Disk Read Error

[TvManPwns]

I have an ancient laptop sitting in my room (I tore it apart already) and The error that I get on bootup is that there is a "disk read error... Press ctrl+alt+del to reboot" and when I reboot I get the same message. I can't use the recovery disks because they won't boot, and I tired to boot off of a seperate partition on a portable HDD... I also tired booting with linux, it worked if I took the laptop HDD out along with the external. It didn't load in to the OS though. I am fresh out of ideas and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for me to try! :D

Your help is appreciated
-TvManPwns

[kryyst]

Does linux detect the harddrive? If not could be a bad disk controller

[TvManPwns]

No, Linux is not recognizing the harddrive. It will boot up as if it is installing but won't respond for 10 minutes, then I get an error message saying "bla bla bla could not bla bla bla".... Or somthing like that. It pretty much just says that it can't load teh OS and that.

If the hardrive controller isn't working then should that be able to effect the external harddrive as well since its running off of the USB? I am not sure but if I wanted to pull the HDD out of my 360 add-on will that be compatible?

Thanks for the quick responce kryyst.

[kryyst]

Does your laptop allow you to boot off of a usb device and if so did the 2nd harddrive have a bootable partition on it?

Also what do you mean pull the hdd out of your 360 add-on? If you mean the harddrive from the 360 harddrive kit, that would be a really bad idea. First of all the harddrive is physically compatible, it is just a standard harddrive. However it's formatted specifically for the Xbox 360 so you'd have to wipe it to make it usefull. Wiping the drive would also make it completely incompatable again with your Xbox 360. More important though, the harddrive for the 360 is more expensive then a regular external harddrive, so there is no good reason to go tampering with it it's a waste of money.

[TvManPwns]

kk, I've not tried booting off of a normal usb flash drive. I have however partitioned the external harddrive and have formatted it to be able to load windows on to. I have tested it on my desktop and it worked fine booting off of that partition.

Should I try just a regular flash key? Also I forgot to add that I can't get in to the boot screen or the BIO's because it is password protected. It was my moms old laptop and she can't remember the password... I don't know why she would have put one on anyway.

[kryyst]

You could try a regular flash key, but it shouldn't make a difference. Generally speaking it'll either boot off a USB drive or it won't. I haven't come across one yet that will only boot off some usb drives and not others.

Right now you need to get into your bios and see if it's detecting your drive at all. So you'll need to try and crack that password - which could be nearly impossible.

[TvManPwns]

Ok, well booting off of a regular old flash key didn't work. As for the bios password, anyone have some helpful hints as to where I might find some help with this delema? I know I know... Google is my friend, But a little direction never hurt anyone ;)..

Edit: Where would I find a CMOS battery on a laptop? And as for the model it is an Asus Aspire 1410.

[TvManPwns]

kk, never mind this thread... I'm just going to end up throwing it out. Its not worth fixing really, super old and whatnot. Thanks for all of your information though! :)

[kryyst]

There are no cmos batteries on laptops to pull out and reset the bios.

[TvManPwns]

Ok, just for interest sake then.... Is there a way to short somthing on the mobo that will act like a CMOS battery being taken out? It should be possible to short out a chip or whatever cause the password hash has to be stored somwhere, right?

[kryyst]

There is no way that I know of or have ever seen documented anywhere when it comes to laptops. Typically you have to send it back to the manufacturer pay a nominal fee and they do it for you.

[TvManPwns]

kk, I was beginning to think it was one of those "don't do this yourself" kind of things.