Leonard F Kiesling said:
using dell desktop 4600, xp home edition, 1 gig ram, 3.0gig pent processor,
80 gig hard drive. ati radeon x700 pro 256mb video card.
shut machine off normally last nite.
today, upon power on, receieve black screen error message screen, with
options for safe mode, 3 of them, last known configuration, & start windows
normally. i tried the start normally, then last known configuration, and
safe mode only. each time i received a blue screen. the error message says:
Unmountable_Boot_Volume.
any ideas how i even start to fix this problem?
thank you, len kiesling
It is usually helpful if you can include the STOP code and all 4 of
the parameters for these types of errors.
There are several possible causes for this type of error, including:
- damage to the disk data structure on the hard drive.
- physical damage or failure of the hard drive itself.
The damaged disk data structure is the most common and also the
easiest to recover from, so try that first. All that is needed is to
run CHKDSK /R on the drive. However getting the computer booted so
you can run CHKDSK is the problem. There are several ways of doing
this:
1. If you have an actual Windows XP installation CD (not a "System
Recovery" disk provided by the computer manufacturer) you can boot the
computer with this. Choose the Repair (Recovery Console) option and
when the computer is finished booting and stops at the command prompt
enter the following command:
CHKDSK C: /R
2. Some computer manufacturers (Compaq is one) put a Startup Menu
item to launch the Recovery Console that displays for a few seconds
when the computer starts to boot up. Choose that and then proceed as
per the above.
3. You can create a bootable CD on another Windows XP computer by
using Bart's PE Builder (
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) and use that
CD to boot the problem computer. When it boots open a Command Prompt
window and run the above command.
4. You can download a set of boot diskette images (for computers with
3.5 inch diskette drives) from
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=310994 and use these to boot to the
Recovery Console.
If CHKDSK /R does not repair the problem then you need to suspect a
hard drive failure. Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and
download their free diagnostic test software which will create a
bootable disk or CD that you can use on the problem computer to check
the drive for possible hardware damage or failure.
Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair
"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
