unmountable boot volume for dummies

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Guest

Help! I got the UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME error but no longer have the Windows
XP Home Edition cd. Can someone explain how to fix it. But I'm only 16 and
don't know much about computers so please keep it super simple. Thank you in
advance!
 
That's not a good error to have (as if there were any good errors to have :-\
). This error can mean a multitude of things but it is commonly associated
with a bad hard drive or a corrupt Windows install. The "boot.ini" file
could be bad too. It could be a bad cable or ribbon going from the drive to
the motherboard. As you can see, there are several places to start your
troubleshooting. The fact that you don't have your setup disk is bad. One
should always have that handy. I know some OEMs like Dell & HP don't always
ship the disk... You may have to borrow one from a friend.

You can use the setup disk to boot up and get into the Command Console.
This stripped-down version of an "OS" can do you some good! One of the
things it can help you with is just checking to see if the hard drive is good
or not. Running the Command Console will try to mount your Windows Install
to the working environment. If it can't even see the Windows Installation on
the hard drive, you may be looking to replace said hard drive. If it mounts
it, you may be able to run "chkdsk /r" (without the quotes) and it will
attempt to repair things on the hard drive. Oh, and if the Command Console
doesn't mount the Windows installation, you can try to go into the setup.
Now, don't be so quick to run the setup! Just go through the motions and
check to see if it see a drive to install on. If it does, see what size is
showing up. Ive seen systems where the setup disk saw the drive but had 0
out of 0 bytes available. This too could mean your hard drive is bad.

Check out the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302

Also, search the web for help. There's plenty of stuff to be found in
forums around the world. Google is your friend! You're not the first one to
have these issues.

10-26-07
1537 EDT
 
So I can do the Command Console fix with someone else's XP disk? I don't
have to have the original? Will it mess anything else up to use a friend's
disk? Thank you so much!
 
Yes, you can use another disk for the Command Console. Using another disk
version (versions would be like Home, Pro, Media Center, et cetera) would
break things if you used it to do an install but the Command Console is the
same on any of those disks. If/when you need to reinstall, you need to find
a disk that will take the OEM sticker's 5x5 keycode. The sticker is normally
slapped on the side of the case. So if you have HOME (OEM) SP1, you'd better
find a friend who has a HOME (OEM) SP1 disk. Nonetheless, you should be able
to use any disk for the Command Console. I've not tested it but you may even
be able to use the Command Console on a WIN2K disk as they are similar if not
the same.
 
Microsoft's answer would be "NO!" Beyond that I suppose one could get lucky
enough to plug-n-pray and actually get one to work. But you'd have to be
able to activate/validate it afterwards.
 
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