NTLDR is missing on Vista/XP dual boot

Question

I currently get the error "NTLDR is missing" when I try booting into my computer. I had a dual boot of Vista and XP and I was trying to remove the XP partition so that the entire drive would just be one partition. Here are the steps I took, starting from before I installed Vista:

1. Resized XP partition.
2. Rebooted, added new partition for Vista.
3. In XP, installed Vista from ISO I downloaded from MSDN Academic Alliance.
4. Copy all important files from XP to Vista partition.

At this point I could successfully boot from either XP or Vista. I could access XP partition files in Vista as well. Both partitions are NTFS.

1. Go to Administrative Tools in Vista, change Active partition from XP partition to Vista partition.
2. Reboot.

I realize now that this wasn't smart, but I'd like a way to repair this and boot into Vista. I was thinking perhaps a linux rescue CD, but I don't know specifically what to do to fix things.

Answer 1

First thing I would try is a Startup Repair

Answer 2

Here you have some list of possible causes and fixes for them: NTLDR missing.

The "NTLDR is missing" error displays very shortly after the computer is first started, immediately after the Power On Self Test (POST) is complete. Windows XP has only initially begun to load when the NTLDR error message appears.