I don't think I posted about this when it happened. If I did I can't find the thread (I did a search).

I was doing a wipe disk system restore on my HP when I cut the power after the registration part. I thought the comptuer had froze (which it may have done).

When I turned it back on I got the uber blue screen of death and it said "unmountable boot error". I did every known start method and it wouldn't start. Frustrated and annoyed with the computer in general I went out and bought a Dell.

Now my old PC has been sitting around until I got around to ordering boot disks for it (it didn't come with any). The questions are these: 1) what is an unmountable boot error? 2) will the boot disks fix this? 3) is there any way to recover the information?

The above questions are asked by someone who is computer litterate but not internal wise. I couldn't pull the hard drive and hook it up to another comptuer to save stuff.

I'm really curious to what an unmountable boot error is. I want to sell the computer, I can get a few hundred if I can sell it running. If I sell it as is, I'll get about $50.

Thanks! And if I asked this before I'm gonna feel stupid cause I can't remember nor can I find the thread.

Recover Information - Not Likely

You referr to them as "Boot Disks". Is this the restpre disks, or just XP boot disks? :confused:

If they are XP disks, you could try a repair. If they are just restore disks, I don't think you can.

I think they will be the system boot disks. Humm...I have Dell boot disks, can I use those on an HP?

You could try it. Is it a CD or a floppy?

Here's the problem: your hard disk most likely has some corrupted data that is making it unmountable. And since it's the boot disk, you can't boot. You just need to give the computer something to boot from. A floppy or a CD will work.

Once you've booted then you can run diagnostics on the hard disk and/or reformat it.

If you have a retail or OEM copy of Windows (any version) you can use that to boot, but it will probably want to format the hard disk and install the software. Or you can create an Emergency Boot Disk on a floppy with your new computer and boot from that.

My Dell Disks are just a Windows XP disk with a new label. If yours are the same, you could try to restore, though you may get some problems with Product Activation. (you will probably have to call them up).

I think I'll try using my Dell disks and see what happens. I can't break it anymore than it already is.

What does "unmountable" mean?

Thanks :)

It means that it cannot mount ;)




With Linux, it means that it cannont "mount" or like start up, the drive. Not sure bout Windoze, tho. :geek: :)

Originally posted by HB Tigger Fan
What does "unmountable" mean? It can't be mounted. :D (Edit: DF beat me to the nerd joke.)

Of course, when a computer mounts a disk (of any kind) it is making it available to the operating system to recognize and use. Anytime you insert a floppy disk and open it, the computer has to first mount it before the OS can read it. The fixed disk drives (or hard disks, the more common term) are automatically mounted when the computer boots.

[Geek Speak :geek: ]
Now that I think about this, could it be a problem with the MBR or maybe even the BIOS? If so, a Repair should fix the MPR. The BIOS might need to be reset to fix it, right?
[/Geek Speak :geek: ]

Well the "un" part led me to believe it couldn't be mounted ;)

I don't know how to do the whole BIOS thing. I tried to boot it every which way and every one resulted in the "unmountable boot error".

So now I need to get some motivation and try to run the boot disks.

BIOS is that thing that you see when you press something like F2 when starting up. It's acronym for basic input/output system. The BIOS is built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. On PCs, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications, and a number of miscellaneous functions. There is also the REALLY REALLY off chance that your BIOS dosn't support LBA (Logical Block Addressing). But I highly doubt that, unless the computer shipped with less than a 528 MB disk :fez:

There is a chance that your BIOS was corrupted so that it dosn't reconigse the disk. If that is the case, you would probably have to flash the BIOS. Depending on your Motherboard, you would have to do the following:

1)Insert a Floppy disk with an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on it to reflash the BIOS.
OR
2) Open the case and either A)Remove the System Battery overnight B)Switch a Jumper
OR
3) Order a new BIOS chip from your MOBO company (very cheep, some provide them for free) and install it (very easy to do, as long as it isn't soldered in :) )

Of couse, I got alot of this info from an old newsgroup post where the posters config was a 1.6 GB HD, a whopping 16 MB of RAM, and a AMD 5k86-75 overclocked to 90 MHz :fez: :geek:

I fixed it using the Dell XP disk. Thanks DF for that info :)

Now that it works, and I have a new system I'm going to attempt to sell it for whatever I can get. Theres a used comptuer store that said I might be able to get $200. I'm also going to check ebay and see what they are selling for.

Thanks again for all your help!

What are the specs on it?

Must Control Microsoft Urge For Legallity....

It might be a good idea to swipe the XP that you installed on that computer. Why? Legallity. At least you know it works now, and id you need to, tell the buyer that they need an OS.... :)

I dunno DF...

Its an HP Pavillion with 128mb ram. I think its a 1.4gig processor. It's 2 yrs old.

MM,

I didn't register it again or anything and when I sell it to the comptuer store they will wipe the disk again anyways. I just had to sell it to them running.

If the MicroSoft police want to come to my door they are welcome to my debt.

FYI - In the future:

You can always press F8 just before windows starts to boot up to get to an boot options screen...from there you can do quite a few things.

The XP recovery console can be used this way in order to re-write the MBR of the HD if needed. I have fixed lots of boot problems on other machines this way. You may have been able to do that instead of a reinstall or a repair. Its WAY faster!

-Demigod