Quick Help/Question

[strikezone89]

Hey guys... I like to think I'm computer savvy... but today is the third time i've gone to my uncles mechanic shop to fix his computer for the same issue.
Whenever he would go to boot his computer he would get an error "NTLDR is missing"
so what i did i ran a system recovery the first two times. this time i thought it was impossible so i think his hard drive is corrupted from being in such a dirty,dusty enviroment. because i know its not a virus cause he's never hooked that computer up to the internet.
did i make a good decision saying he needed to buy a new one?

Plus... when i got to install the new hard drive how do i get this copy of windows from the old hard drive to the new one?
i have the validation code from his current comp. but can i transfer that code to a new hard drive?

 

[Malice]

NTLDR is the needed base for the Windows OS.
He simply could be having hardware problems.

Temperature issues with Harddrives, ect...

 

[Kable24]

Here are a couple of sites to help you out.

http://www.tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314057

I have never come upon this issue on any computer, so I can't say what could be causing it, but it seems like you should try running chkdsk /r that might correct the issue. also since he keeps it in a dirty place get a can of compressed air and open it up and clean out the processor and power supply with a good burst of air.