windows installation "a disk read error"

adamni · #1 (**permalink**) 03-07-2007, 11:51 PM

Hi,

I started to have problems when installing windows xp. Its a seagate 300Gbyte hard drive (IDE). I get to the formatting stage, which I choose ntfs, after getting to the reboot stage, it reboots, then I get the error: "A disk error occurred - ctrl alt del to reboot". The only way I got round this was to partition the hard drive and format 30 Gig to FAT32, the rest ntfs, then install windows xp on FAT32 - yes it worked fine. I then merged the partitions to one all ntfs - and yes it still worked until microsoft did one of its updates, then back to "disk read error". So I repeated everything but left the 2 partitions 30 Gig for win XP and the rest as ntfs - and everything worked fine. I have just wiped this clean because I need to use windows 2003 server - but I get no option to format in FAT32, so I did the whole thing and assumed that this problem would not happen with 2003, but it did - "a disk read error occurred". I know microsoft have admitted to a bug like this when installing windows 2000, but can't find the thread any more. Anyone got any ideas

guyladouche · #2 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:58 AM

Hi. Well, I took a quick look on google, and others are having this problem (most with Maxtor drives, but not all). Some people tried what you did--switching between NTFS and FAT32, but to no avail. It could be anything, but people suggested trying a couple things--try using a different IDE cable. Also, run chkdsk from a dos command off the XP disk, and use the /r option to repair bad sectors on the disk--the error might be due to bad sectors on the disk, even bad sectors in the MBR. Give that a shot if you haven't. Other than that, I'd recommend (if the drive is new enough) returning it and getting a replacement. That's the best I can recommend. Hope it helps.

adamni · #3 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:13 PM

Thanks for your reply,

I have tried replacing the cable - no difference.
I have returned the HDD 3 times and replaced it each time, and still no change. As long as the partition is not the boot drive, ntfs works fine. Its only when the machine attempts to boot of an ntfs partition. Strange that everything worked fine when a partitioned part of the drive to FAT32, then converted it to ntfs - it worked fine until microsoft updated my windows - then back to square one "A Disk Read error" so I had to do the whole thing again but left it at FAT32. With win server 2003 - it will only install on FAT32.

I'm thinking that it could be a combination of a bug on the windows formatting installation process and the particular HDD: 320 Gb Seagate ST3320620A Barracuda 7200.10, IDE (PATA), 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 11 ms.

Just don't know what to try next - maybe another smaller HDD to install the OS on which may allow me to format in NTFS - not really sure yet.

Any more ideas would be great.

Thanks

guyladouche · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:26 PM

Hmm...well, you've tried about everything I would recommend. Installing the OS on a different drive isn't a bad idea--but it really shouldn't work out like that. Do you know which update it was? If so, it might be best to get away with not installing that update. However, I found nothing when I searched this problem with M$.

I think it's never a bad idea to have a smaller disk for the OS and a larger disk for...whatever you want it for. Plus, there's always a performance increase when you set the paging file to be on your non-OS disk. Well, unless of course if you have gobs of RAM--in which case it probably doesn't matter.

Sorry I don't have a solution for you.

adamni · #5 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:31 PM

There doesn't seem to be one aprt from the following link, but can't see the result as I am not a member

General Computer Systems: XP Home: after OS reinstall, HD not bootable, and original OS reinstall CD also not bootable

Thanks

**Ash** · #6 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:31 PM

Hi there adamni,

Firstly, welcome to CompuForums. I hope that you can visit our forum often in the future and post - rather than just receive our advice, fix your problem, and then disappear. We provide our help for free, and all we ask in return is that you participate in our forum and refer your friends, or consider a premium membership.

Hmm - not sure if you've already tried this, but have you tried running an external formatting program [other than the format option in Windows Installation] on the drive and formatting it to NTFS, then installing Windows straight onto it, yet? I've never installed Windows on a larger disk than ~150GB, but it may be a bug with the installation that means formatting fails on larger disks [the Windows installation routine, was, after all, written in 2001 where today's big drives were virtually non-existent in a single hard drive form]

guyladouche · #7 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:36 PM

Hi again. You don't need to be a member of that site to see the results--it's just that they have tons of ads before the replies start. So one of the suggestions was to update the BIOS--if you have an older mobo or BIOS, it might had difficulty properly reading/recognizing large HD's. Perhaps give that a try if you haven't already. I'm not sure how much I believe this is your problem though.

adamni · #8 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 03:42 PM

Thanks guyladouche, it may be the problem as its an oldish machine - the purpose of which is for a web server - so I will try a smaller HDD for the OS, and will let you know how I get on.
Ash - thatks for your reply, I have joined this site for the purpose of giving advice as well - I have learned alot abot setting up web server etc. so I believe a can be of some assistence with this and many other things - so I will be signing in often to offer any services I may have.

Thanks

robputt796 · #9 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 05:15 PM

Hello

Just out of interest what type of webserver do you plan on setting up?

I have got my own web server running with solaris 9, apache, php and mysql, which i set up myself. If you want any help I might be some assistance.

adamni · #10 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 07:04 PM

As my recent skills are VB, I decided upon the IIS route with ASP and mysql, hence the requirement for Windows Server 2003 Web. I do have unix skills but not used perl for a while so my php is a little rusty - yes I do know that apache is more reliable and makes a far better web server especially with Unix (the god of Operating Systems), but my second web server will be linux based - but that;s something for the future.

Cheers,

Adamni

adamni · #11 (**permalink**) 03-12-2007, 11:19 AM

Hi, thanks for the help, on here, it really pointed me in the right direction, and here's the solution.

I initially thought it was a problem with ntfs as partitioning the HD for fat32 and the other larger part to ntfs seemed to fix the problem with XP. It turned out that the issue was due to my old machine HP Vectra VEi8 and its bios not believing in HDD with capactities greater than 33.8Gig. Any HDD larger than this, and the machine refuses to boot once formatted.
The bios version is: HW.27.08, but you can download the latest version HW.27.10 from HP or simply this link:

HP Brio ba600*-* HP Brio BA600, System diskette flashable BIOS (Windows 2000 compliant) - HP Business Support Center

I believe the PC willl boot ok if a partition (any format - so I used ntfs which is required for win 2003 server) is less than 33.8Gig solely as a boot partition. the remaining disk space is still accessed ok once booted.

thanks again.

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