"Missing Operating System" & "NTLDR is missing" (Vista)

[fochizzle187]

im having the same problem with my Acer ( 2GB 500GB AM5100-U5300A) after the acer screen (Missing Operating System) pops up i tried to download vista to my flash cause i dont have a disk then i tried to boot from flash after the acer screen i get boot menu i get (USB-ZIP) i hit that then get(NTLDR is missing) hit any key to restart when i do this the same comes up any one can help please my wife and kids wrk on the pc every day cant afford to send it out

 

[TrainableMan]

fochizzle, i don't believe that is the same issue. brian_c's issue is that some drive letters are hidden in windows explorer. So I am moving your post to it's own thread.

Also you have Vista and this is a W7 forum but maybe someone can help as they operate very similar. Your Vista ISO should be on a bootable flash drive and in your BIOS you would want it set to boot to flash drive.

I don't know how old this article HERE is and I've never installed from a flash drive myself but you might look it over. To repair your OS would be similar to install, so you need it to boot to the flash.

 

[Kougar]

Hi Fochhizzle. You need to specially format the USB flash drive to make it bootable, simply having the files on it is not enough.

I found this, it can probably help you: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080220145158AAb5MMq