Unmountable Boot Volume

[Strahc]

Hi Guys,

tried to start a PC this morning to be met by blue screen showing the umountable_boot_volume.

Have managed to insert disc and get to the recovery console. I then typed in chkdsk /p it got 75% through and then the message came up

"the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems"

I did not know what to do then so exited the program. I managed to type in the chk part by finding a link from google but there was no explanation as to what to do if it did not complete its scan. My knowledge of these things is quite small so any instructions would need to be step by step.

The PC in question runs XP Professional and is a networked PC linked to a server. We have not had any problems with the other PC's.

Would be grateful for some assistance. Great site by the way:smiles:

[A7X]

You did chkdsk /p? I thought you were suppose to type chkdsk /r..

[Strahc]

I was only following instructions from a link I found

[lemonlime]

chkdsk /r is the most thorough type (it will search for all bad sectors on the drive). Give that a shot and see if it marks any bad sectors.

You may also want to try a repair windows installation. I'd highly recommend the article Thrax wrote a while back: http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

It may help you (although your situation is a little different). I'd guess that there is a problem with your boot.ini file.

Best of luck!

[Thrax]

My guide won't help him in this case, as that error is related to a physical hard disk issue (Blown MBR, corrupt MFT or bad sectors).

Go to the windows recovery console and type these:
fixmbr
fixboot
chkdsk /r

Reboot when done. If THOSE don't work, we might have some other options.

[Strahc]

My guide won't help him in this case, as that error is related to a physical hard disk issue (Blown MBR, corrupt MFT or bad sectors).

Go to the windows recovery console and type these:
fixmbr
fixboot
chkdsk /r

Reboot when done. If THOSE don't work, we might have some other options.
Thnx guys chkdsk /r did the trick. couldn't reply sooner had other issues and have only just got back online.

Thanks again for your time and dilligence

Strahc

[lemonlime]

Thnx guys chkdsk /r did the trick. couldn't reply sooner had other issues and have only just got back online.

Thanks again for your time and dilligence

Strahc

Glad that helped!

I'd strongly recommend that you begin to back up your data at this point. If chkdsk /r found any bad sectors, your hard drive may be on a course to failure. If you just type 'chkdsk' at the command prompt in windows, it should give you a drive summary. If you have any bad sectors, I'd recommend purchasing a new hard drive.

[Liz_C]

Hi everyone, i'm new here and i've been reading through all of the unmountable boot volume information and threads and have done chkdsk /r and p, the fixboot etc. The blue screen persists, is there anything else I can do other than the reformat which everyone seems to keep pushing? If there's anything I can do to not lose all of my data and work that would be so great, so any suggestions are welcome,

[lemonlime]

Hi everyone, i'm new here and i've been reading through all of the unmountable boot volume information and threads and have done chkdsk /r and p, the fixboot etc. The blue screen persists, is there anything else I can do other than the reformat which everyone seems to keep pushing? If there's anything I can do to not lose all of my data and work that would be so great, so any suggestions are welcome,

Hi Liz_C, Welcome to Short-Media! :cheers:

To ensure that enough people get to see and respond to your problem, I would recommend starting a new thread in the 'Emergency Help' forum. This ensures that you have a thread dedicated to your issue, and you will get maximum visibility that way.

Also, could you be more specific about your bluescreen error? Is there a specific message that you can see?

Best of luck!

[emjohnson]

Ok, I had a problem that arose tonight starting out with the message

\windows\system32\config\system is missing or corrupt

when I would boot up. So I tried logging into the recovery console, and ran a chkdsk /r, which took awhile, but came back and said it had repaired some issues. I then ran a chkdisk /p and it seemed to look ok.

I rebooted, and still got the same error message. So then I decided to try a method such as in Thrax's guide you linked to. Only problem was, when I got back into the recovery console, any command I type in gives me a

"The path or file specified is not valid."

message, even if I just do a CD .. to change to the parent directory.

So I tried running chkdsk /p again, and now it tells me

"The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."

So now I'm in quite a pickle, cause if I try the fixmbr command, it doesn't appear to do anything, just gives me another prompt, and if I try to use the fixboot, it says

"FIXBOOT cannot open the partition."

So now I'm stuck and frustrated, cause now I can't even get anything to work in recovery console. What should be my next step here? I really don't know what caused the problem.

When it started, I had my PC hooked up to my TV and was trying different custom resolutions with Powerstrip. I came across one that didn't work. The screen flickered to black, like it normally does when changing resolutions, but then it never came back up. I just figured it was a resolution the PC didn't like with the TV, so I shut it down, and rebooted, and since then I've had the \windows\system32\config\system error.

[profdlp]

When a hard drive fix seems to work, then the errors recur, it often signals a dying drive. I'd run the test from the hard drive manufacturer to make sure there isn't a physical problem with the drive.

[emjohnson]

downloaded the diagnostics tool from western digital "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic", burned to a CD (on my laptop) and booted into the diagnostics evironment. Ran the quick test and it came up:

TEST COMPLETED WITHOUT ERRORS
ERROR/STATUS CODE: 0000

Running the extended test now.

[emjohnson]

Extended test showed the same results, no errors. So it appears that it's not a physical problem. :confused:

[Thrax]

Sounds like a corrupt file system. Get a copy of TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) and give it a whirl - see if it can reconstruct your broken NTFS partition.

[emjohnson]

What's the risk level in running testdisk? I guess what I mean is, I've got some fears that as I poke and prod more and more, the disk might just finally crap out. Would I be better off just going out and getting a new drive and slaving this one to it to pull off files? A friend said that with my current symptoms, I might be able to fix it now, but whether it be a couple weeks or a couple months, the drive is probably on it's way out.

[Thrax]

What are the results if the extended test? If the HDD passes the ext. test, it's physically fine and it isn't going to **** out on you in the near future unless something happens in the near future. TestDisk doesn't modify or write to the HDD unless you tell it to; more than that, with chkdsk and fixboot both giving partition-related errors, you probably won't be able to pull the files off if the drive is slaved anyways.

[emjohnson]

yea, the extended test using Western Digital's utility came up clean, zero errors reported. I'll go ahead and download and run the TestDisk utility when I get a chance and let you know what I find. Might be a couple days before I get the chance tho, since I'll be out of town this weekend. Thanks.

[emjohnson]

ok, so I downloaded testdisk, but want to make sure I'm using the right part. Since I can't get into windows right now, I'm assuming I want to use the DOS version, boot using a DOS boot disk, and then run testdisk (only problem being that I don't have a way currently to get testdisk onto a floppy). Or can I burn it on a CD, boot to recovery console, and use it there? Or do I need to use the windows version?

[Thrax]

You need the WindowsNT/2K/XP version, which boots from a CD. No boot disk necessary. Follow these (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showpost.php?p=417594&postcount=4) basic instructions.

[emjohnson]

ok, so in that thread you said:

Now go here...


Quote:
The MFT (Master File Table) is stometimes corrupted. If Microsoft Check Disk (chkdsk) failed to repair the MFT, run TestDisk and in the Advanced menu, select your NTFS partition and choose "Repair MFT". TestDisk will try to repair the MFT using MFT mirror, its backup.


The NTFS partition is the virtual space in which all your files are stored on the physical disk. A partition is like a virtual filing cabinet: A well-labelled, well-kept filing cabinet. Well what happens if you take the cabinet away and dump all the contents on the ground? No one knows where anything is but the information is still there. Recreating the NTFS partition, which is our first step, will try to recreate the filing cabinet and put everything back in order.


But I can't find where that is. There's analyze, advanced, geometry, options, MBR Code, delete and quit. Which should I be looking under?

Edit: ok, I found it under the "boot" portion of Advanced.

selected Repair MFT, and it says: MFT are ok

Now what?

[emjohnson]

Here's all the info in the Advanced screen right now:

Disk 80 - 120 GB / 111GiB - CHS 14594 225 63
Partition Start End Size in Sectors
*HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 14591 254 63 234420417
Boot Sector
OK

Backup boot sector
OK

Sectors are identical.


I just saw Shorty's post in another thread:
Your "system" is your registry hive. It has become corrupt, probably from an improper shutdown. I have linked this several times in other threads and the success has always been good


This had to be what happened. I had to force a shutdown when I made that last change to the resolution with Powerstrip, cause the display never came back up, even after sitting there for 5 min (when it's supposed to do that "click ok or your settings will revert in 15 seconds"). So with a black screen and an unresponsive PC, I just forced a power down.

[emjohnson]

Ok, well it appears that the problem is fixed. I just let the XP boot disc repair the install. Didn't do it sooner, cause all the guides I consulted about this problem all said to use recovery console and the like, so I didn't bother to try it till now. Looks like I just messed something up with the random shutdown after I lost my display abilities while using powerstrip. Thanks for the help y'all.

[profdlp]

Good to hear that you're back in business. :)