Disk Read Error Dell

Hello all,

I've been coming to these forums for years now--and this is the first time I've actually had a problem I could solve just by looking at other people's posts. Here's the background:

My computer was getting slow recently, so I finally had a friend reformat my computer. I saved my files on an external (this was only a few days ago, so I'm not worried about needing to recover files), and used the Windows XP cd to reformat the computer. I did not use any of the Dell cd's, since those seem to install all the crud that makes my computer slow in the first place. After reformatting and re-installing XP, I loaded the normal software (Office, Firefox, AVG...) as well as all the drivers (or what I'm hoping was all the drivers...). Haven't done anything exciting with it in the 3 days since.

This morning, I realize that my computer is giving me an error message when I try to open games (spider solitaire, free cell, etc. - Not sure if this is relevant). I had to leave to go to work, but figured I'd shut down the computer and maybe it would have fixed itself when I got home.

Lo and behold, when I turn it on after work, right after the Dell start-up page, I get an error message: "A disk read error occurred. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart." After reading a few posts here I tried using F8 to get into safe mode--it will not do this. F2 will get me to Setup and F12 to the BIOS, but I'm pretty sure those don't help me much.

Since I recently backed up my files, I have no problem wiping my computer as many times as necessary to try to fix this--I just need to know what I should be trying. Any thoughts or advice? I'd love to not shell out the money for a new laptop. FYI--I have an Inspiron 6000 if that is at all helpful.

I am not super computer savvy, but I can google things and have a few people on speed dial, so I'm willing to try anything if you all can explain it to me.

Thank you so much!

 

Hi how old is the laptop, is your wireless connection (if you are using that, the onboard one) still functioning ??? These laptops like many others have a issue with the Nvidia Graphics Chipset, I hope its not that. Post back and give us any more progress/updates.

 

Thanks for getting back to me. I sure hope it's not the graphics chipset! I know enough to know that is BAD.
The laptop is almost four years old (the reason I was reformatting in the first place), and yes, the onboard wireless was still functioning as of yesterday, prior to the disk read error. Is there a way to check on the graphics chipset? Like I said, I can get into the BIOS, so if that helps in diagnosing this at all I can do it. Just need to know what I am looking for.

 

Hi again .. A friend had trouble with his Inspiron dv6000 and I discovered about the overheat prob with Nvidia Graphics chipset took it to a laptop specialist and he pointed to 3 others in workshop with the same prob. I do hope this is not the same in your case. But if wireless still opearating it could be something else.. Usually this wireless disappearing is one of the first signs that the laptop is going to fail at sometime in the future. As I said I hope this Nvidia is not your prob.....here is a link that may assist you in diagnosing prob.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...77&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=1842189&lang=en

 

Well, I decided to take the dear old laptop to the computer guy down the street for a second opinion, and, after replacing my hard drive with an extra that he had, he assured me that, yes, the hard drive was dead beyond all hope. Luckily, the rest of the computer seems fine, so now the plan is to go for the new hard drive, and hope all goes well. Thanks again for all your help, it's nice to get an idea of what's going on.