Can't Boot From CD: Unmountable_Boot_Volume

Hi,

My laptop encountered Unmountable_Boot_Volume problem with the
following details:
0x000000ED (0x81A5F6F8, 0xC000009C, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

It is a Compaq Presario R3000 with Windows XP Home Edition installed
and Phoenix BIOS.

I'd already tried booting using Windows XP CD (setting the BIOS to boot
from CD before HD) or choosing Safe Mode (or other choices) but it
quickly restarts after loading the Windows XP screen. I don't get to see
a welcome (set-up/install) screen (reading from the CD) everytime it
restarts.

I have also tested the HD through the BIOS tools and it failed.

I remembered updating quicktime player the day before it crashed.
Days prior to that, I also noticed a POST(?) message in which Autocheck.exe
was missing but I was so silly to have just ignored it.

Hope you could help me with this problem, hoping I could still
recover all my data. Thanks very much in advance!


Best regards,
Pawn

 

If you can run the CD:http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=145429
Post what you have done.Good Luck!!!!

 

Hi Goran.P,

Thanks for your quick reply, however I'd already done that.

I'd made sure that booting from CD was selected first. I've even tried
loading either Windows XP Home Edition or Professional CD but after the
CD/DVD drive read the CD for awhile (I could hear it whirring normally
to know it was reading the disc and see a blank screen with a blinking
cursor on the upper left hand corner of the screen), it just proceeds to
the Compaq screen with BIOS choices (normal sequence), and then to
the next screen with error message and choices: SAFE MODE, SAFE MODE
with network support,..., start Windows normally, etc.

Then when I select any of the choices, another screen appears depending
on the choices; e.g.
if SAFE MODE is selected --> multi(0),disk(0),.. etc. appears, or
if Start Windows is selected --> Windows XP screen appears.

And then after that, the BSOD (as they say) flashes in a split second
and the system automatically restarts.

By the way, would it matter since the Windows XP Home Edition CD
(or the Windows XP Professional CD) that I used for booting is not
the same CD that was used to install the Windows XP Home Edition
software in my laptop?

Thanks very much for helping me. I'll be awaiting your reply.


Best regards,
Pawn

 

No. It shouldn't make any difference. All I can think of in this case is that something is up with your CD drive. Are your Windows discs factory discs or copies? If they are copies and if they were not finalized when burned, the drive may not be able to read them correctly. I have run into this before, usually on older laptops, but it can happen on newer PCs also. Try a different bootable CD and be sure to finalize it when you burn it. Create a UBCD4Win or a Knoppix disc for example to see if maybe the CD drive is having issues too. It could be a problem with the laptop drive controller too if neither the hard drive and CD drive are working right. You could also remove the drive and hook it up to another PC using a USB adapter....

 

Hi dlb,

Both of my CDs are genuine, however I'm wondering why I get this problem.
I've also copied a Windows XP (SP2) CD and tried to boot my laptop,
but to no avail. About the alternative bootable discs you've mentioned
(UBCD4Win or a Knoppix disc), is there anyway to get them? By the way,
what do you mean when you said 'finalize' with regards to burning discs?
- Sorry, I'm not that good with the terminologies and technicalities.

Well, if my CD/DVD drive turns out to be the problem, I might as well consider
hooking the HD with another PC but I am not quite familiar on how to proceed.
My laptop is Compaq Presario R3000, could you help me deal with the
configurations?


Many thanks for your help, and I'll look forward for your response.


Best regards,
Pawn

 

You can obtain Knoppix and the UBCD4Win by downloading them, both are free. Knoppix will download as an ISO image which you would burn to a CD and by it's very nature, it will finalize the CD when it's burned. The UBCD4Win is actually a program and you'd run it with your XP disc and it creates an ISO image when it's done; you then burn the image. A real easy way to just test the functionality of the drive would be to download something MUCH smaller and quicker (like a memory diagnostic) and create a bootable CD from that. I mentioned the UBCD4Win and Knoppix because they are essentially operating systems that run from the CD; you could boot to 'em and access your data if you needed to. But just to test the CD drive functionality, use this:
Microsoft Memory Diagnostic http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_Memory_Diagnostic_d3955.html
The file you download is called mtinst.exe and you'll double click it. It will ask if you want to create a floppy or a CD image, select the image option. It will create an .ISO file in 'My Documents' called windiag.iso. Now, using your favorite CD burning utility, burn it as an image (not as data) and boot to it. If it launches into a memory diagnostic program, then we know the CD drive is working. If you're still interested in Knoppix or the UBCD4Win (the UBCD4Win is worth 15 times its weight in gold) you can get 'em here:
Knoppix http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
UBCD4Win http://www.majorgeeks.com/UBCD4Win_d5710.html (this is version 3.11; the newest release is v3.12 and available here http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm)
UBCD4Win 'How-To Build' http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm (it's actually pretty easy)
Just remember to burn any .iso files as images and not as you would burn a regular data disc, otherwise it won't boot. This means that the built-in Windows XP burning tool won't work (unless you use ISORecorder, but to avoid further confusion, I'll leave this for another time).

GOOD LUCK!

 

Hi dlb,

Tremendous thanks! I still am about to try and do it as I'm
currently downloading the softwares from the sites you've mentioned.. I've
got Nero to burn the ISO image... Anyway, I'll let you know as soon as I've
gone through all the tips from your recent advise.

I really appreciate your help.


Best regards,
Pawn

 

Hi dlb,

This maybe a little off the main problem but is there anyway I could
burn the ISO image to a DVD? I only have a blank DVD+RW at the
moment and when I try to burn the image using Nero it says it requires
CD to proceed.. Will I be able to reformat or do any setting so that
I could use the DVD instead of buying a new pack of blank CDs?


Thanks,
Pawn

 

Hi,

I've successfully booted through UBCD4Win.. I've already started looking through the UBCD
explorer and found out C:\ doesn't show any drive status (size, type), however D:\ is intact.

I've also executed chkdsk /r, through the recovery console, however
it said, "Volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."

I'm currently copying files from D:\.. Is there anyway I could still recover my
data from C:\ or correct the problem?


Thanks,
Pawn

 

Hi,

I've run some diagnostic tests that came with the UBCD and found
0% damage in the whole HD showing a healthy system (result c/o HDTest).

I could normally browse the ramdisk (B:\) and D:\ drives through
xplorer2 except C:\. The only way I could browse C:\ is using
FileRecovery, where it shows C:\ containing about 40GB, FAT32,
bootable disk. I found copying the files possible, but I would need
a large storage space to transfer everything into.

Again, I tried running chkdsk /r on C:\ but still returns errors, saying that
the "Volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems".
And when I ran Bart's Stuff Test another error appears: data error
"'Cyclic Redundancy Check', getVolSize() on device failed."

On the xplorer2, all drives are shown but C:\ does not reveal disk details
(size, type, etc). When I right-clicked C:\ to view the properties, it would
say that it is not formatted and prompts me to format the drive. By the
way, I know C:\ and D:\ (partition?) belongs to the same HD, but I wonder
why only C:\ has the problem.

Is there any way that my laptop could get back to what it used to?

I really would appreciate all the help you can give.
Thanks very much in advance.

Pawn

 

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner If you can access the data at all on C: by using the UBCD4Win, use an external hard drive (or an internal one, whatever is easier) and copy the data that way. Luckily it's only 40gb. I've had to this with over 120gb worth of music, movies, pictures, and business/tax files. It's a good thing I have an external 500gb USB drive just for such occasions!

 

hi dlb,

thanks for replying back..
anyway, the crisis is already over.. yep, i used UBCD to recover and
redeem my HD back.. i already have backed-up my files so i need not
worry incase anything bad happens again, well hopefully not again or
very soon..

thanks very much for all your help.. i know you've been very busy
helping others, i understand that..


best regards and keep moving forward!
pawn