Member Avatar for explodinghead75

I was trying to fix a computer for somebody and he said his hard drive was corrupt, which may be the case, but I'm not sure if I have to reinstall windows. The error message I get when windows is about to start is "Unmountable boot device" and I get a blue screen. So I put the hard drive in my computer and setup checked the drive and fixed some things and then I was able to to view data on it, so the drive appears to be working, but it won't boot for some reason. Does that mean I have to reinstall XP?

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Reinstalling XP fixed the boot error, but a fresh Windows install often lacks the exact network drivers the machine needs. solved the BSOD by reinstalling; was right to focus on drivers and correctly looked for diagnostic clues. Below are practical, non-redundant steps to isolate whether this is a driver, Windows-stack, or hardware/network-side problem and how to recover connectivity.

Start with quick hardware checks not yet suggested: verify the NIC link/activity LEDs with the PC powered and plugged into a known-good router/modem port. Swap the Ethernet cable and try a different router/switch port or a different working computer on the same cable — that separates cable/router faults from the PC. If available, boot a Linux live USB or WinPE on the problem box and test whether the NIC can obtain an IP: if it can, the issue is in Windows (drivers or stack); if it cannot, the NIC or wiring is likely at fault.

If hardware looks OK, obtain the correct LAN driver from the motherboard or NIC vendor using the exact model number. If the model is unknown, use the PCI/USB hardware IDs shown in Device Manager (Properties -> Details -> Hardware Ids) to match a driver. Install chipset/motherboard drivers before the LAN driver; that often enables onboard devices correctly. If driver availability for XP is a problem, a cheap USB-Ethernet adapter is an easy temporary workaround to download the proper driver.

If drivers are installed but no DHCP/Internet, reset the Windows network stack and renew IP configuration, then reboot:

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
netsh winsock reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Also confirm DHCP Client and Network Connections services are running. Finally, consider that Windows XP is long out of support; when possible move to a supported OS or at least install XP SP3 and vendor driver packs to avoid repeat driver issues.

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Member Avatar for Serunson

What data is on the BSOD? This can determine the actual cause of the boot problem. The code that is required is this part: 0x000.....
This line of code is the most important to diagnosing the problem with the computer.

Member Avatar for cguan_77

if no important data you have then better reinstall windows

Member Avatar for explodinghead75

Thanks, I just reinstalled windows XP and now it boots fine however I can't access the internet with it for some reason.

Member Avatar for cguan_77

hmm..newly installed windows cannot access internet, have you load all the necessary drivers?

Member Avatar for explodinghead75

hmm..newly installed windows cannot access internet, have you load all the necessary drivers?

I use cable internet though and I thought windows XP loaded drivers for the NIC card. So it should be able to connect?

Member Avatar for cguan_77

check your device manager, right click my computer -> click properties -> click hardware -> click Device Manager, check if all drivers are loaded properly.. or try going to command line then type this command ping 127.0.0.1 check if you will got a reply blah blah blah.. if the reply is request timed out then replace NIC...

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