Many Problems including 'Unmountable Boot Volume'

Question

Right, I've got a pretty large problem that I'd like some help with. I've got a reasonably limited knowledge of computers but would like to think I can do the basics.

A couple of days ago I was booting up my computer into windows when there was a power cut. When the power came back on I booted up my computer again only to be greeted by a blue screen with an "UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME" error message.

After scratching my head for a while and rebooting a couple of times I logged onto these forums with my work PC. I read a few solutions, including Windows recovery and the Dell diagnostics tool. The Windows recovery CD told me that I had no Hard Drive and the diagnostics program got stuck in a loop around 20%.

I finally conceeded that my hard drive, or at least part of it, was knackered and I bought a new one. The one I bought was a Maxtor (looks like a bad idea in hindsight) 200GB SATA drive to replace my 160GB SATA. It arrived and I swapped the cables to pick up the new drive. However, when I came to boot up, I got a "NTLDR is missing" error. I assume this is because the drive is empty, or unformatted. So I ran the windows recovery CD which tells me that I don't have a hard drive installed despite it being recognised in the BIOS. Then, running Dell diagnostics, I get the 'Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected" error.

I just don't know what the solution is now. Do I have two faulty drives? How likely is this, especially as the second came sealed. Do I need to install the SATA controller drivers again? If so, how on earth do I do it with no other computer capable of producing a CD or floppy disk. Or do I just give up? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For info, I have a Dimension 8400, so I believe that the SATA controller is on board.

shesagordie · Answer

MABarlow

Try removing the old drive and install the new 200gb as the primary on SATA port 0.

As you have no Floppy drive, read the last part of the procedure and see if it will help,

http://www.djdenham.com/8400%20Special.htm

How to carry out a clean reinstall of XP,

http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm#Install

Bev.

MABarlow · Answer

Bev, Thanks very much. I've tried this and it's got me past that stage, so hopefully I'll have more luck. I'll let you know Cheers Mark

shesagordie · Answer

MABarlow   Good, let's hope it works out.   Bev.

MABarlow · Answer

Result, I've managed to boot back in and get everything working again. It was a bit of a tedious process (and a bit trial and error) so I'll post the resolution here for anyone else.   I did as Bev suggested and set my SATA operation mode in the BIOS to 'RAID Auto/ATA' from what it was on before 'RAID Auto/AHCP(?)'. I then tried booting up and got a different blue screen error. I then booted into the recovery console through the windows cd and had no hd detection problems like before. I used the chkdsk /r command and left it for a good couple of hours. It finished, telling me that there was an error found (and presumably repaired).   I then rebooted to the same blue screen error as before. Just as a long-shot, I changed my SATA operation mode in the BIOS back to what it was originally and booted into windows fine!?   Hope this helps someone!   Now I know that the HD is probably on the way out and I am currently backing up all my files so that I can start from scratch. But my question is, do I install windows from my new (Maxtor) hard drive (and use the old one as a backup) or format my current one and use it as the boot drive? Any suggestions? Cheers Message Edited by MABarlow on 05-25-200601:34 AM

rickmktg · Answer

@MABarlow wrote:

Result, I've managed to boot back in and get everything working again. It was a bit of a tedious process (and a bit trial and error) so I'll post the resolution here for anyone else.

I did as Bev suggested and set my SATA operation mode in the BIOS to "RAID Auto/ATA" from what it was on before "RAID Auto/AHCP(?)". I then tried booting up and got a different blue screen error. I then booted into the recovery console through the windows cd and had no hd detection problems like before. I used the chkdsk /r command and left it for a good couple of hours. It finished, telling me that there was an error found (and presumably repaired).

I then rebooted to the same blue screen error as before. Just as a long-shot, I changed my SATA operation mode in the BIOS back to what it was originally and booted into windows fine!?

Hope this helps someone!

Now I know that the HD is probably on the way out and I am currently backing up all my files so that I can start from scratch. But my question is, do I install windows from my new (Maxtor) hard drive (and use the old one as a backup) or format my current one and use it as the boot drive? Any suggestions? Cheers

You should remove the old drive as it's no longer reliable.

Storage, Drives & Media

Many Problems including "Unmountable Boot Volume"

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