Question; Does this PC need a new Hard Drive or a new motherboard?
NOTE: I fix PCs for a living, this is not my PC and I cannot supply any other information other than what is below. An answer based on what is below ONLY is needed.
Problem: At boot after Mobo manufacturer's name is shown (this is a custom built PC) and before any sign of Windows XP Pro is seen (i.e on a black background with white text) we get a "Disk Read Error, Press Ctrl Alt Del to reboot". And that is that !! Upon reboot I get the same thing. To be sure it is not referring to an error on the CD or floppy, I go to the ASUS mobo boot menu and choose to boot DIRECTLY from the HD and not use the usual boot order and I STILL GET THE SAME ERROR. Also nothing is in the floppy drive or the CD drive.
OS is Windows XP Pro SP2 , HD is 500 GB Seagate IDE (Ultra ATA 100), Motherboard is ASUS A83R2-MVP Deluxe. PC is 1 year 2 months old.
I remove HD from PC, attach to a IDE to USB converter and connect to another PC and copy 200 GB of customer data to another PC. Yet I get a Disk Read error at boot??? It seems to read just fine !! I also go to subfolders (ex system32) of the C:/Windows folder and everything seems just fine !!!! (which does not mean that everything in the Windows folder is readable, just that they show up in a directory).
OK, I put HD back in problem PC, move the memory to a different slot, reseat the ATX power supply cable and replace the ribbon cable from mobo to HD with a brand new ribbon cable, and reboot and get exactly THE SAME ERROR !!
OK, next I (booting from Win XP Pro SP2 CD), I go to recovery console and at the DOS prompt
do a directory of the HD (HD is now back in original PC) and I CAN SEE EVERYTHING ALL DIRECTORIES plus can go to subfolders in the Windows folder. YET BOOT SAYS DISK READ ERROR ???
Next I do this:
chkdsk /p (it completes and says chkdsk found some errors)
and then
FIXBOOT and then enter "Y" to replace the boot block and try again AND STILL GET THE SAME "disk read error" even with a new boot block !!
Next, noting that "chkdsk /p" said it found some disk errors, I run "chkdsk /r" Unfortunately this takes much too long, After 1 hour at 59% progress I reboot the PC.
OK, next I do a repair install and (see below why), next do a reformat install (reformat HD and reinstall Windows) and both cases fail in the following way:
These installs from Windows CD consist of copying many files from CD to HD (THIS WORKS WITH NO ERROR) and then the PC reboots from the HD to install from the copied files. AT THE REBOOT, I GET (YOU GUESSED IT) "DISK READ ERROR" again so the Windows Install fails,. THAT IS RIGHT: EVEN AFTER A REFORMAT and install Windows from CD, I GET "DISK READ ERROR".
Note: The repair install said there were disk errors and ran (sucessfully, no error) some variant of Chkdsk before copying files from CD to HD.
My plan is to get a 320 GB **NEW** HD and do the Windows reformat install from CD and see if it fails again at the first reboot (as above). If so I conclude this is problem with the disk controller on the motherboard and I order a new mobo. If it gets by this step, I return the 320 GB HD, order a 500 GB hard drive and when it arrives, do the install on the new HD. (The 320 GB IDE HD is easily obtainable and returnable for cash and IS FOR DIAGNOSIS ONLY; the customer wants a 500 IDE GB HD and no local store has one).
PLEASE REPLY: Based on what is above (and not knowing the result of putting a new HD into the PC) do you think this is a bad HD or a bad mobo or something else. ALSO how can one get a Disk Read error at boot when the HD IS CLEARLY READABLE (AND WRITABLE) IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS WHEN IN THE PROBLEM PC AND ALSO via the IDE to USB converter on a 2nd PC and note that I ran Fixboot (at DOS prompt) to replace the Boot block and still got the error (both before and after doing this).
Regards-Mike
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