Unmountable boot volume

[N3ko]

I keep getting the blue screen with this message "Unmountable boot volume"...I have tried the following:

Installed 2 different HDs that I tested with favorable results on another comp.

WinXP boot to the recovery console and performed a "chkdsk /r"...took forever and detected nothing.

WinXP boot to the recovery console and performed a "fixboot". It detected that my bootsector is corrupt, so I went through with creating a new boot sector....rebooted yet the blue screen still prevails.

I don't think it's a HD problem, for both HDs worked fine on another comp, but I will go ahead and run a diagnostics (CD iso) test on 1 of the HDs.

The only other thing that I can think of is that the IDE cable I'm using might be a 40-conductor IDE cable instead of an 80 (I have no idea how to tell, does anyone know how?). I'll try switching through some cables.

And other than that I'm clueless...any suggestions?

 

[G0AOZ]

Individual wire spacing on an 80-conductor cable is much closer together than a 40 cable. Although the floppy drive cable has less wires in it (only a 34-pin connection), the cable spacing will be identical to a 40-conductor cable. So if your IDE cable does NOT match the individual wire widths of the floppy cable, you've got an 80-conductor cable. Also, the IDX connector on the motherboard end of an 80 cable is usually coloured either blue or red. The 40 is usually black.

As regards the blue-screening, are you attempting to get a hard drive with an XP installation from another machine to run on a PC with different motherboard? That's usually a no-no unless they're using the same or very similar chipsets. Or you have previously installed the correct interface drivers.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[wolluf]

echoing Roger regarding - are you moving a hard drive - some history on how this came about would be helpful. Eg, we've got no idea if you've ever had a working system with this machine.

 

[N3ko]

Sorry guys I should have stated some more info. Previously this specific comp worked fine with the same HD mounted on.

Well, I changed the cable and it worked...although I don't think it was the cable. According to G0AOZ (thanks for the info) the cable was an 80 and worked fine on another comp...so I really don't know how it got fixed.

 

[G0AOZ]

Glad you've got it working now!

I've found some of the 80-conductor cables appear to be slightly less flexible than the 40's, resulting in earlier failure if you're pulling connections on and off the drive and motherboard headers.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[N3ko]

Yeap...after 2 day of experimenting I got it to work

and for the refrerence...aside from a various other factors, in the end the problem was the 80-con. cable...I just had to replace it from the other comp in which I was using it in, cause it was acting up (I didn't think it was this particular cable since it was brand new).