dell laptop BSOD sons computer.

[crustychief]

My sons computer gave him the BSOD today, It says " unmountable_boot_volume "
What does that mean? How can I get it to start? I am going to try the safe mode option right now but if anyone has any ideas I am listening. Thanks in advance.

[jyl]

Sounds like a hard drive failure.

[azasadny]

Yep...dead hard drive is my guess...

[stomachmonkey]

Dead drive or hosed partition.

Can you hear/feel it spin up?

If you have another computer go grab an Ubuntu Liinux Live CD and boot from that.

Download | Ubuntu

See if you can verify that drive is DOA.

[johnco]

I've got one too. trying to get it going for a friend's son. doesn't boot, just black screen and leds blinking twice which is code for bios corrupted. checked hd in an enclosure and everything is there and working.

[crustychief]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Dead drive or hosed partition.

Can you hear/feel it spin up?

If you have another computer go grab an Ubuntu Liinux Live CD and boot from that.

Download | Ubuntu

See if you can verify that drive is DOA.

I have downloaded the Ubuntu and burned the image to a cd. I can hear the hard drive spin and scan. The problem now seems to be accessing the boot menu for bios. The computer seems to be ignoring keyboard inputs. I have tried f2 and f8 and f12. I tried each of these as the Dell splash screen comes up, I have tried it during the splash screen, after, and in between the Dell and windows screens. Is there some special timing to do this? the keyboard does work I was able to run a memory test, that was ok. I just cant get it to start in safe mode or bios setup so I can boot from the cd. Maybe I am holding my mouth wrong or am summoning the wrong deity?
Thanks for the help so far!

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by crustychief

I have downloaded the Ubuntu and burned the image to a cd. I can hear the hard drive spin and scan. The problem now seems to be accessing the boot menu for bios. The computer seems to be ignoring keyboard inputs. I have tried f2 and f8 and f12. I tried each of these as the Dell splash screen comes up, I have tried it during the splash screen, after, and in between the Dell and windows screens. Is there some special timing to do this? the keyboard does work I was able to run a memory test, that was ok. I just cant get it to start in safe mode or bios setup so I can boot from the cd. Maybe I am holding my mouth wrong or am summoning the wrong deity?
Thanks for the help so far!

Hmm, curious, I've not seen a PC in years that does not have a boot sequence of floppy->CD->HD. They even default to USB before HD these days.

If the Live CD were burned properly the PC should boot from it automagically.

Assuming the Live CD is a valid boot disc and given the prior HD error message I'm thinking IDE/AT bus may have gone tits up.

Have you tried just letting it boot without hitting any keys?

[crustychief]

I will try that again now. I was able to get this screen, the keyboard functions but the computer will not take the f8 command.

[crustychief]

Cold boot, didn't touch anything BSOD. I guess I will try to get his schoolwork and reports off of the hard-drive then try an underwater boot or something.

[stomachmonkey]

Odd that it wont boot the CD.

Need to chew on that a bit.

[crustychief]

I got to the bios screen, I forced it to ask me for help by removing a ram chip. We used to do that when a certain weapon system would freeze us out. I also verified the cd is bootable by trying it in this computer. I will post updates soon.

[crustychief]

I changed the boot order to look at the DVD before the HDD. It is trying to load from DVD now. it may take a while so I am going for a walk with my daughter

[crustychief]

Hard drive is bad. dang. Thanks for the help everyone.

[GH85Carrera]

Hard drives are easy to replace. Get a SSD and you will love the speed. Way cheaper than a new laptop.

[Joe Bob]

I once put mine in the freezer. Booted up long enuff to dump everything to an external drive then died.

[pwd72s]

Win 7? Just asking...

[porsche4life]

Vista.... Look at that boot screen....

[Hugh R]

I'm liking Carbonite.

[jyl]

Nice trick. Sorry about the drive. Buy him a 64 GB SSD. Do not buy a consumer grade hard drive now. There is still a shortage, they are too expensive, and the distributors that supply NewEgg etc are getting the bottom of the barrel drives - the ones made in temporary facilities with machines that divers salvaged from the flooded industrial parks in Thailand and component suppliers that haven't been fully qualified. The ones that probably aren't going to last. The ones that Dell and HP won't accept.

I got to the bios screen, I forced it to ask me for help by removing a ram chip. We used to do that when a certain weapon system would freeze us out. I also verified the cd is bootable by trying it in this computer. I will post updates soon.

[crustychief]

Originally Posted by jyl

Nice trick. Sorry about the drive. Buy him a 64 GB SSD. Do not buy a consumer grade hard drive now. There is still a shortage, they are too expensive, and the distributors that supply NewEgg etc are getting the bottom of the barrel drives - the ones made in temporary facilities with machines that divers salvaged from the flooded industrial parks in Thailand and component suppliers that haven't been fully qualified. The ones that probably aren't going to last. The ones that Dell and HP won't accept.

It will be a while before we get anything for his computer. He can just use mine for the time being, I have all my stuff backed up on site. I learned the ram trick when one of my jr technicians tried it out ( unauthorized ) but it worked. It is like the computer is hijacking you canoe but falls into the water and can't swim.
Hugh, he wanted Carbonite after his last HDD failure but for the tiny amount of stuff he has for school didn't warrant it. I bought him a stack of CDRW's and a big flash drive but he "forgot" to use them. Luckily I save a file of everything he prints on my computer which is backed up.