Hi All, I'm trying to resolve the above issue. I'm currently running Windows XP. I have my original recovery cds that came with my laptop (3 in total); however, when I place the first cd in the drive and try to boot--it only offers the option to recover the system--which I do not want to do. Apparently there is a blue welcome/dos screen that is being skipped.

Is there a separate boot cd that I need in order to repair the "unmountable boot error"? If so, can you please tell me where I can download or purchase it?

Thanks.
TaTa74

Have a look here: Unmountable Boot Volume
By the way Tata XP does not run on a DOS platform

thanks for this info, but i should probably clarify. i don't actually mean a dos prompt, but from all the info that i've read, once my computer boots from the cd drive, then a blue welcome screen should open, with a command prompt... and at that time i can select "r" (repair option) and then chkdsk... etc. but my computer is only giving me the option to reinstall and thus lose overwrite/erase my data.

so my question is still... is there a difference between a boot disk/cd vs. recovery cds that come with a computer. if so, do you know where i can purchase or download a boot cd?

thanks again for your help! greatly appreciate it!

It obviously sounds like you have a set of manufacturers OEM disks.
1 should be for repair/re-installation of the OS
1 should contain the system drivers and the other may contain manuals etc.
When you have booted with the first disk and you see where it says Install choose install, trust me, then you should see a screen like below which will give you the option to repair.