Boot Problem On Master Pc

[opalhort]

Hi,

our main PC has suddenly decided to refuse to boot without any prior warnings or symptoms.

It starts to boot and WIN XP starts to load but then I get this screen (taken with video cam because the message lasts only about half a second):

As I understand it is that WIN wants to start but does not in order to protect the PC.

What could the "unmountable_boot_volume" mean and is there any way I can solve it or is a trip to the PC doctor required?

Thanks for any help

opalhort

[saintofsilence]

this only a guess for me but i had something similar and i had to reset the bios by taking a small cable of and then putting on two different pins and then re settin it. also removed and replace small battery

if you have it check your mother board manual for reset bios

Edited July 17, 2009 by saintofsilence

[opalhort]

Thanks for the tip .

good idea. yes I have MB manual and will give it a try tomorrow.

opalhort

Edited July 17, 2009 by opalhort

[webfact]

Read this too: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302

[opalhort]

Just a thought:

yes resetting the BIOS using a jumper is possible but I can actually get into the BIOS at boot time (DEL key) and there I did already a reset to default values with no effect on the WIN start-up?!?!?!?

opalhort

[webfact]

Worth a try - without any guarantee it will work on your machine

The mbr might be damaged

Start the recovery console. If you do not have it installed boot from an installation CD and select R for repair.

Run these commands -

chkdsk c: /r /p

fixmbr

exit

(to reboot)

Edited July 17, 2009 by webfact

[Rice_King]

Make sure that your PC isn't trying to boot to something OTHER than the media that contains the OS. (ie: A connected USB hard drive left connected since the last time you booted.)

[opalhort]

Thanks a lot webfact and also for the MS link.

I don't think it is a hardware issue since the box hasn't been opend recently.

I can get into repair from the CD and will give it a try from there.

Today is to late but it looks like I have a full schedule for tomorrow.

Will let you all know how it works out.

opalhort

Edited July 17, 2009 by opalhort

[opalhort]

Make sure that your PC isn't trying to boot to something OTHER than the media that contains the OS. (ie: A connected USB hard drive left connected since the last time you booted.)

No problem in this regard

This PC only boots from C: or CD if inserted.

opalhort

[Richard-BKK]

The blue screen you experience means a low level hardware communication error (problem), to be honest this could be anything from VGA to base memory. But basically you need to see this problem in addressing memory on the kernel level... meaning higher then 1024kb or in the video memory.....

Heat can also be a issue, as the OP say the case has not been opened for some time, it is very likely that the processor cooling blades are blocked by dust and dirt... on some mainboard's (Asus, Asrock) this will create a OS independent processor shut down. What basically means you still have what ever but the core processor is not functional.

Edited July 17, 2009 by Richard-BKK

[opalhort]

Heat can also be a issue, as the OP say the case has not been opened for some time, it is very likely that the processor cooling blades are blocked by dust and dirt... on some mainboard's (Asus, Asrock) this will create a OS independent processor shut down. What basically means you still have what ever but the core processor is not functional.

I have a strong feeling that you've hit the nail on the head.

My MB is: ASUS P5B Deluxe MG451

The CPU has been running at a rather high temp (about 58ºC at idle) for quite some time and yes the CPU heat sink is clogged up with dust.

The way my problem started:

While the PC was idle the CPU fan started to speed up and got very noisy.

Went into BIOS and enabled "Q-fan" for CPU and after that no boot possible. Did disable the Q-fan option again in BIOS but still no luck. Boot (or I should say WIN loading) is dead.

Now while in BIOS the CPU temp shows 61-62ºC

The PC is in a non air-conditioned environment so I thought the temps may be high but acceptable.

opalhort

[newcomer01]

As with most computer problems it could be a number of things.

I have had a similar boot message and my problem was with the bios settings for the HDD's (HDD 1 changed to a non OS disk) which is on the same screen as the boot order. HDD no 1 has to be the bootable disk. If you have only one HDD then this cannot be the problem.

As far as the boot order I found that my USB printer causes boot problems if it is on during startup/reboot.

Can you boot up with the installation disk. If so it is not your CPU etc but could be a HDD failure. They don't last forever.

For the future:

What you need is a good bootable rescue disk. I use one created with paragon which allows me to check the MBR and get to the HDD's and check them, move data etc. Also if worse comes to worse I have Norton Ghost Backup (and rescue disk) of a working C drive which only contains the operating system and program files and do a restore from there.

Don't forget to backup your data. You only realise how important it was when you lose it !!!

Good luck.

Edited July 17, 2009 by newcomer01

[verydumbubba]

Boot with any live Linux/XP CD & do redo-mbr - as root/admin, save, and reboot

Bubba

[opalhort]

Thank you for all your help and suggestions.

I spent the day cleaning the PC as far as possible, including contacts etc. but no luck.

Then ran the "chkdsk c: /r /p" command (Thanks Webfact, I didn't know about the /p switch) and the PC booted as normal.

I did not run fixmbr because according to a google search it could kill partitions on the master/boot HDD. I have only one OS but two partitions on the main drive (C+D).

BUT:

now my sound (audio) has disappeared! It is on-board (MB), don't have a Sound card.

My new question:

would it be safe to restore to some point in the past (they are all there) or should I leave it alone and try to figure out what the audio problem is.

opalhort

[Somtamnication]

Well, if you restore it to some point in the past, you could restore the software problem that caused it (or a driver problem).

Delete the audio from the manager and let windows find the audio and reinstall the drivers automatically and see if that helps.

[commons]

My new question:

would it be safe to restore to some point in the past (they are all there) or should I leave it alone and try to figure out what the audio problem is.

opalhort

u said u cleaned the motherboard & stuff... so that maybe source for new problem

i guess it'd be safe to do a system-restore. as i doubt that your original problem had been with sys-setup.

but... why not try first... a "roll-back", "uninstall" of sound-drivers?

[webfact]

Your Mother Board comes with a utility disk & drivers.

If you have that CD use it to re-install audio driver.

If not try to download it here Asus P5B Delux Drivers

That link is easer. It saves you time to click through Asus until you get what you want.

[opalhort]

Thanks.

Got my sound.

In the past the front panel sockets did not work, only one at the back did. Now I tried all again and none in the back works but the one in the front does.

How will I ever be able to understand the modern computers? Do they have a manual for dummies?

Anyway, thanks a lot for all your help and suggestions

opalhort

[opalhort]

Your Mother Board comes with a utility disk & drivers.

If you have that CD use it to re-install audio driver.

If not try to download it here Asus P5B Delux Drivers

That link is easer. It saves you time to click through Asus until you get what you want.

Thanks Webfact. Yes I have the disk and may give the posted link a try.

But since now the sound is working on the front panel I think I do have a hardware problem somewhere. This could have been the initial issue that caused all the boot trouble.

Also my PSU (power supply unit) appears to be hotter than usual. Could be a faulty thing inside the PC which draws too much power.

opalhort

[webfact]

Your Mother Board comes with a utility disk & drivers.

If you have that CD use it to re-install audio driver.

If not try to download it here Asus P5B Delux Drivers

That link is easer. It saves you time to click through Asus until you get what you want.

Thanks Webfact. Yes I have the disk and may give the posted link a try.

But since now the sound is working on the front panel I think I do have a hardware problem somewhere. This could have been the initial issue that caused all the boot trouble.

Also my PSU (power supply unit) appears to be hotter than usual. Could be a faulty thing inside the PC which draws too much power.

opalhort

The PSU is the culprit and troublemaker for many such issues...

Asus has a utility to monitor even the PSU voltage. Check the CD.

I suggest to replace (never repair) the PSU immediately if you feel its hotter than usual.