GLITCH! lost my windows!

Jeesh, just said goodbye to Tom over in Hijack this forum and I'm back a day later…… I seem to have lost my windows program. Here is the message: Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again: check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If porblems continue disasble or remove any newly installed hardware or software Disable Bios memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select advanced start up options and then select safe mode technical information:*** stop: ox000000ED ()x84B1D660, )xC0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000 took me awhile to even get the machine to tell me that….. about 15 times all i got was the screen that told me windows wasn't working and to choose the options starting in safe mode, restore to last known good configuration or just press enter to start Windows…. which just starts the process all over again…. i can't access anything…I can't access safe mode…nothing works and all it does is go to the start up page, which is my V Class motherboard screen, then it goes to a Phoenix screen where I can access Bios. I went through every line of Bios, saw nothing about caching or shadowing…. …. it then goes to Windows, the Windows logo appears, it seems to be trying to open it …and then it just crashes, starts clicking and sends me right back to the screen that asks me to choose which safe modes I want, to choose last known configuration or just press enter to start Windows. If i press safe mode, I just get a long list like a hijack this log, then nothing. nothing happens, the list just sits there. Obviously, I am at work, using my computer here to post this. I have no idea what to do. Any suggesions would be greatly appreciated. thanks so very much

Hi compudodo.

Read this MS article, see if it helps: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315403

Basically you need to boot the Recovery Console from your Windows XP CD and run chkdsk /r

See here for directions: http://forums.whatthetech.com/Windows_Made_Easy_t95574.html (even if you don't have a XP CD).

i don't call myself compudodo for nothing….. i can't get to the desktop…. i can't get past the motherboard screen…i can't get windows to run….so how do i get to create a bootable CD or download anything or run the chkdsk/r command from the recovery console when the recovery console won't appear????

If you don't have an XP CD to boot from, then look at the link Ztruker posted and create the bootable CD using another computer.

How are you posting to this forum? It must be via another computer. Use that one, or a friends computer to download the .iso file I gave the link to and create the bootable Recovery Console CD from it. Then boot the CD in the computer that you are having the problem with. Then you should be able to run chkdsk. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

@Tech Team, She has recovery console installed on her computer. If I'm not mistaken, she should be able to run it after tapping F8 on startup with appropriate directions. I also believe that she is contacting the forum from her computer at work so she will need to print out the instructions at work, and then take them home to run. I could take a bash at providing the instructions but, I believe that there are a couple of you that are better at it.

hi Tom!!!!!!! you're right, i do have that on my machine….and i did hit F8 and that is not working, it runs, it goes through the motions, i can see the little bar at the bottom of the screen doing what it should do when recovering…… but it doesn't fix the problem….so now i'm thinking that this won't work either…. i didn't know that there was a connection between these two things… i just went to staples and bought a box of cd's…and was going to twist the arm of my boss to burn this cd for me…. as i never have done that in my entire life….. but now i'm thinking this won't work either. could this have happened because i have been a very naughty girl and not waiting interminable minutes for the goll dang infernal machine to shut down normally…remember Tom how I have been complaining how slow it is to start up and shut down now? I have been just getting impatient waiting for it to shut down and I have been resorting way too often to just hitting the off button on the computer. that is the only thing i can think of that would have caused this….because I haven't downloaded any new programs like the error message indicated might be the problem in weeks now…. has to be 3 or 4 weeks since i downloaded avast, that was the last program i downloaded…… recently i did remove via the remove/add programs screen from the control panel the spybot, the adaware….. but i have not downloaded any new programs so i doubt that is problem…. i really think it is because i am clicking shut down…..and it is taking too long and i am resorting to just ending all power to the computer to shut the darn thing off.

Candice,

I don't know what the cause is, but I'll try to give you some instructions to get you started toward a fix.

First off: I'd like you to try to use Last Known Good Configuration. If you've already tried this, then just skip ahead.

Do the tap the F8 key thing at startup until you get your list of choices (safe mode, etc). The 6th or 7th choice will say Last Known Good Configuration.
Use your up and down arrow keys to highlight that entry and then hit enter.
If by some miracle your computer logs into windows and looks somewhat normal, come back here and let us know.
If not, then carry on and we will try to get you into the Recovery Console.

You're going to start off the same way by tapping the F8 key.
When you get to the list of choices, probably the last choice will say something like Return to OS choices Menu
Using your up and down arrow keys, highlight that choice and hit enter.
A new menu will come up and the first choice will probably say Microsoft Windows Recovery Console.
Highlight this choice with the up and down arrow keys and hit enter.
Now Don't touch anything! - just wait patiently.
There will probably be a progress bar appear at the bottom of your screen, it might even tell you to hit some key to load Raid drivers. Whatever, don't do anything. Just wait.

In a couple of minutes, you will finally get to a text only screen that will say at the very top: Microsoft Windows XP™ Recovery Console.
then there will be 2 or 3 lines of information that we don't care about right now.
What is important is the the will be a line that says something like: 1: C:\WINDOWS

It will then ask you to choose which Windows installation you would like to log onto. You will press 1 then hit enter.
You will then get what I call a DOS prompt. It will say: C:\WINDOWS>
This is where you will try to do what ztrucker asked you to do earlier. You will type in chkdsk /r (make sure that there is a space between the k and the /r because it needs to there)

CHKDSK will run for quite awhile. Maybe even an hour. Eventually you will get a DOS prompt again. C:\WINDOWS>
I want you to type EXIT and hit enter.

Your computer should try to reboot. Let us know how it goes.

Good Luck.

i''ve done the F8 thing and i've tried the last known config thing ….. it did the return to OS choices menu….i've tried every option that it offers, but it just goes and then gives up and shoots me right back to the motherboard start up screen, then the bios access screen…and i can start the rigamarole all over again, i've tried everyting a thousand times the task bar does its thing….and nothing happens….. it wont proceed farther….. then i get that long long printout like a hijack this log….. and nothing else, nothing else to click……. i give up….. i'll have to charge it, put it on my visa card and have staples charge me the $70 diagnostic fee…….. that will at least tell me if it is anything fixable….. if it is something huge like the motherboard then forget it….. newegg had Toshiba laptops for $400 yesterday, maybe a few will still be around when i hear back from Staples on Monday or Tuesday. if not i'll wait for another new egg sale. but i know i can't afford their $100 recovery fee to get my files out. (not that i am such a great poet, but i did keep a few files of my poetry) oh well…serves me right for not being patient. that is the only reason i can figure out that this all happened, me getting fed up and finally just shutting the power off because it took so long to shut down. thanks Tom…. you are a sweetie, but nothing i try works. I'll log back on on Monday when i return to work, hopefully STaples will have figured out what is wrong by then. you guys can close down this thread…and thank you so much for all your input.

compudodo, Do me one more favor please. I think I've jumped the gun here. Having the recovery console already installed on your computer won't do any good when you have an error on your hard drive that won't let it operate. ztrucker's advise for the disk is necessary because your hard drive isn't working. You must start from a disk. I'm sorry to confuse things and waste your time because what I told you is good information, it just won't work for you at this point. Any chance you can burn a CD before you spend that money?

nope….. boss didn't want to be bothered with burning a cd, he was busy and i never burned a cd in my life…… so i brought it into staples after work on friday. thanks anyway guys.

Glad you got it fixed Did they tell you what they did? As always, I'm curious. Ignore if you want.

wow, what a bunch of rip off artists…… they call me at work….. want to know if i want to save anything in the machine…… they have to take the hard drive out. i say, what's wrong with the machine…. they say;, they don't know until they take the hard drive out and perform certain tests…. i say, "look, i have to know what's wrong, how much it is going to cost before i commit to paying you $100 to save my data….' they will not cooperate., it's "LOOK LADY, do you want everything erased or do you want to save anything??? " so i can't afford the $70 diagnostic fee, which they haven't performed, and now they want me to spend $100 to retrieve my data, which they say is a sale price off of the $250 they are supposed to charge me…… so i say, "forget it"…… and am arguing with my boss right now to please let's just burn this cd thingy and see if we can't fix it on our own with this cd. you guys think this cd will really do the trick? cause my boss is pissed i'm taking up all this time and now his time to fix this.

What a load of C@#P that is for sure. As for the CD, unfortunately, no, there is no guarantee it will fix the problem. Possibility yes, certainty, no.

well, this staples kid is telling me that this cd will not fix anything…..and i have to know if it will or not….. my boss is not happy at all about any of this….. now i'm in the library 'cause god forbid i actually waste his lights and energy trying to solve this problem emailing you guys……. the staples kid says that the hard drive is corrupt now because the windows is corrupt….and he can't fix it because he doesn't have the key for the windows program used to create my computer. honestly. i really need to know if with this error: unmountable_ boot_ volume…. this cd will fix the darn program according to this error message. i really need to know this. otherwise, i have to pay $170.00… and try to come up with the original key for the guy.