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ok, so this is one of the most illusive errors i have ever had the privilege to work with <_ <anyway i got a pc from a friend to fix, he said he had recently gotten the computer and began putting his stuff on it, and just the other day it crashed and now it will not start up...he said it would attempt to start and then crash during startup and restarti took the computer in and booted it, sure enough it didnt live long, it blue screened with the error of "Un-mountable boot volume"ok, so the drive is corrupt, ill see if i can fix it, little did i know this was just the start of the problems....i placed it in my computer and put in my personal boot disk so i could run some tests. they all came back clean, not one error on the drive, i checked the smart status and it said the drive was running at 253 degrees (current temp)!!!! i was like WTFit wasnt 253 degreesso after running some more tests i decided to see if it would boot on my pc, once again i got the boot screenby now im thinking this drive is fried, wanting to get some data off of it, as much as i could, i decided to slave it to my drive, i booted my pc and low and behold the drive is there, no errors in any files and programs are bootablei ran about 4 more tests, and i am running one now. however the most intriguing thing is that more than half of my programs dont recognize the drive as having a partition table, where as windows sees the table and uses the drive.after looking through some of my tools i tried a standard check disk from command line, this game me the most important info of all"second boot sector is not writable"wait.. what? second boot sector?
First thing to do is to save off the Data while you can because you will need to reformat and reinstall Windows again.Once you have saved the Data, put the HDD back into the other Computer and boot into your Win 2000 Disk. Once there Delete the Partition, then reset it as C: Drive and Format it. Install Windows 2000, Anti Virus, and all Drivers needed, before going onto the Net, to protect it. After that go to Windows Update and download all Updates, then update your Anti Virus and fit Anti Malware and update those.Putting a HDD into another Computer can be very risky if a Virus is present on it, as the Virus can also infect the other Computer. I would always run Anti Virus and Malware on it before ever opening it up in any way.
Dak?There is no such thing as a Second Boot Sector in the middle of a HDD. That is Malware!Puting a HDD in another Computer is downright Dangerious, unless proper Security measures are taken.Upgrading to a different OS at this stage is not advisable, if we want to find out what caused it.Some times you have to crawl before you walk, Mate.Let's find out if what I suggested fixes it?If it does, then by all means change it around on a stable System.I may not be a Programmer, but I have been conversent with these sorts of Problems for many years.Merlin's HDD has been hit by a Nasty.
I agree, I have never heard of such a thing as a second boot sector. I said I'd be looking it up, just in case I am wrong, but it sounds like BS to me.You will note though that merlin has said he ran a standard tool to check disk. I have no idea which one he has used, but my assumption is that he is using a quality product, since merlin is part of a commercial PC business.Of course, the virus could be giving some false info, but if I was to blame anything I'd blame the tool for that particular result. No software is perfect, and it would have to be some new wierd and wonderful bug to give a chkdsk a reading like that. In any case, the truth of that is not going to be relevant if you are going to wipe the disk and start again.I have no doubt that there is a nasty in the drive, I dont deny that at all and I am quite sure you are correct, but as for it being very dangerous to put the drive in another computer..a/ Its already been done. he has been reading the files, running the programs. If there is damage to do, its been done already most likely.b/ Merlin may be our youngest member, and not as skilled as many, but I am pretty impressed with what he does know. Its merlin thats fixing the computer, not his friend, and I am confident he has the skills to deal with anything that crops up. I make the assumption that since merlin is part of a commercial pc business, if he is going to fix anything he will have access to a computer that has nothing important on it to use for these kinds of purposes, and would have done so. If he gets the same bug, he'll wipe and reinstall too.c/ You have advised to save data, wipe the drive, and reinstall. How is he going to do that without accessing the files remotely if he cant boot the faulty hard drive? You have said to
Mitz from Tips4pc
no need to argue in this thread. i left out some key features, and one key feature was misread:
after looking through some of my tools i tried a standard check disk from command line, this game me the most important info of all"second boot sector is not writable"wait.. what? second boot sector?
Thank you Merlin, that is a totally new one for me.I will be very interested to see how it works out.
i think i need a 2000 disk, i plan on attempting yo “repair” the boot sector (fixboot) because the way they say in that article…. it doesnt seem to fit, so either the whole drive is caput or its just meeither way im downloading now, ill let you know... once again...
Please do, Mate
You always will have the reformat and reinstall up your sleeve? You need that Disk first! Also download Belarc? It will give you the Windows 2000 Access Code you will need. Maybe you can get it to run under Safe Mode?http://www.belarc.com/free_download.htmlDD.
lol im not at the timmco office, this one is at home, so i dont have my disk, but as for the 2000 access code…never heard of belarc, by access code do you mean for the repair option, that one got me....
Belarc will give you a Total Blue Print of that Computer, including ALL Access Numbers. It is a very powerful, Free Tool.If you do need to reinstall Windows 2000 you will need the Access Key? Belarc will give you that.It is well worth downloading for other situations in the future, Mate.
ok well the iso was corrupt, so i might grab the disk from the office tomorrow. sorry about the suspense guysalso a quick addition and another thing i left out, safe mode doesn't work either. and even though i can enter the drive in vista, attempting to boot vmware off the drive comes up with a partition table erroralso im sorry, but in my first post i lied, it says "inaccessible boot device" NOT "unmountable boot volume"
What you could try is to use the other Computer to download and save Belarc onto the HDD you want to save? Don't install it just yet. Download a Windows 2000 Boot Disk and put it onto a Floppy Disk from here.http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htmHook up the HDD into the other Computer and run the Start up Disk.That will put you into A: Drive, go into C: Drive and install Belarc and run it? It may work that way enough to give you the Information.DD.
I just noticed this??
i used checkdisk, in vista, which gave me the error....
Is that correct?If it is correct, you and all of us are relying on Vista making Judgements on, to it, an obsolute System. That prognosise is unreliable. You need a Program for Windows 2000, not Vista.It does explain in part the second Boot to me, Vista has many inovations, but they do not apply to older Versions of Windows, including Win 2000 back, and I strongly suspect, XP as well. Only logical explaination for the second Boot in the middle of the Drive. If you like I can run it further past others in the Field of Repairing Computers? I have a destinct feeling that it is something just for Vista? I do not use Vista, have worked with it and do not like it, M$ totally screwed up, like with Win ME, then improved with Win 2000, got it right with XP. then started over again. Now people HOPE that Win 7 will be better.DD.
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