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[Xtreme699]

Hey guys! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My friend gave me his old Xbox console, said it just stopped working.

SO!

I wanted to use the hard disk in my old PC which im gonna setup for my little sister, but after installing windows, at bootup i get a BSOD with:

UN-MOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME.

Now, before you say 'Xbox hard disks use a ATA-Password type system where it had to be unlocked before access", I REMOVED AND DISABLED the ATA-Password with a DOS app called ATAPWD.

Im just stumped to why it wont work, i made sure the drive was formatted and setup correctly, heck, i let the windows installer do that. Had it format the drive to NTFS, install windows and it seemed to be going well until now.

Any help would be great, thanks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Bomb Bloke]

The drive must've been mountable at some point, or you wouldn't've been able to install Windows onto it. Use your Windows disc to boot to the recovery console, then run the command:

chkdsk c: /f /r /x

Let that run through (it'll probably take roughly an hour or three depending on the drive). If it reports any bad sectors, consider the drive unreliable for the purposes of storing anything important and expect further problems.

If the command doesn't work at all (still can't find the HDD), check the drive is connected properly - a cable may have worked loose. Failing that, try it in a different computer, and if it's still not detected there, then you've probably found the reason the X-Box wasn't booting.  

[Xtreme699]

QUOTE(Bomb Bloke @ Dec 10 2010, 09:19 PM)

The drive must've been mountable at some point, or you wouldn't've been able to install Windows onto it. Use your Windows disc to boot to the recovery console, then run the command:

chkdsk c: /f /r /x

Let that run through (it'll probably take roughly an hour or three depending on the drive). If it reports any bad sectors, consider the drive unreliable for the purposes of storing anything important and expect further problems.

If the command doesn't work at all (still can't find the HDD), check the drive is connected properly - a cable may have worked loose. Failing that, try it in a different computer, and if it's still not detected there, then you've probably found the reason the X-Box wasn't booting.   (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

All cables are connected properly, the windows installer DETECTS the HDD and is able to format and write to it, etc....

Only thing is, when the install is complete and it does its final reboot, i get the

UN-MOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME.

I did some more research and it could be the cable, apparently some IDE drives use a different type cable (I dont remember but, something to do with the PIN-Layout?).

I'll do what you have suggested and report back (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

If it was the source of the xbox-issue then wouldnt it pop up with a error code relating to a HDD Timeout?

This post has been edited by Xtreme699: Dec 11 2010, 06:04 PM

[Bomb Bloke]

QUOTE(Xtreme699 @ Dec 12 2010, 01:03 AM)

I did some more research and it could be the cable, apparently some IDE drives use a different type cable (I dont remember but, something to do with the PIN-Layout?).

The pin layout is always the same for IDE/PATA drives - 40 of the things to the cable. Some drives require 80 wire cables in order to operate at top speed, though these still only use 40 pins, and they aren't required to boot the machine.

Is it possible the computer is trying to boot from some other device, such as a USB drive you may have attached to the system?

QUOTE(Xtreme699 @ Dec 12 2010, 01:03 AM)

If it was the source of the xbox-issue then wouldnt it pop up with a error code relating to a HDD Timeout?

The console would probably do that, if that's what you mean, though you never mentioned what that machine was doing other then "not working".

[Xtreme699]

QUOTE(Bomb Bloke @ Dec 11 2010, 10:36 PM)

The pin layout is always the same for IDE/PATA drives - 40 of the things to the cable. Some drives require 80 wire cables in order to operate at top speed, though these still only use 40 pins, and they aren't required to boot the machine.

Is it possible the computer is trying to boot from some other device, such as a USB drive you may have attached to the system?
The console would probably do that, if that's what you mean, though you never mentioned what that machine was doing other then "not working".

Yeah sorry, bit vague there, the Xbox just doesnt work, i press the power button, nothing, all cables are correctly connected but nothin, im gonna assume its a power issue. Anyway, my dad used some program called Hard Disk Regenerator or something and it said the Xbox HDD had 122 Bad Sectors and it couldnt repair the drive.
Also, my PC was set to boot from the HDD, nothing else (Except obvious things like Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor...) was connected to the system

Oh well, nevermind. Gonna buy a new hard disk, and some RAM cos my old PC is well...Old the RAM is old too and is starting to cause issues. (Sometimes beeps to indicate an error in first 64K of memory.).

Thanks for the help anyway guys! Was much appreciated.