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Thread: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

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    Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit



    I had this disk read error a few weeks ago which is what prompted me to reformat last week...

    After a fresh clean install of Windows everything seemed to be working great but then I restarted this morning and had a "Disk Read Error, press ctrl+alt+del" pop up in the Bios boot screen.

    I've read about this online, people say it can be hardware malfunctioning requiring replacement, some say to reformat, but I just reformatted. I would like to refuse to believe that it is hardware failure, I think my drives should be clean and good there have been no problems in the past...

    The only way I have found to access my desktop after receiving this error is to open my case and push the SATA cables in properly, as I think they have come loose or something, which causes this error...

    Is it possible that this can be caused by loose cables?

    Any other possibilities?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Splash
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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    In a word, yes. And given the fix that you have it would seem likely that it's either the cable or the interface on the disk.

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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    Absolutely yes. The top of the SATA connector can crack (usually at the edge) and gives an intermittent connection. Unless you have seen it before, it can be very tricky to diagnose, but once you look at the connector, it is easy to spot. (Caused me a couple of months of problems with a RAID 1 array, until I knuckled down and investigated it methodically.)

    As splash says, if reseating the cables gives a temporary fix - my money is on the connectors.
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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Absolutely yes. The top of the SATA connector can crack (usually at the edge) and gives an intermittent connection. Unless you have seen it before, it can be very tricky to diagnose, but once you look at the connector, it is easy to spot. (Caused me a couple of months of problems with a RAID 1 array, until I knuckled down and investigated it methodically.)

    As splash says, if reseating the cables gives a temporary fix - my money is on the connectors.
    Well this is relieving actually since I don't have to replace the hard drive, I really don't want to go through another installation for a long time.

    Will replacing the cable mess with my data at all or not?

    Hmm...

    For now it is fine, if it happens again then I'll look at the cable for the crack you mentioned and try to replace it or something.

    Another question... Could this cause slow boot times and shut down?

    Whenever I shut down my PC, it sticks at the "Shutting Down" page for a good minute... I can also hear my CPU processing during this time...

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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    Replacing the cable will not affect your data. If it is faulty, NOT replacing your cable certainly will!

    As a Sata cable is under £5, its worth replacing anyway - it is the interface between your data and your computer.

    Don't go for the cheapest you can find though, not all cables are equal, and some of the cheap ones are truly horrible.

    I find the latching connectors are slightly more robust, and of course less likely to shake loose.

    Could a faulty cable cause slow boot and shutdown. Well, yes, if there are lots of unsuccessful read and writes, but if it is that bad, I think it would manifest itself in other ways. The slow boot times I think is more likely to be your AV scanner (as I mentioned in one of your other threads)
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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Replacing the cable will not affect your data. If it is faulty, NOT replacing your cable certainly will!

    As a Sata cable is under £5, its worth replacing anyway - it is the interface between your data and your computer.

    Don't go for the cheapest you can find though, not all cables are equal, and some of the cheap ones are truly horrible.

    I find the latching connectors are slightly more robust, and of course less likely to shake loose.

    Could a faulty cable cause slow boot and shutdown. Well, yes, if there are lots of unsuccessful read and writes, but if it is that bad, I think it would manifest itself in other ways. The slow boot times I think is more likely to be your AV scanner (as I mentioned in one of your other threads)
    Yeah but I notice slow boots/shutdowns in safemode too.

    Meh, oh well, as long as my cables are okay... I'll look into replacements... Should a random tech shop be sufficient or will theirs be crappy quality? I'm not aware of quality regarding sata cables.

    Maybe I'll order them online, got a link to some recommended ones?

  10. #7
    Splash
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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    A cable is a cable pretty much. As Peterb says, the ones with latching connectors are generally a little more robust (the connectors, that is) for not a great deal more cash.

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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    Quote Originally Posted by Splash View Post
    A cable is a cable pretty much. As Peterb says, the ones with latching connectors are generally a little more robust (the connectors, that is) for not a great deal more cash.
    I opened my PC and disconnected the SATA cables... and I looked at the cables very closely.... and there were no visible faults, I'm certain. I replaced them nicely and I haven't had any disk read errors in a while, so I hope it stays that way, everything seems fine.

    Thanks for the tips though, if I had any recurrence of this issue then I'll be sure to post again

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    Re: Disk Read Error - Vista Home Premium 64-bit

    Google SATA cables

    This is one result

    http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/sata-...-floppy-cable/

    (but I haven't bought from them)

    I have bought cables from these people http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...e.php?cat=1949

    and I think the ones I bought were branded AC Ryan (although it looks as if Specialtech don't stock them any more.

    As always, Google is your friend!
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