Monday, January 10, 2011

Solved XP Error : Unmountable_Boot_Volume Blue Screen Of Death

Today one of my network system stopped working and stopped at BSOD with error Unmountable_Boot_Volume..

I googled and found it is because either your hard disk cable is not connected properly or your boot.ini file is on a bad sector which is not readable.. you have to recreate boot.ini on another sector.. to do that I found following

Advanced troubleshooting
These methods are intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, you might want to ask someone for help, use the Microsoft Customer Support Services Web site to find other solutions, or contact Support. See the "Next steps" section for more information about the Microsoft Customer Support Services Web site.

Begin by reading the "Technical information about the error" section to understand why the error might be generated and the purpose of the message. Otherwise, you can skip this information and begin with "Method 1: Check the error message" to help you resolve the issue.
Technical information about the error
This section provides some technical background about the cause of this error message and why it might be generated.

This behavior can occur if either of the following conditions is true:

    * Your computer uses an Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) hard disk controller, and the following conditions are true:
          o You use a standard 40-wire connector cable to connect the UDMA drive to the controller instead of the required 80-wire, 40-pin cable.
          o The basic input/output system (BIOS) settings are configured to force the faster UDMA modes.
    * The file system is damaged and cannot be mounted.

The purpose of this error message is to prevent the following two things:

    * Potential data loss caused by using an incorrect IDE cable for the faster UDMA modes. An IDE cable is a kind of cable used to connect storage devices, such as hard disks, inside a computer.
    * Continued access to a drive on which the file system is damaged

Method 1: Repair the volume
Note the second parameter (0xbbbbbbbb) in the error message. You might have to regenerate the error in order to write it down.

If the second parameter (0xbbbbbbbb) of the Stop error is 0xC0000032, the cause of the error is that the file system is damaged. You can try to repair the volume to see whether this resolves the error. If the second parameter is not 0xC0000032, see "Method 2: Check the IDE cable and load Fail-Safe settings" for help.
Some things that you should know before you try this solution

    * If the file system is damaged, you can use chkdsk /r command to repair the volume. However, if you use the chkdsk /r command, you may lose some data.
    * You will need the Windows startup disks or the Windows installation disk. If you do not have them, contact the computer manufacturer for help in obtaining the disks.
    * You will need the administrator password to complete the steps.

To repair the volume, follow these steps:

   1. Start your computer by inserting the Windows startup disks or the Windows installation disk if your computer can start from the CD drive.
   2. When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press R to select the repair option.
   3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
   4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted to do this.

      Note If no administrator password exists, press ENTER.
   5. At the command prompt, on the drive where Windows is installed, type chkdsk /r, and then press ENTER.
   6. At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to restart your computer.
   7. After you repair the volume, check your hardware to isolate the cause of the file system damage.

If this procedure does not work, repeat it, but type fixboot instead of chkdsk /r in step 5.

If you are still unable to resolve the issue, please see the "Next steps" section for help.
Method 2: Check the IDE cable and load Fail-Safe settings
If your computer uses a UDMA hard disk controller, try these steps. If your computer does not use a UDMA hard disk controller, see the "Next steps" section for help.

    * If your UDMA hard disk is connected to the controller with a 40-wire UDMA cable, replace the cable with an 80-wire cable.
    * In the BIOS settings for your computer, load the 'Fail-Safe' default settings, and then reactivate the most frequently used options, such as USB Support.

If you are not sure how to follow these steps, contact the manufacturer or refer to the user’s guide that was included with your hardware.

If it be the connector cable problem then replace the 40-wire cable with an 80-wire UDMA cable.
If it's a BIOS settings problem then  load the 'Fail-Safe' default settings, and then reactivate the most frequently used options such as USB Support.


Above one was with hardware stuff.. I solved it with following method.. Which really worked..


1.Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted.

2.When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

3.If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.

4.When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.

5.At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /R , and then press ENTER.(it may run faster till 10% - 30%  but don't shutdown if it's slowly that 1% increment take 10 minutes. it will happen if your disk has too much data.. just let DOS do it's work..)


6. Once that is done, type FIXBOOT at the C:\ prompt. When you see the "Are you sure you want to write a new boot sector?" prompt, press Enter.

7. Type Exit at the C:\ prompt. If the drive has been flagged as dirty, a surface scan may be initiated upon reboot. The computer will reboot into Windows. Remember to change the boot order back to the hard drive.

This takes a bit longer, but the system should boot back into Windows.

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