Hi, After a fresh installation of Windows 7 Ultimate x64, I am unable to boot on my hard disk. The screen "A disk read error occured, press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart" displays on every boot. I think this is not related to Windows but to the hard disk itself. I changed the bios option before install windows in order to activate the AHCI Mode... Maybe it needs a driver so I will now try to install AHCI driver. Hope it will work... Any idea about what it could be ? PS: I am french so apologize for my poor english.
AHCI Mode is not a solution for your problem... AHCI Mode is for E-Sata Drives (Like an usb hdd drives) that can be plug through external slots (E-SATA Slot)..... Try to transfer your important files on another hdd... Maybe your drive has physical damage and need to replace...
Ah really ? So AHCI is not better than IDE Mode for internal Hard Disk ? It doesn't improve performance ? On Wikipedia, it says that the AHCI Mode is necessary to the NCQ technology, and that one improve hard disk performance no ?
It does really Improve the performance specially on modern drives that supports NCQ, but Im aware that it doesn't relative on your current problem... It's better to have a compatibility mode (IDE) than the performance mode (AHCI) when it comes to troubleshooting...
Thank you for your reply burfadel So, I just put my hard disk as slave on another PC cause it's more convenient to work on it this way. I'm running the "chkdsk" command right now through command prompt. Does it have the same effect when done into Windows or must I run this command absolutely through the Windows 7 DVD at boot ? To be more specific, here is the exact situation : - With "MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD", I wiped the entire disk, fill all disk with zero, and created one primary partition. - I set the Bios to AHCI Mode - I installed Windows 7 Ultimate, the one who is in the "Windows 7 Repository" sticky thread (Windows is on a DVD) - After the installation, it reboot automatically and then it ask me if I want to boot on DVD or not. If I don't hit a key in the next 5 sec, it freeze and I can reboot with the power button. When then I set the Hard Disk as primary boot device, the screen "A disk read error occured" shows on. So, what I can't understand is... if the bios recognize the hard disk and if partition wizard can read the hard disk and also show me the fresh installed windows files on the hard disk (so no reading problem) and if windows can write files on it (so no writing problem), WHY does it happen like that ? There is obviously no communication problem so it's not a driver problem right ? I can also read my disk when it is put as slave on this working PC... so what is the problem ??? Is it corrupted files ? is it corrupted hard disk ? Mus I by a new hard disk to try or will it happen on the new one also ? I'm really lost. If the chkdsk command does not succeed, I will try to install Windows after format with the built-in Windows 7 DVD tool. I wanted to avoid the 100MB system partition but maybe it is the solution. Thank you for your help
The "chkdsk" command just finished and there is no bad sector (0 KB in bad sectors). EDIT: Could a corrupted DVD of Windows 7 be responsible of such a problem ?
It could be corrupted dvd but usually that would cause errors when copying files for installation, also make setting in bios permanent to boot from hard drive first, you can select to boot from dvd for installation via function key also windows 7 does more than one reset when installing perhaps windows 7 installation has not even been completed.
It restart just once when features and updates are installed... Then it freeze on a screen which says "Press any key to boot from the CD/DVD" or something like that. I'm running a special Western Digital tool to ensure it is not the Hard Disk that is corrupted (Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics). The "Quick Test" and the "S.M.A.R.T Test" are both succesful. I'm trying the full scan for bad sector but I don't think it will be useful. It takes a few hours... (h*t*t*p://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1289/smarts.png - image of the S.M.A.R.T. result of the WD6400AAKS) I just keep going to try... Thank you for your answer !
Just means that cd/dvd is selected in bios settings as your first boot device but if you don't press any keys it should go to next boot device which should be your hard disk IF IT has been set in bios
Yes ok but what I meant is that it freeze when it try to read the HDD. So, after a few tests, I'm pretty sure that the HDD is not the issue. I'm going to test some BIOS setting changes like put it back on IDE Mode and reinstall windows. PS: by the way, my config is Windows 7 Ultimate x64, i7 860, Asus P7P55D-E Pro, WD6400AAKS 640GB
Last news, IT WORKS ! Still in AHCI Mode, I enabled the Marvel 9123 Controller (but I think it is not what solved the issue) and I install Windows after formated and deleted the existing partition and created a new one with the Windows Built-in tools, which implies there is now a new System Reserved Partition of 100MB. So I know it is not due to AHCI Mode. Is the System Partition absolutely necessary for System to boot ?
glad you got it working if you do not want windows 7 to create the 100mb partition use partition wizard boot cd and make the partitions you require before you install windows 7 just make sure you format c:\ as ntfs and make it active. Windows 7 will not add that 100mb system partiton if there is already a system i,e active partition. You can when installing from windows 7 dvd when it gets to the format and where to install select advanced options you will see it has made the 100mb partition and a logical partition just delete the logical one and extend the 100mb one.
All simply ! The only problem was I didn't make it active ! The "read disk error" whould have been fix only with that... I feel really dumb suddenly... This thread can be close. I have now a new Windows 7 Ultimate x64 without the 100MB system reserved partition and no "read disk error". Thank you to all of you for your help.