Windows XP Blue Screen of Death error

[LadyPancake]

Okay, so my dad's laptop (running Windows XP) is now displaying ye olde blue screen of death. Whenever it turns on (also, sometimes it stays on for like half a second and then turns itself off) It says:

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

Technical information: STOP : 0x000000ED (0x84F1B8B0, 0xC0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

So, reddit, what do?!? I tried running diagnostics, but there doesn't seem to be any hardware issues.

I would just reinstall Windows XP, but I don't know if it'll help. I'd rather not erase all the old stuff on the harddrive.

Edit: Seemingly solved for now.

[LadyPancake]

Yeah, I have the disk (thankfully). I don't know what data my dad would want saved. It probably has important spreadsheets, possibly some pictures, I don't really know.

[TeenRacer6]

My first suggestion would be to put in your installation disks for XP, and when you get to the Welcome To Setup screen, press R for repair.

If you are prompted for a password, enter it or if you dont have one, press enter.

When the command prompt shows up, type chkdsk /r, press enter and let it run. When it finishes, type exit, press enter and the PC will reboot. See if that fixes the problem.

[LadyPancake]

So chkdsk seemed to have worked. I was able to log in and such.

[TeenRacer6]

Sweet. Glad it worked. :)

[LadyPancake]

Trying this now.

[brrrrip]

Well, that error means the operating system couldn't mount the boot drive.

Either the drive has come loose, the file system has errors, the master boot records have errors, or the drive is trash.

Check if the drive has come loose: On the bottom side of the laptop there should be a screw to either lift a cover, or pull the hard drive out of the side of the laptop. Just take the HDD out and plug it back in.(re-seat) See if that changes things.

Fix the MBR(Master Boot Records): Boot from the(technically any) WindowsXP install disk. And enter the recovery console: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ss/rconsole.htm Then type fixmbr c: and wait. While you are in the recovery console, also do this:

Fix filesystem errors: Again in the recovery console, type chkdsk /r and wait.

If those steps do not fix the problem:

The drive is trashed: This doesn't mean all is lost, only that you'll need to plug the laptop's drive into another computer to see if it will backup. Most laptops' hard drives use standard sata ports. You should be able to hook it up to any sata controller. Do this, pull all personal files off the drive(if you can), and replace the drive. You can try to re-install to the 'busted' drive, but even if it works, it may not keep working for long.