'disc reading error' - help

Question

Hello... hope someone can help.  I have a Dimension 8500 at home but am writing from work at the moment.  When I tried to boot up this morning, I continued to get a message 'Disc reading error - press ctr/alt/del to restart computer.  I did that several times, only to face the same message again.  I tried different avenues by the F1 and F12 keys at that small window of opportunity, but no matter what, the message was the same.   Any suggestions that I might try when I get home after work... all thoughts welcome...and NEEDED!  (PS ... I'm not a techy so please keep it simple...thanks) Lynn

ejn63 · Answer

Most likely the hard drive has failed. Check the setup - if you can still see the drive there, you may be able to move it to a working system (or replace the drive, rebuild the OS, apps, etc., and mount that drive as a secondary) to recover some or all data.

If the drive shows up in setup as an unknown device, brace yourself for what recovery is going to cost using a recovery service.

ejn63 · Answer

F2 at startup will get you into Setup.

If the system is under warranty and the drive has failed, Dell will replace it. If it's out of warranty, post the model and someone can recommend a replacement. There is no Dimension 8500 - is this an Inspiron (notebook), or an 8400?

Message Edited by ejn63 on 08-25-2005 11:27 AM

Lynn4HIm · Answer

As I said ...I'm no techy.. but if you are referring to when the 'setup' when I press F1 or F12 (forget which)... I did have a hard-drive.  I tried to select that for startup but I got the same error message.   If my hard drive is done, I contact Dell I guess, right?   Thanks for feedback...more welcomed!

silverblade34 · Answer

Errrr, im not very techy also...but i defragged my pc yesterday and got the blue screen that said it had something like a 0000000x24 error and i scanned the drives for problems and it just froze at 40% of the scan so I tried to restore it and that didnt work and i booted from windows xp disc and i chose c: partition (unknown) and it says it cannot put windows xp on it.....

is that "unknown" drive a big problen :smileyindifferent:

any help would be appriecated

-thanks

Message Edited by silverblade34 on 08-25-2005 11:05 AM

ejn63 · Answer

It sounds like bad news - run the Dell diagnostics on the drive.

Lynn4HIm · Answer

Well, it has been determined after a long time with Dell support that my hard drive is done. I have a Dimension 8200 (sorry for the previous error) and would love information on the best way to go about this. My "hard drive" is still showing on the F2 screen, so does that mean some information will be retrievable? If not, am I losing everything?

Thanks again for help....

ejn63 · Answer

There's no way to know until you try. You'll need to move the drive to a working system as a secondary to try copying, or disconnect, replace, reformat, reinstall and patch Windows, and do the same once you're done.

silverblade34 · Answer

Ummmm i was gone for a couple of days ...but i ran the drive diagnostics twice so far and each time it just got stuck at 60% ...well i left it for like an hour and it stayed at 60% both times and so i went to reinstall windows xp but it says partition 2 is unknown and i cant install windows on the other 2.

I also did a inspect and recovery for drive "f" ,like it told me to on the microsoft website when i typed in the error i got, under command line but that just got stuck at 40% both times also.

any help would be great

i still have "dell in home service" for free(Last resort)

-thanks

Storage, Drives & Media

"disc reading error" - help

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