Unmountable Boot Volume error?

TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
edited June 2005 in Hardware
A few days ago, someone brought me a Micron Millenia PC to get it running. I loaded a copy of XP Pro, downloaded a bunch of updated media players and codecs, and everything was working smoothly. The computer has a 1000 Mhz Celeron, and I had 320 MB installed for the work. When I was done, I took it back to the 64 MB it came to me with. It ran horribly slow, but worked.

So today he brings the thing back to me all screwed up. It gives about a 1/2 second of the Windows XP startup screen, and then goes to a blue screen that says Unmountable_Boot_Volume.

He said he had been given a 64 MB memory stick and he put it in. It has 9 full size memory chips on it and 1 small one. The memory his computer came with had 8 big ones and a small one.

He said he was playing with the BIOS and CMOS, so I reset them to the defaults. It doesn't make a difference. I reset everything to boot off the CD drive and put my XP Pro disc back in, but says it failed to boot off the CD drive.

Now even changing the memory sticks doesn't help anything.

This computer has a Soyo SY-71WM/Lv1.0 4BB1 motherboard in it.

How bad did this guy screw it up, and how can I fix it?

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Tim had this to say
    ...He said he was playing with the BIOS and CMOS, so I reset them to the defaults...
    By "playing" he didn't by chance flash the BIOS did he?
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    I'm quite sure even he doesn't know what he did. And I wasn't there.

    How can I re-flash the BIOS? I can download a file on MY computer and save it to a CD to transfer it, but how can I get the CDROM to work when it won't even start up on a XP operating system disk?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Tim had this to say
    I'm quite sure even he doesn't know what he did. And I wasn't there.

    How can I re-flash the BIOS? I can download a file on MY computer and save it to a CD to transfer it, but how can I get the CDROM to work when it won't even start up on a XP operating system disk?
    I wouldn't try to re-flash it just yet - it might make things worse. If it does come to that, you should be able to flash from the floppy drive.

    Try disconnecting the HD and Floppy, then see if it will boot from CD with the XP disk. If that works, then re-attach the HD and make sure the CD drive is set first in boot order. Also, if Micron has stuck one of those goofy logo screens (their "ad") in his boot process it might be covering up the part where it says "hit any key to boot from CD".
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited December 2003
    in the past whenever i've gotten an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error its been a fUx0r3d windows partition that was the blame. pop in a winXP cd and do a repair install, see if that fixes things

    edit: HA, didn't read that first part about not booting from a CD. follow prof's suggestion first... then go to mine
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    That didn't work either. I went into the setup screen twice, making sure the CD was the first boot device, and tried booting from both CD drive bays. I keep getting a boot failure.

    The CD drives will power up and spin for a second or 2, then shut down. Then I get the error message.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Is this an original CD? (not a backup copy)

    Do you have Norton System Works on CD. If you can boot from that NDD might fix it.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    I just tried changing the hard drive to another one that has a fully tuned copy of XP Pro AND Norton SystemWorks 2003 on it. That didn't do anything either. For about 10 seconds I thought it might work, but then it quit again. Got another error message saying that Windows was shut down to protect the computer from damage.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Go through the bios settings and make sure any performance options (especially memory timings) are set to default. (Assuming Micron gives you much to play with).

    Maybe he set something too high for the hardware.

    AND: Make sure all the hardware is seated properly, then try running memtest86.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    In the BIOS, did you check to make sure the onboard IDE controllers are enabled? If none of the hard drives or CD drives are working, I would suspect the IDE controllers. If there is no menu setting to enable these, then it is possible that the controller is pooched.

    Another thought - could your friend have disconnected the IDE cables, then re-connected them wrong? As in, maybe he plugged the hard drive in on the secondary, and the CDs on the primary.

    Just some thoughts to consider.

    Dexter...
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    I made sure the IDE options were all enabled and checked the IDE cables. All is good there. This POS still doesn't work.

    I also tried F8ing into a different screen to start the computer in different ways, but I still end up at the blue unmountable boot volume error screen.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited December 2003
    1. replace the cables.
    2. remove the board from the system and try to bench boot it with the cdrom only
    3. if 2 does not work try bench booting it with only a floppy drive.

    Here is my logic.. drivin a pc around town makes things work loose the board may have shifted during transport. I would also pull all the ram and put new ram in it...

    Gobbles

    Also how old is this micron... as every micron ive ever worked on, and Ive worked on alot of them, have been intel boards...
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    its a soyo motherboard and probably has something to do with removing the memory sticks while it was running. the screen blacked out and the rest is a mystery. this is not tim this is an amateur computer man.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Tim had this to say
    ...probably has something to do with removing the memory sticks while it was running...
    Oooops...


    Next Step:
    Gobbles had this to say
    I would also pull all the ram and put new ram in it...
    Hope it's the ram and not the board. :rolleyes:

    Don't feel bad - we all have our moments. :buck:
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    first thing I would do ...call micron with serial number (or whatever id they need) and find out if it's still under warranty. just my $.02
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    As he wrote, that was not my idea to pull the memory with the computer powered up. But he said he changed the memory while it was on! That's like trying to change the spark plugs in a running car engine!

    I put in some other known good memory sticks, and they didn't work either.

    Did he FUBAR the motherboard?
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    Tim had this to say
    its a soyo motherboard and probably has something to do with removing the memory sticks while it was running. the screen blacked out and the rest is a mystery.

    :banghead:

    :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Tim had this to say
    Did he FUBAR the motherboard?
    That would be a good way to do it... :rolleyes:

    Your best advice:
    csimon had this to say
    first thing I would do ...call micron with serial number (or whatever id they need) and find out if it's still under warranty. just my $.02
    Good Luck! :wave:
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Were Soyo motherboards ever put in Micron PC's? For all I know, this is just a Micron case with a different MB in it. And a 400 watt power supply.

    One good thing about this board is that Motherboard Monitor 5 works (or USED to work) on it.

    My Dell 2100 doesn't have sensors, and it can't use MM5.

    Sounds like he's SOL to me. This was his first PC. He had it less than 2 days after I got it running for him before he blew it up. Oh well, there's a local computer show the weekend after Christmas.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Tim had this to say
    Were Soyo motherboards ever put in Micron PC's? For all I know, this is just a Micron case with a different MB in it. And a 400 watt power supply.
    That configuration doesn't sound like Micron at all. The good news is that since it took a Soyo MB it should take a standard replacement. Is it AT or ATX? Also, what CPU?

    It sounds like it is old enough that you can probably find a replacement at the show for not too much money. Test the other stuff before you go so you know if you need anything else.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    It has a 1 Ghz Celeron in it ( Socket 370), and the board measures about 7-1/2" by 9" or so. Don't have a ruler in here.

    Other than hooking up known good parts, I don't have many ways to test things.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    Does the back look like the attached picture? (May not have all of the USB, Sound, or Network stuff).

    ATX and (baby) AT fit in the case differently, use different power supplies, etc. You just want to make sure you get the right board for the case.
    atx.jpg 41.1K
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2003
    The size of different Form Factors:
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Well, one way not to boot, under those circumstances, is RAM bad within the amount needed to boot. Try to boot from an old floppy of 98 SE startup disk, see if it boots. It is just possible that the first or second not so big (in RAM size) stick is bad, or that the mobo only supports one kind of RAM relaibly at one time, but I would guess BAD RAM as first and most likely hardware culprit. Changing the connects on an IDE cable, pulling loose (partly) and IDE cable can both break it internally and\or result in bad device read, so see if the same cable is used for boht CD and boot drive. If so, on an older box, you can have a situation where the controller hangs the whole IDE channel and the computer will not boot from anything on that cable. 9 sticks is likely to be two different RAM types, resetting BIOS to default woudl wipe the only settings that woudl let you run boht kinds, on some boards. Easiest is cable first, then a RAM test, probably a BOTH thing, either CMOS RAM settings wrong, differnt speed SIMMS or DIMMS or both in box, or bad RAM-- PLUS an IDE related hookup or jumpering(on device, or on HD) mixup or bad cable.

    Would have to see results from trying that to drill down, and if you get it to boot from a different RAM stick I bet it is a bad RAM stick in part or totally.

    Since it goes into BIOS, look and see if in BIOS it shows both the CD-ROM drive and the HD. If yes, the control lines in IDE cable are working, but a data line could have gotten broken. Second, see how much RAM it counts up versus how much should be there by figuring physical stick size sum for all sticks out. If a real tiny amount, then probably RAM is terribly bad, adn once you get IDE straightened out, run MEMtest86 and if it does not run worht **** then go to a single RAM stick and run it. If it runs then, go to as few sticks as you can, run it again, and pull first stick(stick in lowest numbered socket for DIMM or SIMM) and swap in different one if it errors in low RAM or cannot load. make aneat stack of those you pull, then if want to confirm bad or wrong stick for box, swap in in same type socket FARTHEST away from first and see if memtest86 gives you a high RAM error. If not, then you have found a way to get the sticks to work together at least for a short time and can do a long run of memtest86 and see if ti errors at all.

    Many boards that can run different types, can only do this as either or, and some boards share last socket of most favopred and fastest type with first socket of slower type RAM and cannot be totally filled with both kinds(last socket in DIMM type needs to be empty for many of those boards that can to run SIMMs And DIMMs, for example, and same can be trues of boards that can run different kinds of DIMMs).

    How old is the board on this box???

    John.
  • RudorosRudoros
    edited January 2004
    same problem here :confused2
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2004
    Rudoros wrote:
    same problem here :confused2

    Describe the problem and how it started. Give us a list of what you have in your computer (HD, MB, RAM, etc.)

    You probably should start your own thread - easier to keep track of things that way. We'll be glad to help you out. :smiles:
  • coopkidcoopkid
    edited June 2005
    I have the identical problem on a Dell 4600 with Windows XP. I know absolutely nothing technical about computers, but I just wanted to say that I was able to run Dell Diagnostics from the hard drive (owners manual tells how to do this), and the only thing that failed any of the tests was the IDE thing. It is now sitting in a repair shop, and I haven't heard their verdict yet. So it looks as if Dexter may have been correct..?
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