Unmountable Boot Drive Error - Should replace my hdd?

[Tõnis]

I put the topic here, because it's kind of general even though my ThinkPad isn't the machine with the problem. My Lenovo 3000N100, running XP, gets an unmountable boot drive error blue screen crash even when trying to start in safe mode. Does replacing the hdd normally solve this problem?

There are a few variables:

1. Clock hasn't been keeping proper time for a few months.
2. Computer was acting a bit sluggish when I foolishly killed power to it while it was in the middle of an Adobe Reader update.

The information on my hdd is as follows:

1. 21 Jun 07
2. Model HTS541612J9SA00 5400RPM 120GB SATA

I tried loading a backup from discs, but it didn't get very far (almost nowhere). The hard drive seemed to be making a little bit of read/write noise, but nowhere near as much as it normally would. Maybe like five tap bursts at regular intervals (every twenty seconds or so) while it just sat there on the first screen where I had clicked to reload the backup from disc. It was clearly taking way too long to be doing anything.

If the answer is yes, that I should start by replacing the hdd, could someone please provide a link to a tutorial? I mean: hard drives are not just plug and play, are they? I removed it easy enough -- took all of five seconds -- but I imagine the hard part will be the setup when I plug in a new one. Is there a choice between replacement hard drives (with or without an operating system)? Will the BIOS reject the hdd like a body might with a transplanted organ? Is this a job I can even handle or are special tools and skills needed?

What should I do? Have no idea what my options are ...

TIA,

Tony

[Brad]

Sorry you are having trouble.

Usually with Windows XP although it sounds fatal this error can easily be fixed by running check disk or CHKDSK. I have personally successfully recovered countless computers from this error.

Boot from a Windows XP disk and get to the recovery console.

If you are not familiar with the recovery console Google will be your friend.

Run check disk from the recovery console.

Once completed which could take some time, exit the recovery console and restart.

Hopefully the Windows install was repaired successfully.

Brad

[Tõnis]

Thanks, Brad. I'd love to try that. Where do I get this XP recovery disk that will get me into the Windows R screen? XP came on the system, and all I have is my Lenovo Product Recovery Disks from the factory and the ones I made. They get me into R&R, but I still don't know how to get into Windows repair or a command prompt to run chkdsk.

[ajkula66]

Any XP retail disk will do for the purposes of fixing the error...

[Tõnis]

Thanks, I'll look into obtaining one tomorrow or Monday and report the results when I've tried this.

Tony

[Tõnis]

Well, no good news to report. I obtained an XP recovery disk from Amazon and just tried to run it. It gets to the part (after pressing any key to load from disc) where it loads a bunch of Windows files, but then it immediately goes to a BSOD:

disable bios memory options such as caching or shadowing

*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xF76120BF, 0xF7A5E208, 0xF7A5DF08)

*** pci.sys - Address F76120BF base at F760B000, Datestamp 3b7d855c

[not sure what any of this means]

Back to square one. What do I do now? Do I obtain a new hard drive for this beast?

Tony

[ajkula66]

Set the SATA controller in BIOS to "Compatibility" and try again.

[Tõnis]

Set the SATA controller in BIOS to "Compatibility" and try again.

I can't find this compatability mode in the BIOS setup utility. Where is it?

[ajkula66]

Under "configuration".

Make sure to press F10 to save and exit once you've changed it....

[Tõnis]

Under "configuration".

Make sure to press F10 to save and exit once you've changed it....

Thanks for bearing with me. I'm either exceptionally dim, in the wrong utility, or both. When I press the start button, I hit F1, and the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility opens. In it, I have five tabs: Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, and Exit. Main seems to have the time, date, and product information. Advanced has four options: Quiet Boot [Enabled], Power on display [LCD only], Internal modem [Enabled], and Legacy USB Support [Enabled]. Security has password stuff. Boot lists the boot priority order; mine shows the IDE ODD DVD drive first, then the SATA HDD, then PCI LAN Realtek Boot Agent. Exit has save changes, load setup defaults, etc. I still can't even find "configuration." Am I in the wrong BIOS utility?

[ajkula66]

My mistake...apologies.

Just realized that we're not dealing with R61 in your sig...but with a Lenovo of a non-ThinkPad kind...

No idea where to lead you from here.

Good luck.

[Tõnis]

Big news! Hard drive replaced and problem fixed!

*details coming tomorrow

[Tõnis]

Well, I'm happy to report another successful do-it-myself repair. I contacted the Amazon seller from whom I obtained the recovery disk to ask if there was any step I was missing or doing wrong. He told me my hard drive is completely toast and offered to refund my money. As the hard drive failure wasn't his fault, I thought that was more than a reasonable person would expect. I opted to keep the disk as a tool to use for future fixable crashes.

Yesterday, I took a ride over to Cheever Industries in Holliston, MA and obtained a replacement hard drive. After I installed it, I started to load it from my factory recovery media. I figured the factory disks were the best way to go. At first, all appeared to be going well, but then I noticed things weren't going as they normally have whenever I've reloaded a system. There seemed to be a bunch of driver configuration issues I didn't know how to deal with properly. I did manage to get the machine working in Windows, but it wasn't working well or to my satisfaction. For example, though I was online, I couldn't get Windows/Microsoft Update to work. I decided to try loading a backup I had made in November of 2011. Everything went well with my Nov '11 backup load, and the 3000N100 is working perfectly again. I'm not sure what the problem was with the factory recovery media. It might have been my mistake; I might have taken the final disk out too soon. No matter. All is well again with this Lenovo notebook, obtained back in '07, which had been working perfectly till this recent hard drive crash, even after I had spilled a big glass of water all over the keyboard (machine was on when it happened!) back in '08.

Total cost of repair:

$45 for the replacement hard drive
$20 for gas
+some of my time