It's not a virus - the hard drive is failing.

Disconnect the dying drive immediately.

If you're under warranty, email or call Dell with the error message. They'll ship you a replacement drive. If you're out of warranty, match the drive type (EIDE or SATA) and replace the drive.

Reload XP, patch fully. If you're under warranty, ask them to ship you a pre-imaged drive, which will save you hours of reinstallation of XP and patches.


Connect the failing drive as a secondary (if this is a SATA drive, you'll need a second data cable for it). Try to copy your data over to the new drive. If you can, you're all set.

If you can't, and you have no other backup, you can contact a data recovery service for assistance. Note that the cost isn't trivial - upward of $1,000+ - but if the drive is unreadable, it's the only real option. Data recovery is NOT covered by warranty - the hardware is covered, but the data is not.

Oops. I made a typo....

Instead of disk, I should have put data:

Both were message block 34714849
The message said uncorrectable data error or media is write protected
the message error codes were: 0F00:1A44 and 0F00:0244

The result is the same. The drive is failing.

Ok. I can take the drive out and pop it into a second drive bay on another Dell 5100 to transfer the data.

What's the difference between a SATA drive and an ordinary IDE drive? Can I put the SATA drive into an IDE caddy?

You can attach ordinary IDE drive to the cdrom connection as a temporary measure to recover data from the drive.

Support options based on the model of your machine (desktop, laptop, OptiPlex, Dimension, Latitude, etc) in order for your call to be routed to the appropriate technician.

What are the Dell™ Express Service Code and Service Tag, and where can I find them?

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=FA1027149

You will need:

1. To be in front of the computer while you are online.

2. The make and model of the computer

3. The Service Tag and/or the Express Service Code for your computer-

* The Service Tag can be found on the back or bottom of your computer as a bar code label

* The Service Tag and/or Express Service code may also be found by running Express.exe in the Dell directory of your C:\ Drive

* The Service Tag and/or Express Service code may also be found from the Start Menu---> Programs ---> Dell Accessories --->Express Service Code

4. The Dell Support CDs that came with the computer if they are available.

The web site is
http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/

Dell Dimension Restore
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090152&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090151

 

Message Edited by SpeedStep on 01-02-2006 12:11 PM

The 5100s will have SATA, not EIDE hard drives. Yes, you can mount the drive in another 5100 system as a secondary (don't try to boot from it), to see if there's anything you can recover.

While you can use an adapter to mount a SATA drive on an IDE controller, you will not need to in this case, since the 5100s support SATA hard drives.

"How can I fix the system without reformatting and reinstalling? I don't want to lose any data. "

Answer:  You can't fix it now.

You are way past not losing data.

You MUST reinstall on a new drive due to physical damage making the drive non useable.

A quick fix isnt available.

Support options based on the model of your machine (desktop, laptop, OptiPlex, Dimension, Latitude, etc) in order for your call to be routed to the appropriate technician.

What are the Dell™ Express Service Code and Service Tag, and where can I find them?

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=FA1027149

You will need:

1. To be in front of the computer while you are online.

2. The make and model of the computer

3. The Service Tag and/or the Express Service Code for your computer-

* The Service Tag can be found on the back or bottom of your computer as a bar code label

* The Service Tag and/or Express Service code may also be found by running Express.exe in the Dell directory of your C:\ Drive

* The Service Tag and/or Express Service code may also be found from the Start Menu---> Programs ---> Dell Accessories --->Express Service Code

4. The Dell Support CDs that came with the computer if they are available.

The web site is
http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/

 

Message Edited by SpeedStep on 01-02-2006 01:19 PM

You can actually recover most of your valuable data, but you must replace the drive as it has failed.


Here is how to fix the problem. This is only a temporary fix.


Put the XP CD into the drive and boot to it. Eventually press r or whatever it is to get to the recovery console.

You may be asked to chooose your Widnows installation.

Essentially, you press the number and hit enter.

i.e.

1. C:\Windows


Press 1 then enter

Now, it will ask you for your administrator password. Well it may ask you for the password. You had better know it.

Eventually, you get to c:\> at the recovery console.


Type the following command

c:\>chkdsk c: /p


At any rate, this command will rebuild the file tables on the drive... the master file table... and a lot of other stuff and probably fix the UNMOUTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME.

Yes, after this, it is even bootable again!

I have done this about 2 to 4 times before. Each time I was amazed that I was successful!

However, consider this only a very temporary fix as the drive is failing. You should now have a new hard drive and use something like GHOST to copy your old drive to your new drive. If not, at least get all yoru data off of your failing drive ASAP. DO NOT Wait even 1 day. I guarantee you if the volume is repaired it will break again in less than a week probably the next day. I also guarantee this fix works less than 100% of the time and eventually you will not be able to rix your NTFS volume and mount it to recover data.