Blue Screen of Death

[countymounty]

I am working on a Dell Computer that when started it comes up to the Safe Mode Selection when choosing any option it will take be to the Blue Screen of Death that says;

“A problem has been detected & windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

If this is the first time you’ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. It this screen appears again, follow these steps:” Then it goes on to tell you to the different things to try such any new hardware and software, updates that have been made an so on. Nothing has been added the to computer and can’t get into windows to see if the any driver problems exist. At the bottom of the blue screen it says;

*** STOP: 0x000000ED C0x86544E30, 0x0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000


I have tried to repair windows with the OS disk but that does work the only option that seems to work is reformatting and reinstalling the OS. I would like to recover some of that data I have on the HD before formatting. Is there a way to do that? I was maybe thinking of installing the OS to a different partition and then backing up the files from there. Will that work? Or I could put the drive into a different computer as a slave and copy the files that way. Will that work without having to jump through a bunch of hoops with the folks at Microsoft because windows has detected a hardware change?

Any ideas and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

THANKS!

 

[NoCalAdmin]

can you just overlay the new OS? it will give you the option to save your data and just 'overlay' the os and repair your issues.

Tom

 

[linney]

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Look at the ChkDsk /r ,FixBoot, FixMbr, and BootCfg options from within Recovery Console.

"STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" Error Message When You Restart Your Computer or Upgrade to Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;297185&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

315403 - Stop 0x000000ED Error Message When Volume on IDE Drive with Caching Enabled Is Mounted

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315403&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Unmountable_Boot_Volume in WIN XP Pro
thread779-436409


If they don't work you could try repairing windows by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

If that still doesn't help, have at the suggestions about your Parallel install idea in this thread.

Cannot logon to winxp...losing lots of valuable documents
thread779-975236

If you go that way, these are handy to know.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP (Q308421)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/21.asp

Error Message: "Access Is Denied" When You Try to Open NTFS File System Folders

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q823306#appliesto

 

[countymounty]

Thanks for the help! I was able to get back to windows by using chkdsk /r. I ran updates, very few were needed, I was able to back up the data I needed. Windows seems to be working good except when I reboot, either a cold or warm boot, I get a "No Boot Disk". When I go into setup the drive is there and when boot into recovery using the XP CD and then resart the computer it will start back into windows just fine! Any Ideas what the problem could be? Would a fresh install of windows help? or is it a hardware problem?

Thanks Again for the HELP!!

 

[NoCalAdmin]

wouldn' reload anything. did you get errors in the chkdisk

Tom

 

[linney]

Your hard drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software (self-bootable) to thoroughly check the condition of your drive.

Is "No Boot Disk" the full exact message or does it says things like "Invalid" etc?

How does it boot from one of these boot disks?

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

Q305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

Is the Bios set to use the Safe Defaults setting?


"When I go into setup the drive is there", what setup would that be, the Bios?

 

[countymounty]

The full message is "No Boot Device Available" Stike F1 to Retry Boot or F2 for Setup Utility. In the Bios or Setup the drive is listed but when I exit setup I get the same message. Also I can't seem to find the Safe Default setting in the Bios either. I know I have seen it in other setup utilities on different computers but can't seem to find it in this one.

Thanks again everyone You are all GREAT!!

 

[phillid2]

Perhaps the master boot record is corrupt. I think the XP CD has an applet called bootfix.

Don Phillips

http://worthingtonengineering.com

 

[countymounty]

I just spent an hour on the phone with Dell tech support and after trying several different boot options we came to to conclusion that the drive is bad and they are sending me a new one.

Thanks for all of your help along the way!! It is, as alway greatly appreciated!!

 

[linney]

All the best, post back and let us know the result one way or the other.

 

[countymounty]

UPDATE FOR ALL!!

I received the new hard drive and proceeded to load windows on it when it came time to restart the computer the same problem occurred!! I thought it would, as I wasn't buying the HD problem as the Dell tech had thought. I emailed the problem into tech support as the hold time was extreme and received some advice that actually worked!! The tech that Emailed me back said that the problem I was experiencing was a know problem with my computer configuration. He told me to clear the NVRAM and set the BIOS back to the defaults and BAM everything worked like a charm!!

I would like to thank you all for your posts, suggestions and advice!

Thanks Again!!

 

[linney]

Also I can't seem to find the Safe Default setting in the Bios either"

How come you couldn't find that setting earlier when you tried? At least you scored a new drive from Dell, or do they want that back?

Glad you got it fixed, at last.