unmountable_boot_volume

I get this "Blue Screen ", and this unmountable boot volume message. It won't boot up!
I booted up from the XP cd, and tried the suggestions. One was at the command prompt, type chkdsk /r, and chkdsk /p, and also, fixboot. Nothing has helped my system. Anyone have any suggestions?
Bob

 

If you have a floppy drive, download this XP boot floppy and double click it to run it. It will build a boot floppy that you can use to attempt to get into Windows. You may need to set your bios/cmos to check the floppy drive first.

If that works we can have a good chance at fixing your problem.

If you have no floppy drive, post back and I'll hook you up with another download that can create a boot CD that does the same job.

 

unmountable boot volume

Sorry no floppy in my system.

 

XPbootISO

If you have a burner you can download that ISO file and create a boot CD that will boot an XP system that has bootloader problems. You may need to reset your bios/cmos boot sequence to check the CD-ROM drive first.

 

unmountable boot volume

I'm not sure what file you want me to download.

 

unmountable boot volume

That active link has disappeared! Can you send it again?
Bob

 

HERE

 

unmountable boot volume

I must be stupid or something! I download the file and go to open it and it says to insert the Sonic Record Now disk. What am I doing wrong here.

 

Sonic Record Now is a burner software program so try putting a new blank CD-R in your drive bay and see what happens. If may offer you a chance to burn a CD from that ISO file. That's the way it's supposed to work anyway. YMMV

If you have further problems, post back as to what kind of burner software you have and perhaps someone with the same kind can direct you. That's an ISO file and not meant to be opened. It's to be used to create a CD that is an exact copy of the CD that created the ISO file.

 

unmountable boot volume

I have a new CD-R disk in the burner.

 

unmountable boot volume

I have Sonic Record Now ver. 7.3
Nero

 

unmountable boot volume

It still wouldn't work. The burn button won't high light.

 

unmountable boot volume

OK, I burned the disk. Tried to boot up the system with the disk. It gave me this error message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root> \ System32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
How do I do that?
Bob

 

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxphome/installxpcdrepair/part1.htm

It's 99.9 % never just the hal.dll file, it's the whole system that's corrupt. I assume that you tried both partitions of drive #1 as presented by that boot CD.

That confirms that your bootloader files are not the problem so you'll need to do a "Repair Install" or else a clean install. The repair install will save your personal settings and files and any installed software you may have added after Windows was installed. The clean install will wipe the drive and install Windows anew with none of your files preserved.

There is a good guide for both of those procedures here.

And a pictoral guide for the repair install here.

 

unmountable boot volume

Sorry for the long delays, but very busy here!

I tried the windows reinstall, but I don't have the XP Home disc for the other computer. It's a Gateway. We bought it with Win 98, and upgraded it to Win XP, when it came out. It must have been a online download upgrade. All I have is System Restoration CD, but I'm sure it's Win 98. I do have a Dell Operating System windows XP Home. I tried that disk, but it doesn't follow the repair reinstallation , photo setup online that you sent me. Would the Dell be different than the Gateway XP disk? Will I need to download a copy or get one from Gateway?

 

unmountable boot volume

I guess I got someone mad! No more help on this subject!

Does anyone know if I can use the damaged drive as a slave?