unmountable_boot_device

[Tronjuan]

I get this error on a friend's pc. Why doesn't XP have an
emergency disk like NT or a restore like Me? How do I get
into the drive with this type error? It appears the drive
itself has gone belly up...at least from an OS point of
view. Any suggestions other than replace the drive, FDISK,
Format and reinstall?

[Dave Douglas]

Q: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DEVICE? Help! What do I do? (#3495) (back)
A: So, you got a BSOD that says UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DEVICE, huh?

Well, before you panic, you can repair this.

Boot your system with the Windows XP Install CD, let the system boot
into the Setup. Once in the Setup, choose to run the Recovery Console.

You will now be presented with a screen similar to good old DOS.

At the prompt, type the following command: chkdsk C: /f

Replace C: with the letter of your system drive.

This will go into the File System and repair the damage that caused
the BSOD.

Once it is complete, reboot your system as normal and it should come
back to life.

If you need to do a deeper scan, such as looking for bad clusters,
replace the /f with a /r. This way it reads as chkdsk C: /r .

"Tronjuan" > wrote in message
...
> I get this error on a friend's pc. Why doesn't XP have an
> emergency disk like NT or a restore like Me? How do I get
> into the drive with this type error? It appears the drive
> itself has gone belly up...at least from an OS point of
> view. Any suggestions other than replace the drive, FDISK,
> Format and reinstall?


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[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Power off, open the case and reseat the hard drive IDE ribbon cable at
both ends.
If that fails:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=297185
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315403

Otherwise go to the website of the hard drive manufacturer and
download their hard drive diagnostics.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/newsgroups/setup.asp
Please respond to newsgroup only for everyone's benefit.


"Tronjuan" > wrote in message
...
> I get this error on a friend's pc. Why doesn't XP have an
> emergency disk like NT or a restore like Me? How do I get
> into the drive with this type error? It appears the drive
> itself has gone belly up...at least from an OS point of
> view. Any suggestions other than replace the drive, FDISK,
> Format and reinstall?