Hello, I turned on my computer this morning (running Windows XP) and got the "A disk read error has occurred" and then it tells me to press ctrl-alt-delete to reboot. I tried to do the stuff I knew how to do which consisted of:

Going into the BIOS and see that the hard drive was detected (it was)

I then went on the internet and found that some people said to hit the R for repair from the windows installation CD. I did this and got to the dos recovery console but didn't know what to do from there. The only thing I did do in there was run CHKDSK and it's at least giving the appearance that the data is still there because it's a 160gb drive and it says 139 are available..

Is there anyway that I can fix this disk read error has occurred from this recovery console (or some other way?)

The reason I didn't just try to do anything, is because the data is very important and I don't want to go any further without asking the experts here.

Thanks in advance...

I did a search and found these links -- most disk read errors links are Playstation related

A disk read error occurred

Disk Read Error Occurred | Sickles Insight

This is the search I used if the two links above don't get you on the right track

repair disk read error - Google Search

Please rate my answer

Playstation? What does playstation have to do with my computer? I don't even own a playstation... Paragon Rescue Disk is showing that the file system is "invalid" when I look at it. However, I was able to use the Linux mode and connect to another windows machine on the network and I'm copying files from the HD now before I do anything else.

I used the restore MBR command in Paragon, but it didn't seem to do anything...

I have found the solution to this problem.

I have had this same problem "A Disk Read Error has Occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" for some time. I tried all the recommendations made in all the various sites but none worked (such as running chkdsk /r; restoring Windows; changing cable; changing default BIOS settings; etc etc at no avail. After considerable research I found that most computer motherboard manufacturers recommend that if at any time your computer starts acting strange and you know for sure it is not a problem with any of your peripherals (drives, etc) that you should consider updating your BIOS. I did that and bingo! After spending months trying to find possible solutions to this problem with none of them working, my system is up and running and I have not had the problem now in over 5 months (I purposely wanted to wait some time before making this recommendation to know for sure that this was a long-term solution)

Most BIOS manufacturers do not recommend updating the BIOS unless you are having problems. If you analyze the postings of most people experiencing the "A Disk Read Error has Occurred", it is clearly not a problem with the hard drive (many are brand new drives), the cable or anything like that; and in most cases, trying all the possible interventions recommended does not solve the problem. That is because it appears that newer hard drives and computer components sometime have aspects that are not fully compatible with older BIOS versions, and that is what causes the system to fail to read the drive (or peripheral) without the BIOS update

I therefore strongly suggest you check whether your BIOS manufacturer has an update for your BIOS and update it. I think there is a good chance that that would solve your problem.

Good luck.

Thanks for your suggestion and explanation rm999. I came across this post after 2 days of searching and it turned out a simple BIOS update did the trick. Mine was an old Gateway 700XL. Actually, there was nothing simple about the BIOS update because the download from Gateway was supposed to include its own boot files, but the computer wouldn't boot from the floppy (saying "Remove disks or other media"). I finally managed to update the BIOS by formating a floppy in XP (which the Gateway website specifically says NOT to do), checking the "Create ms-dos boot disk" option, and then manually adding the BIOS update files to it. Hope this helps someone else out there.

Cheers!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rm999

I have found the solution to this problem.

I have had this same problem "A Disk Read Error has Occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" for some time. I tried all the recommendations made in all the various sites but none worked (such as running chkdsk /r; restoring Windows; changing cable; changing default BIOS settings; etc etc at no avail. After considerable research I found that most computer motherboard manufacturers recommend that if at any time your computer starts acting strange and you know for sure it is not a problem with any of your peripherals (drives, etc) that you should consider updating your BIOS. I did that and bingo! After spending months trying to find possible solutions to this problem with none of them working, my system is up and running and I have not had the problem now in over 5 months (I purposely wanted to wait some time before making this recommendation to know for sure that this was a long-term solution)

Most BIOS manufacturers do not recommend updating the BIOS unless you are having problems. If you analyze the postings of most people experiencing the "A Disk Read Error has Occurred", it is clearly not a problem with the hard drive (many are brand new drives), the cable or anything like that; and in most cases, trying all the possible interventions recommended does not solve the problem. That is because it appears that newer hard drives and computer components sometime have aspects that are not fully compatible with older BIOS versions, and that is what causes the system to fail to read the drive (or peripheral) without the BIOS update

I therefore strongly suggest you check whether your BIOS manufacturer has an update for your BIOS and update it. I think there is a good chance that that would solve your problem.

Good luck.

---