Unmountable boot sector - no chkdsk!

TrihanTrihan
edited January 2007 in Hardware
I've recently been recruited to attempt a fix on a friend of a friend's PC that won't boot up at all. On startup we're getting the "Unmountable boot sector" error. When I researched this every article I found about this problem said to use chkdsk and/or fixboot. However, when I tried this it said it couldn't find AUTOCHK.exe. No problem, we managed to get a copy of the file from their neighbour. However, chkdsk still won't work and says that the drive can't be read.

Is there anything else I can do to fix this?

Comments

  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Trihan wrote:
    I've recently been recruited to attempt a fix on a friend of a friend's PC that won't boot up at all. On startup we're getting the "Unmountable boot sector" error. When I researched this every article I found about this problem said to use chkdsk and/or fixboot. However, when I tried this it said it couldn't find AUTOCHK.exe. No problem, we managed to get a copy of the file from their neighbour. However, chkdsk still won't work and says that the drive can't be read.
    Is there anything else I can do to fix this?
    Hello Trihan. Welcome to Short Media!
    This could just be a corrupted "boot.ini" file. Please, refer to the article here for detailed instructions on repairing the boot.ini file.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2007
    I'd also add that running the test from the hard drive manufacturer would be a good idea. It's easy to drive yourself nuts trying to nail down a problem via software means, only to find that it's a hardware problem. Getting that out of the way early will make you feel a lot better. :)
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    profdlp wrote:
    I'd also add that running the test from the hard drive manufacturer would be a good idea. It's easy to drive yourself nuts trying to nail down a problem via software means, only to find that it's a hardware problem. Getting that out of the way early will make you feel a lot better. :)
    Good idea! Trihan, if you need help finding the manufacturer's diagnostics for your hard disk drive, just let us know the manufacturer and model no. of the drive and we'll refer you to the appropriate download location.
  • TrihanTrihan
    edited January 2007
    Pterocarpous wrote:
    Good idea! Trihan, if you need help finding the manufacturer's diagnostics for your hard disk drive, just let us know the manufacturer and model no. of the drive and we'll refer you to the appropriate download location.

    Thanks for all your help. I tried doing what the article said but the hard drive seems to be completely screwed up. (It can't find any files or run bootcfg, chkdsk, anything. Just says the drive can't be read). I just replaced the hard drive with a new one and installed a fresh copy of windows on it. I don't think I'm going to be able to get anything from the old one.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Trihan wrote:
    Thanks for all your help. I tried doing what the article said but the hard drive seems to be completely screwed up. (It can't find any files or run bootcfg, chkdsk, anything. Just says the drive can't be read). I just replaced the hard drive with a new one and installed a fresh copy of windows on it. I don't think I'm going to be able to get anything from the old one.
    Did you try running the manufacturer's diagnostic on the drive as profdlb suggested (post #3)? If there's any data on the drive I'd sure pursue trying to recover it if possible.
  • TrihanTrihan
    edited January 2007
    There wasn't anything vital on it. I would, but I'm not there now so I don't know the manufacturer/model number. Thanks for all your help.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2007
    Pterocarpous wrote:
    Did you try running the manufacturer's diagnostic on the drive as profdlb suggested (post #3)? If there's any data on the drive I'd sure pursue trying to recover it if possible.
    Seriously. If the drive is not physically damaged there are a number of ways to recover your files from it. It's certainly worth a shot if you have any data you don't want to lose.
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