# Toshiba satellite A100 unmountable boot volume - can't boot from CD [Moved from XP]



## geno9875 (Dec 28, 2009)

I have a laptop that cost a decent amount of money when it was bought. The videocard still works, the battery is fine, and it used to run really fast. But now, every time I start it up, it brings me to the black screen where it asks if I want to start windows in safe mode, or with last known good configuration, etc. 

when I click start windows normally, it goes to the black windows xp loading screen, and then to a blue screen. it gives instructions on what to do (restart, try booting in safe mode.. uninstall any new software.) But I can't get on the computer at all to do any of that. it says "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" and at the bottom it says 

technical information:
***STOP: 0x000000ED (0x863367B8, 0xC000009C, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Okay, so that doesn't work. I restart, and try safe mode, where I get lines of this right after hitting the safe mode option:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\(here it's always something different, such as compbatt, or ohci1394).sys

And then after a certain amount of time it also goes to the blue screen.
Safe mode with networking, and safemode with command prompt yields the same results. 

I'm running a Toshiba satellite, Intel, with.. Phoenix BIOS. Windows XP home edition.
Hard disk drive is TOSHIBA MK1234GSX-(S1)
Optical Disk Drive: MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ-841S-
system memory is 640KB
extended memory is 1038336KB
System BIOS version: 1.70
Core Multi processing enabled
dynamic CPU frequency mode:dynamic
Pointing devices: Enabled
Built-in LAN: Enabled
Wake-up on LAN: disabed
Execute disable Bit capability: not available.

I have 3 system recovery discs, one was burnt by a friend so you can boot windows XP off of it, but it doesn't work. I'm pretty sure the disc drive is broken anyway, I can pull it all the way out of the computer.

It's no longer under warranty, and I've asked a lot of people for help, but no one knows what to do. I really would like to save this laptop, if possible using very little to no money. I have another hard drive I could put in it if needed.

If I'm missing any information you need, tell me how to get to it and I'll give it to you.. I'm not exactly super tech savvy. :sigh:

I'll try anything if you'll just help me out. Thankies in advance.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

*Re: Blue screen - can't even start up.*

MS support article (kb297185) : When you restart your computer or upgrade to Windows XP, you receive the "STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" error message

What's the last thing you did with the laptop before getting that BSOD ?

The hard drive could be failing, I strongly advise that you take the drive out and hook it in another computer (use a 2.5'' external usb enclosure if needed) to backup your personal data before doing anything else. If you have a spare 2.5'' hard drive you could give xxclone a try.

Enter the BIOS at startup, write down your current settings then load the default settings, save and exit.

If that didn't change anything then grab a retail XP CD (borrow one if needed, it can be pro or home and any service pack), boot the laptop on it, press 'R' at the first screen to access the recovery console and at the command prompt type chkdsk c: /R. Wait until it finishes (it'll take a while) and tell us whether it fixed any errors. You might lose some data in the process so backup first. If your CD drive is failing then either find an USB CD drive or hook the hard drive in another computer and run chkdsk X: /R where X is the letter corresponding to your drive.

What's the exact model of your Satellite laptop ? Unfortunately there's no hdd diagnostic utility for your toshiba hard drive. Let's see how far we can get and I'll move you to the HDD support section if needed.


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## geno9875 (Dec 28, 2009)

*Re: Blue screen - can't even start up.*

the last thing done with it, it was my sisters and she said she was just browsing the internet, she hadn't downloaded anything within a week of this happening. She has no clue why this could have happened.

I'm having a friend come over to remove the hard drive in a few minutes, I don't want to break anything.. but in all honesty, there's no personal things on this computer that really needs to be saved, I'm fine if it all gets lost.

I tried loading default settings, saved and exited, nothing changed.

I have a retail XP cd for home edition, the laptop won't boot off the cd at all, it says this: 
_
intel (R) boot agent FE v4.1.18
copywrite (C) 1997-2005, Intel Corporation 
initializing and establishing link...
PXE-E61: media test failure. Check cable
PXE-M0F: exiting Intel boot agent.

I'm going to wait for my friend to get here, and put the harddrive into another computer, and let you know how it goes.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

*Re: Blue screen - can't even start up.*

Check the boot order priority in the BIOS : disable boot from lan and make sure the first boot device is the CD. See if you still get the PXE-E61 error. Check the hard drive cable, it may have moved out of its slot. Make sure the disk drive is hooked properly, refer to your laptop manual (go on toshiba's support site and enter your laptop model, you still didn't tell us what model it was).

Don't forget to give the results of the chkdsk scan.


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## geno9875 (Dec 28, 2009)

*Re: Blue screen - can't even start up.*

sorry it's been so long, a whole bunch of things came up.

I tried disabling the boot form lan and made sure the boot device was the cd. Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm also unable to switch hard drives at the moment.. in fact I don't think I'll be able to for a while. The boot agent just won't work off of anything I've tried, including USB. Also, can't get the chkdsk scan. If there's anything else you can do, let me know. In fact if there's nothing, let me know too.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

*Re: Blue screen - can't even start up.*

I could move you to the laptop support section for the hardware guys to take a look, the "PXE-E61: media test failure. Check cable" seems to be a hardware issue. Can't do much more if we can't boot from the hard drive neither from a CD.

Give us the exact model of the laptop so that we can give your thread a more detailed title.


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## geno9875 (Dec 28, 2009)

*Re: Blue screen - can't even start up.*

It is a Toshiba satellite A100. Thank you for all your help.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

I moved your thread. When you say that you can pull the CD drive all the way out is there some kind of cable or connector attached to it ? This is probably the source of the "check cable" error message, it's probably possible to hook it back but I'm not familiar with notebook CD drives, better wait for an hardware tech's advice.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

set the bios to boot from the hd first


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

@ dai : when booting from the hard drive XP won't start, which is why we're trying to boot from the CD to repair it


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

PXE-E61

usually indicates it is not set to boot from h/drive first


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## geno9875 (Dec 28, 2009)

So then is there nothing I can do? :S


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

yes check the boot order setting in the bios and make sure it is set to hard drive first


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

@ dai : I moved this thread to the hardware section to see whether it was possible to repair the CD drive. The computer won't boot from the hard drive, we'd like to run a chkdsk and a fixboot on it without taking the hdd out, and maybe backup the data using a bootable linux CD.

@ geno9875 : You said you could take the drive completely out, have you tried to plug it back in place ? Should be a sata or slim atapi connector, you can probably unscrew some pannel at the back of the laptop to check the cables.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hello geno9875

1. Push your cd drive back into the laptop firmly. There should be a screw holding it in place. See attached pictures.

2. This fault PXE-E61: or Media Test Failure, check cable UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" etc, etc means that the lappy is trying to boot from lan or the DVD/CD.

3. Go into your bios and search for an entry *Wake On Lan : [Enabled]* or something similar, not in the *Boot* order section, usually the *Main* menu. Who makes your bios (Phoenix is a popular lappy bios)? Now set that entry to *[Disable]* Save and Exit. Do not at this stage set defaults.

4. Start your laptop up and go into bios setup. Go to the *Boot* order screen and see if the lan entry has now gone. If it has just exit the bios and let your laptop boot as normal. Post back what happens.

5. If the PXE-E61 fault has gone, then good.

6. If the PXE-E61 fault has gone but you still have problems booting, then remove the HD and start your lappy, If it goes through the POST, and then a black screen appears with the message _*Operating System Not Found*_, and remains at this screen with no other error messages, then your HD is faulty or messed up. If the fault is still present then remove the bios cmos battery and leave it out for 20 mins then put it back and try again.

7. Go on the net and buy yourself USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE transfer block, very cheap on Ebay. See attached picture. Supports SATA/IDE 2.5"/3.5" and 5.25" CD/DVD drives and HD's. Connect it to a another PC and backup all your data. Run a diagnostic on the HD from your host PC.

8. A good test for your DVD/CD is to download Ubuntu live disk. Remove your HD and run Ubuntu fro the DVD/CD drive. Your lappy will boot and run a virtual operating system. Replace your HD and boot from the disk again and you can carry out some dignostics.

Lets see how you get on.:smile:


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## geno9875 (Dec 28, 2009)

oh wow, thanks a lot.  I will try it as soon as I get home, and I will let you know how everything goes. 

And yes, Phoenix is my BIOS.


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