"A disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart"

larobbie

July 18, 2011 7:38:33 PM

Hey everyone! Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong category. I'll be glad to move the discussion to another one if anyone is bothered by it.

My friend just called me up with the error in the topic title, that happened on his Lenovo G550.

I've searched for a solution, but all I've seen is "run a data recovery" or "reinstall Windows 7" type of answers.

I wouldn't be comfortable opening his computer up.

I'm not sure how I would run recovery mode in BIOS or run a simple check for all the Windows 7 necessary files as it doesn't even boot up. (The error shows and that's about as far as it goes, except for BIOS).

Any suggestions? (If I can't figure it out, then of course he'll probably take it to a professional, but if I could manage, why not.

)

More about : disk read error occurred press ctrl alt del restart

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

Reply to larobbie

mibix19

Windows 7 Expert

July 18, 2011 7:50:15 PM

Hi Is there a cd in the drive ( or a floppy disc in if he has one).? If not Try Booting into safe mode by pressing the F8 key when starting. If you can get into safe mode you can run a disc error check from there by right clicking the C drive icon/ properties/ tools/error checking.

| Report abuse

Reply to mibix19

larobbie

July 18, 2011 7:51:33 PM

mibix19 said:

Hi Is there a cd in the drive ( or a floppy disc in if he has one).? If not Try Booting into safe mode by pressing the F8 key when starting. If you can get into safe mode you can run a disc error check from there by right clicking the C drive icon/ properties/ tools/error checking.

There was no CD at the time I tried this.

About the safe mode, whether I pressed F2, F8, F12 or DEL, it didn't go into Safe Mode. (But pressing F8 and F12 went directly into BIOS). I also read that I possibly didn't catch the right time for clicking those buttons, but I tried numerous times, still, didn't get me to safe mode.

Any other suggestions?

| Report abuse

Reply to larobbie

Alaskan_IT

July 18, 2011 8:48:01 PM

This usually indicates a hard drive error. Check the BIOS and verify that the hard drive is being detected. It should show the model number if it is.

| Report abuse

Reply to Alaskan_IT

larobbie

July 18, 2011 9:02:20 PM

Alaskan_IT said:

This usually indicates a hard drive error. Check the BIOS and verify that the hard drive is being detected. It should show the model number if it is.

I don't have the laptop in front of me right now, but I remember it did when I was trying to do like the instructions on most websites said.

I'm just confused why F8 takes me to BIOS instead of advanced boot options?

| Report abuse

Reply to larobbie

mibix19

Windows 7 Expert

July 18, 2011 9:38:36 PM

Hi. You could try going into the bios and setting it to the Default Settings

| Report abuse

Reply to mibix19

mibix19

Windows 7 Expert

July 18, 2011 9:41:40 PM

If you can access another windows 7 computer you can make a system repair disc and boot from that cd (change the boot options in the BIOS to cd first. Here is a guide on how to do it http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-a-sy...