UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error :(

[notebooknewbie]

Here's my computer specs...

IBM Thinkpad
Windows XP w/ SP1
1.5GHz Intel Centrino
40GB Hard Drive - about 400MB left (rest is full)
512MB Ram
Purchased: August 2004 (likely manufactured around then too)

History:

Ever since I've had this computer, it has had ZERO problems at all. However, these past few weeks, it has been a nightmare.

For starters, "explorer" has not been functioning well...for example, if I go to the desktop to click on "My Computer", it takes forever to open up the window. Or if I want to save something on a webpage, right clicking (which brings you to the SAVE AS box) took forever to open. IE was also extremely buggy (I got multiple "virtual memory is low" messages)Everything else, I guess "non-XP" related (i.e. Firefox, MS Word, MSN Messenger, bittorrent etc.) worked fine though.

I tend to leave my computer during the day. Last Thursday, after getting back from classes, I noticed the computer was exceptionally slow...everything was just frozen or taking forever to open/work. So I decided to simply restart my computer. That's when the problems began. I would get the BSOD "Unmountable_boot_volume" error and I would have to restart my computer again...I got the error about 3 times and then finally, after I restarted for the 4th time, XP decided to run chkdsk. While that was running, numerous lines began to scroll...all which said "File Record Segment __#__ is unreadable". But after all that finished, my computer got me to the log-in screen and everything worked fine from that point on.

Last night, once again, the computer was becoming extremely slow/buggy (like last time) so, like last time, I restarted my computer. But, once again, I got the BSOD Unmountable_boot_volume error". The exact error:
------------------------

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Blah Blah Blah

Technical Information:
***STOP: 0x000000ED (0x82308E30, 0xC0000006, Ox00000000, 0x00000000)

----------------------------------

And the computer just freezes at this screen...doesn't restart, can't do CTRL-ALT-DELETE...nothing. I have to pull out the laptop battery to restart (I know that's bad, but the computer just becomes a paperweight at that point). So I restarted about 3-4 more times and, once again, the same thing. I hoped that I would get the chkdsk scan again and everything would be fine, but it didn't come up.

So basically that's where I'm at right now. I've never reformatted this hard drive, never had a virus/spyware infection (I had run those checks after the first time I had this BSOD boot_volume error, and nothing showed up). I've been reading a lot of other posts online, and they all have something to do with having an XP CD, but I unfortunately don't have that either so I'm really at a loss as to what I should do next. Any ideas??

[jdhurst]

I am pretty sure your hard drive is failing. The only answer (that I know of) given your description is to replace it. ... JD Hurst

[notebooknewbie]

I might be desperate here, but does "sounds like failing" mean that there's any possible chance that the data on it could be recovered? i.e. going into safe mode and retrieving the data?

And does IBM's warranty (which it is still under) cover the parts/labour of replacing the hard drive? Thanks in advance.

[jdhurst]

Whether you can recover the data depends on which area of the drive is failing. The faster you act (get a new drive and stop using the existing drive), the more likely you can retreive most of the data. If you can start the existing machine one more time, network it to another machine and copy what data you can. If you cannot start, put the drive in an ultrabay and try copying from there.

If my short description is more than you are able to attempt, get a skilled person (paid if necessary) to assist you.
... JD Hurst

[Thinkpaddict]

I might be desperate here, but does "sounds like failing" mean that there's any possible chance that the data on it could be recovered? i.e. going into safe mode and retrieving the data?

Actually, you stand a great chance of recovering your data. Do a search for SpinRite. That piece of software has saved my [censored] a couple of times. It works like magic, but it is actually computer science.