Toshiba Satellite Vista Unmountable Boot Volume

My daughters laptop will go to the windows screen where the blocks are going across the screen before the desktop loads, then starts all over again rebooting. I was able to run ubuntu from disk and see her files, also I ran seatools and that says the hard drive is ok. We don't know what the last thing was done on this laptop her and the 4 kids use the laptop. I know when I gave her this laptop as a gift I personally burned the disks, however the disks have gone missing. I can get to windows repair but nothing seems to repair this. I did some searching on the net to find the things that I tried, I just seem to be getting nowhere. I see a lot of mention that its a bad mother board or bad hard drive. If I can count on the seatools as being correct, then nothing is wrong with the hard drive. I am not sure what to try next.
I do have my own Toshiba Satellite that is a different model and I have my disks, they are Toshiba disks, not a copy of windows.
I did notice a Bios update is available for her laptop, not sure if that would help or how to get it there.
As always when im stumped I come to the experts

 

If it starts Windows and restarts then I think it is just a Windows problem.

A couple things you can try:

1) Try F8 repeatedly during the Toshiba screen to get to the Safe Mode options and then Choose: Last Known Good Configuration.

2) You can get to the repair tools. After automatic repair fails, try hitting the Next button to get to the screen with 5 options. Command prompt should be the fifth option. Select that and then run the two following commands to check for corrupted files:

chkdsk c: /r
chkdsk d: /r

Try to boot normally.

 

I have tried last good configuration, also tried to get to safemode, got nowhere with either one of them. It just goes back to the loop I seem to be stuck in.
I can try them again, and let you know exactly what happens when I do try.

thanks for the help

 

safe mode loads the drivers and stops at
Loaded \windows\system32\drivers\crcdisk.sys
Says Please wait, been about 10 mins now
And back at to the reboot

 

Last known good configuration gives me a blue screen, then back into the windows loading blocks i went back to the f8 and picked not to restart on error, then got the blue screen that says PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
This one is new last blue screen I got was the Unmountable boot volume.

 

Do you have an option for repair tools? Can you try the chkdsk from there using the command prompt?

http://img.technospot.net/windows-vista-system-recovery-tool-windows-7.jpg

 

I have used Automatic Repair many time and your right, it never did a thing for me! Thanks for the giggle

Running chkdsk c: /r now

Its taking a while but already replaced bad clusters in 6 files.
Will be back with results later

Thanks again!

 

yes I do find that and am using it now for the check disk commands

 

Is chkdsk still running?

 

I have a question.
I thought somehow my chkdsk got closed since it is missing from my screen, last I saw it was at 16% and a whole list of items it has fixed. So I tried to start it again, opened command prompt again from the screen and it tells me it cant do chkdsk since it is already running, it asked if i want to dismount the disk and i said no, asked if i want it to scan on reboot i said no. So I assume it didn't accidentally close but is still running where I cant see it.

My system recovery options window is still where I left it on the screen

 

I'm not sure. Does Alt + Tab or Windows key + Tab bring up the chkdsk window?

It seems it is running rather long. I usually have about 50gb for my OS partition and a chkdsk /r doesn't take more than 1/2 hour. Stage 4 is the long one.

 

How long should it take to run? There are 223168 files to process.

 

it was on stage 4 last I saw and finding lots of corrupted files, it was at 16 % complete for a few hours it felt like. well since i said it started on the thread. I have it back and its at 16% now still

* just wanted to say that the numbers are moving up*

 

That does not sound too promising. I'd go ahead and leave it run, see what it can do.
I would think most of the critical OS files are at the beginning of the drive so they may have been processed already. But even if it could start Windows, another chkdsk would be the first thing to do to figure out what shape the HD is in.

Check it in an hour or two and see if it has made any progress.

 

ok will do! Thanks for your time in this mess

Stage 4 of 5
42240 of 223152 files processed

 

I should explain that the first three stages are equivalent to a chkdsk /f and may have fixed any problems with the overall file system. If it was a file system problem the computer may boot if you quit the chkdsk (basically by shutting down). Stage 4 is the surface scan where it tires to read every sector of the HD and any ones that give it trouble, it copies the information it can retrieve to a new area of the disc. Stage 5 is a quick clean up.

If it really begins to look like it has stalled then you can always quit the chkdsk and try to boot and then run the chkdsk later but I would give it a bit more time.

 

even tho it is still at 16% the numbers are moving, it is now at 47641 of 223152, is it safe to assume that because the numbers are moving at a steady rate that something is working? It is also still making a list of replacing bad clusters in (the path and name of the file) Its in what im assuming is the program files now (progra~1)

 

If the numbers are moving it is working. Sounds like you are going to have to let it run overnight.

My guess is the HD is going bad. There really shouldn't be that many errors. I'd let it run overnight and see how the progress goes. If it finishes up you can try to boot Windows. I think no matter what we should determine the make/model of HD and run the manufacturer's HD diagnostic to determine the health of the drive. HD errors tend to multiply quickly as a HD goes bad, so you may be in a similar situation in a few weeks even if chkdsk can fix the current errors. But for now one thing at a time.

 

Oh, and you can skip the chkdsk on D:. In the recovery environment sometimes the drive letters are shifted and I just wanted to make sure the chkdsk was going to be done on the Windows partition. The current chkdsk is obviously working on the Windows partition and that is all we needed.

 

I restarted the computer and got a new blue screen that said PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

I opened the back and got the hard drive number
It says Toshiba on it with the number MK1652GSX

Did some searching and ran into Fujitsu, the web site says:
"Fujitsu Limited has transferred its hard disk drive (HDD) business to Toshiba Corporation on October 1st, 2009. Please visit the Toshiba Web Site to see past Fujitsu hard disk drive OEM products."
So I have been unable to find a tool to check this hard drive, this is the reason I used Seatools after reading that it could be used to test other HD

 

I was able to find a disk program on the Toshiba website called "fjdt_700"
The read me says :
FJDT ver 7.00 is provided for use in checking FUJITSU IDE drives for possible
defects/problems at the user side.
This program version only works with the following FUJITSU IDE drive models:

2.5 inch drives:
-----------------
{ "FUJITSU M271xT" }
{ "FUJITSU M272xTA" }
{ "FUJITSU MHxxxxxxx" }
{ "FUJITSU MJxxxxxxx" }

3.5 inch drives:
-----------------
{ "FUJITSU M16xxTAU" }
{ "FUJITSU MPA3xxxAT" }
{ "FUJITSU MPB30xxATU E" }
{ "FUJITSU MPB30xxAT" }
{ "FUJITSU MPC3xxxAT" }
{ "FUJITSU MPC3065AH" }
{ "FUJITSU MPD3xxxAT" }
{ "FUJITSU MPE3xxxAT" }
{ "FUJITSU MPF3xxxAT" }
{ "FUJITSU MPF3xxxAH" }
{ "FUJITSU MPG3xxxxxxx" }
{ "FUJITSU MPH3xxxAH" }

 

I called Toshiba this morning and I was told there is no program that I can use to check this HD, said I can take it in and they will put the hard drive in another laptop to see if it works. I have a Toshiba myself and tried to do that already. This laptop we are working on the HD has screws on the sides that wont let it fit in my laptop. So I thought I would put my hard drive in this laptop but my HD has tabs on the end that wont let it fit in this laptop.

I was not to sure about taking out the screws if it was just holding a bracket, or bending the tabs on mine. I would do either of these if I was sure I wasn't going to mess something up.

 

I let start up repair run again this morning and I see in the details it says "System volume on disk is corrupt"

 

There does not appear to be a diagnostic for Toshiba brand HD. The site I use to find diagnostics points to the Fujitsu but as you said that is only for the newest drives.

Since there is still corruption, all I can recommend is to run another chkdsk. It may not be as slow this time.

I'm going to look at the new error message but I think corrupt files are the root of the problem.

 

Yes, everything I see points to file corruption. You could try safe mode again after the chkdsk to see if it freezes at the same file as it did earlier.

As far as the laptop HD not fitting the HD themselves are standard size. It sounds like they may have two kinds of brackets but the brackets are removable and the drives could be switched. I'm not sure what that would tell you. Since the machines have different HD even the working Windows HD would likely not boot in the different machine.

 

I did try safe mode again earlier and it stopped at the same crcdisk.exe then went to the blue screen PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

the two hard drives are the same except for the way they are held in, the guy at Toshiba said I could get a USB item that makes them external and try that way. I think I have seen this before but not sure what its called.

 

I looked at that error and again the fix was chkdsk. It seems the HD is severely corrupted.

I'm not sure what you can gain from attaching the HD to another computer. The HD is not entirely dead since it tries to start Windows and you can see your files from Linux. A reinstall of Windows could be an option but I am thinking the HD is too far gone to be reliable despite what SeaTools says.

Something like this would be an easy way to connect the drive without worrying about removing the brackets which might keep it from fitting into an enclosure.

Edit: One other thing I had seen but never tried was running a disk check from Linux. I don't know if Ubuntu has the ntfsfix utility. Take a look at this guide and see about half way down it has a section for doing A basic disc check. Now, it says it is far less comprehensive than Windows chkdsk but it could be a last ditch option to see if it makes any difference.

 

At this point would you think this is a hard drive problem? I need this laptop to be reliable for my daughter to do her online classes. She has returned back to school to work on getting her masters. School started last Mon. I am thinking if this is a hard drive problem, might just be best to pop a new one in and be done with it. The next problem I would run into with that is she still has not located the disks. If I copy this HD to a new one will her windows still be a working copy of her windows vista, or will we run into problems with that also?

 

I went ahead and downloaded and ran Puppy Linux check disk on both sda1 and sda 2, both processed successfully

 

I truly believe the HD should be replaced. Two or three chkdsks and no success and each time new errors are found says the HD is bad to me.

I don't know if there is any chance of salvaging the current Vista installation. If you used a cloning software to copy the HD to a new one it will copy what it can. I just don't know what exactly what you would end up with. A non-bootable Vista is likely, but what a chkdsk on that copy would do I can't say. Or whether attempting a System Restore would work or not.

Did you notice in puppy were there just two partitions starting with "sda"? I'm wondering if there is a recovery partition there. All the partitions starting with sda are on the HD. Usually sda1 would be the tiny boot partition of about 100mb with a boot folder and maybe bootmgr file. Sda2 would be Windows partition. Recovery partition would be between 6-10gb and have a couple of large files on it. I'm thinking that if there is a recovery partition that it may be less damaged since it has not changed much since the computer was new. It might clone well.

 

Just so you can see what I am up to and maybe you know if this means anything :
In Puppy Linux I found "cf disk" decided to see if it would show me the partitions. It didn't show me but it did come up with a "fatal Error: Bad primary partition ends in the final partial cylinder" the r was chopped off the end of the word cylinder so not sure if it ended there or not
Not sure if it all even means anything

 

It does have
Sda 1 that is 1.4 GB Label is "toshiba system volume" , this shows flags for boot and diag
Sda 2 is 147.58 GB this one shows no flags

This is in Puppy

 

I think the recovery partition would have to be larger than 1.4gb.
Try Menu>System>Gparted just to double check that there are only the two.

 

I have just got a warning in Gparted (in Puppy) saying that the disk has bad sectors, this means physical damage on the disk surface caused by deterioration,manufacturing faults or other reason.The reliability of the disk may stay stable or degrade fast. We suggest making a full backup urgently by running ntfsclone -- rescue then run chkdsk /f /r on windows and reboot it TWICE! Then you can re size NTFS safely by additionally using the bad sectors option of ntfsresize.

I think I will just call this the second bad HD I have seen in my PC years, thats not really a bad track record in my opinion.

I see a new in the package same HD for $60, and that nifty link you sent me with the adapter. I am just not sure if we will have to buy an operating system, but I will first see how much replacement disks are. The sticker is non readable on the bottom of this laptop with the key or I might ask if any vista disk could be used with her key.
I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help! You are so kind

 

OOPs Im sorry I forgot to answer your question there are only 2 partitions and I double checked the sizes and it is correct. How ever I wrote GB and in the program they write GiB

 

Only two bad HD ever! That is a very good track record. I think I had three bum HD in one year back in the day.

You are right to replace the drive and be done with it. They never suddenly get better.

I'm not sure how Toshiba works with their replacement discs. Post the model number of the laptop and I'll take a look around tomorrow to see if I find anything of interest. On rare occasions you can find a copy of recovery discs that someone has shared but it is very rare. Most likely you will have to go through Toshiba or their affiliate store.

Edit: I think that 1.4gb is Toshiba Tools like diagnostics or such. It doesn't contain a system image if I remember correctly.

 

I think its from 2008 so its not like a new HD gone bad and its been through 4 kids also.

Toshiba Satellite L305-55894

wow you have had some not so good luck with the HD's You should be done now for life!

oh is there a file i can swipe from here that would have her key on it since we cant read the sticker anymore?
What a crazy place to put stickers with important keys anyways !

 

You may want to stay away from Toshiba HD since they are no longer supported by Toshiba. You could get a larger capacity HD for similar price. You just want to make sure it is a laptop model 2.5inch, probably SATA, and match the RPM 5400 or 7200. You don't necessarily have to match RPM but I think the 7200RPM run slightly warmer and if you have a laptop that runs warm you probably want to stick to 5400 if that is what came with it. (Totally up to you. )

No matter what you buy you will need to reuse your mounting bracket so keep the old HD until you have the new one installed.

***
I'm not sure on getting the key. I think there was a program that could retrieve a key from a non-booting OS. I'll take a look through some old posts tomorrow. It is not magic jelly bean but something newer. I think it may have product in the name. BTW, the Vista key tags were notorious for wearing off. They didn't coat them properly or used cheap paper or something.

 

Toshiba Satellite L305-55894

I think staying with the same speed is the best bet, I am always trying to remind them to not put it in the bed or couch. I am not sure if this laptop runs hot, but I do know the outside forces are against it. Please correct me if I'm wrong. As far as size goes more space is always a good thing I think. However the budget is tight right now especially if a new OS will be needed.
I am also not stuck on Toshiba HD just something that works and fits, I wasn't sure how to find a laptop HD so I just Google this HD number

 

Hi I have one more question if you might know. I have spent the day backing up files from this laptop, she has tons of music on here and I wonder if you know where to get the permissions for the music that you buy from itunes. I see a lot of itunes on here im not sure if she has any other. Also is there anyplace that would give me a hint of whats important to back up besides her files, like the permissions for itunes, in case im forgetting something else? I know I need the windows key, her music, photos and documents. Just dont want to get to the point where I say "Oh I should have..."

 

Sorry, I never got back to this thread.

I did take a look at HD and figure you might as well go with the Toshiba since you found a good price, it is guaranteed fit and they have a three year warranty. Most other manufacturer's seem to be down to two years for laptop drives.

I did not find any recovery CDs. You could fill out this form and see if Toshiba offers them and what the price would be. https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/serviceUnitVerification.jsp?orderType=SFF

I found one program for offline product keys http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html but it is a Windows program. You are accessing your files from Linux not Windows correct?

I'm really don't know what to tell on what to back up. Besides those you mention she might want her bookmarks for her web browser. I don't do itunes maybe you can make a post about the permissions question? I thought there was a way an itunes user could redownload their music if they had a HD failure (like they kept track of what you bought) so perhaps the newly installed program would be able to validate the music you are saving? I'm sure someone here at MG uses itunes and is familiar with the rules.

 

Here is a link to using Produkey after having saved the Windows/system32/config folder.

You have to use the program on a working computer. When they say "load" the keys they just mean display the keys. It won't make any change to the computer you are running the program from.

 

I found an ordered a CD from Toshiba $29.95, and daughter said no worry about the music.
Yes on the Linux, I did find a key finder that runs in DOS, I have it loaded on my thumb drive but haven't tried it yet. I also ran into something that said I may be able to call Microsoft and get the key from them, so I may try that if this little program doesn't work.
As for your not getting back it hasn't been that long and I do understand you have a life! I do not expect you to be here all the time. It is the weekend and if you are like me you may be getting ready for the tropical storm or hurricane

 

Luckily, I don't have to worry about the hurricane. You take care!

The Toshiba DVD should be automatic and not require your inputting a key. It will verify that it is installing on the appropriate model and then just do it without asking for any key, as far as I know. Every restore disc I have used works that way.

If you use Office then that might need its own key unless it was preloaded on the laptop. If the laptop came preloaded with Office programs then again you shouldn't need the key as it should again install without a separate key.

 

I installed office on her computer and I have that key saved, I must have forgot to save her windows key.
*** stopped here to do a search on my computer for her office key****
this made me look for her office key, so searched my computer and right there in the folder is a picture of the bottom of her laptop when it was brand new. I do have the key
Your brilliant!