OK..here it goes. I've been trying to install a new primary hard drive (WD 160GB IDE) and then install XP Pro. However, each time it boots to the install disc I get the blue SCREEN with the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error. Most of the troubleshooting guides I've read in regards to this say to boot to the Recovery CONSOLE and run the check disc, however this is a brand new hard drive and I can't get to the Recovery console anyhow as it fails before that. In addition, this is the second drive I've tried so I doubt it's the drive. This is what I've done so far:

BTW..I have a Dell Dimension 8300

1. Per Dells suggestion, boot to XP with at least Service Pack 2. I tried XP with SP3 and that didn't work.
2. Per Western Digitals suggestion, boot using the XP reinstall disc....that didn't work.
3. Swapped old 80 conductor 40 pin IDE cable for new.......that didn't work.
4. Tried setting jumper to master and cable select......neither worked.
5. Update BIOS to latest version...AO7...that didn't work.

For what it's worth...at the bottom of the blue screen there is an error code as follows:
STOP:0x000000ED (0x89E34030, 0xc000010, 0x00000000)..........got this code after I booted to the reinstall disc
STOP:0x000000ED (0x89E3B8C0, 0xc000010, 0x00000000)....got this code after I swapped the cable

Any other ideas?Go back to an 80 pin cable.
DLoad the bootable version of the DATA Lifeguard Tools from their site and use them to prepare the drive for a new installation...I appreciate your reply, however I'm using a new 80 conductor/40 pin wire....this is the type that is required...see below.

In the ATA/ATAPI-4 standard that introduced the Ultra DMA transfer mode set, a new cable was introduced to replace the old STANDBY: the 80-conductor IDE/ATA cable. The name is important: the new cable has 80 conductors (wires)--it does not have 80 pins on each connector, though, just 40. This means that the new cable is pin-compatible with the old drive. No change has been made to the IDE/ATA connectors, aside from the color-coding issue (see below).

In addition, I tried to boot to the Data Lifeguard Tools disk provided with the hd...but that didn't work. That said, WD said I did not need to use the Data Lifeguard Tools if booting to an OS.

thanks


Well you can take WD's advice or follow ours to get this to work....
Barring that i would return the drive for a replacement.OK.....so I tried your suggestion, and unfortunately that did not work either....same error. This is the second drive I have tried......

thanks
Courtesy MSDN:

Quote

The kernel mode I/O subsystem attempted to mount the boot volume and it failed. This error also might occur during an upgrade to Win XP on systems that use higher throughput ATA disks or CONTROLLERS with incorrect cabling. In some cases, your system might appear to work normally after you restart.