Can't access Windows repair

[andveg38]

I've been working on this since yesterday with not much progress. Any and all help will be appreciated.

Got a Toshiba laptop dropped off today that was only giving me the blackscreen with a mouse cursor. I can't access repair even though I can select it. That is by pressing F8 and also using a Windows disk. Safe-mode doesn't work, last good config...all start windows and then the blackscreen. The cust claims she hasn't installed anything and just turned it off the night before and now it's happening.

I made it bluescreen and got an error code of "unmountable boot volume". My Windows disks can't pull up Startup Repair or load Windows to upgrade or install. I'm scanning for viruses in the boot sector and when I get home will try Hiren's boot cd to see if I can try anything there to fix the boot config.

With Ubuntu, I can see the filesystem so I know I can save the data and reinstall windows on a new drive. I just don't understand why when I insert the Windows disks, it will show the loading bar and then the splash screen but the will restart and say that I have 2 options--Startup Repair or Load Windows. Both take me to a black screen with the mouse cursor only.

From what I know, I need to fix the mbr or boot /cfg but I can't get to the command line. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Fixedathome.com]

I'd do the following:

1. Image the hard drive.
2. Run hardware diagnostics on the hard drive.
3. If the hard drive is failing replace the drive, if not load to a Windows Pe environment and run chkdsk /r /f as more often than not unmountable boot volume is caused by a corrupted file system.

[iisjman07]

Fixedathome has good advice, I just hope the drive isn't beyond repair

[andveg38]

I've got the image and just figured out the drive is bad. I was hoping to just fix the boot problem but if would just show itself again since it was bad.

Thanks guys.

[compnet]

Unmountable boot volume and you didn't bother checking the hard drive?

The computer basically told you the problem..

[Xander]

Originally Posted by compnet

Unmountable boot volume and you didn't bother checking the hard drive?

The computer basically told you the problem..

^THIS^

Yes, once in a while, it's unmountable due to a screwed MFT or something but checking the disk (after imaging) should have been your first diagnostic step.

[andveg38]

I would have checked the disk if I could load the Windows disk but it wouldn't. That was already in the plans when I got home to my tools and I've done that and verified it was bad.

[14049752]

Originally Posted by andveg38

I would have checked the disk if I could load the Windows disk but it wouldn't. That was already in the plans when I got home to my tools and I've done that and verified it was bad.

The windows disc doesn't have a hardware diagnostic. (No, chkdsk is not a drive diagnostic tool.) You should be using something like Drive Fitness test, or a commercial suite like Pc-Check to test it properly.

[andveg38]

I haven't heard of those. Yes, I've used chkdsk and also Seagate Seatools quite a bit. I'll see what those have to offer. I appreciate the comments.

[AlaDes]

Originally Posted by andveg38

I haven't heard of those. Yes, I've used chkdsk and also Seagate Seatools quite a bit. I'll see what those have to offer. I appreciate the comments.

I personally use HDD Regenerator to do a full drive scan without the repair option before attempting ANY repairs on a computer now. As PCX has said numerous times, it just makes good sense to perform hardware diagnostics, even for the simplest repairs.

HDD Regenerator seems to do a pretty good job at detecting any problems with a hard drive. The reason I don't do the scan and repair option is because if there are problems with the drive I immediately contact the customer and give them their options before I go any further. I also prefer using other utilities when attempting data recovery.