In a flash - unmountable_boot_volume.
Greetings, folks.
I've been by your site a few times before, and I've always admired the quality of advice you fine folks provide people when they are in dire need of help. I must admit that I never felt like I would be in the position to have to ask for it myself, but it appears I am!
I've searched around the internet and various places around here, and though I've found problems similar to my own, I haven't found one that mirrors mine quite right. That being said, I hope you all don't mind that I've posted here in the emergency forums, but it's my belief that my particular problem fits the requirements. If not, you have my most humble of apologies.
Okay, to get right to it then - I have in my possession a laptop with many family photos on it (more than a thousand which are not backed up anywhere, unfortunately), as well as several other precious files - such as writings - which I would be unable to replicate or retrieve from elsewhere.
The laptop in question is a Gateway MX6441 with an AMD 1.8 GHz processor. Additionally, it has 512 MB of memory, 80 GBs of hard drive space, in addition to possessing Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I can provide any further information as requested, however this is all I can think of at present. If I neglected a piece of needed information, you have my apologies - I do not wish to unnecessarily waste your time.
That being said, I was listening to a song on Windows Media Player and two seconds before it was about to loop and play again, Windows Media Player froze. I attempted to X out of it, and was then presented with oh-so-lovable Blue Screen of Death. It mentioned something about kernel, and I wish I had stopped to take a better look at the actual error message before I did what I did next.
I restarted the computer by hitting the power button. Upon doing so, the computer booted up, and it brought up a black screen with white text saying something about it being improperly shutdown. It gave me several choices, including running Windows as normal, going into Safemode, or reverting to my last setting where everything worked properly.
I tried the normal Windows first, which caused Windows to attempt to start. It seemingly tried and showed the splash page, and then I saw a flash of blue pop by my screen and it was gone before I could even hope to read a single word. I didn't even realize that text was on it until the second go-around. After this, my computer restarted itself and brought me back to the screen where it gave me the aforementioned options, and I then tried Safemode - which brought about the same result.
Desperate by this point, when the computer restarted itself and brought me to the same screen, I chose to revert to the prior working setting - which brought about the exact same result as my previous attempts. Eventually, however, I thought to grab my digital camera and take a picture of the screen which would flash up for less than a second. It took a couple tries, but eventually I got it and shut off my machine just incase my hard drive is ready to bite the bullet or some such horrible thing.
The message contained within the fleeting blue screen was the following:
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.
If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options, and then select Safe Mode.
Technical information:
*** STOP 0x000000ED (0x845878D0, 0xc0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"
It is my hope that I got all of the numbers right... some of them were a bit difficult to make out on the camera.
I did find some other threads pertaining to this error, however it appeared that no one had to go to the same lengths to view this error like I did. What I mean is, it appears as if the error was prominently displayed and people didn't have to catch it by taking a picture with their digital camera. Since the contents of the hard drive are so important to me, I wanted to get the opinions of more experienced folks before I delved any farther.
The only thing I can think of that I changed on the computer that day was installing Java in order to play a game of Chess with a friend via Yahoo Messenger. I keep running things through my head to see if I can remember anything else I had done, but nothing comes immediately to mind.
Thank you for your time, and words do not exist to express the extent of my gratitude.
- Ariel Fawks
P.S.
To provide fair warning, I have no problem with the practical use of computers. However, some of the more technical steps I may falter just a wee bit. Please bear with me.
I've been by your site a few times before, and I've always admired the quality of advice you fine folks provide people when they are in dire need of help. I must admit that I never felt like I would be in the position to have to ask for it myself, but it appears I am!
I've searched around the internet and various places around here, and though I've found problems similar to my own, I haven't found one that mirrors mine quite right. That being said, I hope you all don't mind that I've posted here in the emergency forums, but it's my belief that my particular problem fits the requirements. If not, you have my most humble of apologies.
Okay, to get right to it then - I have in my possession a laptop with many family photos on it (more than a thousand which are not backed up anywhere, unfortunately), as well as several other precious files - such as writings - which I would be unable to replicate or retrieve from elsewhere.
The laptop in question is a Gateway MX6441 with an AMD 1.8 GHz processor. Additionally, it has 512 MB of memory, 80 GBs of hard drive space, in addition to possessing Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I can provide any further information as requested, however this is all I can think of at present. If I neglected a piece of needed information, you have my apologies - I do not wish to unnecessarily waste your time.
That being said, I was listening to a song on Windows Media Player and two seconds before it was about to loop and play again, Windows Media Player froze. I attempted to X out of it, and was then presented with oh-so-lovable Blue Screen of Death. It mentioned something about kernel, and I wish I had stopped to take a better look at the actual error message before I did what I did next.
I restarted the computer by hitting the power button. Upon doing so, the computer booted up, and it brought up a black screen with white text saying something about it being improperly shutdown. It gave me several choices, including running Windows as normal, going into Safemode, or reverting to my last setting where everything worked properly.
I tried the normal Windows first, which caused Windows to attempt to start. It seemingly tried and showed the splash page, and then I saw a flash of blue pop by my screen and it was gone before I could even hope to read a single word. I didn't even realize that text was on it until the second go-around. After this, my computer restarted itself and brought me back to the screen where it gave me the aforementioned options, and I then tried Safemode - which brought about the same result.
Desperate by this point, when the computer restarted itself and brought me to the same screen, I chose to revert to the prior working setting - which brought about the exact same result as my previous attempts. Eventually, however, I thought to grab my digital camera and take a picture of the screen which would flash up for less than a second. It took a couple tries, but eventually I got it and shut off my machine just incase my hard drive is ready to bite the bullet or some such horrible thing.
The message contained within the fleeting blue screen was the following:
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.
If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options, and then select Safe Mode.
Technical information:
*** STOP 0x000000ED (0x845878D0, 0xc0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"
It is my hope that I got all of the numbers right... some of them were a bit difficult to make out on the camera.
I did find some other threads pertaining to this error, however it appeared that no one had to go to the same lengths to view this error like I did. What I mean is, it appears as if the error was prominently displayed and people didn't have to catch it by taking a picture with their digital camera. Since the contents of the hard drive are so important to me, I wanted to get the opinions of more experienced folks before I delved any farther.
The only thing I can think of that I changed on the computer that day was installing Java in order to play a game of Chess with a friend via Yahoo Messenger. I keep running things through my head to see if I can remember anything else I had done, but nothing comes immediately to mind.
Thank you for your time, and words do not exist to express the extent of my gratitude.
- Ariel Fawks
P.S.
To provide fair warning, I have no problem with the practical use of computers. However, some of the more technical steps I may falter just a wee bit. Please bear with me.
0
Comments
You have two option. First, unplug, unscrew, and carefully take out the hard drive. Then you can either:
A) Put the drive insinde another desktop computer as a secondary drive, or
B) Buy an external enclosure for it off NewEgg, put it in that, and then plug it in to another computer externally.
Then, using the other computer, copy the files to a backup device (like a USB drive) using the other computer. Either solution requires something big enough to back up your data on (like a big 'ol USB thumb drive), and option B requires dropping $20-30 on the enclosure. Option B is simpler, though (it's just plug-and-go after it's in there).
Once we have your files safely somewhere else, then we can talk about how to go about salvaging the hard drive.
I'm betting both A and B will require further instructions, but let me know if you have a preference
After considering those two options, I think option B may be a bit more realistic for my level of technical expertise - or rather lack thereof, I'm afraid! I have some minor experience in dealing with computer hardware - but the second option seems a bit more comfortable... though, if it's not too much trouble, what would be involved in option A? I might be able to manage it depending upon what needs to be done. Additionally, is either option considered safer for the data?
If I were to go with option B, I should buy this external enclosure off of NewEgg? I've browsed the site a few times, but I have never actually bought a product there before. I glanced there today, and there were so many options, it was a little daunting. Is there any one in particular you would recommend I choose?
It is kind of sad - I have an external hard drive which would fit the contents of my laptop quite comfortably, and I was actually planning on backing up my files this week. I should have listened to that nagging voice in the back of my head and done so sooner!
Live and learn, I suppose! I'll be that much more careful the next time. I see weekly backups in my future.
Thank you so much! I am so grateful to you for taking your time out in order to assist not only me, but all of the others who must come to your forums when their electronics decide to go wonky on their owners.
- Ariel Fawks
If you're only going to be using the enclosure for this one task, you can go pretty cheap ($20 for this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173015)
I don't recommend using it permanently because it doesn't have fans and might overheat, but you could if you don't care too much about it. You could go even cheaper... but I don't want you to end up with a tin can that just has a USB cable poking out the back, heh.
Both options are equally safe for your data. The only bad thing you could do is drop the drive.
Basically... get that enclosure, unscrew your hard drive, slide it out, install it in the enclosure, then plug the enclosure into another computer. You may want to also buy a large thumb drive off of NewEgg if you don't have anywhere else to conveniently store your files. http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=522&name=USB-Flash-Drive
Get one big enough to store all the data you need to get off. You can plug both the thumb/flash drive and the enclosure into the same PC and then transfer files from one to the other.
Option A means needing to make sure the two hard drives are set up to boot the correct one, which may involve a diagram and a pair of needle-nose pliers. I recommend the $20 enclosure approach if you can swing it.
I will most definitely be taking your recommendation for option B, as option A sounds a bit more nerve wracking. At the mention of needle-nose pliers, my mind immediately screamed, “Option B!”
I was hesitant to reply to this post until I received the external exclosure. I still have yet to receive it from NewEgg, however while I was waiting for it to arrive, I decided it would be best to reply anyway. If for no other reason than to confirm that I am still around, and to thank you again for your kindness and willingness to assist so readily.
Hopefully the enclosure will arrive soon so that we might continue.
- Ariel Fawks
I must admit, it is making me a little bit antsy. I appreciate your patience with me, as it is increasingly difficult for me to show mine with NewEgg! Haha. Thank you again.
I would have edited the above post to reflect the changes (or rather lack of changes), but there was no edit button on any of my above posts. My apologies for double posting. I just didn't want this thread to be locked or deleted.
- Ariel Fawks
Well, the external enclosure finally came today. I immediately grabbed the hard drive from my laptop and began to work on getting it in the enclosure to find.. the connectors didn't seem to fit. Am I doing something horribly wrong? =]
I went back to the link you provided for the external enclosure, and it mentions being 3.5'' - is that the right size for a laptop? I think I remember reading somewhere around here that 2.5'' was the size for a laptop... though I don't really know what I'm talking about! I just know that the pins don't seem to quite fit together. =)
Can the enclosure from the link you provided work with my laptop, or do I need to return it and buy a different one?
If it helps, I found the exact link for my laptop... and I just tried to post it, but the forum won't let me. My apologies...
Your Amish Daddy,
Thank you for the comments. =] I do see an edit button on the post I just posted, but the rest of them don't have one. I assume they vanish after a certain period of time to keep people from erasing something naughty they've posted or somesuch thing.
Thank you both for your time,
- Ariel Fawks
I am assuming that the enclosure you suggested will not work with my hard drive? I know you are a busy person - I hate to be a bother - but on the chance it will work, I will hold off returning it until Monday to give you time to respond if you can. =) Additionally, after some rather extensive research, I think I may be able to choose a correct one for myself if you don't have the time to assist me.
Thank you for your time, effort, patience, and continued helpfulness, Mr. Keebler. I think if it weren't for you, I would probably have been carted off to the local insane asylum by now!
- Ariel Fawks
You're correct about the enclosure and you'll need the 2,5" edition for the hard disk in your laptop.
I don't know how familiar you are with removing the hard disk from the laptop but it's usually quite simple and your laptop manual will give you the right directions. After that it's just a matter of inserting it correctly into the enclosure and then you can access the data on it by connecting it to another computer via the USB port.
If you don't have the manual that describes how to remove the hard disk from your laptop, you can download it from the link below:
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/Blade/1009033nv.shtml
Go to User Guides and then download the Components Replacement Manual from the subsequent page.
Once the data is backed up and the drive is still connected to the other computer run a chkdsk /f on it and if it's a simple table or file allocation error that will usually fix it. Once you run that do a defrag and just do a bunch of manual tests. If everything *seems* to be working plug it back into your laptop and try again. If it boots up you should be good to go. However the type of error you suffered from is often symptomatic of a potential drive failure and you could start seeing this problem turn up more repeatedly.
I am really hoping this isn't a bad sign... but I received the right enclosure today and... well, I guess I should start from the beginning. I popped the hard drive out of the laptop, plugged it into the enclosure and hooked the enclosure up to the usb port of my Windows XP desktop computer.
It took a while to access... about ten minutes before the drive popped up on My Computer. Two new drives, Local Disk G and H popped up, and I tried H first. When I double clicked the new H drive, it brought up a pop-up window for Internet Explorer which claimed that the drive contained recovery files or somesuch thing and it wouldn't let me access it, so I moved on to drive G.
In my attempt to access drive G, the computer ran for a few moments before giving me this error message:
G:/ is not accessible.
Error performing inpage operation.
I have a really bad feeling about this... I must admit that I am now quite afraid for my coveted data... is there anything I am doing incorrectly? There was a disk of drivers that came with the external enclosure, but upon reading the instructions it claimed that Windows XP didn't need the disk... so I am now at a bit of a loss.
<o></o>
There is something I feel that I should note. The external enclosure fit the pins for the hard drive and slid right on it… but there are a couple extra pins that the enclosure did not have holes for, if that makes sense. The number of pins was either two or four, if I recall correctly, not a lot… but I figured I should mention it on the chance that was the problem. I can provide a photograph if the explanation isn't sufficient...
Thank you folks once again for your time.
- Ariel Fawks.
[hit enter]
type: chkdsk g: /r
Wait a while.
Also, those 4 pins are for jumpers and should not be hooked up.
I have found that on many occasions when I connect a hard disk enclosure to the USB ports on the front of my desktop, there are problems and the drive in the enclosure isn't identified correctly. When I connect it into a USB port at the back of the desktop, everything works fine.
I've had to work a little slowly because of some personal issues, but I finally bring with me a form of progress! It makes me quite happy, as you might imagine.
I plugged in the external hard drive and it was giving me a bit of trouble sensing it. Eventually, after plugging it in the back of the computer as opposed to the front (as suggested, thank you) it sensed it enough to show a drive letter, even though I still couldn't access the contents on the drive. I ran a chkdsk /r on it and waited... and waited... and waited... I was a bit worried, but eventually these were the results:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Owner>chkdsk l: /r
The type of the file system is NTFS.
CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 28136.
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 28136.
Sorting index $I30 in file 28136.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is recovering lost files.
Recovering orphaned file VIEWPO~1 (28137) into directory file 28136.
Recovering orphaned file Viewpoint Experience Technology (28137) into directory
file 28136.
Recovering orphaned file VIEWPO~2 (85819) into directory file 28136.
Recovering orphaned file Viewpoint Manager (85819) into directory file 28136.
Recovering orphaned file AXMETA~1 (86141) into directory file 28136.
Recovering orphaned file AxMetaStream_Win (86141) into directory file 28136.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
Security descriptor verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
70967137 KB total disk space.
53235476 KB in 97659 files.
31384 KB in 4712 indexes.
4 KB in bad sectors.
285701 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
17414572 KB available on disk.
4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
17741784 total allocation units on disk.
4353643 allocation units available on disk.
After this was completed, I was able to access the drive freely and transferred my files with ease. I am very grateful to have my files safe and neatly stored on my external hard drive. Relief isn't a strong enough word to describe the feeling.
After the transfer process was completed, I have to admit that I was dangerously curious, so I popped the hard drive back in the laptop and tried to boot up... and it worked. I spent quite a lot of time making sure each file was backed up that I needed, and I did some routine things like clearing off old files, defragging and such.
Then I went to work trying to see if it was truly okay. I played a DVD on it nicely, downloaded a bit, surfed the web and used it as normal in attempt to see if it was a fluke. It worked swimmingly and all that. Next, I opened Windows Media Player and played mp3s like crazy, because that's what I was doing the last time it keeled over.
It worked fine, and I put it through similar tests the next day, as I wanted to have plenty of evidence it was fine before coming back to you folks to claim everything was peachy keen. Well, it seemed great and then I randomly opened Windows Media Player and started playing a song like the last time. Then quite suddenly, the song hung for a moment and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach in fear... and then I got the blue screen once more!
This is what the blue screen said:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.
If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options, and then select Safe Mode.
Technical information:
*** STOP 0x0000007A (0xc07BA2D0, 0xc000000E, 0xF745ACA8, 0x11095860)"
*** atap1.sys - Address F745ACA8 base at F744B000, DateStamp 41107b4d
Beginning dump of physical memory
When I got this error message originally (before I originally posted here), I restarted my laptop manually because the error message said to restart the computer (like a moron, I hit the power button on my laptop because I couldn't get it to do anything else). This time, however, I just let the screen sit there for a couple minutes and eventually it restarted itself, with Windows intact and everything fine.
I find it interesting how both times it gave me that kernel error message, I was doing nothing on my laptop except listening to showtunes on Windows Media Player. Perhaps my laptop doesn't like showtunes?
At any rate, the laptop is working okay for the moment, but I certainly don't trust it after that...
Whew. Any thoughts, my friends?
- Ariel Fawks
"This Stop message indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. This Stop message is usually caused by a bad block (sector) in a paging file, a virus, a disk controller error, or failing RAM. In rare cases, it is caused when nonpaged pool resources run out. It is also caused by defective hardware." ; Directly from Microsoft's TechNet.
So, now we know what it means. You also said that the chkdsk reported you had BAD SECTORS. Makes sense. Not exactly sure what to do at this point because when I find a hard drive has bad sectors, I throw it away. That always means something bad is slowly happening to the hard drive.
I can't thank you folks enough for your kindness, patience and assistance through all of this. You've been great, and I am so grateful a place like Icrontic exists.
So far it has yet to fail again... it's come close twice, both times I was playing music with the volume all the way up as I was straightening around the house. It would start to freeze, I would quickly hit escape - which stopped the music - and then everything would go back to normal. I put my hands on the laptop as the music was playing and the noise level makes the laptop vibrate quite a bit... could it be screwing something up in there?
Either way, as the two of you have suggested, I wouldn't trust this hard drive anymore. It's made me quite paranoid as you might imagine. My bookmarks are now online, and I backup every new file I download on an external hard drive. Yes, quite paranoid indeed!
Do you think I should try to replace the hard drive or consider the laptop a lost cause now that I have my precious data off of it? Would it be worth it to replace the hard drive? The computer itself isn't terribly old...
Thank you once again for your time,
- Ariel Fawks