Page 1 of Unmountable_Boot_Volume?!? Need Help Urgently...Please!

Hi everyone. Before I start I`ll just say if you can help you are truly a technical wizard but if not please do not worry about it.

The Old Problem:
The family`s Dell Laptop is coming up with a message of Unmountable_Boot_Volume when I start it up. We had this problem a week ago and I fixed it by going into chdsk /r (if you don`t know what that means then don`t worry I did not have a clue either until I scouted forums).

The New Problem:
I have tried t run chkdsk /r again but this time it states that it detects unrecoverable errors and just gives me the option to type in another dos command. Usually, when I do the chkdsk /r it goes off into its own mode.

The Plea:
I am just wondering is there any possible way I can fix this problem without damaging my bank balance to much. From the outset I too woudl think not as with an English GCSE under my belt I know what `unrecoverable` means?

But, I am really apprehensive of formatting because there are a wod load of photos that my sisters took of family occassions, new-born cousins, weddings, e.t.c
I did tell them last time I recovered the laptop to save all their stuff but if anyone knows what younger siblings are like i.e. they hardly ever listen to the advice you give!

Like I said, if you can`t help don`t worry about it.
This is my last shot.

All the best and have a good weekend.
Thanks for reading, much appreciated.

Personally, I`d get hold of a copy of Spinrite from here or Norton disk doctor from Symantec`s Norton Utilities. Seems as if you have some major data corruption in the system/boot areas of your drive. If you`re running XP/NTFS, you could try booting from your XP OS disk(not a recovery disk!), which will run setup again. Don`t chose the first `repair console` option, but go forward through the install screens until the setup routine detects an installed copy of Windows. It`ll then give you an option to repair the current installation. This will get your system back to the point at which you can boot into it, but don`t be surprised if you`ve lost at least some of your data - the chkdsk errors are an indication of this.

Again, I`d really recommend the Spinrite option - it`s got me out of the poo more times than I can remember...

HTH

Andy


SN

`Just Craptacular`

Those tips sound good, I`d also recommend going to the website of the manufacter of the hard drive, to see if they have tools for repairing drives, Maxtor and IBM do, quite often these tools will only work on their own drives though.

Dell may even have some tools on their site? I think they do, `cos we had some problems at work with some Dell`s still within waranty, and before they would do anything they wanted to see output logs for there tools.

In any case, may be worth ordering a new hard drive ready :(

Al

www.admars.co.uk

This is caused by boot.ini being corrupt. Is it possible for you to give out the details of your boot.ini here so I can take a look. You need to boot Windows XP original CD and go to Recovery Console.

I must stress how important backups are and also the importance of using NTFS when using Windows XP. If you use Fat16 then files can be corrupted when switching off a PC using hard reset or shutdown.

Hi guys. Imagine my surprise when I saw three replies to this thread!
Lesson learnt: there is always hope

I bought Spinrite and it is definitely a good investment for the future because while I WAS able to get back through safe-mode to my desktop it was almost impossible for me to copy anything onto CD/Floppy/External Hard Drive. But, it was alot further than I expected. :)

When I do try and copy files the latop again brings up that Unmountable_Boot_Volume page. I still don`t want to give up as I know the info that I thought was lost must still be there. Any other tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all the help. Much appreciated.

OK try this:-

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=297185

or

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000630.htm

Both give similar fixes although reasons for faults are different.

Guess what? After leaving the laptop for a week, I thought that before formatting the drive I may try and see if I can save the files for one last time. And, it worked! Spinrite definitely is some magic tool. I just wanted to thank all you guys for your help. My sisters are especially grateful as both some GCSE coursework and Uni assignments were saved.

I copied my Hard Drive (c:) to a portable Hard drive and installed everything on the computer. But, the laptop is definitely still corrupt as the blue unmountable boot volume came up again. But, I haven`t given up on it yet!

I was just wondering how much would a new hard drive cost for a Dell Inspiron 5150 Laptop?

Once again, I just wanted to thank you all for your help.
You are real stars!

Glad to see it worked out for you :)
Dell-sourced drive from here, but use this as a benchmark when looking around. I wouldn`t really go above 100GB @ 5400 rpm as a replacement - mainly due to excess heat generated by faster 2.5 inch/9.5mm drives. As a rule, you`ll find the laptop drives more expensive than standard ATAPI/IDE 3.5 inch desktop drives.

Have you tried reinitialsing the old drive? - boot from an XP-Pro CD (or the dell recovery disk), which should allow you to reformat the drive and replace the factory config OS. With luck you may get some life out of the old disk, as a reformat would mark the bad bits of the drive as unusable and ignore them in normal use. With some prudent backup to CD or external storage, it might save you some cash.

HTH


SN

`Just Craptacular`

This item was edited on Sunday, 16th October 2005, 12:52