oh, and by the way, what i meant by oem disk, was a disk that came with the computer like the dell restore disk or what not. I know the dell disk is really just a windows xp disk with a little bit added to it.

I used to pirate but it got boring so I'm going to most likely get an OEM version off of eBay most likely. Trust and believe, it also sounds like downloading a torrent takes too long (I am impateint, :tongue

When this PayPal goes through, I'll be sure to split the $20 between you nizzy and the person who gave instructions to fix it.

I know that this will go into the area of copyright infringement that's why I did not specifically state any methods to get the ISO. However, I believe that as long as you bought the software, even if it came pre-installed, and you own a legal CD-Key, you have the full right to the install CD. It's because the installation CD by itself is the same as anyone else's—the only difference is that it may be either a single or volume license version.

The unfortunate thing is that most manufacturers do not give a single-license CD out because first of all, they used RIS or some special version of the Windows CD to mass install the OS, and that usually their single-license keys are bought from Microsoft in bulk without the actual installer CD (with all the holographic stuff on top of the CD).

if you bought the pc with xp pre installed the product key on the tower or case will work to run reinstalls or repairs with almost any xp or installation disk. i'd just borrow or get a backup copy from a mate

hey i am getting this same msg and problem but when i get to the windows setup screen i push 'r' to repair and it starts examining then it restarts and i still have problem, why is it restarting what do i do? please email me at stuartkirk99@hotmail.com if you can help thx so much and its on my laptop and i got my windows xp cd

you could try going past the repair console option, continue as if you as if you were going to install, (do not reformat) it will check the existing windows installation, if it detects damage it will tell you so and ask if you want to attempt to repair your current installation (you press R for this one too). it will perform a repair/overwrite keeping your data intact. if it does not offer the repair option, do not go past this point. Cancel the install (F3). you will need your disk and key. read the options carefully they are pretty clear.

I felt like I should add just one more thing.

When the fixboot did not fix the problem, I went back in to the console and issued the following commands

chkdsk /r

after it scanned and repaired the damaged sectors, i issued this command

chkdsk /p

this ran quick...

then I did the fixboot again

after that, it started up just fine for me.

i'm sure your right and all but it's different for windows xp pro it show a bar at the bottom ang gives u different options. they are press F2 ro run automated system recovery the rest is just like u said but there is no R as u said. also it says Window setup

Hey everyone don't listen to my first thread i looked at astronoxs thread were u do the three steps it worked perfectly so tyvm i would've have to pay to bring this to geek squad i'm coming here every time i have a problem bye.

Not to start any confusion however not any disk will work. Most disks will work. If you own a Dell computer you need to use the disk that comes with your machine because of the specific drivers for the hardware in your machine. ie: sata harddrive. Otherwise your computer will not reconize anyhard drive which is a important step in fixing a Unmountable_Boot_Volume.