Boot ini gone, restore console ntldr is missing, HELP! Please.!

Hi

As the title says the goes over at safer networking have tried to help. My system seems to be virus/malware free but my exisiting problem still exists. Here is the problem as I posted on their forum.

"In the last 48 hours normal startup has changed, my option to chose normal xp or recovery console went. System does still boot though. Noticed today at startup now said boot.ini was missing. Recovered this as had it backed up.
However also found autoexec.bat & config.sys cannot be opened and on closing msconfig despite being logged in as an administrator. I am told "access denied was returned while attempting to change a service. Log in as administrator.
As said I am an admin and secondly I wasn't making changes just checking all was ok.

Also discovered cannot load recovery console anymore as it says NTLDR is missing.

This coupled with random cd drive openings I am wondering if I am infected with something nasty.

Also forgot to mention was going to try system restore but for some reason it was off, so no restore points!"


Since the original post I had to recover my boot.ini again as it disappeared once more. All other issues remain the same.

Your help very much appreciated.

Hi asanguy, Welcome to WTT ! Sounds a lot like Melware. Can you supply a link to your original post at 'Safer Networking' ? It might help the Techs here.

Here's the thread for the topic that Ken was helping with over at Safer Networking:
http://188.165.126.154/showthread.php?t=60414&page=2
Time for a repair install ?
Regards
paws

Thanks for the link Paws. After being cleared for Melware and considering the nature of the problems, I'd go for a repair install too. Fairly quick and painless If you have an XP disk asanguy, this is easy-peasy. Make sure your Bios has CD as 1st boot. and boot to CD. 1.When the 'Press any key to boot from CD' message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD. 2. Press ENTER when you see the message To setup Windows XP now, and then press ENTER displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen. 3. Do not choose the option to press R to use the Recovery Console. 4. In the Windows XP Licensing Agreement, press F8 to agree to the license agreement. 5. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press R to repair Windows XP. 6.Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup. If you don't have an XP installation disk, let us know please. Cheers, Lee

@asanguy It would be a smart move to check that your "back up" of all important stuff on the computer is safely copied off to removable media and then verified to ensure it's 100% accurate, reproducible, and that everything you need is included…( drivers, serial numbers, including the one for Windows itself all downloaded executables, passwords user names, and all data files etc etc.) The Repair install should be "non destructive" and should leave your data files intact……but it's still wise to check your back ups before proceeding…just to be on the safe side. Regards paws

That's a nice tit-bit to know Paws. I'll burn it to memory

Yes Lee, I guess I'm getting more cautious these days… Regards paws

Thanks for the advice. I will find my disc and let you know how I get on. Oh and thanks for supplying that link Paws, I meant to include it in my original post and forgot.