Disk Read Error: No Other Error Information [RESOLVED]

Question

Ok, I talked to a tech briefly the other night but since I work on computers for a leaving I found it a bit degrading to my self esteem. My XPS 710 (less than 6 months old) has more or less died on me. I turned the computer on Thursday and it froze at the XP startup screen (XP Media Edition 2005). I hard booted the computer and now I can not boot past an error that reads "Disk Read Error" and then "Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to Restart".

I've run every single diagnostics tools on that came in the Utility Partition and the entire computer (hard drive included) passed with no errors found of any kind. I attempted to run the Western Digital Diagnostic tool, however it locks up while trying to find the drive source. I attempted a Windows Repair, however after 5 hours, it never passed the initial screen that states "Examing..." blah blah (blah blah being the location of the drive and the size of the drive). I've run Repair on other PCs and it never took more than an hour to get at least some results on bigger hard drives.

While on the phone and by myself, I've attempted to Restore the drive to the original factory image, that failed as well. My best guess is that the Boot Partition has corrupted, I've never seen that before, but there is a first time for everything.

Anybody have any ideas? I thought about taking the drive to a friends house that has an XPS with an additional SATA slot to try and pull information off of and see what I can see but I'm afrain that may void the warranty (I've never purchased a computer that I didn't build myself so I'm not sure about all this warranty stuff).

The tech told me that the drive would be covered in the warranty if it was determined nothing could be done for it, but they didn't say anything about how long it would take to get a new one or if it would cost to ship it. Anyone had to return a hard drive before?

Thanks for any help, sorry to be long winded.

Message Edited by Bazkur on 07-25-2007 06:08 PM

mombodog · Answer

Did you run the Dell extended tests?

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/deke/laptopsupport/manuals/d600/diag.htm

If this returns a hard drive failure code, record the failure messages and contact Dell with this info, they will ship a new drive at no charge.

If it returns no errors try this procedure

http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=5097

Removing the drive and trying to save data will not void the warranty, and will also verify if the drive is dead for sure. Just handle it with care, as if it is a new one.

Message Edited by mombodog on 07-11-2007 05:54 PM

kmsheff · Answer

Extended test passed completely.  I also ran every individual test (even ones that shouldn't have anything to do with it) and all passed.   I actually can't get to the recovery console at all.  At that load screen (where you press 'R') any option, except the exit option, just locks up the computer at the 'Examining' screen.  I've let Dell know all of this via e-mail (i'm currently without a phone) and they just keep sending me back other things to try.  It's starting to upset me a bit :)   I actually work on computers for a living so I'm not an idiot.  There are only so many things you can try to a hard drive when you can't get to the recovery console and all tests past.  I ran the western digital diagnositc tool too and it locked up when it tried to access the drive.  Any other thoughts?

mombodog · Answer

Data corruption or bad sectors at just the right spot can cause this, usually bad sectors, if the bad sectors or corruption is in the registry hive or boot sector, then this is usually irrecoverable, if it is corruption, you can reinstall, if it is bad sectors, then replace the drive. Sometimes it is impossible to tell between the two.

Have you tried SpinRite on the Drive, if this software cannot recover the drive, then nothing can, absolutely the best recovery software, bar none.

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

Also, try putting the drive in another PC as secondary, see if Windows can mount the drive,

Message Edited by mombodog on 07-11-2007 07:52 PM

kmsheff · Answer

I think we are thinking about the same here.  I have to find somebody that has an computer that supports SATA, this was the only computer I had that supported it.  Not sure if I mentioned it or not earlier, but I tried reappling the factor image while talking with the tech but it continually failed.   That looks like great software but I can't really afford new software right now.  Hopefully I can figure out the trick to get dell to just replace the drive for me.  It's starting to cost me money by not having it running (I'm a programmer and just can't do some of the things I need to on my laptop, not enough power).   Thanks for thoughts.

madterps · Answer

Change SATA operation to RAID Auto/ATA, unless you have RAID system, then tried to boot to the Windows disc and see if it works.

kmsheff · Answer

Thanks, I'm actually all better :)   Dell finally shipped me a new HD, once I got it up and running, I was able to run a check disk on the old drive, it fixed some 400+ errors and then became 100% bootable.  I went ahead and sent it back still just incase it had an actual hardware issue.  Managed to pull everything off too.   At least this experience gave me the oppertunity to install Vista.  I love it.

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Disk Read Error: No Other Error Information [RESOLVED]

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