HELP....argh, my computer won't start- blue screen error!

QT2006

Hiya,

There is something wrong with my mums PC. When it is turned on, it goes onto a black screen with white writing and says something like sorry for the inconvenience, then it counts down and goes to a blue screen error..

unamountable_boot_volume

then under technical info it says

STOP- 0X000000ED (0X86771C08, 0XC000009C, 0X00000000, 0X00000000)

Can someone help, I am really worried and have loads of stuff that i urgently need off the PC.

Thanks

QT x

Debt_Free_Chick

Oh dear ....

Check the cables - gently push the cable into the motherboard and the other end into the hard drive.

Reboot the PC - if you get the same error, get the XP CD and put it in the drive, start the PC ... at the prompt, select "Recovery Console". You'll need the administrator password, enter it then at the prompt type

chkdsk /f

The PC should then reboot (you might have to press a key) ... see what happens and report back.

zfrl

It is called the blue screen of death for a reason (bsod). Do you know any computer geeks (sorry computer experts) that could advise?

msmicawber

Hi,

The 'unmountable boot volume error' is a known Microsoft problem for XP. Start your PC with the Windows installation CD, then run the Recovery Console. Once the Recovery Console has started, type the command: CHKDSK /R and press Enter. (This checks the Windows installation and makes any necessary repairs.) Once the problem has been fixed, go to Microsoft's web site and download XP Service Pack 2 and this shouldn't happen again.

Debt_Free_Chick

msmicawber wrote: »

Hi,

The 'unmountable boot volume error' is a known Microsoft problem for XP. Start your PC with the Windows installation CD, then run the Recovery Console. Once the Recovery Console has started, type the command: CHKDSK /R and press Enter.

I think the only difference between the switch /r and /f is that /f will simply fix any bad sectors. /r will notify you and ask you what to do.

If you're happy to let Windows fix problems, use /f

QT2006

Hi thanks everyone for replies so far, she doesn't have the disk- i will get her to have a good look, is there anyway I can download it from somewhere?

Thanks

QT

QT2006

..anything??

QT2006

That sounds way to complicated.....is there no where I can download it from and burn it to a cd?

fwor

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I think the only difference between the switch /r and /f is that /f will simply fix any bad sectors. /r will notify you and ask you what to do.

If you're happy to let Windows fix problems, use /f

IIRC, the switches for chkdsk in the Recovery Console are completely different from the ones that you use from within Windows itself.

In the Recovery Console /f doesn't exist and you have to use /r instead. What had the programmers been smoking or drinking when they decided to implement it like that?

fwor

QT2006 wrote: »

That sounds way to complicated.....is there no where I can download it from and burn it to a cd?

M$ won't let you download stuff like that, but if you initially just need to get data off, then you might like to try one of the Linux LiveCDs.

Opinions vary about which is best, but you might try PClinuxOS or Ubuntu. These will boot from a CD and mount your PC's hard disk read-only, letting you copy your stuff onto a USB pendrive.

Debt_Free_Chick

fwor wrote: »

IIRC, the switches for chkdsk in the Recovery Console are completely different from the ones that you use from within Windows itself.

In the Recovery Console /f doesn't exist and you have to use /r instead. What had the programmers been smoking or drinking when they decided to implement it like that?

It's so long since I used it, I'd forgotten that. Looks like you are absolutely right - thanks.

Apologies to msmicawber