Stop error: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

davestar_delux · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:56

Last night my family PC froze and when restarted, hung on the loading Windows logo. After a while it changed to a blue screen telling me it is an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DRIVE and to try safe mode, turn off BIOS shadowing & caching. None of that works however so i'm looking at a fresh install.

This is the second time in as many weeks though, does anyone know how or what would cause this? Could it be a virus or is the hard drive knackered? Some kind of bad sector or something?

Elston · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:02

I've had this problem before, was caused by a damaged file system. Using the recovery console fixed my problem. Have you tried using the recovery console?

bringans · 2 Apr 2006 at 10:23

as above, use the recovery console, (run from the CD)

Then type

/chkdsk /r let it run ( can take a long time) think it can do like 4 passes, do not stop it, let it run till its done ( some people think its crashed, just wait

. Once done, /fixboot c: then /exit

Now some people get a error once they have done /fixboot c:

NTLDR is missing press any key to continue

Ive never had that happen, and I have fixed alota Comps with this prob. I am guessing they got impatiant with the /chkdsk /r and re started before it was done.

If ya do get this error do this

FIXMBR C:
FIXBOOT C:
COPY CDDrive:\I386\NTLDR C:\
COPY CDDrive:\I386|NTDETECT.COM C:\
BOOTCFG /rebuild

Hope that helps.

davestar_delux · 4 Apr 2006 at 16:58

Thanks very much for the replies, just trying it now. First free moment I've had since posting.

elkdanger · 4 Apr 2006 at 17:25

bringans said:
as above, use the recovery console, (run from the CD)

Then type

/chkdsk /r let it run ( can take a long time) think it can do like 4 passes, do not stop it, let it run till its done ( some people think its crashed, just wait . Once done, /fixboot c: then /exit

Now some people get a error once they have done /fixboot c:

NTLDR is missing press any key to continue

Ive never had that happen, and I have fixed alota Comps with this prob. I am guessing they got impatiant with the /chkdsk /r and re started before it was done.

If ya do get this error do this

FIXMBR C:
FIXBOOT C:
COPY CDDrive:\I386\NTLDR C:\
COPY CDDrive:\I386|NTDETECT.COM C:\
BOOTCFG /rebuild

Hope that helps.

Spot on, but it's also worth mentioning that a CHKDSK /f will also usually fix the problem but takes a fraction of the time to complete. At least, in my experience anyway

davestar_delux · 4 Apr 2006 at 18:00

Okay, I can get to the bit where I type R for recovery console then it does some checking of the computer with a blue screen behind it then after a few minutes changes to a black screen saying this is recovery console, yada yada, type EXIT to quit and restart but it seems to be hanging there, I get no cursor, typing EXIT doesn't work and I need to hold the power button in for 10 secs for it to reboot.