suse9.1 and ntldr, again...

toddncl · 07-12-2004, 08:44 AM

I have successfully installed suse 9.1 pro 64bit on my lappy alongside windows xp, however I can no longer boot into windows. I have tried allsorts to get this working but I have had no luck and still get NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart:

Fixmbr
Fixboot
Copied ntldr and ntdetect.com to my c: dir from my windows disk
checked boot.ini
and Chkdisk

I have had to reinstall the suse bootloader a few times now but that’s not a problem as its quite simple using yast, I can see all my files from suse so I don’t understand why I cant just boot. One of the main problems I have is that my lappy has no floppy drive so I cant run boot –us which is referred to throughout the numerous posts I have read whilst trying to fix this. I even tried to repair xp using my cd but once the files have been copied and setup reboots (what a surprise) it cant continue with the install as it just tells me NTLDR is missing again.

I really don’t want to have to format and start again as all the data is there and can be accessed through linux, but I need windows to work.

Could anyone help me sort this without having to use a floppy disk?

Thanks, John.

rshaw · 07-12-2004, 08:53 AM

http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/0...booting91.html

toddncl · 07-12-2004, 08:56 AM

wow, thanks for the quick reply, will head over there now.

toddncl · 07-12-2004, 09:40 AM

im following it to the letter but it keeps saying there is no driver update on the disk even though i know there is. could it be that i am running the 64 bit version of suse? i have been all over the ftp servers but have not been able to find a 64bit patch (

thanks again for any help.

Cloud · 07-12-2004, 01:30 PM

I posted with a similar problem (a few posts down the page). I also tried that floppy disk method, but it didnt work. It says the patch has been applied, but does nothing.

toddncl · 07-12-2004, 01:44 PM

i must admit its not looking good, format is the last resort for me so goin at it from every other option first. have just installed parted as the suse document mentions it being able to spot the error. i have just installed it and checked my drives but its not goin well, hasnt spotted any mistakes. i think i need to get rid of the LBA tag as i cant find any referance to LBA in my bios. here is my "(parted) print" output incase it helps. what are you thinking of doing next?? are you on the 64bit version or i386??

Code:

minor   start            end                type        filesystem     flags
1          0.031          65640.585     primary    fat32            boot, lba, type=0c
2          65640.586  66664.828     primary    linux-swap   type=82
3          66664.828  76319.085     primary    reiserfs        type=83

im looking for more info on lba now, you might want to have a look at
this
will get back to you on here unless you want to have a crack using icq (248422075)

John.

Cloud · 07-12-2004, 02:12 PM

How did you make the SuSE boot floppy? I tried through yast but it gave me some error.
Thanks for the link

toddncl · 07-12-2004, 02:15 PM

i didnt, i dont have a floppy on my laptop, i had to use the iso image and make a coaster. as it said no driver updates etc... just followed the instructions and made it from the shell prompt.

im browsin the irc channels for a bit help but it seems to be a waste of time no answers so far ((

toddncl · 07-12-2004, 07:05 PM

comin to you live from windows on my lappy!!! dont ask me how it worked but...

i downloaded this rescue disk:
http://www.sysresccd.org/
booted with it, ran "run_qtparted" then resized my windows partition. initially i was resizing it to backup my windows hard drive so i could format but i thought i would give it a shot at booting again and it worked first time!!!! whooo!!!!!! so i guess it was just a problem in the way suse created the partition table,qt_parted must have repaired this without thinking, thanks.
its very late so im off now, good luck to anyone else in this situation, DONT GIVE IN!! if you can see it from linux then its still there and can be saved. night all, its been a long day. 16hrs to find the prob, 30 min to fix it.

John.