Vale, Old WIN 7 PC ...

[superquag]

It happened this morning, started old Faithful and was greeted with.

NTLDR. is missing
Press Ctrl + alt + Del to restart
-


(google not much help, it did it all by itself,,,, no external plug in devices to discombobulate it )


ASUS M/board with lots of RAM. and i5 @ 3.2 G. 500G SSD. for C drive.

Calling a Nerd or visit to PC hospital would pay for ( $180. - $360?). a re-furbed eBay. DELL. or whatever. Similar specs, And WIN 10

What's the Wise Decision, funeral or flea-bay ?

Thanks !

(This Old Mac is ..... 'challenging'. my enfeebled brain.)

[vnx205]

So articles like this one were no help?
How to Fix NTLDR Is Missing and Related NTLDR Errors (https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-fix-ntldr-is-missing-errors-2623859)

[reefmagnet]

High probability it's a dead hard drive. You can download versions of Linux that will run directly off a thumb drive. This will allow a test of the rest of the hardware to be made. Of course you need a working PC to do this, so Catch 22!

You can also pick up brand name ex-lease micro form factor PC's off Ebay pretty cheap. Kind of like a desktop version of a laptop - just add keyboard, mouse and monitor.

[superquag]

So articles like this one were no help?
How to Fix NTLDR Is Missing and Related NTLDR Errors (https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-fix-ntldr-is-missing-errors-2623859)


Yep, had seen it in my searches, but they presented that first line. 'This is a WIN. XP. problem'... But read the whole thing from your link... HDD. in mine is a small. SSD, the idea being it would carry the OS. and non-many other files. Likely it's deaded itself. evilBay re-furbed is looking most sensible, AND they come with WIN. 10.
This is my first computer where I hadn't cloned the. C. drive, as I used to in WIN. 3 days. Any virus or OS problem just meant a cart - swap to the clone and we're back on business.
Then re-install. '3.11' back on the dead drive.[bigsmile1]

Thank you to both !

[superquag]

Brother n Law solved it for me... off=loaded his old work laptop. Again. But this one is an i7, ASUS g47S Gaming special. Overkill for what I do, - plays youtube vids nicely. Only one undamaged USB, fixed by a $5.00 multi USB from evilBay.
Still prefer the 2011 iMac screen...

This came up on my evilbay feed.... Never knew one could run WINDOWS on a Mac. Why would you ?[biggrin]

Seems these old 'all in ones' lend themselves to modding... even putting an M1 logic board into a 27 or 30" screen !

27 Apple iMac Intel (R)Core™i7•3.40GHz•256GB SSD+1TB•WINDOWS 11Pro•27”LED#QQ7 | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/134327697050?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110 006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24502 1%26meid%3D17087a83aac54f2b8afd2c0bf6d28829%26pid% 3D101195%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D144891507777%2 6itm%3D134327697050%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D204 7675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithRevOp tLambda85KnnRecallV1%26brand%3DApple&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A13432769705017087a83aac54f2b8afd2c0 bf6d28829%7Cenc%3AAQAHAAABEPZqctS1aW2Gn1fMafrLrPa7 %252BqLD2Pgo5GTgCDTJgIpBMBHaBHcFvdVGNBWeIytK8f1wzF %252BzxLGmD%252BVjC1jJCjhxDygWpwnMYLlGxt3z29BrGcLp puyeyjRFZRzPv%252Bo5CdZHgD%252FQ7QmvnDRt6fsrxlkEGt zaFlriDB2DMmnFRiuk9vLZ1fR71whe62WV6%252FBxzNAmfsoc DZqoiKa31x0EP%252Fn6nsebLu6IPegKbJQigR6CXXECKE819r cpclstnqUdsc3VtlV0kMOm2dZzbB%252FqtwR52uWD1MjDpWTh C0noxX0R5f4zM%252B7JSfCBbWeMJNZ7EkGwhOeKTJQvnAmZxP 0V1hOm99Vg4OKiRwqxZCKID2m5%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp% 3A2047675)

[Tins]

Never knew one could run WINDOWS on a Mac. Why would you ?[biggrin]



Not these days, but I have done it often in the past, either using Boot Camp or an emulator ( Parallels or VirtualBox ). There is now no PC software I would need that I can't gat a Mac version of. I have an old 2007 iMac that boots into LinuxMint if I want, which isn't often. It can even run MS-DOS if I ask nicely, but I hated DOS even when it was the standard. The late 2012 27" iMac I'm typing on runs macOS Ventura 13.1, which  definitely does not support. It has 3TB of SSD in it. Hardest part of that is getting the screen off in one bit.

I really want to have a play with 's Mx silicon. A Mac Mini board would fit easily into my old G4 Cube....., but that won't get the OKA finished.

[superquag]

This is one of the 'Masochists' who is currently disturbing my thinking... and wallet.

Old Macs seem to last forever. Here's why. - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH55iTNJXH4)

OR this possible waste of time and money. Or not.....

Upcycle an old iMac display with this INSANE mod! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW3nKIyeZps)

And this guy also doesn't help. Restoring Apple's Cheapest iMac... From 13 Years Ago! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PptpQeaWXEI)

[Tins]

This is one of the 'Masochists' who is currently disturbing my thinking... and wallet.

Old Macs seem to last forever. Here's why. - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH55iTNJXH4)

OR this possible waste of time and money. Or not.....

Upcycle an old iMac display with this INSANE mod! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW3nKIyeZps)

And this guy also doesn't help. Restoring Apple's Cheapest iMac... From 13 Years Ago! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PptpQeaWXEI)

Those old iMacs with the magnets holding the glass on are a cinch to upgrade. Sure, not PC tower easy, but who wants one of those?? Luke's channel is interesting.

[Arapiles]

This is one of the 'Masochists' who is currently disturbing my thinking... and wallet.

Old Macs seem to last forever. Here's why. - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH55iTNJXH4)

When I started working remotely I needed a dedicated computer to run my monitor - so I grabbed one of my kids old school Macbook Airs, which is a mid-2012 model. Since all it's doing is accessing Citrix and word processing it's worked perfectly except that it doesn't recognise the camera or speakers on my monitor.

My personal computer is a 2011 iMac that I upgraded with an SSD when the hard drive blew up and I also had 16 GB of RAM installed at the same time: you can actually fit 32GB, but the techs reckoned that it wasn't necessary.

There's a couple of features about iMacs of this vintage that the Youtuber above didn't touch on that make them popular despite their age:

1. Unlike later iMacs these ones have CD/DVD drives - possibly less important these days; and

2. They can be used as monitors for other computers - Apple quietly removed this as an option around 2012. This means that if I really want a current tech set-up I can simply attach a Mac Mini to it, copy everything across and carry on. The iMac has a good screen and my new monitor - which is 11 years newer - isn't really that much better.