UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian Burgess
  • Start date Start date
B

Brian Burgess

Hi all,

I've been 'googling' this subject for the past two weeks. All posts seem
to suggest following the same set of procedures shown below:

***************************************************************************
1) Boot up your computer from your Windows XP installation CD. Insert the XP
CD into your CD-ROM drive and turn on your computer.

2) Set your BIOS to boot from CD. Your system's BIOS settings can be opened
by hitting the F2, F8, F8 or Delete key on your keyboard as the computer
boots up. The specific key differs depending on your computer's
manufacturer. When you see the message "Press any key to boot from CD," tap
any key on your keyboard and wait until you see the "Welcome to Setup"
screen.

3) Hit "R" to use your Recovery Console to repair the installation. If you
have a dual-boot computer, you need to select the particular Windows
installation you would like to access.

4) Type in your administrative password when the computer prompts you to. If
you have no password, simply press Enter. This will bring you to the command
prompt.

5) Type in "CHKDSK/R" and press Enter. CHKDSK will now scan and repair your
hard drive. Type Exit when this process is complete

6) Press Enter to restart the computer. Your computer should now boot
properly, without that annoying error.
***************************************************************************

All of this I have followed without success. I do have a special
circumstance also:
This is a dual boot system with Win2K on the primary (FAT32) partition, and
WinXP on the extended (NTFS) partition. Both fail with same error.

This all started occurring after a power failure. The power failure ended
up being a physical defect with the plug into the wall socket. Plug
replaced, power restored, boot problem occurs....

My question in the end of course is 'how to fix'. But I'm also wondering
if (because both windows wont start) is: Could a controller failure cause
this? The motherboard is about 4yrs old. Has two IDE (UDMA133)
controllers built in. Is it possible that a marginal controller can cause
this???

PLZ help

many thx in advance

-BB
 
Brian

The solution you have tried is only one of a number. There are a number
of differing problems that can cause the Stop Error bug code you are
seeing. It would help if you posted a copy of the Stop Error report.

Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by
allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Keep pressing the F8
key during Start-Up and select option - Disable automatic restart on
system failure. Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure.

How did you create the dual boot? Did you use any third party boot
manager? Do you have a particular reason for dual booting? Do you have
access to a second computer? Do you have important data files you need
to recover?

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


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Brian Burgess said:
Hi all,

I've been 'googling' this subject for the past two weeks. All posts seem
to suggest following the same set of procedures shown below:

***************************************************************************
1) Boot up your computer from your Windows XP installation CD. Insert the
XP CD into your CD-ROM drive and turn on your computer.

2) Set your BIOS to boot from CD. Your system's BIOS settings can be
opened by hitting the F2, F8, F8 or Delete key on your keyboard as the
computer boots up. The specific key differs depending on your computer's
manufacturer. When you see the message "Press any key to boot from CD,"
tap any key on your keyboard and wait until you see the "Welcome to Setup"
screen.

3) Hit "R" to use your Recovery Console to repair the installation. If you
have a dual-boot computer, you need to select the particular Windows
installation you would like to access.

4) Type in your administrative password when the computer prompts you to.
If you have no password, simply press Enter. This will bring you to the
command prompt.

5) Type in "CHKDSK/R" and press Enter. CHKDSK will now scan and repair
your hard drive. Type Exit when this process is complete

6) Press Enter to restart the computer. Your computer should now boot
properly, without that annoying error.
***************************************************************************

All of this I have followed without success. I do have a special
circumstance also:
This is a dual boot system with Win2K on the primary (FAT32) partition,
and WinXP on the extended (NTFS) partition. Both fail with same error.

This all started occurring after a power failure. The power failure
ended up being a physical defect with the plug into the wall socket.
Plug replaced, power restored, boot problem occurs....

My question in the end of course is 'how to fix'. But I'm also wondering
if (because both windows wont start) is: Could a controller failure
cause this? The motherboard is about 4yrs old. Has two IDE (UDMA133)
controllers built in. Is it possible that a marginal controller can
cause this???

PLZ help

many thx in advance

-BB
Click to expand...


Brian:
The problem here is that the cause of this problem (based upon that specific
error message) can arise from diverse effects, both hardware & software
related.

The chkdsk /r command that you invoked (even though it was unsuccessful in
restoring the system to a bootable, functional state) is a "tried & true"
initial effort.

The fact that the problem occurred after a power failure is somewhat ominous
in that it makes one suspicious some hardware component has become defective
as a result. On the other hand this could be nothing more than a corrupted
OS triggered by the power failure.

The very first thing you should now do (assuming you have not already done
this) is check out the HDD with the diagnostic utility available from the
disk's manufacturer. It's conceivable you may be dealing with a defective
HDD.

At this point-in-time probably the most straightforward way to at least
begin the diagnosis of what's causing the problem is to simply install the
Win2K OS onto a different HDD. (I'm assuming, of course, that OS contains
the system/boot files). Hopefully you have or can obtain another HDD that's
available for this purpose. If no problem arises and the system functions
without problems then you know the problem is at least software-related or
possibly the original HDD became defective either as a consequence of the
power glitch or for some other reason.

Another course of action for your consideration is to run a Repair install
of the Win2K OS and see if that resolves the problem. Have you considered
such?
Anna
 
Hi Gerry,

Many Thx and yes I have much info for you.

Immediately after trying (and failing) the solution in my original message,
I took the following procedures:
1) remove drive and place it into an external box with USB interface.

2) checked the partions and data with the several utilities (Norton,
Partition Magic, Ontrack recovery as well as the standard WinXP chkdsk).
All passed except for Ontrack. It also passed a virus check on the USB
external.

3) Ghosted the drive to a larger disk. The Ghosting was successful. I
verified both drives with the same USB external.

4) Installed the new drive .. with the same failure occuring.


As to the other questions:
This installation of Win2K and WinXP was done almost right after WinXP was
released in 2001. I needed both Win2K and WinXP for testing purposes as a
software developer. It is true that I do not really use the Win2K much
now, but I wanted to check at this time to see if it would boot. I
created the dual boot using instructions from MS .. though I dont remember
now what the KB# is. At any rate all this has worked fine for 8yrs.

... All this is why I wondered if a marginal hardware problem could cause
this.


Lemme know your thoughts .. and many thx again

-BB
 
Hi Anna,

Many Thx for the reply. Pls see my reply to Gerry for most of your points
... However also to your last point:
Another course of action for your consideration is to run a Repair install
of the Win2K OS and see if that resolves the problem. Have you considered
such?
Click to expand...

I had not thought of this, but I will try it now on the OLD drive to see
what happens and let you know

many thx again

-BB
 
Sorry Gerry,

I forgot to give you the stop code:
(0x83331530, 0xC0000102, 0x0, 0x0)

thx

-BB
 
Hi Gerry,

Thx. No beep codes tho. It gets all the way to the WinXP start screen ..
for about 1/2 sec before the BSOD shows. I cant even find a boot log.

Thx again

-BB
 
Brian

Have you exhausted all the safe mode options?

Have you tried Last Known Good Configuration?
A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/en-us

Another safe mode option is Enable Boot logging. The location of the log
is indicated in the previous link. You may be able to read the log on
another computer. I have never tried. You cannot read an Event Viewer
log on another computer. That is something I have tried.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...orkstation/reskit/en-us/booting.mspx?mfr=true

--


Hope this helps.

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