my problem is similar to the guy who poster a floppy disk error 40, but much worse.

Here's the situation

I was playing a game when it crashed. I went back to windows, stopped the game, tried to restart it a few minutes later, but my windows totally froze. So I had to reboot my computer. But, just after the Windows XP logo, a blue screen appears with written inscriptions talking about UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

Someone told me to try a repair of Windows XP with the floppy disk startup.

But now, I see that my floppy drive doesn't work. My computer doesn't seem to find it, even if I change it in the BIOS (tried to put floppy in all three boot priorities, and still didn't work). What is similar to the other guy on the forum, it's when I put a floppy boot priority in the three slots, they say I have a floppy drive error 40. But the difference with him, is that I can't even get on Windows to try to fix it. I tried my floppy drive in another computer, and it works perfectly. I tried changing the connections inside the computers, and it doesn't work either.

So what can be the problem? I think that a repair of Windows XP could work, but I don't have the floppy drive to fix it and the windowsXP CD I have is just an upgrade, not a boot CD.

Is my computer dead, or do you have some ideas I could try?

thanks in advance.

i read this on another forum, might wanna try it out


If you are getting this error when you first turn on the computer it basically means that the cable that connects to the back of the floppy drive inside the computer has either come loose or fallen off. Follow these steps to rectify this problem and many others:

Turn the computer off

Take the cover off the computer by unscrewing the 4 or 6 screws at the back of the tower along the outer edges

Now slide the cover off the back of the computer

With the cover off, turn the computer around so that you are looking into the open side , with the power plugs to your left and the disk drives to your right

Now lay the computer down on it's side with the open side facing up

If you look at the front of the computer , you should see your floppy drive, and if you follow the floppy drive inside the computer, at the back of the floppy drive there is an inch and a half wide gray ribbon cable plugged into it (or it may have fallen out) .

If the cable is there, grab ahold of it and wiggle it back and forth WHILE you are pulling it towards the back of the computer.

The cable should come off , line it back up and push it back in . Press firmly along the edge to ensure it is seated properly.

If the cable was not in the floppy to begin with, line it up and push it in .Press firmly along the edge to ensure it is seated properly.

Once you have done this , set the computer upright again and turn it on. If the error message is still there, repeat this process again, chances are the cable is still loose or you may have made a mistake.

Originally Posted by chou

i read this on another forum, might wanna try it out


If you are getting this error when you first turn on the computer it basically means that the cable that connects to the back of the floppy drive inside the computer has either come loose or fallen off. Follow these steps to rectify this problem and many others:

Turn the computer off

Take the cover off the computer by unscrewing the 4 or 6 screws at the back of the tower along the outer edges

Now slide the cover off the back of the computer

With the cover off, turn the computer around so that you are looking into the open side , with the power plugs to your left and the disk drives to your right

Now lay the computer down on it's side with the open side facing up

If you look at the front of the computer , you should see your floppy drive, and if you follow the floppy drive inside the computer, at the back of the floppy drive there is an inch and a half wide gray ribbon cable plugged into it (or it may have fallen out) .

If the cable is there, grab ahold of it and wiggle it back and forth WHILE you are pulling it towards the back of the computer.

The cable should come off , line it back up and push it back in . Press firmly along the edge to ensure it is seated properly.

If the cable was not in the floppy to begin with, line it up and push it in .Press firmly along the edge to ensure it is seated properly.

Once you have done this , set the computer upright again and turn it on. If the error message is still there, repeat this process again, chances are the cable is still loose or you may have made a mistake.

I tried it several times and it didn't work

but maybe the cable you're talking about is broken... but I see a green light showing that it works. But the light is on whatever if there's a disk in it or not. But still, it's not my floppy drive that's broken because it works perfectly on another computer...

maybe I should try to put another cable on...

Originally Posted by fredidounet

So what can be the problem? I think that a repair of Windows XP could work, but I don't have the floppy drive to fix it and the windowsXP CD I have is just an upgrade, not a boot CD.

Is my computer dead, or do you have some ideas I could try?

thanks in advance.

an XP upgrade CD is a Bootable CD.

here is a good reference to repairing xp:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/index.html