XP Pro On Dell Laptop Not Loading - Error Message Showing

Associate

Hi,

My brother has got a Dell Inspiron Laptop that has got Windows XP Professional installed on it (existing XP not recently installed or anything).

The laptop has been working fine up until today.....

When he starts the laptop, rather than XP loading up as normal and the desktop showing, a blue screen appears and shows the following message:


A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent harm to your computer.

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

If this is the first you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x000000ED ( 0X82AF8B80, 0xC0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000 )



*My brother hasn't installed any new hardware or software recently. I think he only downloaded Internet Explorer updates last week, and the laptop was working fine.


Any suggestions please on what we could try to resolve this preferably without losing any files etc?


Thank you!

santer_2

Have you got the XP CD or can you borrow a same version XP CD?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302

You may get lucky with this:

Tap the F8 key almost as soon as you press the power button, choose safe mode with command prompt, type

C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Then press enter, choose a recent restore point

If it will not restore but lets you choose safe mode with command prompt, type

chkdsk /r (with the space), then press enter, this will take ages, and is in five sections, though it will run through them by itself

Associate

santer wrote: »

Have you got the XP CD or can you borrow a same version XP CD?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302

You may get lucky with this:

Tap the F8 key almost as soon as you press the power button, choose safe mode with command prompt, type

C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Then press enter, choose a recent restore point

If it will not restore but lets you choose safe mode with command prompt, type

chkdsk /r (with the space), then press enter, this will take ages, and is in five sections, though it will run through them by itself

Thank you.

I can get hold of an XP CD that may not be a genuine version though; will that be ok?

Also, if we follow any of the above suggestions, will all the files (saved work, documents etc) remain in tact?

Thanks.

santer_2

Associate wrote: »

Also, if we follow any of the above suggestions, will all the files (saved work, documents etc) remain in tact?

Yes, because the first one is simply another way of starting system restore

System Restore helps you restore your computer's system files to an earlier point in time. It's a way to undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal files, such as e‑mail, documents, or photos.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/What-is-System-Restore

The second one checks the hard drive

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

http://www.modernstreet.com/windows/windows-chkdsk-utility/