Unmountable_ Boot_ Volume 0X000000ED

When I started the computer I got a blank screen. I found out that the PCI graphics card I had installed 3 or 4 years ago stopped working. I know this because I unplugged the monitor cable from the graphics card and plugged it into the integrated motherboard monitor outlet, & the monitor is fine. What I got on the screen was that Windows did not start successfully. a recent hardware or software change might have caused this. It gave me option to boot in: Safe mode, Safe with Networking, Safe with command prompt, Last known good Config, Start Win normally. I have tried all but unable to get to any of the mentioned modes. I get a blue screen "That a problem has been detected & win has been shut down to prevent damage. Unmountable_ Boot_ Volume 0X000000ED…..If problems continue, disable 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 you computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select safe mode." I have pressed the F2, F8 & F12 and tried to change boot sequence so I can boot from the XP CD. I get the blue screen mentioned above. I have tried to get to all variations of the Safe Mode without success. I get the Blue screen again & again. I have tried to boot from CD and the hard drive, no success, just the blue screen mentioned above. I don't know how to get past that to even fix anything. Any help or suggestions is appreciated.

Hi Ninja. A whole lot depends on the specific model of computer you have. But this is what I suspect and I'll tell you why. I believe your BIOS settings have been reset. Possibly due to a low CMOS battery. Did you see any messages about your time/date being wrong or CMOS checksum incorrect? Usually, but not always, if you have an expansion video card plugged in it will automatically disable the onboard video. This means you would not be able to plug your monitor into the onboard video and see anything. But, because you can, it tells me your BIOS settings probably got changed and now your onboard video is active and your expansion card is not. Secondly, you are no longer able to boot possibly because your SATA port settings got changed from IDE mode, AHCI, or RAID mode to some other setting that is now not compatible with your operating system. I can't offer any further advice without knowing the exact make and model of your computer, or motherboard.

Hi Appleoddity I did not see any msg about the time date being wrong or the CMOS checksum. I have a dell Dimension 3000. I have an IDE drive. I also know its old. Would I be able to reset the settings that may have got changed. How can I get the hard to work, so that I can get some of the data off the drive. Any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Ninja. At this point, it is possible that you have a failing hard drive. However, I'm not sure what the problem is with your video.

It could just be that you have two simultaneous but unrelated problems.

Lets try this first. Please read and perform the instructions to run a chkdsk /r from the recovery console as found here: http://forums.whatthetech.com/How_run_chkd…ole_t95574.html

This will check the health of your hard drive. Please be patient as it may take a while. It is best that you look for any messages about windows replacing bad clusters, or any bad clusters that are listed in the final report when the test is finished. If you start to see 5 or 6 of these messages you might want to cancel the test so we can determine the best way to recover your data. If the drive is failing, it would not be a good idea to continue to stress it until your data is safely moved off of the drive. However, if you do not see any of these messages, or only a couple of bad clusters, then it is likely this will get your computer booting normally again.

If you can get your computer booting normally again, I would suggest you try plugging the expansion video card back in. Maybe it just had a bad connection. If you still cannot get any video on the screen it is likely the video card is bad. Does it have a fan on it? Maybe the fan quit and it overheated? With your Dell computer I would say it is a pretty safe bet you don't have to change any options in the BIOS to make that expansion video card work. It should automatically disable the onboard video and use your expansion video card.

Finally, if your computer does boot up normally, I suggest you retrieve and backup all of your important data while you can in case something else happens before this is over.

Post back with your results.