Windows 7: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME BSOD error, NEED HELP! Tried everything!!

Running Windows 7 32-bit on a Gateway laptop.



Backstory: I was playing a game online, when it suddenly froze, and then the dreaded BSOD came up with the error in the Topic (Not sure what code, I can get it if needed though). I restarted it, selected boot up normally, nothing. Still the BSOD.

So I went into Windows Repair. Now here is what bothers me. when i go into the command prompt (or the Explorer) it starts at X:/ instead of the usual C:/. I have tried going into the command prompt and tried changing to C: but it just hangs up. I also can not open C: to explore the files in it. I think "Great, my laptop's hard drive went to shit". Well, I don't think that's the case, as the BIOS still recognizes the Hard Drive.

I tried booting into Safe Mode and Safe Mode Command Prompt. Both greeted me with the BSOD. Is there any program I can install on a USB Flash Drive to format my laptop or something? I was thinking of installing Ubuntu through this method and formatting that way, but I'm not sure if that would work.

Any help appreciated.

EDIT: Kind of urgent seeing as how college starts next week. I would post a dump of the BSOD, but I don't exactly know how to do that if it never even boots up.

You can download a livecd to both from and move the dmp file to where you can upload it.


If you wish to have others assist you with your computer's BSOD symptoms, upload the contents of your "\Windows\Minidump" folder. The procedure:

* Copy the contents of \Windows\Minidump to another (temporary) location somewhere on your machine.
* Zip up the copy.
* Attach the ZIP archive to your post using the "paperclip" (file attachments) button.
* Briefly describe the problem history and circumstances in the same post. Somebody will attend to your query as soon as possible.

So downloading and booting Ubuntu from a Flash Drive will let me actually ON the computer and no get the BSOD so I could post the dump?

Yep. we do it all the time. Only caveat is if it is some hardware that is crashing it. It is worth a shot

If you wish to have others assist you with your computer's BSOD symptoms, upload the contents of your "\Windows\Minidump" folder. The procedure:

* Copy the contents of \Windows\Minidump to another (temporary) location somewhere on your machine.
* Zip up the copy.
* Attach the ZIP archive to your post using the "paperclip" (file attachments) button.
* Briefly describe the problem history and circumstances in the same post. Somebody will attend to your query as soon as possible.

Alright, cool deal. Download will be done in about 20 minutes, so I'll let ya know around that time.

EDIT: If it makes any difference, I've had this before, 2 times I think, and each time was fixed by running the Windows Repair, but like I said in the OP, it's in the X: Drive instead of C:... is that normal?

Alright, got the CD downloaded, put it on my flash drive and it's installing Ubuntu right now (could have done it without installing, but who knows, might keep it, although I wouldn't be able to run many games on it...). This is much further than I ever got before, so I'm guessing it's not a hardware problem.

Now, after I get into ubuntu, what do I do to get the log files for the BSOD? Would I just come back here and download the program and run it?

EDIT: When it goes into the screen where it asks me which Os i want to boot up, it says "Windows Vista (loader)", even though I had 7 installed. why would it say this?

Well, Linux reports me having 21 bad Sectors I'm guessing my Hard Drive is slowly dying