Help ! Can't get my HD to Boot

Once again I got an error message "Unable to mount file system" for Both of the MBR's

 

Brian K,

Looks like this may be what I have to do next since I was unable to "mount the file system".

How do I go about installing BIBM to the HD ?

 

pratzert,

Installing BIBM won't help unless you can mount the file system.

https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=091

Try the section where you select the Win7 partition, hold down Left Shift key and click Properties. Do you see Start and End LBA Information and a Warning. If so, change the End LBA to the suggested number. Do the same for MBR 1.

Do Details and Edit File work now?

 

Hi Brian K.

I have left the office for the day, but I'll do that as soon as I arrive tomorrow morning and let you know what happens.

Thanks !

 

Our time zones really clash. You are at work when I'm in bed.

 

Two ships passing in the night !

 

Hi Brian K.

No "warnings", noting in the "flags" section. And in the "Additional Information Area" the following info is shown:

"Bootable: No.
The location of this partition will prevent some operating systems from booting from it."

I do see the start and end LBA information... I also tried re-entering the same end LBA number and nothing seemed to change.

I still get the message "Unable to mount the file system."

Next step

 

pratzert,

Try this. Take that HD home and install it as the second HD in your computer. Boot Windows and open Disk Management. Are the partitions RAW? Do they have drive letters? If not, assign drive letters to the Recovery and Win7 partitions. Run...

chkdsk /f X:

... on each partition, where X is the drive letter. If the partition data becomes accessible we are getting closer.

 

Hi Again Brian K.

I missed the window to take the drive home as I left work already.

I'll grab it at bring it home tomorrow and follow those steps and report back.

That will work out better for our crossed times zones too.

Thanks !

 

CR*P! I don't know what will go wrong next !

Brought the drive home, put it in the home desktop, pushed the power button...... BEEP-BEEP, flashing amber power button.

Hmmm.. code means memory problem. Removed/reseated all the mem sticks... no love. Removed all mem sticks and tried one set at a time in sockets... no love. Installed new system board battery and re-set CMOS... no love. Removed video card... no love. I now suspect possible PSU or Motherboard problem.

I'm going to go CRAZY !!!!!!!

 

If you remove the work HD, does that help?

 

Those need to be cleaned with a soft eraser. I do recommend to do this first than anything else.

 

Unfortunately, No. Still the same. 2 Beeps with flashing amber power light.

Strange coincidence ?

 

Thanks Mister X. I'll try it.....

 

I hope the computer is working. You have had more than your share of bad luck.

 

No luck. I pulled the drives out of the home desktop and will try them in the work desktop.

I am going to try to install the bot HD form Home on the work desktop to see if it will boot up.

Then I can work on the problem using the work desktop using the home boot HD.

 

Brian K,

I installed my Boot HD from home in my work desktop as the "0" boot drive and the original boot drive from the work machine as drive 1.

I opened disk mgt and the original boot hd show the disk like this"

39 MB Healthy (OEM Partition) H: 9.12 GB RAW Healthy (Primry Partition) I: 1388.10 GB RAW (Active, Primary Partition)

Those two partitions have drive letters assigned, I will go ahead and run chkdsk /f on those partitions.

 

While running the chkdsk /f it stopped and I got an error message: "an unspecified error occurred (6672732e637878 41a)"

I re-started chkdsk /f and now it seems to be hung up on while correcting and index error.

Plus... I have gotten several "Pop-Ups" stating that "Windows detected a hard disk problem" and urges me to back up my files.

I don't know if it's a legitimate Windows message or a virus pop-up ?

I have never seen such a message.... ever.......

 

Tried starting chkdsk /f one more time and it seemed to get further. It's at 42% now.

The drive activity light is on so it may be doing something. I'm leaving work in 1/2 hour for the weekend.

I guess I will leave it running over the long weekend. (Monday is a Holiday for me.)

Have a good weekend everyone !

 

I read this:

Run cmd where you start chkdsk as admin. The error () is a failure to write to system log due to lack of privileges.

or

Go to Start/Search and type CMD, Right click the CMD results and Run As Administrator. In the Elevated Command Prompt, type the drive letter of the problematic drive (eg) G: and press enter (eg) G:\> at this prompt type chkdsk /R and press enter. Now type a Y for Yes to Unmount the drive if a secondary drive. Check Disk will go through 5 stages, it will take a long time, possibly over night.

Not mine but GIYF.

 

Well I started reading this thread last night and ended up reading it all when I should have retired for the night. It's like a good book you cant put down and now I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm cheering on pratzert, and the helpers. Heaps of dedication from both and why forums are amazing. Let's hope you get a breakthrough soon. I could have easily been in the same predicament and it's no fun losing important data but I was fortunate where I didn't have to dig in.

 

Hi zapjb.

I did run the command prompt as an administrator. I actually started the command prompt from the "Accessories" menu but I right clicked on it and chose the option to run as administrator.

I also tried to select the problem drive in disk manager and got an error message that I can't recall exactly, but something to the effect of no recognized file system and I could not select that drive/partition, at least not in disk manager.

I will try it again with the command prompt on Tuesday when I go to the office.

Thanks for the help.

 

Hi Reality.

I am hoping this horror story has a happy ending.

So far, it's been one mess after another.

But with all the really great help, I am still confident I WILL at least recover my email and addresses.

Regards.

 

Curious, does the unit have a CDRom Drive...if so, does it work?....I had issues similar to yours and finally found out I had a bad CDROM Drive...

 

Hi Houley456,

Yes, it does. It has a CD-ROM and a DVDRW. I haven't gotten around to testing and systematically disconnecting each pieve of hardware, but I do plan to do so to try to narrow in what may be causing the problem.

I have learned that the BEEP codes are not gospel and do not always indicate the real problem.

I have done some minimal RAM testing and removed the video card to see if that was causing the problem.

But I will test both the drives to see if they function and take them out of the system to see if that solves my problem.

I have found myself trying to solve several problems at once, and it is not fun !