Page 1 of Software Gurus (esp XP) I need yer help again! My PC is FUBAR`d

Switched on my main desktop this morning which was working absolutely fine until last night.
Only difference from last night to this morning was the removal of a USB external hard drive when it was off, so shouldn`t have any bearing.

Have been greeted by the wonderful Windows XP BSOD with the usual "shutdown to prevent your PC turning into the next Chernobyl" message and the error:

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

If I reboot it lets me get to the XP loading screen (the one with the wee green thing that goes side to side) then about 20 seconds later up pops the BSOD.

Tried safe mode and got same result, not gone with Hiren`s yet as I thought I`d come here n ask the experts first  ;)

I can take time over this too as it`s not a critical machine, it`s just the preferred one and I can use my Lappy in the meantime.

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"

you  have Hiren`s good

boot into the live windows xp on that

in there run a checkdisk on your hard drives

or at a command prompt

chkdsk /f/r C:

assuming C: is windows boot partition

using the windows explorer you should be able to see which is normal windows drive

if you`re lucky, that will fix it

if not maybe the recover MBR (master boot record) option in Hiren will be enough

it might be an idea to run the hard drive tool which corresponds to your make of hard drive from Hirens as well to see if you hard drive is faulty. i think you can use Seagate Seatools on any make, some only work on their brand.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 29th March 2011, 13:38

Sounds like you might have to do an XP repair installation.


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I shall try both later after work.
I was kinda trying to avoid the XP repair thingy as last time I used it on a machine Im sure it changed something that caused almost as much headache as the original fault.

I am getting on a bit though so it may be the onset of some aged memory issue and I`m confusing it with something else ;)

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"

If it`s XP you`ll be able to do a recovery with all your files and installed programs in a backup folder on c:

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Something the registry or more likely Hardware abstract layer (don`t ask) may be referenced to something on that external drive. Plug it back in, power up if needed and try again. Put it back in the same socket it was in before. Then try booting the PC.

"Hey, if love is bilnd, how come lingerie is so popular?" Cochrane. P673 TNG.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 29th March 2011, 21:27

This is now wierd :-/

In order: Reconnected the aforementioned drive and rebooted. Same result. Tried a different socket just in case, same result.

Load up Hiren`s Mini XP from version 12. Incredibly slow at doing anything and my drives all show size and space etc in the main explorer window *except* my C drive which shows just that it`s a drive, no sizes.
Try to browse it, takes a while and just refreshes the window.
Ran the MBR tool thing, told me the MBR was OK.
Ran the hard drive health check, told me the hard drive was fine.

Rebooted, same result.
Got out my XP Pro disc (once again, TY to the forum member who sent me that clean image) and chose R for recovery. PC booted to a command prompt on C: .
Never used the recovery console fully so thought this was wrong and tried a couple of basic DOS commands (I`m really scheitte with DOS) like DIR and got no result, tried to C: CD Windows and got a directory error.

Rebooted to the XP disc again and it comes up with the "where to install" option and this is where it`s really wierd... it tells me the drive is a 200 gig drive with 189 gig free?
It was literally almost full... not good I know but it had about 170 gig of stuff on it so this seems to have vanished or hidden itself somehow.

The other odd thing is if I reboot there used to be a different version of windows on there that was damaged before that a reinstall cured, so it still asks which install to launch meaning there has to be something still there....?
That and the XP loading screen before the error.

I`m confoosed :(

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2011, 13:36

Quote:
admars says...

boot into the live windows xp on that

in there run a checkdisk on your hard drivesFirst time I tried this I just kept getting errors it couldn`t access the drive etc.
I removed the drive, stripped my Verbatim USB drive to use the casing, fitted it in that and tried on my lappy... which told me to format it, couldn`t access it etc etc. (I didn`t try the format for obvious reasons!)
Tried Seagate tools on it, stated I need a Seagate or Maxtor drive (which this is)_ and wouldn`t work any more.

Removed from the casing, returned to main tower and tried Hirens to get Seatools up.. this only lets you do a clone of the drive but it recognises as a Maxtor drive on this machine.

Rebooted to XP Live thingy and ran a checkdisk... tells me it corrected some files in the MFT table or something, then chucks an error about some report, so I try a reboot...

This has been typed from the recovered hard drive :D it`s working again! Whooooo!!
This weekend I think I need to get myself a spare 200 gb drive to back this up for the future... the odd thing is I only remember updating Firefox and Flash... but the "update available" popup for Flash just came up when I booted up... closed it as I`m now wondering if it`s done something wierd and caused the whole palaver!

Admars... I owe yer a few pints (or a free taxi ride if yer ever up here ;) )

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"

glad you fixed it, raincheck on the beer/taxi then cheers :)

I guess it`s not seatools, but if it`s maxtor there`s a tool called MaxBlast or something like that which you can use to check the disk for errors.

I`ve seen that sort of error happen before, sometimes Windows just messes up some files for no obvious reason, and you can carry on happily.

sometimes the files get messed up, due to hardware problem, especially hard disk, so seatools/maxblast etc can check to see if hard drive is failing.

also once in xp have a look in event viewer

start
settings
control panel
administrative tools
event viewer

system log may show you something useful, such as hardware failure.

Now you mention it, where I used to work, we had some IBM PCs with infamous IBM/Hitachi deathstars. On occasion they wouldn`t boot, take out hard drive, plug in again, try again, repeat as necessary until starts up. Sometimes they`d then be good as gold for ages, other times only good enough for 1 more start to get off anything on there that was needed.

As you say, now would be a good time to back up :)

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2011, 17:04

Quote:
admars says...
where I used to work, we had some IBM PCs with infamous IBM/Hitachi deathstarsS H U D D E R

I remember them all too well, and the click of death. I once sent one to be repaired under warranty, it went all the way to the far east and back, worked when it arrived but still clicked and didn`t work for that long.


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