jacob Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 73 Location: USA
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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject: HowTo fix UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME |
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THE PROBLEM:
Microsoft windows xp blue screen:
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
I read everything I could find on the web including the microsoft kb articles...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297185
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302
IMPORTANT: I took a backup first before proceeding...see Solution for details on how.
I tried booting to a Windows XP Recovery console from the Windows XP install CD then attempted:
Code: |
chkdsk /p /r
fixmbr
fixboot
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Nothing worked...
Maybe for some particular cases it was a solution but not for my problem.
THE SOLUTION:
Bottom line, take a backup of you system if you can with some live CD.
I used Knoppix, http://www.knoppix.net/ , and copied the files I needed over the network to a backup machine.
Then scan, find, repair & fix the bad sectors on the drive with the disk tool of the manufacturer.
In my case it was a Seagate drive so the "SeaTools" on my Ultimate BootCD - "the swiss army knife of diagnostic & repair tools"
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Afterwards, Windows booted like a charm!
I must say I was lucky as the bad sectors where not related to any system files apparently.
For those unfortunate ones who end up loosing the OS, well look on the bright side, hopefully this article will have helped you backup your files and salvage the drive. If that is the case I do also recommend using some wipe tool before you go for a reinstall of the OS. You can use the free "Active Kill Disk" for the wipe, also located on the Ultimate BootCD mentioned above. Remember, format does not erase nor repair, it only hides the files, only a wipe will actually clean the drive.
Hope this saves some people as it did me....
--
Jacob
http://howtoforums.net
"I ran the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, but Internet Explorer is still on my computer :-O !"
Keywords:
unmountable_boot_volume
unmountable_boot_disk
the dreaded blue screen of death
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