Macguyver, I need your help! Unmountable Boot Volume with a twist

sarahtech35sarahtech35
edited December 2006 in Hardware
problem:

error: unmountable boot volume

what happened:

- normal and safe mode boot doesn't work.
- I booted from my Win XP CD, but the CD is possibly corrupted. (the 1st time, it says cpqarray.sys corrupt. 2nd time, it passed it but another file was corrupt).
- I tried my WIN2k cd, and I saw the welcome message. It says there's no hard-drive installed When tried to Repair (or install).
- I tried the DELL diagnostic by pressing F12 (?) and ran a test. The hard-drive has unreadable sectors.
- I shut down.

next day:

- The hard-drive was less noisy and much faster. I tried safe-mode with command prompt, it worked.
- I did chkdsk and it said "read-only mode". It showed me some unreadable sectors.
- I did chkdsk /p and chkdsk /f but it said its using the volume so it will perform chkdsk when I reboot.
- I rebooted to normal mode, but chkdsk won't run. I get a C000031a Hard Error. (I looked it up but nothing helped).
- Booting from my Win XP and win2k CD still doesn't work.

My priorities:

- I have a few text files, password files, and work documents I'd like to BACKUP RIGHT AWAY to a USB if I can. Would it work from safe mode? I've only tried safe mode with prompt.


tools:

- a dell laptop that won't boot!
- another dell laptop + cd + usbs. (no burner). with internet access. (using it right now)
- external usb HD with 10gb free.
- USB mp3 with 400mb.
- a windows 2k cd.
- a (corrupted/scratched) win XP cd




IMPORTANT!

- I don't want to reformat and lose all my files.
- I don't have any CD-Rs.
- I don't have access to a working win xp cd. (I would like to fix it ASAP, not wait for dell or buy another cd. But will buy another CD if no other solutions.)
- I don't have a floppy disk drive.


Solutions I'm considering:


- I need access to backup my important documents. I read about booting from a USB using BERT but I don't have a win XP CD. Any other solutions not requiring win xp cd to allow basic recovery or access to DOS?


Any solutions? What do you recommend?

Comments

  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Have you tried running the "FIXBOOT" command.
    To do this simply type "FIXBOOT".
    Using the "FIXBOOT" command without any parameters will write a new partition boot sector to the system partition you are logged on to.
    Reboot the computer.
    Then see if you can log into Windows.
    This may work or may not, but it's worth a shot.
    Also, I would reccomend running the hard drive manufacturers HD test program.
  • sarahtech35sarahtech35
    edited December 2006
    Thank you for your help!

    Unfortunately, I no longer have access to safe mode wt prompt. I get a hard-disk error now.

    I have Win XP in my external HD. d:\winxp\x1ahoem_en\

    I found a thread techspot dot com/vb/topic8135.html
    It says you can install Recovery Console to boot menu, eliminating the need of Windows CD. But you need the CD to do it!

    Would it work if I run it from my USB?

    Is there any other solutions to chkdsk without the win XP CD? There has to be a recovery solution for USBs out there!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2006
    I would run the hard drive test, as Hawk suggested before. It sounds like this may be a physical problem with the drive, and not just a matter of sorting out some corrupted files. :(

    The good news is that you still will have options no matter what the outcome of the test, but until you know the physical status of the drive you may be doing more harm than good by attempting a software solution.
  • sarahtech35sarahtech35
    edited December 2006
    I scrubbed my cd the best I could to clean it and I got it running! I went to the recovery console, and started chkdsk /p

    So at least I have prompt now, so that's some progress. :-)

    35% completed ... we'll see what happens.

    It does sound like a physical problem with the drive, it made some noises last night. I ran some manufacturer diagnostic tests from DELL and it showed unreadable sectors.

    I hope chkdsk and "fixboot" will repair this ... I wouldn't want to lose all my files!!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2006
    sarahtech35 wrote:
    ...It does sound like a physical problem with the drive, it made some noises last night. I ran some manufacturer diagnostic tests from DELL and it showed unreadable sectors.

    I hope chkdsk and "fixboot" will repair this ... I wouldn't want to lose all my files!!
    If by "repair" you mean get things patched up to the point where you can recover your data, I'll cross my fingers and hope you get it. :)

    Unfortunately, if the drive is making odd noises and showing "unreadable sectors", it means it is dying and will need to be replaced - and soon. :(
  • sarahtech35sarahtech35
    edited December 2006
    What the ... chkdsk stopped at 50%.

    "Volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."

    Is there anything else I can do besides chkdsk and fixboot?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2006
    sarahtech35 wrote:
    ...Is there anything else I can do besides chkdsk and fixboot?
    To what lengths are you willing to go time-wise and/or financially to try and recover your data?

    Professional data recovery offers the most hope, but it can be quite expensive. Do-it-yourself data recovery is possible, but has a few drawbacks. One is that it can be quite time-consuming (with no guaranty of success) and will tie up a computer for who know how long (possibly weeks). Another is that the longer you run the drive while trying to recover the data on your own, the lower the chances that even professional data recovery techniques will succeed.

    Most tools you can run on your own use a brute force method of trying to read the drive. In other words, when the data recovery program encounters a bad sector it just keep repeating the attempt at reading it until it (hopefilly) succeeds. Some sectors may never be readable no matter how long you keep trying. As the drive runs continuously during the process there is a high probability that the drive will continue to degenerate.

    One thing which may be worth a try is to remove the drive from the laptop, seal it completely airtight in a ziploc bag or kitchen wrap, then put it in the freezer overnight. When it is as cold as you can get it you then replace it in the laptop and immediately begin trying to copy the data over to another drive. To be honest, this is a longshot and all the warnings about continuing to operate the drive still apply.

    Before continuing, decide whether you are willing (or even able) to pay hundreds of dollars (at least) to try and recover your files with no guaranty of a successful outcome. If that is not an option we will try and help you do it on your own at very little cost, though with a lower chance of success.
  • sarahtech35sarahtech35
    edited December 2006
    That's very interesting! I didn't know hard drives were more operatable when really cold. I'll think over what you said. Thank you for your excellent and informative post.

    I can afford to lose all my files EXCEPT a few important htmls and documents.

    Right now, the plan is try to copy the files from c:\ to my usb (d:\). I plugged a usb disk and d:\ seems to be accessible.

    The problem is some files are on my desktop and I don't know the path! And some files are in some folders in c:\ with names like "@important stuff". I'd need to "dir" my c:\ to recognize them.

    At the recovery console, prompt shows C:\WINDOWS
    I typed "dir" and after scrolling down for some time it shut down by itself...

    Any help before I proceeed? Like possible paths in dos so I won't have to dir?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Your desktop is in C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\(YOUR ACCOUNT NAME)\DESKTOP. Replace C:\ with whatever the drive letter may be at the time.
  • sarahtech35sarahtech35
    edited December 2006
    I found out that you can't access most folders in the recovery console. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058
    :(

    Looks like this laptop will wait until I can find out how to slave the drive and recover my files.

    Is it common for hard-drives to fail after only 2-3 years? I have a Dell Inspiron 1150. I never had any problems with it.

    What kind of laptop should I buy that is long-lasting or at least backups files automatically?

    I heard someone say macs backups automatically but I'm not sure. Can I install win XP on it? I would really appreciate some recommendations if that's allowed, because it looks like I'll have to buy a new laptop ... this is very frustrating.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    It's not common for it to fail within 2 or 3 years, but if a laptop hard drive <i>will</i> fail, it's going to do it in 2 or 3 years.

    Do you have another computer to use that boots into windows correctly?

    However, for what it's worth, if you install Windows XP on a Mac, you would've saved money by buying another Windows laptop; they all use PC parts now, but there's an Apple price premium. There are, furthermore, no laptops that backup automatically -- you'll need a program for that, and a great one is Acronis TrueImage.
  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    You could try this program I've used to recovery files from bad software install, unmountable boot volume, and some other problems with HD's.
    It has documentation at the bottom of the page which explains how to use the different features in the program.
  • CaladCalad
    edited December 2006
    doing the eight window recovery commands may help him :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Won't help him in this case. The guide doesn't cover this sort of problem.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2006
    Calad wrote:
    ...may help him...
    Thrax wrote:
    Won't help him...
    Something tells me that sarahtech35 may not be a "him". :tongue2:
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Force of habit on this site, of course. ;) My apologies.
  • CaladCalad
    edited December 2006
    my apoligies too, usally chkdsk works though, happened to me 5 times, hardbooting usally because XD, mite be a hardware issue
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2006
    No apologies needed - I think there must be about three dozen Notable Milestones threads where I've done the same thing.

    :honoes:
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