Re: Unmountable Boot Volume?

Damon

Does the BIOS recognise the hard drive?

Given your explanation of events I would check the cabling from motherboard to drive. Also use an Air Duster to remove dust within the computer casing.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/index.htm

One can never be certain but this is not a driver issue. The references to games causing the problem are a "red herring".

Unmountable Boot Volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302

Background information on Stop error code
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms797142.aspx

0x000000ED: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
The kernel mode I/O subsystem attempted to mount the boot volume and it
failed. This error also might occur during an upgrade to Win XP on
systems that use higher throughput ATA disks or controllers with
incorrect cabling. In some cases, your system might appear to work
normally after you restart.
Source: http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314058

Try booting with all hardware peripherals, except keyboard, mouse. and
monitor, disconnected.

If you have important data files to be recovered you need to do this
before trying to fix the computer! Do you?

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damon wrote:
Besides some minor ones from the 90s the only games I have installed
are C&C: Kane's Wrath and Defcon, two completely legitimate programs
that have never given me any trouble. As far as desktop utilities,
we're talking standard stuff like CCleaner, Adaware, AVG, Driver
Detective, ArtRage, etc.

I only see two distinct possibilities here: One, that something
physically happened to the tower during transport, which would really
really suck. Or two, which is that the last person to use my PC was
my visiting mother, who has never touched my computer in her life.

When she came over I opened up her account on MSN, which I've also
never done before (I only use mine) and she had to wait while the
computer downloaded several dozen megabytes of her personal e-mail
and settings, information that has never been on my computer before
and very possibly contained a virus or something (she knows nothing
about computers).

I grilled her over the phone last night but she doesn't remember doing
anything strange, but she also doesn't remember if she shut the thing
down correctly, which is a bad sign. So I learned my lesson on that
account.

I've had this PC since 2005 and have never reformatted it or bothered
to back it up; It still runs great and I never felt like undertaking
the hassle. I back up my most important stuff on a flash-drive once
in a while but that's the extent of my paranoia.

To answer your first question, yes, I tried running Windows in Safe
Mode with the same result. But you've provided some interesting
potential solutions that I'll try when I get home from work... if I
can even find my "system CD" (I assume you mean the Windows XP disc
that came with the computer.) Assuming I ever even got one when I
bought the thing in the first place, it is buried deep inside a
moving box somewhere. Egh.

Thanks and I'll get back to you,

D

"Twayne" wrote:

"Damon" <Damon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:30E1D79E-6AC0-4A04-B214-655CF4EE56D9@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
No, I get the blue-screen every time I restart.

I have also not installed any new hardware or software for several
months, sans the occasional game or desktop utility.

D

I'm coming into this late, so if I'm just repeating other's
suggestions, feel free to say so.

Games are very capable of causing almost every sort of problem a
computer can experience, especially poorly written games. Desktop
utilities, well, if they're oddballs, can do a lot of the same
things.

I assume you can't get into Safe Mode then? Seems like you said you
get the same error?

Have you tried uninstalling the "occasional game or desktop utility"
to see if it changes anything. Oh, you can't boot; never mind!

Do you know how, and do you have, the Recovery Console installed?
Boot from the system CD and see if you can use the Recovery Console
to look around. If it's new to you, you'll need to read up a bit on
it first or it'll just look like a standard DOS window to you. It
is NOT! You can run chkdsk for instance from the RC (recovery
console) and various other handy utilities not otherwise available.
Chkdsk /r or /p are good ones to try.

Have you tried a Repair Install? Back up first! It's
non-destructive to data, but ... those are famous last words!

Then again, there's always the full reinstall of everything. I keep
good backups and normally once I've reached an excessive time limit
trouble-shooting I resort to re-imaging my drive (Restoring from
backup). Unless I'm looking for the education, I usually consider
the fastest route to getting things working again. At least with a
rebuild, you know two days plus a few weeks of occasionally
realizing what you forgot, gets you going again if you don't have
backups. If you don't have backups, consider that all the work
you're doing could probably be automated and accomplished in about
20 minutes by re-imaging the drive. A good backup strategy can be
worth its bytes in gold.

HTH,

Twayne`




"Twayne" wrote:

As the message said, if it happened again ... : Did it happen
again? Or ws it OK after that?



"JS" <@> wrote in message
news:uMx2AKiCKHA.1380@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<snipped>
Technical Information:

***STOP: 0X000000ED (0X8A944900, 0X0000006, 0X00000000,
0X00000000)"

I'm not sure what any of that means but I do recall a similar
issue occurring several years ago, this PC has always been a bit
temperamental on
startup. I ran F2 Setup and flicked a few settings on and off but
nothing helped. I also cracked the thing open and did a visual
inspection but there
was nothing obvious...

Any ideas?

My specs:

Dell Dimension E510
Pentium 4 3.0 ghz
2.5 gb sdram
Windows XP (media center edition) SP3
Geforce 8800 GT
40gig hard-drive
etc.

I know my way around a computer alright so I am willing to post
new information as needed.

Thanks!

D

When you restart your computer or upgrade to Windows XP, you
receive the "STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" error
message http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297185

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Unmountable Boot Volume?
    ... to games causing the problem are a "red herring". ... To answer your first question, yes, I tried running Windows in Safe ... Do you know how, and do you have, the Recovery Console installed? ... good backups and normally once I've reached an excessive time limit ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: IS NORTON GOBACK 4.0 COMPATIBLE WITH MS RECOVERY CONSOLE?
    ... I already do scheduled backups as well as image copies of system ... but they entail more work for restores and ... in safe mode are also nice to have when Windows has trouble starting. ... I have installed the MS Recovery Console ...
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  • Re: Help with Recovery
    ... Now i have gone through the procedure to get to the recovery console using ... both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional and i am having no problems ... The repair option, which once again you are unable to use, would ... brings me to a complete new install. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: lost the lot
    ... Certain chipsets still need drivers to be installed manually. ... you should be able to reload your backups. ... doubt, since you just reformatted), or you have a hardware problem. ... Make sure you're up to date on your windows patches, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Harddisk Problems
    ... To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000 ... Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. ... | Source: Application Popup ... | Application popup: SyncBack.exe - Corrupt File: The file or directory ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.advanced_server)
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