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Unmountable Boot Volume

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Author:

Soumitra Sengupta MVP

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SYMPTOMS

When booting up to Win XP you may get a error that reads "Unmountable Boot Volume".

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CAUSE

 1.The file system is damaged and cannot be mounted.
 2.You use a standard 40-wire connector cable to connect the UDMA drive to the controller instead of the required 80-wire, 40-pin cable.
 3.The basic input/output system (BIOS) settings are configured to force the faster UDMA modes.

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RESOLUTION

If it be the connector cable problem then replace the 40-wire cable with an 80-wire UDMA cable.
If it's a BIOS settings problem then  load the 'Fail-Safe' default settings, and then reactivate the most frequently used options such as USB Support.
 
If it's a damaged file system case then:-
1.Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted.
 
2.When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
 
3.If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
 
4.When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
 
5.At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r , and then press ENTER.
 
6.At the command prompt, type exit , and then press ENTER to restart your computer.

This takes a bit longer, but the system should boot back into Windows.

 

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MORE INFORMATION

"STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" Error Message When You Restart Your Computer or Upgrade to Windows XP

 
Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console

 
If the above process fails to restore the system then in the number#5 step use fixboot command  instead of the chkdsk /r command.

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Keywords: kb, KB555302, kbhowto, kbpubmvp, kbpubtypecca

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Article Info
Article ID : 555302
Revision : 3
Created on : 8/19/2020
Published on : 8/20/2020
Exists online : False
Views : 191