NTLDR is missing error

Just when I thought the worst of my PC problems has passed, I recently had to deal with this "NTLDR is missing" error. This stands for New Techology Loader. What the problem is it is unable to find the master boot record to figure out which partition has the operating system. Apparently a very common error though I've never faced it in my life.

I was also in a predicament since I was in Hong Kong at that time and had none of my recovery disk CDs (why on earth would I bring them anyways?). With another laptop on hand to help me (thank goodness) So I did some searching on the internet and found a helpful site:

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download

I could download just the recovery portion of the Vista Operating system disk and use that recovery portion. I went ahead with this, and then followed this tutorial to fix the problem.

Only problem was when I got to the part where it says:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
x:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force

The second command using bootsect.exe is NOT found on the recovery disk!!! I don't understand why they would tell us to use a command on the disk and not have the command in the ISO. I then tried to do some troubleshooting and download the bootsect.exe file itself, and then attempted to modify the ISO image to add this bootsect.exe. Tutorial on how to do this can be found here. To no avail, I ended up corrupting the ISO and never getting it to work. In the end, all the solutions the tutorial provided failed.

What happened in the end was I just waited until I got back to Canada. Then I called Dell to explain the situation. After some lengthly and pointless troubleshooting questions and steps, I just ended up reinstalling the whole operating system again.

UGHHH!!! I am starting to hate Dell and PCs. The case of getting a MAC as my next laptop is growing stronger.