Unmountable Boot Error due to power surge

[Guest]

My computer was on and we had some bad thunder storms and lost power briefly.

I now have a blue screen saying I have an "Unmountable Boot Error" and that
I should reboot the computer in Safe Mode. When I try this I can get to a
menu where I select Safe Mode but after that it takes me right back to the
blue sreen with the "Unmountable Boot Error" message.

I know I could probably use the restore CD but I'd rather not lose all the
data on my computer. Any suggestions?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

My computer was on and we had some bad thunder storms and lost power
briefly.

I now have a blue screen saying I have an "Unmountable Boot Error" and
that
I should reboot the computer in Safe Mode. When I try this I can get to a
menu where I select Safe Mode but after that it takes me right back to the
blue sreen with the "Unmountable Boot Error" message.

I know I could probably use the restore CD but I'd rather not lose all the
data on my computer. Any suggestions?

The restore CD is really overkill. If you have the bootable XP CD with the
recovery console, run :

==
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21258553.html
chkdsk /r (dont cancel if it takes too long, just wait until it finishes)
chkdsk /p
fixboot C: (in case your windows is installed on another drive, change the
driver letter according to that)

after it finishes, type Exit, and ur system will restart, take out the CD
and check if its booting fine or not!

-==-
If you don't have the bootable CD, borrow one. You can run the recovery
console from either a HOme or PRO CD but you can't do a repair install from
the wrong version.

HTH
-pk

 

[Guest]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your quick response. I do have the Reinstallation CD which talks
about using the Recovery Console. Is this what you're talking about? If so,
how do I run that if I can only get to the blue screen? Do I insert the CD
and then it will automatically do something? Do I need to reboot? Sorry, I'm
pretty much a novice when it comes to this stuff.

 

[Pete]

The restore CD is really overkill. If you have the bootable XP CD with
the recovery console, run :

Patrick...Wow!... just found this group, and boy do you guys get a lot of
posts here. Please forgive my ignorance, since I get a little confused by
terms like restore vs recovery, which are often interchanged incorrectly
IMO -and then there are the terms bootable disc and startup disc, which can
also get confusing - and I have seen other terms used also.

So, would you please explain exactly what you mean by the "bootable XP CD".
I am somewhat computer literate, but get confused with all the different
teminology I have seen (by visiting other newsgroups, forums, web sites,
etc.) regarding "boot discs". I have a new XPsp2 home edition pc, and I had
a milleinium before that (which I made a "startup disc" for in add/remove
programs - so I guess a startup disc is yet another term for boot disc - it
was only a 3-1/2" disquette (less than a meg), and it would get my millenium
to boot by typing "scanreg /restore" at a prompt that you eventually came
to.

For my XP, I immediately made a Compaq "recovery dvd" (it took 2-dvd's)
utilizing the "Compaq recovery cd-dvd creator" in start/programs/pc tools.
This dvd (can also use cd's but it takes 8 or 9 cd's I believe) contains
everything that is on the pc (from the factory), and which is also in the
system recovery partition D:. There is also something called a "Recovery
Tools CD", which I did not burn, since it did not seem necessary, after
reading about it in the "troubleshooting and system recovery guide" that
came with my compaq. I will burn that one to, if you can explain what it
will do, that I can't ultimately achieve by using the "recovery dvd". The
manual said that one of the things the "recovery tools cd" did was to remove
the system recovery partition (drive D), so you could use it - but I'm sure
there is another way of doing that from within the pc once you got it
running using the recovery dvd - am I right - I've never messed around with
partitioning, since I have no need to.

My new XP did not come with any "bootable CD" perse, and I made the
"recovery dvd", as stated above. So please shed some light on what the
"bootable XP CD" is that you refer to (because you said that a "restore Cd
is really overkill" - I assume you mean the "recovery CD" that I mentioned).
Also please provide your comments on the "recovery tools CD", and any other
comments you have on the various terminlogies I have mentioned above.

This looks like a good group, and I have some interesting questions that I
will be posting in the interest of learning more about windows XP and why MS
does some of the things it does. Thanks...Pete

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your quick response. I do have the Reinstallation CD which
talks
about using the Recovery Console. Is this what you're talking about? If
so,
how do I run that if I can only get to the blue screen? Do I insert the CD
and then it will automatically do something? Do I need to reboot?

Yes, put the CD in while the machine is still running (since you need the
power to open the drawer), and then restart the system. Watch the screen -
it should ask you to press a key to boot from CD. If it doesn't but just
restarts Windows, you need to go into the system's BIOS (you'll press F1,
F2, F10, Del or something as it starts) and change the boot sequence. Most
new systems are set to boot from CD before the hard disk. Check the
documentation or get someone to help you.

Press R when prompted to get into the recovery console. Log onto the
Administrator account - it will ask you for a password and if this is XP
Home it will likely be bkank (just press enter). Then follow the
directions at the link below to run chkdsk or fixboot. When done, type
EXIT to leave the recovery console and restart the system. This time,
don't press a key to let the system bypass the CD boot.

HTH
-pk