So you’re using your Dell laptop (in this case a Dell Inspiron 1501 running Windows XP Professional) with no problems, turn it on one day and you get that gorgeous blue screen of death telling you that you’ve an unmountable boot volume. You call Dell support and they take you through diagnostic tests, get you to boot in safe mode (which won’t work by the way) and then they tell you to launch the recovery console or reinstall Windows.
Reinstall? No sirree!
Getting around this problem today (see previous post) here’s what I did (not my laptop as the MacBook Pro doesn’t throw up those kind of errors)…
- With the laptop on the blue screen, grab your Windows XP CD (might be branded as a Dell Reinstallation CD), pop it into the CD drive and reboot the laptop.
- When prompted, press any key to boot from CD, allowing a minute or so for drivers to load in the background.
- From the first menu you see, press ‘R’ to launch the recovery console. This will launch a dos-prompt driven recovery console allowing some basic disk commands.
- Enter your first command: “chkdsk /r” (give about 20-30 minutes to run).
- When completed, follow up with “chkdsk /p” (give about 2 minutes to run).
- Finally, follow up with “fixboot c:”. This will quickly test the boot sector and prompt you to write a new one. It is likely that the boot sector on your drive has become corrupt, once you agree to write a new bootsector, allow a half minute or so for the task to run until prompted with a success message.
- Type ‘EXIT’ to quit the recovery console and restart the laptop.
That… should be that. It helps to have the original Dell XP disc though. A standalone version wouldn’t display the recovery console menu on launch but the Dell OEM version does (purple coloured CD including Service Pack 1a – it’s been a while). Of course, if the disc doesn’t boot when you restart the computer it may be possible that you’re BIOS is looking to the hard drive before the CD. In that case you’ll need to enter the Dell BIOS (pressing F2 for setup on immediate restart). See here (Dell support) for specific details.
About Ken McGuire
THANK YOU!!!!
awesome fix, computer sat on my floor for 5 months while everyone told me to piss off or buy a new computer.
sadfully i did buy a new one but this is a great and easy fix that will really help me.
thank you very much.
Ive done all the above including pulling the hardrive but have not ponied it onto another comp yet.. I dont know whats causing this. I done all of the following: pulled cd ROM tested=ok and played CD in another mach, ran xp home {as it has home} disc, downloaded other drivers, bootdisks, XPservice pac3, dell drivers ect. Nothing comes up, but the screen of death. CD wont start {lights up then stops in this mach} I dont have floppy drive, all with the same results Unmountable boot volume. STOP: 0x000000ED {0x8A649E30, 0xC0000006, 0×00000000 0×00000000} reguardless of my out come, I must say thanx you for all the other people you have helped. Its nice to know decent humans are out there helping others.
Hi Ken…I tried the steps you outlined on my Dell Dimension 2400, but it does not appear to have worked. For both the chkdsk /r and /p steps, the process only made it to 25% before indicating there were problems with the disk and returning me to the C> prompt. I wasn’t sure if this was “normal” or not. I did make it to the “fixboot c:” step and did receive a “success” message. However, when I tried to reboot, it just stalls on the Windows Load screen. Is it possible that DELL was right in my case and the HD does need to be replaced?
Thanks.
I tried and have finished successfully the steps mentioned above but again i am getting the fu… blue picture i dont know why..
Would you be so kind and give me some more suggestions..
Thank you very much.
Yes, I did get this infamous blue screen after installing some new software.And I kept getting the same screen whatever I tried. My last resort was google with “unmountable boot …” and MY FIRST CHOICE was your (this) website. All your instructions worked like a charm!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
And it might make you feel good to realize that with my nearly 82 years of age your help made me still feel I’m not too old yet for all this stuff. Thank you again!
(young man!)
Ken, thanks soooo much for you help.. I thought I lost everything.
JMG
ok so one day my computer was running fine and then it just shut down on me and the blue screen pops up. cant get into it on safe mode. dont have any of the discs that came with it at hand, i can kinda get around computers, but i really need step by step instructions. i have a lot of music and photos on it and i’d rather not have to lose all of it but if necessary then i dont mind. dont have the money to have someone else fix it and the screen pops up saying “unmountable_boot_volume” i have no clue what that means
Have Vista – 2 month old laptop – compaq unmountable_boot_volume error message??? Tried rebooting and following instructions under error message – nothing is working. Just keep getting the same error message. The new compaq does not come with recovery cd – I remember the sales person stating you just go online now to download everything. If my computer wont start windows – how can I go online with it to download anything… Please help – Thanks in advance! Craig
thats why it didn’t work i forgot the “c:” after “fixboot”
I’m sure you are used to hearing this, but you are a genius! Thank you being such a great help, not only to me, but to all the other folks who thought their computers were lost. MMMWAH!!! and thanks again.
does anyone know where i can get the dell re boot cd from cuzz i dont have mines anymore its been misplaced….
Hi Ken or anyone else that can help me!!!!!!!!!!
I have the same problem, but I have the Dell Inspiron 1501 with Windows Vista installed. What do I do to avoid taking it in for repair and a new hard drive?
I tried to follow the same steps as above, but they did not work as they were for the Windows XP disc!!
Please help me out here!!!!!!!!!!! I have my entire life on that laptop! Pics, work, music, etc.!!!!!
Thanks to all who respond! I am grateful!!!!!
Londonne
Ken. I am begging for your help here. I got this error “unmountable boot volume”. I followed your instructions to a tee and still got the same error. I was successful with each step and saw all the choices and messages that you indicated. I have a Dell Inspiron E1705.
I’d really appreciate your help. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. I ran the diagnostic and the hard drive appears to be fine.
Thanks again!
Alex Poulin
I did all the steps as dictated above and i still keep getting the “gorgeous blue screen”. My Bios has nothing to do with it. *Sigh* guess I just have to reinstall.
me right b4 reinstall: T_T
Me right after when i realize what I lost: //_T (emo)
i have an xp home edition cd.
i booted my laptop from the cd but before it got to the menu where you press ‘r’ it went back to the blue screen!
any suggestions would be greatful!
thanks
Lorna
another success story!!! thanks
Hi Ken! I got the unmounted boot volume error in my Inspiron E1405. I do not have any recovery CD, the way I’d formatted it before is by pressing ctrl+F11 but this doesn’t work now.
Anything I try to do gives me back to the blue screen. what can I do?
Thanks!!!
I’m 10 years old I googled my error code from my blue screen and found your post.
I had to leave off the “/r” and it worked.
Thankfully my dad saved the original disk, you saved my computer.
Thanks
CR
Hey Cristi,
You’re welcome.
@Lidia without the recovery CD it falls out of the steps above.
My computer has 4 partitions – i tried this with c: and it didn’t work; so now working on d: then e:; I also have a ? partition, which has 55MB used – once I’ve tried this on all partitions I will try to get my computer running…fingers crossed!
Didn’t work; guess Dell is it! Darn it!
Ken. I love you. you have saved my life! thank you!
I have tried everything you have said, i even made my cd drive the number 1 to be read on boot up and yet i still get no options to use this cd. WHAT DO I DO?!?!
This info is invaluable.
I tried to help my brother by taking the back off of his Alienware laptop to clean out the cooling fans because they were clogged with dust and causing it to overheat and crash.On reasembling,this very message came up and i was thinking oh sh*t ive screwed it up for him.But on following these instructions its now back to normal and running much cooler!
Thankyou so much,its a life saver.
Great job Ken. This is the most info I have seen anywhere on this topic. I have an inspiron 6000 and ran through the steps below (twice) and still get the same unmountable boot volume error. Anyone have any ideas what to do next?
Ran chkdsk /r
Ran chkdsk /p
ran fixboot c:
ran full diagnostics (received multiple error messages)
I have a Dell Dimnesion 2400 and I am getting the blue screen. I do not have the XP cd so what do I do.
I’m getting the same issue. I’m using a 9 in 1 copy of xp and when I type chkdsk /r it tells me it can not locate it in the startup directory or cd. Is it because I’m using the 9 in 1 os disk?
If I may concurr with others who cannot heap enough praise on you: thank you. Blue screen of death, thought I would have to sit on the phone with Dell support but after running diagnostics for two weeks and the such and then stumbling upon your site…done. Thank you. I think I may want to look into backup memory for my photos and iTunes.
Thank you.
okay, ken….
maybe possibly, you could help me..?
i have a dell desktop computer that shows the blue unmountable_boot_volume screen.
…i put in a dell quick setup disc (which is probably the wrong one, but the only one i have. it says E 771a Color Monitor. it contains the following files: INF, ICM, HTML, CAT.) and nothing happened. i don’t know a whole lot about computers so i thought i’d better not try to mess with anything. i was wondering if there was a way to fix my computer without losing hundreds of dollars in itunes files??? hopefully so….
the computer & disk is from 2000 or 2001, so i don’t know if you could help me? please try!
-courtney
Ken, Thanks so much for your simple, straightfoward solution. I’ve reformatted pc’s a number of times, and have never run across this type of blue screen error before: caused by a power outage (circuit breaker tripped in the middle of a deleting files from a folder, transfer, etc.from a bad electric cord on a lamp). Once I booted from the install disk, and in the recovery module c: prompt, the DOS run commands you provided did the trick. Many thanks Ken!- My daughters’ pics and music files have dodged a bullet!
lesson learned: GET AN EXTERNAL HD…
You’re STAR !!!!!
It works.
My Dell Inspiron 700m is alive again.
Many thanks.
i cannot fix the volume control on my dell inspiron 1501.i cannot hear any sounds if i am watching a movie or music videos on you tube
hi everyone there, please help me…
i also got a “blue-message error” with Unmountable Boot Volume, Technical info: *** STOP: 0x000000ED (cx84F5AE30, 0xC0000015, 0×00000000, 0×00000000). my computer wont start and it keeps of shutting down.
i dont have an XP CD with me and my laptop is Sony Vaio, PCG-K23. iv tried using the safe mode but it wont work. can you please help me with this problem??? what are the steps that im gonna do???
please ken, help me,.i really need my computer so badly…thanks a lot..
-rusma
who the man? hopefully ken the man. please help! as im trying to perform the ckkdsk it stops at 50% = “one or more unrecoverable items”. damn these computers. (btw dell latitude d520)
any help very much appreciated,
mark
think im sorted now ken after 3 hours! thanks very much for the info – very useful. have to upgrade my anti virus now
mark
Thanks very much the instructions you posted worked like a charm and i didn’t have the oem disc just a windows xp pro standalone worked just like you said it would!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok I got the blue screen today. I have a Dell Latittude CPx. I have WIndows XP Professional. But I don’t have any disk. Not one from Dell or Windows. Is there anything I can do? I need my laptop.
Okay.. cousin gave me Dell Latitude c810.. no discs.. no books of any kind.. is there anyway I can copy the recovery files from my HP desktop, with xp os to a flash drive and use that to fix this thing???
Plz help I have tried step by step your instructions however no luck yet. I changed the BIOS. Then r at the recovery console pressed 1 then the comamds everything seems to work but when I restart the computer same blue screen. Any other suggestions? Any one. By the way I have windows xp dimension E310
Hello there ken, I have tried your method.. down to the little details.. I have used the disk (purple win XP disk) I have made sure my Bios is all in check with my cd loading first.. I ran the Chkdsk /r, /p, and fixboot… During however, I was only able to run the /p and fixboot.. Every time I run /r It freezes at 50%… everytime.. I have no idea what to do.. And The fixboot said it worked however I still reach this blue screen… I really need help.. from anyone who could help me… I am using the Dell Latitude D 520 version.. (an ancient piecer..) I cannot afford to pay dell.. I am low on funds atm and a quick home fix is all I am asking for… Thank you in advance…
Sincerely Paul david..
Great suggestion – thought my disk had died but this worked like a charm!
Paul David Field – chkdsk /r took 3 hours on my small hard drive – I would let it run for at least that long, even if it seems frozen.
Missy, Jenny, others with no disks – you might find a local computer ship in the yellow pages, then just take your computer in there and ask them to use one of their disks for half an hour. Tell them you just need to get into the recovery panel, and won’t be re-installing the OS. Maybe give them $5 or $10…
i am trying to attempt this with a windows xp service pack 2. is this incorrect because its not working and is the only windows disk i can find, i cant find the dell one.
I am having thios blue screen. My problem is i dont have a “puple Dsik. what are my options. Blue screen I tried safe mode and all. not working. h=Help
Ken,
I’ve tried everything you’ve said to do with no luck at getting rid of this error message. I also tried chkdsk /f and it states that the parametter is not valid… It will not boot up with the recovery cd
I literally jumped for joy when this worked!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU ROCK!
Ken,
I followed all of the steps and it looked like it was working fine, when the computer restarted, I got the same error message. Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
it won’t let me type “chkdsk /r”. it will only let me type one letter at a time. What do i do?
Ken – It worked like a magic on my Dell Desktop !!! At first I thought my hard drive crashed. Then I found your fix and it’s working great now.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!
Hi Ken, Daughter has same problem but she hasn’t got a cd drive (latitude c400) Any ideas?
Ken, thank you sooooo much!! This worked beautifully!! Now, I can get to work and make some money!!