Unmountable Boot Volume Blue Screen

Question

Hi,   I tried defragmenting my C: Drive yesterday and after it had said it had successfully completed it, I thought I'd restart my pc. However now I get the Unmountable Boot Volume Blue Screen (of death...) page.   Thankfully a few weeks before I had backed up my important data to a second HDD. Should I use the symantec restore function to get the C; drive up and running again or is there anything else I should do?   I didn't get a copy of the Windows XP CD with the Dell.   Any help or information would be great.   Thanks.

TheSilkience · Answer

Bev,

Thanks, I'll try the Diagnostics tonight.

Since I don't have the Windows XP CD (Or at least I was sure I didn't....I'll have to double check...) (I have a December 2004 Dimension 4700) If the HDD looks OK should I just go ahead and use the system restore? Or will it let me use chkdsk /r on restart?

Thanks again for your help.

shesagordie · Answer

TheSilkience

Check the hard drive by running diagnostics extended test on it.

Reboot the computer, when the Dell logo appears, press F12, a boot device list should appear, then highlight the "Boot to Utility" Partition and press "Enter".

Also, check out the following,

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?c=us&DN=1068977&l=en&opt=true&s=gen&~mode=popup

Bev.

shesagordie · Answer

TheSilkience

To use the recovery console, you will require the Dell XP Reinstallation CD.

If your system is under warranty, you should be able to obtain all the CD's needed for a manual reinstallation, you may have to be politely persistent about it.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_mediaexp&message.id=2495

Bev.

TheSilkience · Answer

Bev,

Thanks again. Unfortunately my PC's warranty expired about 30 days ago (Typical!)

So I doubt if the CD's came with the system.

If the HDD diagnostic comes back OK, do you think using the Symantec System Restore will do the trick?

I take it if this is not the case I will have to buy a new HDD and buy a new retail copy of Windows XP....

TheSilkience · Answer

Bev,

Again, thanks for the swift response. I'll try the diagnostic and if that comes back OK I'll try the system restore with my fingers crossed!

If that fails to work, then I'll try calling Tech Support.

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

Thanks

shesagordie · Answer

TheSilkience

If the diagnostics pass, then you can try PC Restore and see what happens. But I have a feeling the hard drive is failing and should be replaced.

Regards to the CDs, again you could try calling Dell Technical Support, explain the situation and hope they will send you the CDs, Dell may charge you for them. If this fails, then you will need to buy a new retail copy of XP, the drivers and applications for your system, can be downloaded from Dell's site and burn them to a CD.

Bev.

Message Edited by shesagordie on 01-30-2006 02:22 PM

shesagordie · Answer

TheSilkience

Pleased to hear that you have the system running again.

The CD I have - Reinstall Windows XP Home. Is this a full copy of XP? If I decided to go ahead and buy a new HDD and replace the current one (for example if I have this issue again and it cannot be resolved by chkdsk /r) can I use this disk to reload XP on the new HDD?

Yes, the Dell XP reinstallation CD, is a full copy of XP.

I have disks for all of my drivers as well, so I'm now not so terrified if this happens. I just want to make sure that if it does go wrong again, all I will have to buy is a new SATA drive.

If any drivers and applications are missing. you can download them from Dell's support site and burn them to a CD.

Remember to keep your backups current.

Bev.

TheSilkience · Answer

Bev,

Thanks again for your help.

Last Night I completed the Diagnostic which found multiple boot sector errors on my 160gb Maxtor C: Drive. Luckily I did have the "Reinstall Windows XP Home" CD, so I was able to enter the Recovery System and run Chkdsk /r as you explained.

After many hours... It worked! Great! Everything is back up and running as normal.

I still have a couple of questions though, that I hope you can help me with.

The CD I have - Reinstall Windows XP Home. Is this a full copy of XP? If I decided to go ahead and buy a new HDD and replace the current one (for example if I have this issue again and it cannot be resolved by chkdsk /r) can I use this disk to reload XP on the new HDD?

I have disks for all of my drivers as well, so I'm now not so terrified if this happens. I just want to make sure that if it does go wrong again, all I will have to buy is a new SATA drive.

Thanks again.

Storage, Drives & Media

Unmountable Boot Volume Blue Screen

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