HP Pavilion with Unmountable_Boot_Volume Problem

[R Standring]

Hi all

I have an HP Pavilion 7955 running Windows XP home edition. It's been
running without any problems for nearly a year and now I get an
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME problem. I cannot boot into Windows even if I
choose Safe mode or Last Known Good mode.

HP ships this PC with XP stored on a hidden partition, so I could
reinstall everything but this is not an option as I have photos from
last weekend that I don't want to loose.

I spoke to HP in the UK and in France, as I'm English but live in
France, and both have told me that they will send me a disk but this
will take up to two weeks to get to me. It seems that it it is not
possible to download this disk - which to me seems crazy so I have to
wait. It also seems to be a well known problem which they knew about
straight away.

Does anybody have any experience of using the Unmountable_Boot_volume
recovery disk and know where I can download it. Does the disk have a
special format or is it more than one disk?

Thanks in advance.

Russell

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Russell,

It happens, and the normal steps to recover this require doing a repair =
installation (not a reinstall - there is a huge difference). Doing a =
repair install requires booting from the CD running setup in a =
particular manner. If the hidden recovery partition does not provide for =
these actions, then you will need to wait for the CD.

Follow these steps to do a repair install which should preserve your =
data, settings, and programs:

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM =
drive.
2. Restart your computer. If you have to, change the BIOS settings to =
start from
the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer again.
3. At the "Welcome to Setup" page, press ENTER.
4. Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
5. Use the arrow keys to select the installation of Windows XP that you =
want to
repair, and then press R to start the automatic repair process.
6. When Setup is completed, activate Windows XP.

Note that you will need your Product Key for this procedure, so have it =
handy before you begin. HP's steps may vary from this some, make sure =
you read their documentation before proceeding.

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - =
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"R Standring" > wrote in message =
om...
> Hi all
>=20
> I have an HP Pavilion 7955 running Windows XP home edition. It's been
> running without any problems for nearly a year and now I get an
> UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME problem. I cannot boot into Windows even if I
> choose Safe mode or Last Known Good mode.
>=20
> HP ships this PC with XP stored on a hidden partition, so I could
> reinstall everything but this is not an option as I have photos from
> last weekend that I don't want to loose.
>=20
> I spoke to HP in the UK and in France, as I'm English but live in
> France, and both have told me that they will send me a disk but this
> will take up to two weeks to get to me. It seems that it it is not
> possible to download this disk - which to me seems crazy so I have to
> wait. It also seems to be a well known problem which they knew about
> straight away.
>=20
> Does anybody have any experience of using the Unmountable_Boot_volume
> recovery disk and know where I can download it. Does the disk have a
> special format or is it more than one disk?
>=20
> Thanks in advance.
>=20
> Russell

[Nicholas]

Welcome to HP Instant Support Professional Edition:
http://instantsupport.hp.com/euserv/jsp/hpinstantsupport.jsp

HP Pavilion Desktop PCs - Performing a Full System Recovery in Microsoft =
Windows XP
http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/get_doc.pl?SNI=3Dpvpc&LC=3Dpersonal_=
computing&Tfile=3Dbph07145&Smplr=3DY=20


--=20
Nicholas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------------------------------

"R Standring" > wrote in message:
om...

| Hi all
|=20
| I have an HP Pavilion 7955 running Windows XP home edition. It's been
| running without any problems for nearly a year and now I get an
| UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME problem. I cannot boot into Windows even if I
| choose Safe mode or Last Known Good mode.
|=20
| HP ships this PC with XP stored on a hidden partition, so I could
| reinstall everything but this is not an option as I have photos from
| last weekend that I don't want to loose.
|=20
| I spoke to HP in the UK and in France, as I'm English but live in
| France, and both have told me that they will send me a disk but this
| will take up to two weeks to get to me. It seems that it it is not
| possible to download this disk - which to me seems crazy so I have to
| wait. It also seems to be a well known problem which they knew about
| straight away.
|=20
| Does anybody have any experience of using the Unmountable_Boot_volume
| recovery disk and know where I can download it. Does the disk have a
| special format or is it more than one disk?
|=20
| Thanks in advance.
|=20
| Russell

[Supertech]

Your problem is well know to almost all PC vendors. it is a "feature" of the
XP software. It is "fixed" by Service pak 1 or 1a . Unfortunately you need
the system up and SP1 or 1a installed. The issue is from the usage of
writeback cache on the new disk drives that if the system loses power or is
shutdown via the power switch before this "cache: data is flushed to the
drive the file system checks done during boot fail with no way out. The cd's
are burned on a case by case basis so that the vendor does not violate some
license rules some where. As
the specific hardware drivers for the specific box need to be on the cd so
that when it boots it will understand your system and do the recovery
(repair).

It works very well and your files will still be where you left them.
Please install SP1 ASAP after you recover your disk drive. If you do not
mind
a little "write to disk" slowdown just disable the cache in the hardware
manager drive etc.

Just wait for the CD mine came in 5 days but this was in the U.S. Follow the
directions that come with it!!!

Good luck,

"R Standring" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all
>
> I have an HP Pavilion 7955 running Windows XP home edition. It's been
> running without any problems for nearly a year and now I get an
> UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME problem. I cannot boot into Windows even if I
> choose Safe mode or Last Known Good mode.
>
> HP ships this PC with XP stored on a hidden partition, so I could
> reinstall everything but this is not an option as I have photos from
> last weekend that I don't want to loose.
>
> I spoke to HP in the UK and in France, as I'm English but live in
> France, and both have told me that they will send me a disk but this
> will take up to two weeks to get to me. It seems that it it is not
> possible to download this disk - which to me seems crazy so I have to
> wait. It also seems to be a well known problem which they knew about
> straight away.
>
> Does anybody have any experience of using the Unmountable_Boot_volume
> recovery disk and know where I can download it. Does the disk have a
> special format or is it more than one disk?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Russell