Computer is FUBAR...Any suggestions?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • ModelPerfect
    Confirmed User
    • Nov 2003
    • 2862

    #1

    Computer is FUBAR...Any suggestions?

    There I was happily clicking around on eBay looking for a bigger hard drive, when an unexpected (are they ever really expected?) split-second power outage/spike shut me down.

    When I tried to restart, it says "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" and will not restart even under safe mode.

    I finally decided to run a repair on the my XP Pro installation (not using recovery console). Well, it went straight to the installation page after the agreement, rather than giving the usual repair option. That generally means it did not find a version of Windows already on the drive or that it is very seriously corrupted. Hmm.

    I then tried to repair through recovery console using FITBOOT. It did say the boot sectors were bad and supposedly fixed them, but I'm getting the same problem.

    What else can I try?

    I suppose the problem can be hardware based, but I do use surge protectors (not that that is 100% effective). What do you think?

    Thanks in advance.

    -Logan
    Logan
    modelperfect [at] gmail.com
    http://www.modelperfect.com

    (Proudly hosted at www.webair.com )
  • FakeNick
    Confirmed User
    • May 2007
    • 739

    #2
    buy a new one im pretty sure that will fix the problem
    this is my sig, it is the only one i have which is why it is mine

    Comment

    • Iron Fist
      Too lazy to set a custom title
      • Dec 2006
      • 23400

      #3
      Dude, your getting a dell (tm)!
      i like waffles

      Comment

      • techtony
        Confirmed User
        • Jun 2007
        • 668

        #4
        some times a system can go into shock, unplug power let sit for 15min and plug it back in. sometimes helps
        The Freak and Geek Show
        The F&G Network The F&G Shop

        ICQ# 486382410

        Comment

        • Bell
          Confirmed User
          • Nov 2001
          • 298

          #5
          since the trouble - have you turned it COMPLETELY off
          for at least 10 minutes and then back on and see if it comes up...

          I know that sounds simple... and stupid...
          but... it has worked for me before...

          sometimes mine overheats and acts qwirkie...

          Good Luck...

          ~DomainBELL (Patricia)
          come peek at the over 2000 available hot domain names
          I have listed here:
          DomainBELL.com

          Comment

          • ModelPerfect
            Confirmed User
            • Nov 2003
            • 2862

            #6
            Yeah...I tried letting it sit and restarting, but that unfortunately didn't do anything. Unless someone can suggest something else, I'm going to try putting in an old hard drive, installing xp on it and see what happens. If it works, then it's probably not hardware related. Then I can at least backup some data and reinstall...
            Logan
            modelperfect [at] gmail.com
            http://www.modelperfect.com

            (Proudly hosted at www.webair.com )

            Comment

            • ModelPerfect
              Confirmed User
              • Nov 2003
              • 2862

              #7
              Anyone know the best place to get cheap components if I want to build my own computer?
              Logan
              modelperfect [at] gmail.com
              http://www.modelperfect.com

              (Proudly hosted at www.webair.com )

              Comment

              • notabook
                Confirmed User
                • Apr 2006
                • 9748

                #8
                Originally posted by ModelPerfect
                Anyone know the best place to get cheap components if I want to build my own computer?
                http://www.pricewatch.com - http://www.newegg.com

                Comment

                • The Truth Hurts
                  Zph7YXfjMhg
                  • Nov 2002
                  • 15738

                  #9
                  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297185

                  have you tried this?

                  Comment

                  • ztik
                    Confirmed User
                    • Aug 2001
                    • 5196

                    #10
                    Sounds like your drive is dying.

                    If it is you can try putting the old one in a fridge or freezer for abit until its cold then copy everything over to a new one
                    .

                    Comment

                    • d-null
                      . . .
                      • Apr 2007
                      • 13724

                      #11
                      thanks for the reminder to always back up

                      good luck solving your problem

                      __________________

                      Looking for a custom TUBE SCRIPT that supports massive traffic, load balancing, billing support, and h264 encoding? Hit up Konrad!
                      Looking for designs for your websites or custom tubesite design? Hit up Zuzana Designs
                      Check out the #1 WordPress SEO Plugin: CyberSEO Suite

                      Comment

                      • ModelPerfect
                        Confirmed User
                        • Nov 2003
                        • 2862

                        #12
                        Originally posted by The Truth Hurts
                        Thanks for the link. I'll research the code a little more when I put the hard drive back in. I just put in an old 6GB and installed XP, and it works fine. So the problem is either XP or the old hard drive. I feared the hard drive's days were numbered, which is one reason I was looking to buy another, but most of the bad drives I found wouldn't register at all (i.e. no partitions even). Luckily, I do backup regularly, so I only lost some non-essentials and about 1-2 weeks of various work on files. Still the loss of time is a major PITA!
                        Logan
                        modelperfect [at] gmail.com
                        http://www.modelperfect.com

                        (Proudly hosted at www.webair.com )

                        Comment

                        • ModelPerfect
                          Confirmed User
                          • Nov 2003
                          • 2862

                          #13
                          Thought someone might find the solution useful, although I can't really take credit for it...kind of happened by accident.

                          I ended up putting an old 6GB hard drive in and installing Windows on it, which worked fine. I was then curious if I could read the bad drive as a slave, so I installed it as such and rebooted. Windows (from the 6BG drive) automatically ran a checkdisk and corrected some errors on the bad drive. I tried reading the My Documents folder, but it was still protected. So for "shits and giggles" I tried booting from the bad drive again (as the master), and it worked just as normal, and I can access my files. I still don't trust the drive and will replace it, but at least I have time to back up anything that wasn't already backed up.
                          Logan
                          modelperfect [at] gmail.com
                          http://www.modelperfect.com

                          (Proudly hosted at www.webair.com )

                          Comment

                          Working...