Disk Read Error Occurred
in [Hardware]
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From: Peggy on 25 May 2010 09:36 I have an older Gateway PC running XP Pro SP3. I was working on my PC with no problem, it slowed down (not infrequent occurrence), then I suddenly couldn't load a web page at all. Thought I had just lost my internet connection, so I closed everything and restarted. Now I get "A disk read error occurred. Press ctrl-alt-delete to restart." I tried this, but it just goes back to this screen every time. I can't boot into safe mode. I can get into the BIOS, and that's all. Is this a HDD failure? I don't have another computer at home to help with diagnostics. The hard drive is only a couple of years old and is mostly free. I'm loathe to buy a new drive if I don't have to, as the budget is stretched. However, I do need a working PC. Is there a surefire way to know? Should I attempt a repair install? Complicating matters, the PC came with Win 2K, so the only XP disk I have is an upgrade CD. Thanks for your help.
From: Tom Willett on 25 May 2010 10:05 "Peggy" <Peggy(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message : : Is this a HDD failure? I don't have another computer at home to help with : diagnostics. The symptoms you gave normally indicate a HDD failure.
From: Paul on 25 May 2010 13:12 Peggy wrote: > I have an older Gateway PC running XP Pro SP3. I was working on my PC with no > problem, it slowed down (not infrequent occurrence), then I suddenly couldn't > load a web page at all. Thought I had just lost my internet connection, so I > closed everything and restarted. Now I get "A disk read error occurred. Press > ctrl-alt-delete to restart." I tried this, but it just goes back to this > screen every time. I can't boot into safe mode. I can get into the BIOS, and > that's all. > > Is this a HDD failure? I don't have another computer at home to help with > diagnostics. The hard drive is only a couple of years old and is mostly free. > I'm loathe to buy a new drive if I don't have to, as the budget is stretched. > However, I do need a working PC. Is there a surefire way to know? Should I > attempt a repair install? Complicating matters, the PC came with Win 2K, so > the only XP disk I have is an upgrade CD. > > Thanks for your help. Find the brand name of the hard drive. Some hard drive manufacturers, have a diagnostic program on their web site. You download that and use it to test the disk. For example, I have a Seagate "Seatools for MSDOS" test program loaded on a floppy diskette. The download is a complete environment, and you just insert a floppy and make a test floppy from it. Then, reboot the computer, with the floppy inserted in the drive, and make the computer boot from the floppy. The program should work for Seagate drives at least. Other disk manufacturers provide nothing. Which should make it interesting, if you have a warranty claim to make, as they would have no way of determining whether to give you an RMA number or not. ******* When you go into the BIOS, can you see the identity string for the hard drive ? The BIOS, when it lists the connected drives, includes a text string it got from the drive. If the text string is visible, and isn't corrupted, it could mean the disk is responding to queries from the BIOS, and the disk is not completely dead. (You may be able to recover data from it yourself.) If the drive isn't even visible in the BIOS, then you're in big trouble (time to use a data recovery firm, for big $$$). In terms of data recovery, if you don't have a recent backup, you may get limited opportunities to recover the data. Each time the computer is turned on, is stressful for the (damaged) drive. It could be, that the next time you turn on the computer, could be the last time for the drive. I had that happen to me, and had a drive die on me, before I could do anything. To do your own data recovery, you need spare disk(s) to store intermediate results. So if you don't even have that, doing a lot of turning on and switching off of the computer, is not improving your odds of recovering anything. Since you can't currently boot, you need another operating system to use to boot your system. That could include buying a new drive and reinstalling Windows. (Do that, with the broken drive disconnected.) Or, there are a number of various Linux or Windows based LiveCD approaches, that can give you an environment to work in. Knoppix or Ubuntu, are examples of Linux CDs you can boot with. If I had your (broken) disk, my first step would be a sector by sector backup with "dd", to one of my spare disks. By doing that, if the disk is readable, it means I can work on recovering files from that data later, if the original (broken) disk stops working completely. Good luck, Paul
From: Peggy on 25 May 2010 16:45 "Paul" wrote: > Peggy wrote: > > I have an older Gateway PC running XP Pro SP3. I was working on my PC with no > > problem, it slowed down (not infrequent occurrence), then I suddenly couldn't > > load a web page at all. Thought I had just lost my internet connection, so I > > closed everything and restarted. Now I get "A disk read error occurred. Press > > ctrl-alt-delete to restart." I tried this, but it just goes back to this > > screen every time. I can't boot into safe mode. I can get into the BIOS, and > > that's all. > > > > Is this a HDD failure? I don't have another computer at home to help with > > diagnostics. The hard drive is only a couple of years old and is mostly free. > > I'm loathe to buy a new drive if I don't have to, as the budget is stretched. > > However, I do need a working PC. Is there a surefire way to know? Should I > > attempt a repair install? Complicating matters, the PC came with Win 2K, so > > the only XP disk I have is an upgrade CD. > > > > Thanks for your help. > > Find the brand name of the hard drive. > > Some hard drive manufacturers, have a diagnostic program on their web site. > You download that and use it to test the disk. > > For example, I have a Seagate "Seatools for MSDOS" test program loaded > on a floppy diskette. The download is a complete environment, and you > just insert a floppy and make a test floppy from it. > > Then, reboot the computer, with the floppy inserted in the drive, and > make the computer boot from the floppy. The program should work > for Seagate drives at least. > > Other disk manufacturers provide nothing. Which should make it > interesting, if you have a warranty claim to make, as they would > have no way of determining whether to give you an RMA number or not. > > ******* > > When you go into the BIOS, can you see the identity string for the hard > drive ? The BIOS, when it lists the connected drives, includes a text string > it got from the drive. If the text string is visible, and isn't corrupted, > it could mean the disk is responding to queries from the BIOS, and the disk > is not completely dead. (You may be able to recover data from it yourself.) > If the drive isn't even visible in the BIOS, then you're in big trouble > (time to use a data recovery firm, for big $$$). > > In terms of data recovery, if you don't have a recent backup, you may get > limited opportunities to recover the data. Each time the computer is > turned on, is stressful for the (damaged) drive. It could be, that the > next time you turn on the computer, could be the last time for the drive. > I had that happen to me, and had a drive die on me, before I could do anything. > > To do your own data recovery, you need spare disk(s) to store intermediate > results. So if you don't even have that, doing a lot of turning on and > switching off of the computer, is not improving your odds of recovering > anything. > > Since you can't currently boot, you need another operating system to use > to boot your system. That could include buying a new drive and reinstalling > Windows. (Do that, with the broken drive disconnected.) Or, there are a number > of various Linux or Windows based LiveCD approaches, that can give you an > environment to work in. Knoppix or Ubuntu, are examples of Linux CDs you can > boot with. > > If I had your (broken) disk, my first step would be a sector by sector > backup with "dd", to one of my spare disks. By doing that, if the disk > is readable, it means I can work on recovering files from that data later, > if the original (broken) disk stops working completely. > > Good luck, > Paul Thanks for all your suggestions. Unfortunately it looks like the problem is not with the drive. My husband took it to a shop and they were able to mount it in an enclosure and see the list of files, open photos, and the like. The tech said all signs point to a motherboard failure. It isn't the power supply, and if it also isn't the hard drive, I don't know what else could be wrong. Since a new computer is not on the cards right now, I guess I'm out of luck. I do appreciate all the time you took and will bookmark your reply for future reference.
From: Paul on 25 May 2010 21:24
Peggy wrote: > "Paul" wrote: > >> Peggy wrote: >>> I have an older Gateway PC running XP Pro SP3. I was working on my PC with no >>> problem, it slowed down (not infrequent occurrence), then I suddenly couldn't >>> load a web page at all. Thought I had just lost my internet connection, so I >>> closed everything and restarted. Now I get "A disk read error occurred. Press >>> ctrl-alt-delete to restart." I tried this, but it just goes back to this >>> screen every time. I can't boot into safe mode. I can get into the BIOS, and >>> that's all. >>> >>> Is this a HDD failure? I don't have another computer at home to help with >>> diagnostics. The hard drive is only a couple of years old and is mostly free. >>> I'm loathe to buy a new drive if I don't have to, as the budget is stretched. >>> However, I do need a working PC. Is there a surefire way to know? Should I >>> attempt a repair install? Complicating matters, the PC came with Win 2K, so >>> the only XP disk I have is an upgrade CD. >>> >>> Thanks for your help. >> Find the brand name of the hard drive. >> >> Some hard drive manufacturers, have a diagnostic program on their web site. >> You download that and use it to test the disk. >> >> For example, I have a Seagate "Seatools for MSDOS" test program loaded >> on a floppy diskette. The download is a complete environment, and you >> just insert a floppy and make a test floppy from it. >> >> Then, reboot the computer, with the floppy inserted in the drive, and >> make the computer boot from the floppy. The program should work >> for Seagate drives at least. >> >> Other disk manufacturers provide nothing. Which should make it >> interesting, if you have a warranty claim to make, as they would >> have no way of determining whether to give you an RMA number or not. >> >> ******* >> >> When you go into the BIOS, can you see the identity string for the hard >> drive ? The BIOS, when it lists the connected drives, includes a text string >> it got from the drive. If the text string is visible, and isn't corrupted, >> it could mean the disk is responding to queries from the BIOS, and the disk >> is not completely dead. (You may be able to recover data from it yourself.) >> If the drive isn't even visible in the BIOS, then you're in big trouble >> (time to use a data recovery firm, for big $$$). >> >> In terms of data recovery, if you don't have a recent backup, you may get >> limited opportunities to recover the data. Each time the computer is >> turned on, is stressful for the (damaged) drive. It could be, that the >> next time you turn on the computer, could be the last time for the drive. >> I had that happen to me, and had a drive die on me, before I could do anything. >> >> To do your own data recovery, you need spare disk(s) to store intermediate >> results. So if you don't even have that, doing a lot of turning on and >> switching off of the computer, is not improving your odds of recovering >> anything. >> >> Since you can't currently boot, you need another operating system to use >> to boot your system. That could include buying a new drive and reinstalling >> Windows. (Do that, with the broken drive disconnected.) Or, there are a number >> of various Linux or Windows based LiveCD approaches, that can give you an >> environment to work in. Knoppix or Ubuntu, are examples of Linux CDs you can >> boot with. >> >> If I had your (broken) disk, my first step would be a sector by sector >> backup with "dd", to one of my spare disks. By doing that, if the disk >> is readable, it means I can work on recovering files from that data later, >> if the original (broken) disk stops working completely. >> >> Good luck, >> Paul > > Thanks for all your suggestions. Unfortunately it looks like the problem is > not with the drive. My husband took it to a shop and they were able to mount > it in an enclosure and see the list of files, open photos, and the like. The > tech said all signs point to a motherboard failure. It isn't the power > supply, and if it also isn't the hard drive, I don't know what else could be > wrong. Since a new computer is not on the cards right now, I guess I'm out of > luck. > > I do appreciate all the time you took and will bookmark your reply for > future reference. So you're saying, the motherboard works well enough, to get into the BIOS, but not well enough to read the drive ? Does the computer have two IDE cables ? What if the drive you just had tested, is connected to the other IDE cable ? Does the computer boot then ? Another thing to try out, is look at what devices were connected to the cable. If there were say, an optical and a hard drive on the same cable, you should retest with just the hard drive connected. On IDE, it is important to put the master/slave/cable_select jumper in the right position. The positions are usually shown on the drive label. If testing a single drive, it goes on the end connector (end of the cable). http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_Cable.htm I guess I consider it unlikely, that just one IDE interface would blow. Usually, failures on computers are more catastrophic (either "I work" or "I don't work"). They don't go in for finer failures, where just one signal fails. A lot of times, the failure is due to a power issue. (The motherboard has its own power regulation devices on board, and whole sections of circuitry fail at the same time, if one of those isn't working right.) If individual signals had a habit of failing (which they don't), you'd never be able to keep a motherboard running :-) Paul |