Blue Screen

[micker377]

Facing a problem that has me puzzled. Inspiron mini - model PP19S. On start, it boots to a B/S with a heading "unmountable_boot_volume"

ox86528030,oxcoooooo6,oxooooooooo,oxoooooooo

Safe Mode stops at wdfldr.sys

It seems that would indicate a hard drive problem. Thought I'd get an opinion before I tear into this tiny thing!

If I can't get in - how do I fix it? <grin>

 

[goombawaho]

Any time I see "unmountable boot volume", I think the following: hard drive going bad, bad memory or corrupt NTFS file system.

If it HAS an optical drive (didn't look):
Burn the Ultimate Boot CD and BartPE CD on another PC. Run the manufacturer's hard drive test from UBCD and a memory test as well. If those check out, I do a CHKDSK C: /F from the command prompt after booting to BartPE CD. Run it a couple times if errors are found. Look at the bad sector count.

If it doesn't have an optical drive, I usually pull the hard drive and connect it as a slave with a USB hard drive adapter. Then you can do the above within windows of the host computer.

 

[micker377]

Goom:
Yeah, I have the adapters to connect the bare drive to my desktop, that's why I asked before I tore into it! In the back of my mind I was hoping for a "quick" fix!!! I've worked on laptops, but this is mini - halfway between a laptop and a tablet.
I can't even get it to boot, so I can't change the boot order to use an exterior CD drive. (no internal)

 

[BadBigBen]

besides what Goom already mentioned, it could also be a missing or bad MBR or Boot.ini file...

if the drive checks out (check it using the manufacturers tools), I would run chkdsk /r on it, then fixboot and finally fixmbr...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[rclarke250]

Confused, why would you need it to boot to change the boot order? Should be able to do this in BIOS, during POST. No need to boot. Also, the UBCD can be created on a bootable thumbdrive. And if it has the same size hard drive as a standard laptop, you don't need an adapter, it has the same cable connections as a standard sata drive, just hook to internal headers. Other than that, Goom, and Ben are right, good advice.

 

[goombawaho]

If you HAVE an external optical drive, I don't see why you can't get into the BIOS to change the boot order. If you can't get into the BIOS, the problem is more basic/profound.

Those USB bootable flash drives are SO SLOW, I don't like to piddle with them. And not all (older) computers will allow booting from USB devices. So, my "solution for all situations" is to have the two CDs ready at all times.

 

[micker377]

I told you it was strange! I couldn't get into the BIOS - it B-S'd first. (serious hardware failure)
I pulled the H.D., and slaved it to my XP machine - all O.K. To get TO the H.D., you have to remove the keyboard. When I reassembled the unit, I noticed that the bottom right hand corner of the keyboard frame (cheap aluminum), was bent. I straightened it up, attached the KB ribbon, and turned it on. Surprisingly, it went through Chkdsk, and booted up! Put everything together, and it works fine. I don't think I'll work on anymore Netbooks!!!

 

[rclarke250]

wow, that is a weird one. But informative.