My life has not been going too well recently and Windows has to top it off by corrupting the hard drive. When I boot up I get the blue STOP error screen with the message UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME. I have tried rebooting into safe mode and I get the same error. Linux off a live CD is my only option for using that PC now. Unfortunately I can't even install Linux on it as it can't mount the HDD or load any data onto it.
The PC is (was...) running Windows XP Home SP2 and no software or hardware changes have occured for a while, so I have ruled out that causing the problem. The PC is a NEC PowerMate I-Select Multimedia and I have emailed NEC support for advice. As far as I can remember, it is possible to boot into the Recovery Console and run either FIXBOOT or CHKDSK to fix the problem. NEC, in their infinite wisdom, have put a copy of the Recovery Console on the damn hard drive!
Like many PC suppliers, NEC failed to give me an XP CD, so I can't use it to get into the Recovery Console, but I am sure that by doing that I would not lose any data or settings, and it might actually work again. My question is, is it possible to run something like FIXBOOT or CHKDSK from Linux on an unmountable drive, or is it legal for me to download an XP CD to try and fix the problem? With the PC having an OEM edition of Windows though, I am still not sure that would work.

Thank you in advance for any guidance or information you can provide to avoid me having to take the PC down to a repair shop when I should be able to solve the problem myself.

I don't exactly know what this error means, but this is my guess. It either sounds like a problem with the partition table, or the file system for your drive is screwed up. Can you view your files on the drive from your linux live cd? If the drive doesnt even show up or you cannot mount it, it means your partition table is screwed up, which means that a virus most likely caused the problem. If you see the drive but can't view it, there is a problem with the file system, which is also most likely caused by a virus. I do not think FIXBOOT or CHKDISK will work from Linux, especcally not on an unmountable drive. Your best bet is to get a copy of a Windows XP cd. FIXBOOT still might not fix your problem, CHKDISK is what I would use first. I hope it all goes well for you. Post back.



NEVER download a CD off the internet. Microsoft gets pissed off when people do that.

Well I doubt a virus caused the problem, as I have up to date firewalls and scan my PC regularly. When I try and mount the drive from a live CD I am told that it can't be mounted, so the partition table has probably gone. I am asking around to see if anyone has an XP CD, or seeing if I can borrow one from somewhere, along with asking NEC to either send me a CD or send an engineer out to do it.

Is it possible to repartition the drive with a live CD, even if I partitioned the whole thing as one big partition, without losing any data?

I guessed Microsoft wouldn't like it, but as they offered bootable floppies for XP I thought there may have been an outside chance that a bootable CD was also available for download. For the time being I'll sit here playing Planet Penguin Racer and Tuxkart

Although Im not a linux user or expert but i google your problem saw a few sites that could answer what your asking but the closes one i got that could provide answers comes from this site.

The guy has a different computer but the solution could work.

http://www.helpshare.com/qhome.asp?qid=2609

OK, thanks for the replies guys. NEC haven't replied yet, but I have managed to get SimplyMepis to mount the hard drive and I'm burning backups of everything now. Windows still refuses to boot up though, and the recovery console still wont load. At least now I know my data is safe. I've tried using some of the stuff in the link you suggested S_M but the problem still hasn't been fixed. I'll keep you posted.

You can also but a new harddisk with the same size as your current drive.

Copy the recovery console to the new one (with ghost or acronis drive image, ... ).

Try to recover (reinstall) from your new harddrive.
Then place the old drive as slave, and then you have your data back.

An other option is write your recovery console on a bootable CD/DVD.
Reboot from that CD/DVD and install the system.
But here you have to watchout that you don't overwrite your data.

A good bootCD for recovering some data are :

Ultimate Boot CD (free)

An other good tool is ERD Commander (http://www.winternals.com/Products/Default.aspx) but it's not free.

I've been trying the UBCD and a few of the utilities on it have given me the response of Disposition Code = 0x72, which I'm investigating. NEC are sending an engineer over tomorrow morning to do what they have called an in-depth troubleshoot. I'm not really sure what it entails but I have been assured that they will do everything they can to get it working again. I suppose it is really cheaper for them to try and fix the drive than replace a 400GB drive.

kdr_98, I don't have a spare HDD lying around to try and recover from, and I'm not sure where the recovery console is stored on the disk to copy it. I'm still burning backups of everything I can access onto anything in sight.

Update: The guy from NEC turned up and just replaced the hard drive with a nice shiny new one. I'd never opened the case on this PC before (it's rented, long story) and it was weird to see how everything was laid out in this PC. Completely different to anything I'd seen before. The hard drive he replaced, for example was mounted vertically at the back of the case, rather than in the logical place in a drive bay, even though there is one free. Now I just have to wait a few days for some CDs to be shipped over from France to reload their OEM version of Windows back onto it.

This post has been edited by rvalkass: Oct 24 2006, 02:02 PM

Thats the problem these days , drives are getting faster and have a higher spin speed (7200 or even more).
This results in more heat production.

In some brand cases everything is packed together leaving almost no room for cooling.
When the drives are getting hot , they give some problems.

After spending over an hour on the phone listening to 80s and 90s power ballads whenever the guy put me on hold, finally the new hard drive has everything loaded onto it and we're up and running. The case has got a lot of room inside and it is relatively cool, around 55 degrees C normally. Now it's just a matter of loading all my software and files back on...