computer help........HELP!

[Cinderella]

I do not know what the heck i did........but.......

 

windows xp wont start......i get the screen with safe mode..last good config..etc to choose from.........but......none of them work......puter just keeps trying to reboot up.

 

I F8 'd and choose to not reboot at start up or something like that it says to try to get an error message.......

 

what i got was.

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

 

Im stumped......and no i do not have a cd to reboot from..my system has it all in it and for some reason I cant work around the problem this time and get going.

 

Now i did install a program that BuddyRich had mentioned to someone called " Advanced Windows care from www.iobit.com Its free and will clean up a lot of registry problems. "

I ran it and was done with the scan and was cleaning up stuff when it kind of froze so after sitting and sitting i shut down the puter and this is where i am.......

 

thank good ness we have the old puter for Haylie.........sloooooow but works...

 

is there anything i can do to at least get in to safe mode and restore my last good config.....i did do a restore point before i ran the scan

[ddoggma]

I googled that and came up with this among other stuff

 

http://www.alloytm.com/2008/05/30/unmountable_boot_volume/

 

Good luck. You may need something to get to the command prompt. Windows XP disk or a floppy maybe.

[bongobobny]

OK I'm thinking 1 of 2 things. The software did a no-no and screqed up the OS. Yes, you wil need a recovery disc which nowdays you have to purchase separately from the manufactrurer. It used to be you got a copy free with the computer as well as a copy of the OS but those days are long gone.

 

The second possibility, I hate to say, is that your hard drive took a dump. Had that happen a couple of years ago on a computer that was less than 3 years old...

[SilvrT]

Advanced Windows care from www.iobit.com Its free and will clean up a lot of registry problems.

 

Can't help you further with your problem other than what's been already posted. What I can say is... I am VERY SCEPTICAL of these so-called "Windows fixup" programs that seemingly are a dime-a-dozen on the 'net. I took a quick look at that site and immediately got outta there. There is only one Windows "cleaner" that's free off the 'net that I'd recommend and that is CCleaner.

 

Personally, I use a program called Fix-It Utilities that I've been using since Windows 98 and still works on Windows XP and surprisingly, on Vista! I haven't even upgraded to the latest version. The only part of it I use is the registry cleaner and it has never failed me and believe me, I've used it on hundreds of systems over the years.

 

Really wish I could offer more help but yu really need a boot CD.

[Cinderella]

yeah im afraid i have to find a boot cd to use....thought i had a copy a friend gave me a few years ago to install xp on the old puter..but whre the heck is it???

or ill have to do a recovery of the system by f10 ing but then i lose everything and it restores it to original .....all my programs gone....all my emails...all my book marks..arrrrrrrrrrr

thank god i backed up all my pics to cds a few weeks ago.....

 

been there done that before and i was sick having to lose it all

[SilvrT]

It's possible, if you find a boot CD, to restore the "boot partition" which is probably what's messed up, without loosing everything else. I'll look around for this info on how to d it as I'm certain I have it somewhere.

[SilvrT]

ok, here's a link....

 

http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3975

 

I believe I've used this method at some point in the past and I was surprised how easy it was.

 

Worst case scenario is yes, you may lose what you haven't backed up. Chalk it up to a "lesson learned" and move on .... been there myself a time or 2.

[Cinderella]

thanks for your help........guess ive got to keep searching for the cd and hope i find it....dont know how long i can stand it using the daughters puter....

dont have our email set up on hers either.......

[Cinderella]

guess I could blame it all on BuddyRich,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:rotfl:

[BuddyRich]

I use this on our pc's (250 of them) at work and it has never messed any of them up and does clean them up. I suspect what was happening is that when you thought it was locked up it was going thru a HD defrag. If you shut it down while it was defraging any of the boot files then that file was lost. Doing a repair may solve your problem but you will need to find the XP cd.

[SilvrT]

I use this on our pc's (250 of them) at work and it has never messed any of them up and does clean them up. I suspect what was happening is that when you thought it was locked up it was going thru a HD defrag. If you shut it down while it was defraging any of the boot files then that file was lost. Doing a repair may solve your problem but you will need to find the XP cd.

 

 

Good point and what I didn't mention... these programs that "clean Windows"... can cause a lot of damage if not used properly. Still somewhat skeptical tho about somke of them and I figgure the reason is, some of them just go ahead and "do it" without you even knowing what the heck they're doing... in other words, they don't give you any choices. One of my best pieces of advise is..."read the screens" and if in doubt, don't proceed (unless of course, you have a fail-safe backup plan).

[Bummer]

I've done the following a couple of times to save friends' computer data. I've never done it with XP.

 

You can get a Linux live disc - Knoppix, Ubuntu, etc - which runs a complete Linux OS off of the CD. They're free for the download online. Boot from the CD. Mount your windows partition (sometimes this is done automatically). Copy your important data to an external hard drive - pics, config files, etc.

 

Then you can reboot to windows and work with it using the standard windows tools and perhaps save it, or, failing that start fresh. You can then copy the stuff you put on the external drive back onto windows.

[TEW47]

I have used the programs you used and have NO problems at all. I use them all the time. They have really helped keep my computer running fast.

 

tew47

[Condor]

This may be dumb, but in the past ... like a couple of weeks ago...when the computer gets confoosed, and locks up, I find that sometimes unplugging it from the wall, and replugging, will straighten things out???