Help computer wont boot up

dbs

My computer wont boot up I get a screen giving options
1.Safe mode
2 Safe mode with command prompt
3 debugging mode
4 Use last settings

But what ever I choose I just get the message

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
stop oxooooooED
Unplugged printer and broadband usb connections but still no good.

Tried Windows xp disc still no good (never made a back up disc)

Re-installed old hardrive which works fine

How can I the faulty hardrive to work or should I buy a new one.

Browntoa

you need the restore disk for your Pc

is it a DELL ??

Browntoa

you need to put the disk in with Windows Xp on it and choose the "Repair" option that comes up on the menu

you may get asked for an Admin password, by default this is blank so just hit enter

you need to repair missing or corrupt ntldr or ntdetect.com files.
To replace damaged ntldr and ntdetect.com you can copy fresh files from the XP CD using the COPY command. Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (as above). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive letter, in my case it is ) allowing the files to overwrite the old files



COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

I fixed exactly the same problem a week ago by doing this !

you may be able to copy them over from the working hard disk you have set up to the faulty one if you install it as a slave drive , in which case

COPY C:\NTLDR
COPY C:\NTDETECT.COM

dbs

No its not a Dell computer

When I insert the XP disc nothing happens could I use a different XP disc to use the repair option if it works.

Old hardrive has Windows 2000 and is only 3 gig so dont think I can install XP on it.

Browntoa

have you changed the boot options in the bios (normally F2 when you turn the machine on) to boot from the CD first ??...it needs to boot to that disk first

Browntoa

list of codes to access bios

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

http://inquirer.philly.com/newsroom/faq/pages/fdb7df9-29.html

your current boot options will show c: then A: ??

once you have changed it to boot to cd-rom first save the changes and it will restart so make sure the Xp disk is in the drive

when you have finished you can go in and change it back to how it booted before but i leave mine set up lile that

dbs

No not pressed F2 button will give that a try when I re-install the faulty hardrive thanks.

Browntoa

like i say you could insert the faulty drive as a slave and copy that way

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=%2Fdirectory%2Fworldwide%2Fen-gb%2Fharddrive.asp

you need to change the setting on the back to slave while you do this, and then back to master when you connect as the main drive again

jpe20

Sounds initially like a faulty HD like a few people in here have said. There is something called BartPE or something like that which will try and boot up a partial WinXP screen so you can recover stuff from and mend some XP stuff.

Try command prompt even from a cd or floppy (using boot options) then run fdisk as I think that has a MBR (Master Boot Record ) repair feature.

Just Googled your error code ... so try this

Turn on the computer and insert the Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM drive.
Restart the computer.
Just after the keyboard lights flash on and off, press the Escape key (Esc).
Use the arrow keys to select CD-ROM and press ENTER.
At the message Press any key to boot from CD, press a key.
At the text-based menu, press R to enter the Recovery Console.
At the message Which Windows installation would you like to log onto? press 1, then press ENTER.
Enter the administrator password when prompted. If no administrator has been set, press ENTER.
At the C:\> prompt, type chkdsk /r, then press ENTER:
The chkdsk program will check the hard drive for errors and repair any errors it finds. This will take a while. After the chkdsk program is finished, type exit, then press ENTER:

I AM NOT AN EXPERT so treat this as a friendly offer of help!!!! Don't flame me if all goes pear shaped.

Jules

charlieheard

If you can get access to the internet and a CD burner, you can burn Knoppix onto a CD and use that to boot the PC (once you've enabled the "Boot from CD" in the BIOS)

You can then use this to move files off a PC onto a CD or a new drive.

I had a similar problem with my PC failing to boot a while back (it got a bit further in the load, but still wouldn't boot). I bought a new disk, installed it next to the old one, and changed the new one to the master and temporarily disconnected the old one. I installed Windows onto the new one, reconnected the old one and copied all I could across to the new disk before re formatting the old one.

dbs

Sorry about this but when I got to the recovery stage all I got was insert recovery disk which I do not have.

I ended up installing Windows XP along side my original installation which is partioned on my hardrive( I hope)
when I boot the computer with the CD it asks which installation do I want to choose which I did not have before.

How do I make a recovery disk on the new installed XP? then I need to uninstall this xp so I can go back to original installed XP.

Hopefully I have not lost my original XP.