeked inside.
Someone brought me the computer and asked if I could fix it.
I don't know what was going on before I got it.

The computer hardware itself seems fine.
It will load Ubuntu and bootable CD apps.
With Ubuntu (in safe graphics mode) everything seemed to work.
I could even access a USB flash drive.

I think the problem is limited to the hard drive.
I may end up pulling the drive and slaving it in a different computer.
But then what do I do with it. I'm thinking just copy
those two files over to the root directory. Is that it?

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

i dunno
microsoft says make a boot disk from another XP? computer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Missing or corrupted NTLDR or Ntdetect.com.

Hi Mikie,
Long time (too long) no see!

Pam

"F2 for setup and F12 for boot options." Are you saying you get this far and the computer REBOOTS by itself, if that is the case you start to consider a power issue here.

How many files did the user want to save?

Where are the 2 recovery disks that should have came with the pc, or does it have a recovery partition that you would have an option for after hitting F12 if you get that far.

If you slave the drive run your options scan disk, check disk ect, the go to the manfactures site of the hard drive an run there tests on the drive.

I wonder if you can get recovery disks from Dell for the 2400 series?

Yep, it gets to F2 for setup and F12 for boot options
and soon as POST finishes it reboots.

I don't think it's a power issue as Ubuntu runs just fine.

I wasn't told to save any files. Just fix it.

If this is the computer I think it is, the recovery disks were
lost long ago. I have used the recovery partition on it before.
But that is only if it is the same computer I have worked on.
I don't remember seeing that option in the F12 menu.

I read the info at the link Mike posted.
I'll try it just as soon as I can make sense of it all.

Pooh Bear

POST- Power on self test, and it is failing and rebooting usually related to power and or hardware and you already knew that.

Ntdetect.com file is missing or damaged. So it is either the file is missing or the hard drive is bad as you indicated. What's more likley probably the hard drive I like your idea to slave it.

Of course the other thing is we/you have no clue what may be on the drive including bad stuff..

Good luck & keep us posted.

You do know you could copy that file from the i386 folder on any other pc that is running the same version of windows. Many pcs have the i386 folder on the hard drive mine has it in 2 locations actually just do a search on your pc for i386 then from that folder you can copy the files you need but it does have to be the same windows versions. That would at least give you a copy of the missing file.

I have the files I need. NTDETECT.com and NTLDR.
I just can't get anything to recognize the hard drive.

One possibility I hadn't considered is the HD may be dead.

I haven't had much time lately to look into the problem.
Hopefully I'll get a chance soon.

Pooh Bear

Pooh Bear

Format a floppy disk, copy the ntdetect.com and NTLDR to the floppy and use that floppy to boot up the "broken" computer.
All indications you give leads me to believe the bios, Master Boot Record, NTloader, and boot.ini are functioning and the only thing missing is the ntdetect.com.

Terry

Problem solved.

I removed the hard drive from the computer,
mounted it in another computer,
and copied the two files over to the root directory.
I put the drive back in the computer,
and now it boots up no problem.

Now I can do a thorough cleaning of adware/spyware/malware and viruses.
Get it back up to functioning properly and send it back to its owner.

Thanks for all the help.

Pooh Bear