Unmountable_Boot_Error

[Guest]

I just bought a brand new Western Digital 120g Hard Drive. I am trying to
put it together with some other spare parts to make a computer. The mother
board isnt too old, it a 1.2 gig pentium 3 I believe. When ever I first
installed the hard drive, I tried to install windows. When ever windows is
finished setting up, the computer restarts, windows starts to load, and then
I get that awfull blue screen that reads "Unmountable_Boot_Volume" blah blah
blah. I can get it into safe mode, but that is it. I have tried everything
on this newsgroup, from loading the service pack, changing things around in
the bios, chkdsk /r, chkdsk /p, fixboot c:, and a couple of other things. I
also tried the lifeguard disk that came with the hard drive. I am all out of
ideas and I dont know what else to try. PLEASE HELP ME

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Sounds like some BIOS or HDD controler problem. Maybe some driver conflict with other hardware. I would strip the system down to the
basic hardware for the setup, then re-add each device one at a time.

 

[Anna]

Sounds like some BIOS or HDD controler problem. Maybe some driver conflict
with other hardware. I would strip the system down to the basic hardware
for the setup, then re-add each device one at a time.

Skeet13:
Mark's advice is pretty much on the "mark" (sorry, I couldn't resist that!)
insofar as he suggests starting from the basics in building your computer.
But I'm not sure that at this point we can conclude that there's some
problem with the "BIOS or HDD controller".

So let me add my thoughts...

When you say you "tried the lifeguard disk", presumably the WD diagnostic
utility, you ran both the Quick & Extended tests and they reported no
problems with the drive. Is that correct?

Assuming that's so... Are you *absolutely* sure that you've properly
connected & configured your WD drive? That it's jumpered correctly, i.e.,
either Single or Master w/Slave present, depending upon what devices, if
any, are connected to its IDE cable? And that the IDE data cable is properly
& securely fastened to the connectors on the motherboard & the drive?

Assuming that's so... Have you tried to make another fresh install of XP?
Any error or puzzling messages during the install?

You say you "load(ed) the service pack". That would seem to indicate that at
one point you *had* a bootable OS so that you were able to install SP1
and/or SP2. Is that so? So at one point the OS *did* boot properly to a
Desktop? But you had subsequent problems as you've described?

We can go on from here. But it would be helpful if you would respond to the
above.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the quick respons guys (and gals).
I rebuilt the computer twice now, making sure that the hard drives jumpers
were on the master setting, since it is the only thing connected to the
primary slot on the MB. I also tried the western digital disk which is
called the lifeguard utilities, using the quick and extended, with no luck.
When I try to reinstall window ( it is about my 7th time now from fresh
start) i get no errors at all. When i loaded the service pack I did so in
the safe mode. When the computer is restarting I have to push F8 in order
for it to ask me if I want to start it in safe mode, or the last available
settings that worked. I am wondering if the hard drive is bad, and maybe I
need to return it to the store for another. Thanks again for the help.

Scott

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

The drive is woirking till you start windows. My guess is a driver confilct between the driver for the drive, and some other device.
I would pull all unnecessary devices, and try setup. They can be added later.

 

[Guest]

I am down to the bare minimum. I only have the motherboard with the hard
drive, and a video card. I have tried installing the video cards drivers in
safe mode also, but it does not change anything.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Without a way to test the parts, I would return the drive.

 

[Guest]

OK thanks for all the help. I guess i'm going to return it today. Hopefully
I wont need to come back here.

Scott