Unmountable Boot volume (please help)

[Lord Baxter]

after acting sluggish for weeks my computer has finally coughed up a blue screen of death with the message unmountable boot volume and now i cant use it. i tired booting in safe mode  (all types) last known settings and normally but it came up with the same screen each time. lucily i had just gotten a copy of the Ultimate boot cd and i ran MHDD32. it showed numerous bad or unreadable file sectors.

how this happened is that i came home from school (with the cd) and decided to get rid of the login system that allowed me to get access to the school network, which was useless since i dont take my laptop to school. due to the error involving verclsid.exe i dont turn off my computer, i leave it on standby so i can start using it quicker and if i do turn it off its a force-shutdown due to crashing/locking up. i removed the programs the school used (which would be novell login and zenworks desktop manager) and shut down the computer (normally for once) i booted from the cd drive and had a look at the programs on the UBCD, i didnt know how to use them so i dropped to console to play some tremulous. the error screen first showed up then.

after runnning the diagnostic program i have come to the following conclusion:

1. the hard drive is damaged
2. the damage is mainly concentrated in the system files (or at  least the ones responsible for booting up)
3. there is no damage to boot sectors (thank god)
4. no files have been corrupted (or i would have noticed earlier) the main damage is to windows

the solutions i have are:

1. use MHDD32's repair function to try and get some semblance of working into windows so i can get my files off adn re-install windows (i dont know how to repair...).
2. using a cat5 cable connect the familt desktop and my computer together and get my files off (i've seen it done but i dont know if it will work)
3. wait until i get back to school on monday and get the techs (whom i know) to either move files from the bad sectors (so i can get my files) or open the hard drive in read only mode and get them off

my main concern is that i can use my computer again like nothing happened. if someone can tell me how to use MHDD32 or any other advice please post it here.

thanks in advance.

-Lord Baxter

[NiTRoX]

reformat pc.

[tuple]

MHDD32? Never heard of it.

However, go to Ubuntu (no, I'm not telling you to install linux ) and download the install cd.  It's also a live cd, so you can boot to the cd and use it like a regular computer, if a little slower (cause it's running off of cd )  
If you can, you can boot from the cd and the live version will be able to access your hard drive assuming your HD is accessible (it will be in /media/hda1 if I remember correctly.)

If you have a usb drive of any kind, you can then copy your files to it.
The Ubuntu cd will see %99 of wired network cards, and a great many wireless ones too, so you may be able to transfer files to your parents computer that way.  Though off of the top of my head, I couldn't say how as I don't use the live cd's desktop manager (called gnome).  Ah, nm, here we go

[Caveman]

Fool, you do NOT tinker with Novell-Zen and NEVER EVER with it's login manager!

The only way to get it working again is to bite the bullet and take responsibility for your action and hope you don't get hit by the admin.

[PFB]

Fool, you do NOT tinker with Novell-Zen and NEVER EVER with it's login manager!

The only way to get it working again is to bite the bullet and take responsibility for your action and hope you don't get hit by the admin.

...

[Lord Baxter]

@tuple thanks for the advice, i had grouped using an OS from a CD with the "wait until monday" choice so i might try that. thanks for your help MHDD32 is a program that came with the ultimate boot CD, which contains tons of diagnostic and repair tools for various hardware and software components.

@caveman the aforementioned admin TOLD me that it would be safe to remove novell login and zenworks, even if that was causing the problem it would be different to the one i have now, being the windows is partially dead. thanks for calling me a fool anyway but do try to avoid projecting in future.

[Caveman]

Lord, I do not project.
It is quite obvious that you have no clue at all about Novell.
One does NEVER EVER tinker with that stuff, unless one uses the correct tools (from Novell), which you did not do.

[Kaleo]

Fix all problems and get a Mac

[Megagun]

Although infamiliar with many of the tools you mentioned, I do know how to fix unmountable boot volume errors.. Might not apply though because of the utilities you ran.. but.. It should

1) Get a Windows XP Professional/home (whatever you're using) installation CD, boot it and enter the Recovery Console (by hitting R somewhere)..
2) Run the following:
chkdsk /r
fixboot
3) Alternatively, also run 'fixmbr'
4) Reboot and your system should work fine again..

If you're using a SATA drive, make sure that the (probably red) datacable is connected properly and not loose. If it's loose, that might explain some of the hardware errors you're seeming to get...

[benmachine]

One does NEVER EVER tinker with that stuff, unless one uses the correct tools (from Novell), which you did not do.

One does what one's admin tells one one can do, though. Be fair, he consulted the proper authority. If you have an issue with that authority, no use whining about it here. Or anywhere else, in fact.

[Caveman]

@Benmachine

a) luckily i had just gotten a copy of the Ultimate boot cd and i ran MHDD32.

b) the aforementioned admin TOLD me that it would be safe to remove novell login and zenworks

I am sure, that the admin did not tell him to use some obscure tool that would fuck the system.

[Lord Baxter]

woah, and here i thought the thread was dead.

@megagun that sounds exactly like what i want to do, get it working without losing the registry and shit. thanks, its a pity i didnt ask for the installation cd's with my computer . its running xp professional which is what the school is using so i might be able to borrow the cd off the admin.

@caveman the admin gave me the obscure tool and recommended it me and it worked well, it is a simple diagnosis tool, not sure how it would "fuck the system" and if you looked here: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/ the page seems to indicate that it is anything but obscure.
and like i said, if computer was fucked because of me removing novell login or anything else then it should have been able to run in safe mode which it didnt.

@kaleo i HAD a mac. 'nuff said.