A disk read error has occurred ctrl-alt-del

[ThunderStumpges]

After "successfull" install of v347 - on post-install reboot, I now get the error "A disk read error has occurred Press Ctrl-Alt-Del

I can't get to safe mode. I have run XP - recovery console and tried chkdsk/fixboot/fixmbr all with no luck.

Anyone else have similar problems? Any suggestions? I don't want to re-install / reformat.

Thanks,
Thunder

[frozer]

"A disk read error has occurred Press Ctrl-Alt-Del"

Does that message appear in DOS or in Windows ?

If it's in DOS it means that the drive/disk that your computer is trying to boot from has been corrupted.

Try and check your BIOS settings to see if it's set to boot from HDD. If not set it to do that.
If it is set to boot from HDD then that's not very good, that means that probably the boot information on the HDD has been corrupted. I think a reformat is needed!

If that doesn't solve it then the HDD might be broken, atleast that's what I found from googling.

I don't know any other possible solutions.

[ThunderStumpges]

The error happens before anything loads. It is when the Win XP BOOT MANAGER gets the boot flow control from BIOS.

My disk is definitely not bad. It is brand new. I can boot to Ultimate Boot CD, and all chkdsk / dis diagnostics have no errors.

It was not doing this ever, not once till I restarted from installing this app, so it must have done something to the disk on a low level, or screwed something up.

I was hoping someone would know about what might be done to fix it without reformat. reformat is not an option, and all my data is safe on the disk and accessible from UBCD.

thanks,
Thunder

[dragix]

I had that same exact error, but chkdsk /r worked for me. I did a few extraneous steps though.

1. Put hard drive into the freezer (don't ask)
2. Took it out after a few minutes and re-connected it to the computer
3. Ran the Windows XP CD into the recovery console
4. Did chkdsk/fixboot/fixmbr

Did you try unconnecting the hard drive and re-connecting it again? Sometimes you might have to reboot more than once, but it worked. Can't say much else without total reformat.

[Jito463]

Actually, freezing the drive is a good thing to try. We use it here for drives that won't show up for data recovery. It allows us to access drives that would otherwise be inaccessible. It's not a guaranteed success, but it certainly helps. Though usually you want to freeze it for at least an hour, to get it good and cold. If you only had yours in a few minutes, then it probably wasn't necessary to freeze it at all.