"disc read error .." during XP2 re-install

[Guest]

I am in the process of reloading XP Professional on a Dell 4550 Dimension. I
replaced (upgraded) this disc drive @ 6 months ago with a new XP SP2 disc,
and did not have any problems initially loading XP. Reason for reinstall,
system started acting flaky and unresponsive, acting as if a virus existed,
though Norton did not find anything, all spyware was removed as well. Anyway,
started reinstall, formatted the disc - last I checked, format was 95%
complete, next time I checked, black screen w/ "disc read error occurred ..."
I tried several times, same problem. Ran the Seagate diagnostics disc - no
errors or problems found. Ran the Dell diagnostic CD, did a full system check
(took @ 16 hrs. - is this normal?), system ran the entire time, again, no
errors or problems reported. Tried the XP disc again, same "disc error .."
msg. Tried using original XP disc sent by Dell, same error. This doesn't
appear to be a CD error or hardware problem - I am baffled, any ideas out
there?????

 

[Guest]

As in replaced the "hard drive",disc drive usually refears to cdrom or rw.
Either way,is the BIOS set properly (boot drive priority,etc),if ok,try
setting
cdrom with xp cd as #1,hd as #2 boot priority,install xp cd,boot to
cd,press r
for recovery,select 1 for C: Press enter for password,or if other text comes
up type:CHKDSK C: /p TypeiskPart In DiskPart,delete the
partition,create one,
press ESC key,type:EXIT Reboot to xp cd,install xp.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the correction, indeed I did mean to say "hard drive", not disc
drive. So I changed the sequence of the boot event to boot from the cdrom and
attempted to boot from the xp cd. Initially I get the msg "Press any key to
boot from cd ...", once I have done that I get the std msg "Set up is
checking your computer's hardware configuration ...", and then the screen
goes blank (black screen, no text). Nothing occurs after that. I have tried
both xp cd's, same result, and again, the diagnostic discs work fine ....
ideas?

 

[Daave]

I am in the process of reloading XP Professional on a Dell 4550
Dimension. I replaced (upgraded) this disc drive @ 6 months ago with
a new XP SP2 disc, and did not have any problems initially loading
XP. Reason for reinstall, system started acting flaky and
unresponsive, acting as if a virus existed, though Norton did not
find anything, all spyware was removed as well. Anyway, started
reinstall, formatted the disc - last I checked, format was 95%
complete, next time I checked, black screen w/ "disc read error
occurred ..." I tried several times, same problem. Ran the Seagate
diagnostics disc - no errors or problems found. Ran the Dell
diagnostic CD, did a full system check (took @ 16 hrs. - is this
normal?), system ran the entire time, again, no errors or problems
reported. Tried the XP disc again, same "disc error .." msg. Tried
using original XP disc sent by Dell, same error. This doesn't appear
to be a CD error or hardware problem - I am baffled, any ideas out
there?????

This may be a wild stab, but what the hell...

Have a look at:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/df267316a5730e91