Win XP - Unmountable Boot Volume - Clean Install

[mpjura]

Hello.

I'm trying to install a clean copy of Windows XP. I did a slow format of the drive. It got through the initial file copy stage just fine. When the machine reboot to go into the GUI portion of the set up, I got a BSOD - "Unmountable Boot Volume".

I ran chkdsk /p, and it said that the drive had some bad sectors. I then ran chkdsk /r to fix the sectors.

I restarted the machine and booted from the XP install CD again. I deleted the partition and created a new one, then did another slow format. This time, the machine got into the GUI, but hung at 39 minutes for about an hour.

I formatted again and tried to start over, but got the Unmountable Boot Volume error again.

Here is my system setup:
Mobo - MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU - OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V
RAM - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
HDD - Western Digital Caviar 200GB IDE (unsure of model, i'll update when I get home)
Optical - IDE Optical Drive (unsure of model, i'll update when I get home)

These were the only devices that were connected at the time.

Here is some more background to my problem. A few months ago, a working rig started blue screening with "IRQ less than or equal" errors and another that I don't remember right now.

I tested the RAM and did a burn in on the CPU and both came out fine. I figured it was the motherboard, so I started saving for a new one (the MSI above). This board just came in and I installed it and now am getting these boot volume errors.

I've ordered a new HDD and a copy of Vista Ultimate (cheap bundle deal) in hopes that the hard drive is the only thing that is bad.

Any ideas from the symptoms I've described on what the problem might be?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[belfasteddie]

Xp Is fussy about the media surface, if at all flaky it will kick up. I have got past this by creating two partitions. The 1st at 15 gig with Xp installed and the 2nd the remainder. The particular Hard drive is still going 3 yrs on.

[mpjura]

Media surface meaning the CD or the HDD?

Either way, I'm confused how creating 2 partitions would help. I apologize for asking questions about your response, I just want to know why I'm doing something before I do it.

Thanks for the reply.

[mpjura]

Not sure if this is related to the problem at all, but the IDE hard drive I'm using is probably around 5 years old.

[mpjura]

Originally Posted by mpjura

Here is my system setup:
Mobo - MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3GHz[/B]
Power Supply - OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V
RAM - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
HDD - Western Digital Caviar 200GB IDE (unsure of model, i'll update when I get home)
Optical - IDE Optical Drive (unsure of model, i'll update when I get home)

sorry.. fixed.

[Gambu]

Hi mpjura!

First, I have a question for you: have you recently done a forced shut-down of your computer? Like holding the power button until it turns off, pulling the power plug, turning off the power supply, or possibly even just tapping the power button on the machine rather than shutting down through Windows?

I'd love to help but I need a response ;)

[mpjura]

Hi Gambu!

Yes. My daughter often comes over to the computer and pushes the power button because it glows a pretty blue.

I think this is actually what started the problems I was having in the first place. The drive I am using now was a slave drive used for storage in my first machine though, so I can't say for sure if there was data being written when the shutdowns happened, but its possible.

[Gambu]

Well then we've located the cause of the problem, now let's work on the fix!

While awaiting your reply I dug a little deeper and found a Microsoft help page (with solution) for your error: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/q297185/

I hope this helps and if you need any more help please feel free to come back!

[mpjura]

Thanks Gambu.

I tried the chkdsk /r with no results.

I will check the IDE cable and try loading fail safe's in the bios. I'll report back either way.

Thanks again.

[Gambu]

Not a problem. I look forward to hearing from you again.

[Riskyone101]

This might help: you need a harddrive utility for your harddrive

Go here: https://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Just lookup the harddrive you have and download the utility for it.

Run a harddrive test first. if harddrive checks out then run a format with

the harddrive utility. Now try your disc again.