Argh! What's wrong?!

bennyB

bennyB

bennyB

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Joined
25 Apr 2007
Posts
205
My new comp was working fine, then came back today switched it on and it won't even reach the bootloader it just says "disk read error, press crtl+alt+del to restart" so i restart and the same message comes up

I've check the cables and everything seems attached ok, the hard disk spins up etc.. so i have no idea why it's suddenly gone wrong?!:confused:

I'm dowloading ultimate boot cd to see if that can do anything, any other ideas would be really appreciated!

Here are the full specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz) Socket 775 Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R P45 Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

PowerColor HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1000Mhz/PC2-8000 PLATINUM Memory Unbuffered CL5 DUAL CHANNEL

Corsair 520W HX Series Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

Scythe Mugen (Infinity) Socket 478, 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU Cooler

Antec P182 Gunmetal Grey Super Mid Tower Case - No PSU

Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII *32MB Cache* - OEM

Sony DRU-190S 20X DVD±RW DL & DVD-RAM Serial ATA - Retail Multi Bezel & Nero

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English

Samsung Aqua SM2253LW 22" TFT Monitor 1680x1050 1000:1 300CD/M2 5ms DVI widescreen Gloss Black 3 Years Onsite Warranty

Logitech MX400 Performance Laser Mouse Silver

Logitech Classic Keyboard 200 Black - USB
 
Does your hard disc show on the post screen or BIOS.
Also double check the BIOS has not decided to boot from a disc ie CD drive or external usb key.
 
yeah it shows up the hdd in the bios, i don't have anything else connected, i even tried booting without the cd drive connected but still the same problem...
 
Tried booting into safe mode?

Not sure if it is the same with Vista, having never tried it myself, but you would normally press F5 while the system is posting, then it will give you one of several options, one will be safe mode...You could try that if it does indeed work.

but as it is a disc read error, it could be a tad more difficult than that...Was the PC left on? Or did you turn it off before the problem started?

Double check it is detected in the bios, and also check the Boot order in the bios, make sure the hard drive is in there as well :)
 
I dont think i can get into safe mode, because it doesn't even get to the bootloader (vistas bootloader with easybcd), because it can't even read the hard disk. It's definately in the bios and it is trying to boot it and nothing else like the dvd drive.

I think i left the pc in sleep but i dont think it was in sleep when i got back it was just off, so turned it on and that message came up.

I've given the ultimate boot cd a go but none of the hard disk error checkers can see the hard disk. I may be using the wrong utility though...
 
One thing i did notice that's strange in the bios is the hdd is set as slave on channel 0, i'm not sure if that's different to how it was when it was working, i never really questioned it
 
Have you got any overclock ????:confused:

Mine did this when i had my processor running at 4Ghz and ram running at 1066Mhz....:mad:

Took the overclock off and booted ok , running at 3.6Ghz and 900Mhz now , no problems...;)
 
bennyB said:
One thing i did notice that's strange in the bios is the hdd is set as slave on channel 0, i'm not sure if that's different to how it was when it was working, i never really questioned it
Click to expand...

Is your hard drive IDE or SATA interface?

Did you check where in the boot order your hard drive was in the bios as well.

And safe mode is done with the F8 key: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm#03
 
It's not overclocked, it's stock at 3.16GHz with 9.5 multi on 333 ram.

The HDD and DVD are both SATA, and boot order goes HDD then CD rom. Pressing f12 to ask to boot just from the HDD gives the same error..

I'll try putting a different hdd in from another system to see what happens..
 
Right not sure this is good news....
I put in another Sata drive on it's own and it comes up with the error failure to load operating system which is obviously not a suprise as there is no boot sector on there.
So from that I'm guessing everything is fine apart from the original hdd.
Is there anyway the drive just needs an error check to fix it? how would i go about doing it?
 
Mattus said:
Otherwise, sounds like the drive might be dead :(
Click to expand...
I'm starting to suspect this, luckily it's not very old so should be in warranty, but it still will be a complete hassle to sort out.
I also haven't got any valuable data on there either because it's so new too, so i guess it could be worse!
 
bennyB said:
I'm starting to suspect this, luckily it's not very old so should be in warranty, but it still will be a complete hassle to sort out.
I also haven't got any valuable data on there either because it's so new too, so i guess it could be worse!
Click to expand...

If nothings needed on the drive, you could just try a re-install.

Also what drive is it? You could see if the manufacturer has a diagnostic tool. (Sea tools etc for Seagate for example)
 
Delvis said:
If nothings needed on the drive, you could just try a re-install.

Also what drive is it? You could see if the manufacturer has a diagnostic tool. (Sea tools etc for Seagate for example)
Click to expand...

It's a: Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII *32MB Cache* - OEM

Samsungs diagnostic on the ultimate boot cd didn't even recognise the drive but i'll search for another one

I'm not sure how i'd reinstall if the bios cant read/write to the drive?
 
If the drive's own diagnostics can't find it, it sounds like it's dead.

If you haven't already, try a different SATA cable in a different port.
 
Well..Seeing as its detected in the Bios (as you said earlier) I don't see why the drive wouldn't be picked up during installation.
 
I am afraid you have only 2 options, both of them are very easy :-).

1. Reinstall the whole system.
2. Faulty hdd - needs to be RMAd.

easy to check, get linux live cd, start up from live cd and see if you can see the hdd that way, if you can see it and browse it, then its just the system, if not, then u gotta send the hdd for repair.
 
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