A disk read error occurred, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

mishimasan · 14-04-2008, 08:26 PM

This is the message I receive when my computer tries to start up:

Verifying DMI Pool Data ......................
Boot from CD:

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
_

Now, I'm quite competent when it comes to managing computers - but this has got me stooped. Why?

A few days ago I used the Adobe CS3Clean utility to wipe the registry of all the old entries that would have otherwise been causing my Creative Suite 3 installer to not function properly.

I backed up my things, and proceeded to work through the CMD prompts.

Surely enough, it finished and I restarted my PC. "Damn" was my initial thought. Then it occurred to me that this failure to boot might be easily solved with a fixmbr /yes or a fdisk /fixmbr (sp?). Anyhow, I placed in my Vista DVD (my BIOS has already been configured by myself to boot from the DVD drive first) and waited to press any key. It came and didn't pass - meaning, I pressed a key to boot from CD when prompted, but the DVD never booted past the loading screen. There was something that was stopping the disc from booting past the Microsoft Corporation loading bar. It looked like a read error on the disk in question, a 74GiB WD Raptor.

I've had this disk for about 3 years now and it's never failed on me once. So I'm thinking that it still hasn't failed, and something else is causing this. Moreover, the disk is still listed by BIOS as a SATA connection and so this is also good news.

Bad news is, I don't know what to do to fix it since I can't even boot from the DVD.

Please could I have some good suggestions? I really need to get back to using my PC!

Many thanks in advance,

MishimaSan

NB. PC Specs:

Intel Q6600
nVidia 8800GTX
nVidia 680i SLi
4GiB Corsair 8500C5D
800W PSU
WD Raptor 74GiB (SATA)
WDC 500GiB (SATA)
Samsung Writemaster DVD/R Multi (SATA)
Windows Vista Ultimate x64

burgerman · 17-04-2008, 11:38 AM

I would try unplug the power cable from the harddrive and see if you can boot to cd/dvd after its been unplugged. If the cd/dvd does boot with the hdd unplugged from the power, then i think your harddrive will be stuffed and you have very little options dealing with working on the drive.

Other options then would be to take out the harddrive and load it into an external USB enclosure and try it on another machine. or try plug the harddrive onto another machine as a slave.

btw - I've seen plenty of dead harddrives still show up in the BIOS.

mishimasan · 17-04-2008, 03:18 PM

Thanks for the reply. Actually, you're right. The drive is dead according to the smart drive facility, so I've RMA'd it.

Thanks and this is a rap!

14-04-2008, 08:26 PM	#1 (permalink) Top
mishimasan Geek Trainee Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 2 Status: Offline	A disk read error occurred, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart This is the message I receive when my computer tries to start up: Verifying DMI Pool Data ...................... Boot from CD: A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart _ Now, I'm quite competent when it comes to managing computers - but this has got me stooped. Why? A few days ago I used the Adobe CS3Clean utility to wipe the registry of all the old entries that would have otherwise been causing my Creative Suite 3 installer to not function properly. I backed up my things, and proceeded to work through the CMD prompts. Surely enough, it finished and I restarted my PC. "Damn" was my initial thought. Then it occurred to me that this failure to boot might be easily solved with a fixmbr /yes or a fdisk /fixmbr (sp?). Anyhow, I placed in my Vista DVD (my BIOS has already been configured by myself to boot from the DVD drive first) and waited to press any key. It came and didn't pass - meaning, I pressed a key to boot from CD when prompted, but the DVD never booted past the loading screen. There was something that was stopping the disc from booting past the Microsoft Corporation loading bar. It looked like a read error on the disk in question, a 74GiB WD Raptor. I've had this disk for about 3 years now and it's never failed on me once. So I'm thinking that it still hasn't failed, and something else is causing this. Moreover, the disk is still listed by BIOS as a SATA connection and so this is also good news. Bad news is, I don't know what to do to fix it since I can't even boot from the DVD. Please could I have some good suggestions? I really need to get back to using my PC! Many thanks in advance, MishimaSan NB. PC Specs: Intel Q6600 nVidia 8800GTX nVidia 680i SLi 4GiB Corsair 8500C5D 800W PSU WD Raptor 74GiB (SATA) WDC 500GiB (SATA) Samsung Writemaster DVD/R Multi (SATA) Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Last edited by mishimasan; 14-04-2008 at 08:34 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Disk Read Error New Motherboard?	Jaxyral	CPU, Motherboards and Memory	0	06-04-2008 09:30 PM
Cavalry HDD loses USB 2.0 on sector read error	AbeAbe	Storage Devices	3	04-12-2007 10:54 PM
Mini DVD-rw disk not getting read	pankajbhalerao	Storage Devices	4	01-10-2007 07:52 AM
Windows cannot read from this disk ...	Just Me	Storage Devices	0	27-05-2007 01:48 PM
a disk read error occurred press ctrl + del to restart	roblawley05	Storage Devices	4	27-12-2005 01:54 PM

17-04-2008, 11:38 AM	#2 (permalink) Top
burgerman Geek Trainee Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 10 Status: Offline	I would try unplug the power cable from the harddrive and see if you can boot to cd/dvd after its been unplugged. If the cd/dvd does boot with the hdd unplugged from the power, then i think your harddrive will be stuffed and you have very little options dealing with working on the drive. Other options then would be to take out the harddrive and load it into an external USB enclosure and try it on another machine. or try plug the harddrive onto another machine as a slave. btw - I've seen plenty of dead harddrives still show up in the BIOS.

17-04-2008, 03:18 PM	#3 (permalink) Top
mishimasan Geek Trainee Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 2 Status: Offline	Thanks for the reply. Actually, you're right. The drive is dead according to the smart drive facility, so I've RMA'd it. Thanks and this is a rap!

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)