"disk read error" :(
 

My laptop froze last night and now gives me the "disk read error" screen and will not boot XP. Is this usually terminal?

Sounds like the hard drive is failing. Is your laptop three years old? I think they have an internal clock that says self destruct at about three years.

Probably terminal, but you may be able to get data off it.

Ever hear of the freezer trick? Take drive out, put in plastic bag, put in freezer. Wait a bit, plug in boot up and start copying...

lol, yea it's about 4-1/2 years old.

Thanks,

I may have to try that.

PC load letter.......what the f- does that mean?!

http://www.austinillini.com/images/p...demolition.jpg

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta:)

The drive is in the freezer, and the wait begins.......

Just remember to hook it up quick and avoid condensation...

Len,

Read errors can be several things.

If one occurs in the boot sector it can prevent the machine from starting, OS can't fully load.

If it occurs elsewhere you may not be able to copy the data from that section while everything else is fine.

The real key is do you you have a mechanical failure of the entire device or some bad/corrupt sector/blocks.

If it hangs in the same place everytime I would assume bad sector/blocks.

If you have another computer go out and get a cheap USB enclosure for a 2.5 drive, hook it up to another machine, your wifes Mac will work just fine, and copy your data off.

I have an enclosure here and I'll try it on my PC thanks:D

Hope this was a joke...

There is no timer in any computer as you mentioned that I know of and have been working with them or building them for over 30 years.

http://www.drivesolutions.com/
try this site !
Had same problem with my Compaq laptop.Took the chance to upgrade my harddrive
to a much better/faster/bigger drive. I did loose everything ! but I did get a much better
drive!
Good Luck.

Calm down Joe, I'm 99.99% sure he's joking. I have a 3 year old Gateway laptop that's still working well. Of course, I also had an HP laptop that was sent in for repair 3 times within one year, not to mention the broken keys that they didn't cover.:mad:

Damn. I was .01% sure he was serious

Glad we're 100% sure of something.

You need to try mounting your hard drive!

I have it in an external enclosure and it's balking. I have it recognized on "My Computer" but I can't get into it.

Did you try booting in through safe mode?? Hit f8 while it boots.

Yea, it never gets to the windows screen where that works. I can F2 and get into the base setup (boot sequence, etc) but not windows.