Disc read error

[Chuck Yeager]

Did a clean install of XP Pro on a new 200gb WD hard drive. Installed all updates and Norton.
Installed Office 2003 Pro and some other apps I use. All accomplished yesterday.

Turned computer on this morning, but will not boot. Get a message "A disc read error has occurred.
Press cntrl-alt-delete to restart"

Any advice greatly appreciated. Took a day off from work to get this all done.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Might read this forum, although Dell specific it addresses your error...
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=latit_harddrive&message.id=8042

 

[Guest]

I don't know if I'd want to freeze my hard drive though!
8-O

 

[Chuck Yeager]

I forgot to mention that I can explore the disk in DOS after booting from the XP CD. Ran chkdsk and
it said it found one error.

Never had a HD failure, especially a brand new one. 1st time for everything I guess!!

 

[Guest]

Chuck, after you completed your clean install of XP Pro, did you try to boot it
then? If it booted properly, you now should try to boot in Safe Mode, and uninstall all the programs you recently installed, especially Office 03, or try a Restore.
If Safe Mode is not available, use your XP Pro CD, it is a bootable disk. Change
your BIOS to boot with your CD-Rom drive.

"How to Boot in Safe Mode"
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/capture/safemode.html

Accessing Motherboard BIOS
http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

 

[Chuck Yeager]

Computer ran fine all of yesterday. Re booted many times during the updates. Cannot get it to boot
in safe mode. fixmbr says theres a problem with the mbr. Ran fixboot, fixmbr, did a repair
installation........same results. Booting from the cd allows me to explore the drive.

Now its off to find a floppy so I can try the WD diagnostics. My gut instinct is to take the drive
back and get a new one. But, I'm still open to suggestions.

Thanks for your help.