Unmountable Boot Volume then Nothing.

Question

Hey, I reciently had a problem on my Dell Inspiron E1505 that when i booted up it would load xp and say Unmountable Boot Volume. Then i ran my diagnostics and it failed the DST Short Test which i looked up and in most cases it is a hard drive failing. I got a new 160GB Hard Drive and installed it like i did with the last one and i press the power button and the screen never turns on...all that happenes is that the little LCD lights start blinking...such as the NUM Lock and CAPS Lock LCDs. I reinstalled my old hard drive and the same thing happened. Which is a little wierd cuz i hadn't touched my computer since the old hard drive was ruined. I'd appreciate anyone's help.

Daniel

ejn63 · Answer

Try reseating (remove and reinstall) the memory modules.  If that does nothing, you likely have a faulty mainboard.

DElite1 · Answer

thanks so much...I should have noticed that my RAM was a little unplugged from the slot...I pulled it out and then it went in about a milimeter or two farther and in electronics that is an important amount of space.  Now I will see if i can get it started up fully

DElite1 · Answer

kk when i boot it up i get this message. But i guess it was to be expected.

No boot sector on internal hard drive

_

I have run the diagnostics for the new hard drive and it passed with flying colors...oh and i just got another message on the screen after the boot sector thing

No bootable devices--strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility

Press F5 to run onboard diagnostics.

_

thanks for all the help so far...i'm gona try googling what i have now and ill be back to check for messages.

ejn63 · Answer

If you've installed a new hard drive, it is blank - you will need to load Windows onto it.

DElite1 · Answer

Yea...I have been looking for the disk even before u said that and I can't find it...I know you can use the 6 floppy disk setup... but i dont think that is possible with a laptop like the e1505.  Any suggestions?

ejn63 · Answer

Even if you use the floppies to boot the system, you still need the Windows CD to do the install.

You can order one:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1

DElite1 · Answer

I have submitted my request to dell and hopefully this will do the trick.  Thanks for the help.

DElite1 · Answer

Another Question...I have some stuff I would like to get off of my old hard drive if i can...Is there any way to do this?  I heard someone say something about a 2.5' external case...not sure if it was u or not.  If i can't get the files of then its not a huge deal.

ejn63 · Answer

Yes, a 2.5' USB case will help - they're inexpensive ($10-20).

DElite1 · Answer

Where can I find some at?

ejn63 · Answer

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=92&name=External-Enclosures

DElite1 · Answer

What would be the difference between some of the ones under 15 dollars compared to the ones that are 20 -30 dollars?  Thanks for all the help.

Storage, Drives & Media

Unmountable Boot Volume then Nothing.

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