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My win XP machine was running really slow so i decided (not a great idea in hindsight) to download and run CCleaner. I cleaned up files and registry settings (it makes you save a backup) and then i went to reboot the next day and now Windows wont start.

I basically get:

  1. The "You machine didn't shutdown properly message" where you can choose "Safe mode", etc..
  2. No matter what choice I make (safe mode, last good configuration, normal mode, etc), it tries to start up windows then shows up a blue screen with a bunch of stuff but the main error is:

     UNMOUNTALBE_BOOT_VOLUME
    
  3. Then goes back to the Dell boot up screen and then back to step 1

Has anyone else experienced this? Are there any other suggestions on how to have my machine start up again or do you think its hosed? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I back up most of my files but I still hope the machine isn't worthless now. Any help would be appreciated to try to get back into Windows.

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judging from the cause of the issue, your best bet is to run a filesystem check from your Windows XP installation CD. here are some instructions to do that from Microsoft's website.

1.Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted.

2.When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

3.If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.

4.When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.

5.At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r , and then press ENTER.

6.At the command prompt, type exit , and then press ENTER to restart your computer.

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  • +1 for chkdsk /r. That has solved half a dozen similar boot problems at my last job. @parasheps boot via CD method is probably the easiest solution for home usage. Putting the disk in another computer as second HDD also works.
    – Hennes
    Aug 3, 2012 at 1:21

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