Won't Boot - No Safe Mode

[Guest]

A few days ago, when starting up, my PC began to stop during Windows startup.
It shows a "DOS type" window with hardware, port and device information.

At the bottom of the page, is says

Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter

If I repeatedly hit F8 during startup, instead of booting in safe mode, I
get the same error.

It seems as though the PC thinks it is booting from a disk or CD but there
in none in the drive.

Any suggestions? I really hope to get this back up without having to wipe
the C drive clean.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

A few days ago, when starting up, my PC began to stop during Windows startup.
It shows a "DOS type" window with hardware, port and device information.

At the bottom of the page, is says

Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter

If I repeatedly hit F8 during startup, instead of booting in safe mode, I
get the same error.

It seems as though the PC thinks it is booting from a disk or CD but there
in none in the drive.

Any suggestions? I really hope to get this back up without having to wipe
the C drive clean.

Thanks.

Try in recovery console and run this command:
chkdsk /r
"STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" Error Message When You Restart
Your Computer or Upgrade to Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297185
Try to perform a check disk by using the recovery console, you will need the
installation media (XP CD):
Try to run the chkdsk /r from the Recovery console and also the Fixmbr:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308041
"STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" Error Message When You Restart
Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=297185
How to perform Repair/Install of XP:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
HTH.
nass

 

[Ron Martell]

A few days ago, when starting up, my PC began to stop during Windows startup.
It shows a "DOS type" window with hardware, port and device information.

At the bottom of the page, is says

Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter

If I repeatedly hit F8 during startup, instead of booting in safe mode, I
get the same error.

It seems as though the PC thinks it is booting from a disk or CD but there
in none in the drive.

Any suggestions? I really hope to get this back up without having to wipe
the C drive clean.

Thanks.

Do you completely power off the computer or just use the Windows
Shutdown command and/or the On/Off power button on the computer?

Try totally shutting off the power by switching off the power bar or
unplugging the power cord from the back of the computer. Leave it for
5 minutes then power it up again.

I just "fixed" the exact same error on a customer's computer this
morning.

When a computer is shutdown but the main power is still live there is
still some standby power being passed to the motherboard. Therefore
some of the motherboard components will have an electronic charge
present and this can cause the problem you have described. By totally
disconnecting the power for 5 minutes the motherboard will discharge
completely, thereby clearing the problem.

Another possbile cause of this type of problem is a USB device, such
as an external USB hard drive or a USB memory stick being left
connected when the computer is powered up. Somehow the boot device
sequence can get corrupted by this presence and the computer tries to
boot from the USB device and fails. Unplug any USB hard drives
and/or USB memory sticks and see if that resolves the issue.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

I removed the PC from all power sources for a few hours, on quite a few
occasions.

I still have the original problem and can't boot up into windows or even
into safe mode.

When I install the XP recovery disk 1 from Sony, I am asked to accept the
license; on the second screen, it says that the utility needs to create dos
partitions on the C drive.

It asks if I want to continue, if I continue, will I effectively be deleting
the existing hard drive? I want to avoid this at all costs.

I'd believed with a "repair" install, you can save your application files
which is what I want to do.

Should I continue with creating the dos partitions?