Unmountable Boot Volume

[mark1984]

Wondering if anyone has any idea how I can get my mates laptop to boot, everytime it starts windwos XP loading bar it shws the BSOD with UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME... it even does it when trying safe mode.

I've search yahoo and tried the recovery process on an XP cd I had lying around, it said to type chkdsk /r with it done but didn't fix it then I tried fixboot which it came back with saying boot sector currupt creating new boot sector, it look promising but again it failed.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[TotallyRandom]

boot system in to Recovery Console

command prompt type
fixboot c:
fixmbr


that should fix it if not try a repair

[mark1984]

Just tried that mate but still no luck, says it worked then reboot and its the same...

How do I get it to completely repair the boot files or get it to repair?

[TotallyRandom]

what kind of laptop is it?

what has changed to cause this sounds like the Hard drive is dead.

[mark1984]

Well its a Pakard Bell and from what he tells me he added an external hard drive but it was working fine for a few day then his girlfriend used it and it crashed then wouldn't boot again...

I think it may need a fresh install...?

[cronus71]

I've search yahoo...its a Pakard Bell ....then his girlfriend used it

So many things wrong there

Try F11 on boot to get to the Packard Bell restore, and see if you can get it fixed that way. Another thing you could do is, go into the BIOS, and check that the boot devices are in correct order, at the very least set the internal hdd before any USB drives.

[daz73]

If you have the xp disk, Make sure the boot order is set to cd drive 1st.

Then let xp load up.. DO NOT PRESS "R" TO REPAIR at 1st stage, Press Esc ( I think)

Then go through screens till you hit the partition page.. Here it will tell you if you can repair the partition xp is on.

Hit R and away you go, it repairs the OS without losing files ( as long as you dont format)

[Gungadin]

if you boot into the recovery console from your xp disc and type...
chkdsk /r

this will check the drive for bad sectors and attempt to recover the data... worth a try as I've been able to do a repair after running the above.