SS64 Forum

metaguy

Member

Registered: 15 Jul 2013

Posts: 1

Device is not ready error

I sent an email to 'Website@SS64.com' and received a response to also post on this site, hence I'm duplicating my earlier email, however I'm not able to paste screen captures.  I'll do my best to replicate them.

Simon –
I’m hoping you can assist me.  I do tech support but I’m not at your level by a long shot.

I’m using a Toshiba laptop with Win 7, 64 bit.  Comodo firewall, Avast! Antivirus.

During an Avast anti-virus scan I’m getting the following in the scan log:
Disk \\?\Volume[4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6e6963]Boot Record     Error: The Device is not ready(21)

I’ve done considerable amount of research including your MOUNTVOL (Windows 2000/2003/Server 2008), and with online tech support forums, but have been unable to resolve the issue.  One tech suggested the bit-locker may be at issue.

This is what disk management shows:
1.46 GB Healthy (Active Recovery)
(C) 150 GB NTFS Healthy...
(F) 132.92 GB NTSF Healthy (Logical Drive)
[unlabeled) 13.71 GB Healthy (Primary Partition)

The 13.71 GB is a 2 TB external hdd that is not always ‘on’ but connected.  Even when it is on and I’ve assigned a letter to the drive, I’ve still gotten the error message from the Avast scan.

Your input would be deeply appreciated.  Following is previous tech communications.  Please let me know if you need more info.
metaguy
---------------

6/14 (metaguy)- The scan log in daily antivirus scan (Avast) indicates status on same 2 entries as “Error: The device is not ready (21).”
The 2 file names are -
Disk \\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6ffe6e6963} Boot Record, and
\\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6ffe6e6963}\
Upon typing the two hex numbers they turn to hyperlinks but go nowhere.

6/18 (tech) - Hmm. Well, this is just a guess but since you have multiple antivirus/antimalware products installed, I'm wondering if one of them has a lock on the boot record when Avast is doing its scan? Do you have MalwareBytes/Windows Defenders/CCleaner/ scheduled to do a scan the same time as Avast? You might try disabling the other services and just running Avast and see if you get the same error?

6/18 (metaguy) - Malwarebytes and CCleaner are not running. I have not disabled them as of yet, as they've not caused issue before.. Defender not used.
Via Google search I've found other options some of which give some hints.
1. Ran SFC with clean bill of health.
6/18/13
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\G>sfc /scannow.
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

2. Iin the article "No OS Visible in Boot Tab" at the following: AT tomshardware - forum/40338-63-visible-boot, read the long entries by "deadl4st," the one titled "In the Air," and the last one by Roki3112.

3. I haven't tried the possible suggestions, but there's reference to a hidden drive. I can't find one, even with "show hidden files,folders, drives" (see attachment).

4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ Mounted Devises has several volumes listed including the one mentioned in Avast! It also shows a "G" drive, however I don't have one. Will send attachment separately as only one can go with this message.
Well that gives you some leads and I'll also continue to pursue answers. Thanks.

6/18 (tech) - From a command prompt type: mountvol
Match the GUID in your daily scan logs to the one in the mountvol results. That will at least tell us which drive the error is referring to. I assumed it was the C drive because it made mention of boot sector but now that I've seen how many volumes you have on your PC, that might not be the case.

6/18 (meteguy) - I think you're on to something. Take a look...
Possible values for VolumeName along with current mount points are:
\\?\Volume{33aa2d3f-d135-11e1-9b5a-00266c078ef2}\
F:\
\\?\Volume{4c076dbe-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963}\
C:\
\\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963}\
*** NOT MOUNTABLE UNTIL A VOLUME MOUNT POINT IS CREATED ***
\\?\Volume{8ec7a576-d060-11e1-9374-806e6f6e6963}\
D:\

6/18 (tech) - Well that certainly explain why you keep getting the "device not ready error". I wonder if that is referring to your external drive. Is that drive currently plugged in? The mount point would persist even if the drive was unplugged so it stands to reason that's what's happening. But when have computers and logic ever gone together, right?

6/19 (metaguy) - Hi - the external HD had been disengaged but not physically disconnected. I unplugged the usb cable, however the same error message came up. Hope you'll continue to work on this as I will, also.

6/19 (tech) - I'm curious about something. Plug the external HD back in. Then, copy and paste this "\\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963}\" (without the quotes) in a RUN command. Let me know what happens.

6/19 (metaguy) - Interesting. However got "location is not accessible. The device is not ready." Then I went into properties of the Fantom 2TB drive. Says it is working properly - which it is - but when I went to the Volume tab everything was blank. I clicked on "populate" and it did but after clicking ok and I went back in to check, it was blank again. Tomorrow I'll call their tech support and inquire. Attached is the Volume tab AFTER clicking populate.

6/19 (tech) - With the drive still attached, can you run mountvol one more time and see what the GUID is?  Also try running mountvol /r and see if you can get the unmounted volume to go away.

6/21 (metaguy) - Last Clean Avast Scan - Boot-time scan, 5/28/13, 2:39:29a, no virus found
Fantom drive Volume tab is ok. Their tech suggested smartmontool to look for problem, but I couldn't get it to work. So did more searching and got to an Avast forum that suggested doing a Malwarebytes scan - was ok, followed by OTL scan (Old Timers List*) which though it took a long time, I think gave the pc a thorough going over. Two logs: OTL.txt and Extras.txt. Along with other errors, there was one with the hex number I get. Can you make anything from this? What's new is BitLocker-Driver.

OTL Extras logfile created on: 6/21/2013 12:08:10 AM - Run 1
[ System Events ]
Error - 6/18/2013 2:35:59 AM | Computer Name = G-PC | Source = Microsoft-Windows-BitLocker-Driver | ID = 24620
Description = Encrypted volume check: Volume information on \\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963}
cannot be read.

6/21 (tech) - have a look at this link. It seems to fit your situation pretty closely.

Particularly, look at the very last paragraph on the page. Even though your recovery partition is just over 1GB instead of 100MB, this just might be your solution.

Giacomo

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 20 Oct 2011

Posts: 42

Re: Device is not ready error

I don't know if this is the correct place to ask this kind of questions, anyway I'll reply the best I can.

The 13.71 GB is a 2 TB external hdd that is not always ‘on’ but connected.

Is it a 2TB drive or a 13.71GB drive?

Defender not used

Is Windows Defender disabled by GUI and disabled in services?

[ System Events ]
Error - 6/18/2013 2:35:59 AM | Computer Name = G-PC | Source = Microsoft-Windows-BitLocker-Driver | ID = 24620
Description = Encrypted volume check: Volume information on \\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963}
cannot be read.

Have you ever used BitLocker?

Try to mount as I: drive

MOUNTVOL I: \\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963}

Then check again

MOUNTVOL

Still "NOT MOUNTABLE UNTIL A VOLUME MOUNT POINT IS CREATED"?

Remove the volume mount point

MOUNTVOL I: \\?\Volume{4c076dbd-d05e-11e1-a184-806e6f6e6963} /D

Do you always unplug F: drive before rebooting?