Disk read Error Message

[isaac]

hey Guys!

i really need your help on this one. I would appreciate any help you could give.

I have an HP Pavillion A302x with windows xp installed SP2 that i got from a friend on mine so i could fix it.

When the computer tries to boot i get the following error message:
A disk Read Error occurred
Press CTR ALT DEL to restart.

and sometimes i get a no operating system found error message.

I have tried everything i know to troubleshoot this problem but nothing has worked so far.

I've done:
chkdsk all switches.
fixmbr
fixboot
I re-installed a fresh copy of windows
repair windows istalation

i have change the data cable
i have used a known good hard drive that works on another pc

i thought it could be a Memory issue ( nemory not reading right) So i did the windows Mem Diagnostic with UBCD

I ran almost every Utiity posible on UBCD ( Ultimate Boot CD)

But none of this have worked.

i have exhausted all my knowledge here and don't know what to do.
I also boot to a Knopplix Linux Live os cd and one of the Hard drives appeared on the desktop but don't know much about knopplix so didn't try much there.

Is there anything that could be done to get this compter back to live.
how should i go about this.

Any Ideas?


Please!

thanks in advanced

The original hard rive is a webstern digital
the known good one is a Seegate

 

[isaac]

Disk read error

Does anyone have any idea on this problem i really need to get this resolved./
Please help me on this.

Thanks!

 

[gbhall]

I'm sorry, your post is unclear to me

"I have an HP Pavillion A302x with windows xp installed SP2 that i [was given by] a friend on mine so i could fix it. "

YOU have a Pavillion ? It has windows XP SP2 installed ? But the version of XP came from a friend? So you could fix what? None of this makes me understand the problem.

The rest of your post suggests you have 2 HDD and I'm guessing here, you installed or tried to install a 'foreign' copy of XP ?

Well, the majority of copies of XP are OEM, and as such, are tied to a particular motherboard by design. You are unlikely to be able to install it on yours.

Of course, another possibility is a typo, so your message would really be

"I have an HP Pavillion A302x with windows xp installed SP2 that i got from a friend OF mine so I could fix it".

This actually makes more sense. Now you are saying you have been given a Pavillion, NOT yours, which will not boot.

You have in some way put another known good drive in, but it is unclear what happened. Again we have the problem that a known working copy of XP when plugged straight into another PC with a totally different motherboard, will not work 99% of the time.

Using Koppix, you should be able to tell if the original HDD will read or not. If it will, give it a thorough test with the manufacturers test software taking a few hours. However it will probably fail immediately with a faulty boot record, or a boot record virus. Remedy would be replace the drive and reinstall, if you can.

One other thing, is the drive a SATA type, because if so during XP installation you mostly have to provide SATA drivers for the motherboard, and it may not work without. So you say you have reinstalled XP, and you might need to have done that during the installation, or it will not work.

Please inform as to what exactly you have done about low-level read-and-write tests on the original HDD. Best to start with the most likely reason for the one message you DO quote - 'Disk read error'. If you have done no such tests, get the manufacturers software installed on your own (well, an independant) PC, then temporarily add the (faulty) HDD as master replacing a CD/DVD to do it. Then run the tests.

 

[rm999]

I have found the solution to this problem.

I had the same experience as isaac described and have tried everything that has been recommended on this and other sites including but not limited to all the ones mentioned by isaac above. But none worked. After further 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 usre 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.