Unmountable Boot Volume - IDE Device Failure

You've probably got a bad hard drive. I'd replace it and see if that takes care of the problem. Other possibilities are a bad system board.

You know that there is a problem with either the Controller for the HDD or the HDD itself.

What you now need to do is remove that HDD from that computer fit it to another computer and check it again with the same diagnostic Tool, if it still comes up as bad you have a faulty HDD but if it comes up as OK you have a faulty controller on the M'Board for the HDD.

Col

Cause:
This issue can be caused by a corrupt boot.ini
This issue can also be caused by a bad hard disk drive
Answer:
Corrupt boot.ini file
To resolve this issue you will need to boot into the recovery console, additional information and help with getting into the recovery console can be found on document CH000627.
In the recovery console type chkdsk /p to check to see if the disk drive is bad or marked as dirty. See our chkdsk command page for additional information and help with this command. If errors are located during the check skip to the next section.
If after performing this check it is unable to locating anything wrong with the hard disk drive, reboot the computer.
If after performing this step the computer still has the same issue, reboot the computer and load back into the recovery console.
Once back into the recovery console type chkdsk /r to locate any bad sectors and recover any data. If errors are located during the check skip to the next section.
Once completed reboot the computer to determine if this has resolve your issue.
Additional information and help with the boot.ini file can be found on document CH000492.
Note: If after running either of these chkdsk commands your computer is able to successfully boot into Microsoft Windows XP make sure you have all the latest updates for your computer. Additional information about running Windows update can be found on document CH000545.

Seriously corrupted or bad hard disk drive
If while running the above steps you encounter errors with the hard disk drive and/or the above steps do not resolve your issue it is likely your hard disk drive is failing or has already failed. To determine if this is the case it is recommended you run the Windows XP setup, delete all partitions, recreate the partitions, format the hard disk drive, and reinstall Windows XP.

If errors are encountered during the creation of the partitions or the format process it is likely that the hard disk drive is bad and it should be replaced.

Hard disk drive buying tips can be found on our hard disk drive buying tips page.
Additional information and help with installing a PC IDE/EIDE hard disk drive can be found on document CH000413.

Hello - First of all, I am sorry that this post got SOOO long, but it's a long story. I tried to detail what I did last night (to the best of my recollection) to cause my machine to not boot up,so that maybe you can see if and what I did wrong, and possibly be able to help me either fix it or "undo" what I did!!

I'm new to this web site. I always seem to find answers here, so I joined, even though I'm not an IT employee of any kind. I'm just a person who has no one else to help her, so I research all computer problems on my own, and try to learn as much as I can for myself, so I can fix my own computer problems (I'm a single mother, so I don't have extra money to pay someone to fix my computer for me! Besides, I like learning all I can about computers, and being able to fix things myself!)

Unfortunately, since I'm not professionally trained, I screw up at times. And this may have been one of those times. It all started because my son was having trouble with a game he was trying to play (screen went black), so I decided to see if I could do some research, and "fix" the problem.

First I updated our graphics driver (a Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT, 512MB).

Then I decided to check for and download a few more "updates" from the Microsoft web site, because I ran a Belarc (for whatever reason - I can't remember why!!), and it said, "These required security hotfixes (using the 06/13/2006 Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary) were not found installed." Well, I wasn't paying attention to the fact that it was "using the 2006" bulletin, or the fact that it had only ONE hotfix listed that they were referring to(way off to the left). So I downloaded some things. I can't remember for sure exactly what I decided to download, but I'll tell you what I think I downloaded. Let me say first that I DO read up on things to try to understand them before I download them. If I don't fully understand, I try to make a decision - and if it sounds too difficult or like I'd be messing with something I shouldn't be unless I'm a "professional" - don't do it. But I misjudge things sometimes, and I am afraid that I downloaded something las night that "conflicted" with my system. I downloaded updates/drivers from the Microsoft website as well as from the Dell website...read on...

From MS, I believe I downloaded the following updates (I had, at least, printed up the list of updates that Belarc had a link to, that I worked from - but it doesn't include anything I may have "linked to" from any of the pages listed):

KB940965 - addresses a vulnerability in Excel 2002, sp3.
KB927891 (maybe, not sure) resolves issue with MS Installer that can affect performance during software updates
KB936357 (maybe, not sure) microcode update to improve the reliability of systems with Intel processors (because I have Intel)
KB938828 Reliability Update--update to improve the stability of computers running Windows XP

I got done on the Microsoft site, re-started my computer, and went on to the Dell site, because I realized that in the whole time I've owned my Dell (since April of 2006), I'd NEVER looked to see if they had any updates for my computer (something I'd simply "forgotten" about doing, and for some reason, I was never on any list to be automatically notified of Dell's new updates and downloads (I only saw last night that that was an option I could have had). And there were 51 possible downloads listed. So I went through, trying to read up on the many different drivers and updates, trying to figure out what was installed on my computer for each thing listed, so that I didn't install something that "didn't match." A couple of them said I would have to re-start in order for the settings to take effect, but I chose the "re-start later" option, thinking I would save myself the time, and just re-start after several downloads. What I THINK I downloaded from Dell:

"Chipset Software Installation Utility"
"Removeable Storage: M-Systems LF T5 128/256/512MB Memory Key," which is a "USB Memory Key Bootability tool" (it also has a note that says "***FOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY****" which, of course, I did NOT see.
"Conexant 56K V.9x DFVc Modem" - there are 3 downloads for this - a "Diagnostics Utility," an "Application" and a "Driver," and I am not sure which one(s) I did.
"Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics (Graphical User Interface version)" utility update.
"Intel PRO/100 VE Network Connection" - again, there are 3 downloads for this - a "Driver," a "Diagnostics Utility," and an "HTML" folder - and again, don't remember exactly which one(s) I downloaded.
"Dell Desktop System Software" which is a "DSS utility that provides critical updates and patches for your operating system. Install the DSS program to gain support for Dell 3.5-inch USB floppy drives, CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD drives, and USB devices. DSS is necessary for correct operation of your Dell computer. DSS automatically detects your computer and operating system and installs the updates appropriate for your configuration."

And I think that's all. I had re-started my computer after one of the Dell downloads. I got to the account screen, where there is a sign-in for either me or my son, but the mouse pointer was "stuck" stationary in the middle of the screen. I tried everything I could think of to get that mouse to move. The "mouse stopping" issue used to happen on a regular basis, several months back, and when I called Dell about it, the only thing their support person could come up with was that my motherboard was bad. So they sent me a new one. I declined to have a service rep come and install it, thinking I could "figure it out" by myself. Well, it turned out to be more than I thought I could do, so I never installed it. But vacuuming the CPU out helped, and the mouse stopped freezing up like that. So I thought the same thing was happening last night, and tried all my old tricks to fix it. But nothing worked, and I couldn't get signed back in.

I was going to try to boot up in safe mode so I could go in and use the system restore (which I have successfully used once before!), but the F8 button would work. Is a "safe mode" option supposed to show up in the F12 boot utility? I thought it did, but it was not there last night or today. I just cannot find a way to get into safe mode.

I did finally go to the Diagnostics Utility. I ran the "Express Test," and it found only one error, when scanning the CD-ROM/DVD drive. So I'm not even sure that one has anything to do with why everything seems to freeze up at the login screen. The error message said, "IDE DVD+RW/DVD-RW : DVD+-RW GWA4164B ? Confidence Test," and said, "No additional sense information" underneath that, and "Msg: IDE device failed: Blank media or no media is present in optical drive. Test requires media with digital data (Resource CD, Installation CD)" and "Test Results : Fail" (Error Code 650F : 136C). In the list of sub-tests for this device, the "Media Eject Test" was ghosted-out (light gray letters as opposed to regular black letters, like everything else). And I hardly think that an error like that is the root of my problem! I think it was something I downloaded - either a conflict of some sort, or something got screwed up in the download process. My computer has been working great up until this point, with the exception of the screen in my son's game "blacking out." Our graphics card is brand-new - just bought it in July. I can't imagine that a hard drive could "go bad" just like that, with only one "warning" (like the screen going black once) or no warning at all. Does that happen? Or are there "little signs" to give you fore-warning??

I thank you for any help, clues or suggestions you can provide. And again, I apologize profusely for the book-length of this post. I just wanted you to be aware of all the details directly proceeding this problem. Thank you for taking the time to read it (for those of you who did!) P.S. - it is now 1:00am, and the "Extended Test" STILL has not finished - it's only 85% completed....sorry