computer/windows help

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=39002

toiletpaper55

10-05-2006 20:16:11

when i start my computer, a blue screen pops up and says unmountable_boot_volume and it wont let me start xp even in safe mode

should i use my xp disc and reinstall it? does it erase all my stuff on hard drive?

dmorris68

10-05-2006 20:24:48

You can boot from the XP media, choose your existing installation folder, then choose to Repair the installation. This will not erase anything except patches -- you'll have to go Windows Update and re-download everything again.

However, worst case, this could be a sign of a drive failure, which means a reinstallation won't help you. But try it first.

toiletpaper55

10-05-2006 20:29:57

ty, ill try this right now

toiletpaper55

10-05-2006 20:39:13

wait...iunno how to do this, you click a key to boot from disc then go to 2 for repair but then it scans my computer and goes to like c> or something like that and tells me to type exit to exit and restart, after i type exit and it tries to restart the same thing happens again....

dmorris68

10-05-2006 20:41:58

No, you went into the Recovery Console. Reboot from the CD and proceed as if you were doing a normal install. Setup will go through the usual license agreement and stuff and then scan your drives. It will then show C\WINDOWS as being a currently installed version of Windows. If you select that, it will ask if you wish to blow away that installation or Repair it.

toiletpaper55

10-05-2006 20:52:42

iight thanks man, K+ so are all my drivers dead and like i wont have sound or something?

dmorris68

10-05-2006 21:00:36

[quote11c41ae77c="toiletpaper55"]iight thanks man, K+ so are all my drivers dead and like i wont have sound or something?[/quote11c41ae77c]
No, all of your drivers should remain intact. All you should lose are the Windows patches, because the installer overwrites them with the original versions of the files from the CD. So you'll have to go back to Windows Update and get all the patches again. Other than that everything should stay as-is.

Of course the usual disclaimer applies you should have a recent backup, blah blah blah. But I've done this procedure dozens of times and have never lost anything.

toiletpaper55

10-05-2006 21:05:15

it should take a long time and look like im installing xp for the 1st time right?

dmorris68

10-05-2006 21:06:32

Yep, it acts just like a clean install, only it doesn't format. If you chose to format, then you lost everything. )

theysayjump

10-05-2006 21:10:34

I did this a few weeks ago, reinstalled XP Pro but when it was all done, everything was still installed, all the programmes and everything, but there were no shortcuts and some had no registry entries.

Also, all the music (about 20GB's) was gone and nowhere to be found, even though the HDD space had exactly the same amount of space on it as before the reinstall. Still can't find the music. shrug

toiletpaper55

10-05-2006 21:27:48

yeah thats the only thing i was worried about losing, my music and some pictures....as far as im concerned, my music is still here but theres no sound at all, going to sleep ill update crap later and hope for sound. ty

JOSHBOX

10-05-2006 22:24:52

download ultimate boot cd and burn it then use hitachi drive fitness test advanced scan to see if your drive is failing. sounds liek you got a bad sector on your windows installation. Sure sign that your hdd is failing. Back everything up while you can and replace the HDD ASAP!

h3x

10-05-2006 23:15:13

Have you been fooling around with your partition table? Perhaps trying to dual-boot Linux or MacOS X? If so, then just erase the partition table and do a fresh install..

I would also recommend trying SpinRite from GRC.. It's a handy utility that deep scans and repairs faults on the HDD.. Try that and then a fresh install.. If your still having issues after that.. The hard drive needs to be replaced.