Windows xp BSOD UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

[ViRaLRuSh]

my buddy had this happen to his comp. I reset the bios settings to default. No new HW was installed, in fact the reason this happened was because he thought his sound card died, but it didnt. My only solution i could fine was here:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20705548.html#9119686

And that didn't seem to help. Any ideas? Is his HD dead?

 

[cleverhandle]

Could be a dead drive. Or could be that the IDE controller drivers got hosed somehow. If you can get to the boot selection screen (the one with the safe mode option) you might be able to fix things with "Last Known Good Config". That's worked for me in the past. I don't remember the key to press - Del or Ctrl maybe? I just mash likely keys immediately after the POST and it usually works. A repair from the XP CD might fix the problem as well.

 

[firewall]

use 'chkdisk /r' and/or 'chkdsk /f' in the recovery console on your os cd to scan all partitions/complete harddisk. your mbr or ntfs.sys may be corrupt depending on ur file system.

 

[Abzstrak]

could also be screwed up ide drivers, or the wrong ones. I've seen this too from people "upgrading" their ide drivers and using the wrong ones.

 

[imported_Phil]

"Last Known Good Config". That's worked for me in the past. I don't remember the key to press - Del or Ctrl maybe? I just mash likely keys immediately after the POST and it usually works.

F8.

Dopefiend.

 

[imported_Phil]

One thing to note, if you can't get it going, then remove all non-essential PCI cards and see if that'll get it to boot. Failing that, boot from your XP CD, and Repair the current installation (note: this isn't the same as the Recovery Console). It's after you press F8 to accept the license agreement (IIRC).

Dopefiend

 

[keyboardcaper]

try this, get a windows 2000 cd (or xp home/pro) really you need the Recovery Console

At the console type
fixboot
fixmbr
chkdsk /p
once its finished type exit and reboot

could be bad clusters/sectors on the hard drive, i think you can scandisk /surface even on a ntfs drive
could also be bad memory chip, checkout www.goldmemory.cz for a free memory test utility (one of the best)

usually it will give you a code XxXXXXXX you can search on microsofts knoledge base on more specifics to them

 

[IsOs]

When the memory chip on my Tyan Tiger MP was dying, I got an error on my Windows 2000 that the drive was corrupt and cannot be access. I had 4 Registered DDR modules at the time. I removed all and installed 1 from the middle. The computer boot up as if nothing was wrong. I tested each one until I found 1 that would not boot up.

How many memory modules does this computer have?

If it's memory problem, fixing the drive with chkdsk, reformatting the drive or reinstalling Windows will not help.