What exactly causes this?

[Guest]

Hi all,

On power up, what's missing that causes the error "disk read error ?"

After downloading updates from Microsoft's update page, I get this message
on power up. Right after the post.

What file is damaged or corrupted? What program is generating the error
display?

I googled it, lots of advise from homeowners, but most just end up
reformatting and reloading their programs. Can this be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

metro

 

[Rock]

Hi all,

On power up, what's missing that causes the error "disk read error ?"

After downloading updates from Microsoft's update page, I get this message
on power up. Right after the post.

What file is damaged or corrupted? What program is generating the error
display?

I googled it, lots of advise from homeowners, but most just end up
reformatting and reloading their programs. Can this be fixed?

This error indicates a problem with the hard drive, the error message is
generated by the BIOS. XP is not loaded when this error is detected.

Is there a full backup of important data on the drive? That should be a
given at all times, but if there isn't backup the data first as a
precaution. Here are some ways to do that.

1. Take the drive out of the computer and install it as a slave drive in
another Windows XP or 2000 computer. It should read the drive ok, so you can
copy the data.

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to
external USB drive or flash drive.

3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD
from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or
if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the
k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD.

4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the

With the data backed up insert reboot from the XP installation CD. Take the
first R to get you to the recovery console. Select the number of the
windows installation, normally that's "1", then input the password assigned
to the built in Administrator account. For XP Home this normally is blank
so just hit enter in that case. At the command line give this command:
fixboot C:
(where C: is the drive letter for the drive having the problem)

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us

 

[Curt Christianson]

Hi metro,

In addition to Rock's sdvice, you may want to use the hard drive
manufacturers utilities to test the integrity of your drive:


Quantum/Maxtor - PowerMax
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

Western Digital - Data LifeGuard Tools (DLGDiag)
http://support.wdc.com/download/

Hitachi/IBM - Drive Fitness Test (DFT)
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Seagate - SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/

Fujitsu - Diagnostic Tool
http://www.fcpa.com/download/hard-drives/

Samsung - Disk manager
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm




--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

 

[Spikey]

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to

Sorry to butt in Rock but could you point me to a clean download of this
freeware ( I assume it is still).

Thanks.

)

 

[Curt Christianson]

Hi Spikey,

Try here:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

 

[Spikey]

Hi Spikey,

Try here:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Thank you Curt. I've seen it recommended many times so thought I'd try and
get to grips with it.

)

 

[Guest]

Hi Rock,

This error indicates a problem with the hard drive, the error message is
generated by the BIOS. XP is not loaded when this error is detected.

Could this be a problem with the bios itself? This was with a new hard
drive. and the previous one "quit" the same way, so I'm skeptical that the
hard drive is the culpret.

If the bios generated the error message, that there is a problem with the
hard drive, why am I able to reformat it. It seems to me that the "first"
group of instructions on the hard drive that the bios is trying to get at are
"scrambled" or corrupt. Resulting in a disk read error.

Is it possible to just repair or recopy those first instructions or files?

Am I assuming that's what your having me do using the recovery console and
the fixboot command?

Thanks in advance.

metro

 

[Guest]

In addition to Rock's sdvice, you may want to use the hard drive
manufacturers utilities to test the integrity of your drive:


Quantum/Maxtor - PowerMax
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm


Seagate - SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/

Hi Curt,

Thanks for responding.

One drive was a Seagate and the other was a Maxtor. I'll go to both sites
to look for tools as you suggested.

If you have any other ideas, don't be shy.

metro

 

[Rock]

Sorry to butt in Rock but could you point me to a clean download of this
freeware ( I assume it is still).

Thanks.

I see Curt gave you the link. FYI just do a Google search for Bart PE and
it pops up as the first link.

 

[Rock]

Hi Rock,

Could this be a problem with the bios itself? This was with a new hard
drive. and the previous one "quit" the same way, so I'm skeptical that the
hard drive is the culpret.

If the bios generated the error message, that there is a problem with the
hard drive, why am I able to reformat it. It seems to me that the "first"
group of instructions on the hard drive that the bios is trying to get at
are
"scrambled" or corrupt. Resulting in a disk read error.

Is it possible to just repair or recopy those first instructions or files?

Am I assuming that's what your having me do using the recovery console and
the fixboot command?

Thanks in advance.

The BIOS is reporting the error, but most likely not causing it. Something
caused the corruption on the drive. Since this is the second drive it
happened on there could be a problem with the motherboard or the controller
for the drive, or just bad luck with two bad drives or two random
occurrences of corruption.

Using fixboot does a repair to the boot sector of the drive. It is a common
solution for this error but there is no guarantee it will work.

Just because a drive is new doesn't mean it can't have problems. One way to
check the health of the drive is download a drive diagnostic utility from
the drive manufacturer's web site. That will create a bootable floppy or
CD. Boot from that and run the diagnostics.

 

[db]

you should run a chkdsk
via the recovery console or
with emergency boot up disks.

have you used the chkdsk
tool via windows previously?

here is a helpful link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265/

Hi all,

On power up, what's missing that causes the error "disk read error ?"

After downloading updates from Microsoft's update page, I get this message
on power up. Right after the post.

What file is damaged or corrupted? What program is generating the error
display?

I googled it, lots of advise from homeowners, but most just end up
reformatting and reloading their programs. Can this be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

metro

 

[Spikey]

I see Curt gave you the link. FYI just do a Google search for Bart PE and
it pops up as the first link.

I did that first, but came up with so many links wasnt sure which was
genuine.

Thanks for replying.

)

 

[Guest]

Hi Rock,

The BIOS is reporting the error, but most likely not causing it. Something
caused the corruption on the drive.

After reading a previous post by "(e-mail address removed)", I began
questioning the bios itself.

I will try the dianostic utility from both manufacturers web site.

Thanks for staying with my questions.

metro

 

[Guest]

Hi db,

you should run a chkdsk
via the recovery console or
with emergency boot up disks.

Would running chkdsk damage any of the files that I have on the disk at
present?

Thank you,

metro

 

[Rock]

I did that first, but came up with so many links wasnt sure which was
genuine.

Thanks for replying.

You're welcome. Have fun with it.

 

[Rock]

Hi db,




Would running chkdsk damage any of the files that I have on the disk at
present?

Yes, in some circumstances running chkdsk can result in data corruption and
loss. Before running chkdsk to correct errors make sure there is a full and
complete backup of important data. It doesn't happen in the majority of
cases, but when it does there is no recovering that lost data.

But then always having a full and complete backup of data is an essential
aspect of common sense computing. Data loss is an issue of when not if.

 

[db]

the link i provided comes
directly from the experts.

if there were precautions required
before using the chkdsk tool, the
explanation would be provided in
thier document.

however, it is designed to fixed
corruption in the file system caused
by flawed and corrupted data. This
would be the data you would loose
after the chkdsk. But keep in mind
that this flawed data would be
inaccessiable to you anyways
via windows.

If i were to guess i think that the
master file table (MFT) could not be
updated after your updates/downloads and
it simply needs to be syncronized to your file system
with the chkdsk utility- especially since it appears
you have never used it before!


- db
Hi db,

you should run a chkdsk
via the recovery console or
with emergency boot up disks.

Would running chkdsk damage any of the files that I have on the disk at
present?

Thank you,

metro

 

[Curt Christianson]

Rock,

I got that link from here:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...Bart's+PE+disk"&rnum=2&hl=en#4d2373a7e01f9d55

It *may* look familiar!

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

 

[Rock]

Lol, rummaging around it the smut again, eh? It's also the first link in a
Google search for Bart PE.

 

[Curt Christianson]

No *smuttier* than here somedays. <sad seg>
Take good care....
--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

Lol, rummaging around it the smut again, eh? It's also the first link in
a Google search for Bart PE.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

Rock,

I got that link from here:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...Bart's+PE+disk"&rnum=2&hl=en#4d2373a7e01f9d55

It *may* look familiar!

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm