unmountable boot volume

If all that you have done has not corrected the system files error, your hard drive has failed. Install the new drive and reinstall windows and all your programs.

The hard drive passed all tests, and I can see the files using Testdisk. How can I get my files before I restore Windows? Should I copy the old drive to the new drive and use the restore partition to restore on the old drive? Or should I install Windows on the new drive and try to copy files from the old drive? Some of the personal data would be difficult to replace...

Since you already have a new hard drive, can simply take the old drive out,  install the new one, install XP and drivers, etc.,   then put the old drive back in as a secondary and see if you can get your data off that way..

Or, try something like a Linux Live CD to get your files off first.

http://www.knoppix.net/

Ok, I installed the new drive and installed XP, and my new drive is now the I: drive. Can I change it to C: or is it too late?

I was missing the ethernet driver and had no internet  access, so I downloaded the driver on another PC and put it on a CD. With that solved, I installed my sound card and printer, and checked all my hardware for driver updates. Now I'm downloading and installing Windows updates, and will do the same for McAfee next. After this I plan to install the other application software. Is there anything else I need to do before I try to get my data off the old drive?

Sounds like your drive letter problem is basically the same as the one below, especially if you have a card reader - XP assigned C, E, F, etc to other attached drives.   Dan Goodell's post in the link below explains why that happens (he's also the resident expert here on Dell's XP recovery partition).   Windows might run fine on I:,  but if you run into problems (e.g. a program insists that it be installed on C:), safest/most reliable way to get XP back onto the C: drive is to start over with a reformat with all other drives disonnected or disabled:

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1247501327/5

Hopefully once you reconnect the old drive as a secondary and make sure it's enabled in BIOS, XP will be able to see it in My Computer without doing anything special (other than maybe needing to take ownership of the files if you're denied access).   If not, though, you'll need more expert help than I can give.

Thanks!!! I have much to do over, but I should be much better at it the second time through. ;-)

Something I should've mentioned - if you're going to do a full reinstall anyway, Dell has a recommended order for installing drivers in step 5 below, right after you install XP.  Sounds like drivers weren't a major problem the first time around, but might as well get all the ducks in a row:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=179256

Thank you again. I'm sorry but I'm unclear about a few things. Where does the BIOS update fall in the priority? Also, please confirm that SIGMATEL is the onboard audio chip. I don't think I need it because I disabled it and bought a soundcard.

BIOS updates definitely fall into the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it " category.    A BIOS update is firmware for the motherboard itself, not a driver.   Firmware is different because it's written directly into a chip in the hardware itself - it's not part of the operating system like a driver is.    Most BIOS updates list what they're intended to "fix" under "fixes and enhancements" on the drivers and downloads page.   If you don't need that particular fix (e.g., to support a new processor, fix a USB problem, or something like that),  you probably don't need it.

To put it bluntly:   If a driver update goes wrong, you can always uninstall it and start over, but if a firmware update goes wrong, the chip it's installed on fails, and the hardware is basically toast.     It's rare, but it happens.

I have an XPS 410 that's about 5 BIOS updates behind, but unless I go nuts and decide to splurge on a new processor in it that my current BIOS revision doesn't support, I have no reason at all to update the BIOS - it runs perfectly fine as is with the "old" version with my "old" processor.

If you have an added sound card, and disabled the onboard SIgmatel,  you don't need the Sigmatel driver at all - just load up the software that came with your card.   Main reason I posted that order was for the DSS and chipset drivers (the first 2) which get XP to recognize everything properly - after that, the driver order honestly doesn't matter that much.

Very helpful, thanks!

Here are a few other items I'd like to know more about:

1. Should I install Dell Support Center?
2. What is and should I install Intel Viiv?
3. Intel Matrix Storage Manager?
4. I realized I will lose the Hardware diagnostic partition on the old hard drive. Is this important? If so, what can I do?

Thanks again!

In addition to the questions in my post above, I installed DSS first as instructed, but nothing indicates a successful install after the reboot. Did I miss something? How can I tell if the utility loaded correctly?

I'm afraid to go on until I know.

1) Dell Support Center?  It's not necessary.  It does nothing you can't do yourself (find your manuals, check for drivers, etc.) and is generally a system hog anyway.

2) Viiv - up to you.  I don't have it (and don't miss it), plus it took a while to find out what the app was actually for:

This Intel(R) Viiv(TM) component contains software to inquire if the current platform is an Intel(R) Viiv(TM) technology based PC. This component is required so that Viiv(TM) aware applications can register with Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition as Viiv(TM) applications.

3) Intel Matrix Storage Manager is for your SATA drive controller.  More here:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/

4) The same Dell Diagnostics can be run by booting directly off of the Resource/Utilities CD - having it on the hard drive is convenient, but not necessary (and there isn't an easy way to do it anyway).

As far as the DSS and the chipset "not showing up" - don't worry about it.   It's just software, not a time bomb.  Just keep going, but if you want to be really cautious about it just set restore points so you can go back if you need to.

I found entries in the register for DSS, so I think it is good to go. I've just completed all the Windows updates, and it took four or five iterations to get them all. Will it hurt anything to install the Matrix Storage Manager now?

Here is my problem... my PC arrived with no support CDs, just the recovery and diagnostic partitions on the hard drive. I called Dell and begged them to send me the windows installation media, which they did, but no one mentioned the other CD. I've been downloading the drivers, and putting them on CDs. Can I download the diagnostics? I saw two updates on my drivers list, but these try to update the partition.

Again, thanks, so much for your help.

I've just completed all the Windows updates. Will it hurt anything to install the Matrix Storage Manager now? Thank you!

One of the downloads is an .iso file - you should be able to use it to create your own bootable diagnostics disk.   You'll need software that can burn .iso images (i.e., make a disk "clone", not just a regular data disk),   Google "imgburn"or "cdburnerxp" for a free one if whatever you have doesn't have the option to burn images..

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&deviceid=3841&libid=13&releaseid=R133063&vercnt=4&formatcnt=0&SystemID=XPS/DIMENSION%20400/9150&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=-1&impid=-1