Booting failure on laptop...

Calling all yrags...

Published on April 22, 2005 By EventHorizon In Personal Computing

Ok...

I have an old-ish Dell Inspiron 2500...my little brother was playing 'runescape' and it froze then gave a BSOD... Now, I cannot boot into windows anymore.

What will happen is this:

Turn on computer> Shows 'dell' setup screen> Gives a black screen saying 'operating system not found.'

If I leave the computer unplugged for a period of time (10 mins or so) It will show the XP bootscreen for 5-10 seconds, then Ill get a BSOD saying 'Unmountable drive volume.'

STOP: 0x000000ED (0x837D3A88, 0xC00000006, 0x00000000, 0x000000000)

Ill hit the power button, then turn it back on, and it says 'operating system not found' again. Ive tried to enter safe mode when I see the XP screen, but after I select 'Boot in safe mode' it loads for a little while, then BSODs again with the 'unmountable drive volume.'

Im worried that the HDD may have bitten the dust...Is there any way for me to get data off of the disk?

Or maybe its not broken...

Can anyone help?

Comments (Page 1)

Halluci

on Apr 23, 2005

... It seems as if some of your files got corrupted when the computer died the first time. If its due to corrupted windows files, you can stick in the windows cd and choose "repair windows xp" option which i think will just reinstall windows files without wiping the rest of the hdd.

or, (this is what i do a lot when a virus, etc. has compromised windows) get knoppix, which you can boot from cd, and from there, you can access all the files on your hdd, and back them up to some cd's; then just do a clean reinstall of windows.

EventHorizon

on Apr 23, 2005

Ok, thanks halluci...Ill see what I can do.

CerebroJD

on Apr 23, 2005

EH, just found this on google: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q297185

Double Zero

on Apr 23, 2005

Hey there EH, doesnt look like Yrag's around, or just hasnt gotten to this thread yet..

Until he does heres an idea..

This is a free Utility CD called *Ultimate Boot CD* http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

It has a TON of utilities on it that will help you troubleshoot your HD and OS..

Hopefully something on it will work for you.
Zero.

EventHorizon

on Apr 23, 2005

Ok, thanks guys...

yrag

on Apr 23, 2005

I doubt that Dell OEM CD has the 'Repair' option. If it does have it, go into the Repair Console and type "chkdsk /f" (no quotes).

Failing that, take the drive out and plug into another XP computer via one of the CD connections to run with that computer's hard drive. When you power up the computer it will boot up and run Chkdsk before it logs into Windows, let this run & complete and if it's going to work, it will. If it does, return the drive back to the Dell. If not, you and it are done. If it does come up, but you think the hard drive is, in fact, failing, then you can attempt to copy the files you want to the good drive in the system you have it connected to using Windows or Dos commands (98 or Me Boot disk will work) and get a new drive for the Dell.

EventHorizon

on May 05, 2005

Hey yrag, didnt see your post until now...

First off, what is the 'recovery console' I see mentioned in cerebro's post?
(If this is the case, restart the computer to the Recovery Console, and then use the chkdsk /r command to repair the volume.)

That sounds handy, but how can I access it? I dont have an OEM cd (this comp was bought off of ebay about 2 years ago). Would it be possible to get to this function: a.) without any cds? b.) with a new XP cd? c.) any other way?

Failing that, take the drive out and plug into another XP computer via one of the CD connections to run with that computer's hard drive.

Im not sure I quite understand this...^ Plug what into another XP computer?

yrag

on May 05, 2005

Grasshopper...I think school is puttin' a hurtin' on your gray matter

I doubt that Dell OEM CD has the 'Repair' option

OK..you answered that, so let's move on to step 2

Plug what into another XP computer?

..hummm...interesting way you put that...OK..OK.......I won't go there.......

take the drive out and plug into another good XP computer

Note the word 'Drive'....you need to take the hard drive out of the Laptop...then follow the instructions in #6. You can, if you have a hard drive ribbon cable and molex power plug long enough, simply unplug laptop hard drive from that board and power pack and plug into the good XP computer board and power source. The good computer doesn't know, nor care, where the drive is. In either case, see if the good XP computer fixes your drive...or at the very least it might let you tranfer some files to the good drive. Failing to do either means the drive is cooked

Carry on...

EventHorizon

on May 06, 2005

What confused me was the lack of the word 'it' in the sentance 'take the drive out and plug into another good XP computer.' If you had said plug 'it' into another XP computer, I would have gotten it the 1st time.

Ok, well hrm...The HDD in the laptop is a IBM 'Travelstar' and doesnt have the regular connectors like your typical HDD in a desktop...As a result, I cannot find any cables that connect to the back of it...

Here it is...(I think) http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/travel/tr15gn.htm ...Matched the Modelnumber...The IBM hdd business is now owned by hitachi...

Heres a pic of the drive itself...

Ashwin Narasimhan

on May 06, 2005

Did you change the bootscreen.

iTZKooPA

on May 06, 2005

I would agree that Knoppix would be a pretty good way to go if you just wanna grab your files and then format

PurrBall

on May 06, 2005

I see you have IBM drive. I had IBM drive and it gave me that same notice on bootup once, and the boot screen sometimes would flash. Try going into Win XP setup, it will tell you there's no drive in the comp. Your drive is dead and all of your files are also.

Double Zero

on May 06, 2005

::laughs:: You know..I wondered if you would run into that exact problem as I read the instructions.. the BUS connectors and Pwr connectors have just GOT to be different from each other..I mean we are talking "Laptop/Desktop" right? perhaps you have another laptop computer?

Good Luck!,
Zero.

EventHorizon

on May 06, 2005

The laptop doesnt have a CD-burner (plain old 24x CD-rom)...Or a floppy drive.
With knoppix, could I hook up to the LAN here and transfer the files that way?

yrag

on May 06, 2005

If you had said plug 'it' into another XP computer, I would have gotten it the 1st time.

...youngsters....yikes...

You need the adapter for the plug (cost about a buck). Having said that and seeing that it's an IBM drive (arguably the worst in the world), I wouldn't waste another minute on it. If the Lap (in your opinion) is worth salvaging, then get a new hard drive. Short of that, use the whole thing for a paper weight.....

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