"A disk read error occured"

[KevineCove]

My laptop keeps saying "A disk read error occurred (line break) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart". Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del only causes the message to pop up again.

Prior to this issue my computer bluescreened in the middle of class (I wasn't even touching it, I just noticed the screen change out of the corner of my eye) and it's been somewhat like this ever since. At one point it attempted to run Startup Repair and failed. I took it to a computer repair shop and it miraculously started up just fine. I was able to start it up again at home and back up all of my files, but then the issue came back and it hasn't run since. There are a few other screens I've seen since this whole ordeal began but now the disk read error is the only one that pops up.

My old Java professor recommended I run Kaspersky Rescue Disk, which I attempted to do. I followed all of the instructions, burnt the disk onto a USB drive, and when I started up my laptop I was able to get to Boot Manager, where I saw USB HDD: SanDisk Cruzer and USB CDROM: SanDisk Cruzer. I tried both, and both simply came up with another disk read error.

Despite the fact that others have said my HDD is dead, I think it may be possible that's not the issue, since the USB drive works fine on other computers and there was a read error trying to boot it from the laptop, so I'm considering the possibility that whatever piece of hardware READS disks is the issue instead. Should I try booting Kaspersky from a working computer?

What do you guys think is the issue here? If the HDD is dead it's dead, but from what I've read online it sounds as if it's possible a virus did this. What I'm most curious about is why the Rescue Disk couldn't run, and if you guys can recommend different disks for me to try booting, since a quick download/burn/run is quick, easy, and can't hurt.

 

[spooky2th]

See if you can boot into settings and revert back to an earlier point in time. Boot into BIOS if you can. Unfortunately, most laptops these days have a locked BIOS.

 

[KevineCove]

See if you can boot into settings and revert back to an earlier point in time. Boot into BIOS if you can. Unfortunately, most laptops these days have a locked BIOS.

I think I attempted a system restore in the past but I can't remember. When I get to the BIOS menu these are ALL of the things I can modify. I get that it's probably pointless to list this stuff but I want to illustrate that I really cannot do anything else, so for right now it doesn't look as if I can use a revert to an earlier point.

Main -> System Time, System Date, Quiet Boot, Network Boot, F12 Boot Menu, D2D Recovery, Wake on LAN, SATA Mode
Security -> Set Supervisor Password, Set User Password, Password on Boot
Boot -> (I can change the priority order, I used this to attempt to boot the recovery disk.)
Exit -> Exit Saving Changes, Exit Discarding Changes, Load Setup Defaults, Discard Changes, Save Changes

Out of curiosity, what is a locked BIOS? When I went into Security it looked as if I didn't have a supervisor or user password so for the hell of it I decided to create one (I set both to "abc" so I wouldn't forget.) What is the significance of this stuff? I haven't ever been prompted for a supervisor password before but I'm sure it comes into play somehow.

 

[spooky2th]

Load setup defaults then save and exit and see if that helps.

 

[KevineCove]

So, totally unrelated point. My laptop started semi-normally just now - it gave me the option to boot Windows 7, which I did, and now it's running fine. I'm taking this time to back up a few semi important files that I forgot to last time, as well as updating and scanning my computer with Malwarebytes. Assuming my device is still cooperating, what diagnostic tools can you recommend for me to figure out what's wrong?

I removed four "potentially unwanted programs," two of which were just adware (Compete Inc) the other two of which were located in directories that had no critical files so I removed them without looking more into it. I doubt these have any involvement in my laptop being screwed up.

I will try using Load Setup Defaults if/when I get the boot error again.

 

[spooky2th]

You might try the free app Malwarebytes Anti-malware. The free version is great and has a good scan. Can quarantine anything it finds and later on delete the items out of the quarantine. Before the first scan, go into set up and make sure that scan for rootkits is turned on.

 

[KevineCove]

I ran another scan with rootkits included and nothing came up. On a side note, the USB drive I used to back up my data returned an error when I transferred it onto my new laptop, but a scan fixed it.

If no viruses were detected does this mean the issue is my HDD?

 

[spooky2th]

Could be the HDD or a software problem, OC problem? Corrupted software sometimes from bad shutdowns or faulty PSU's? Hard to say?

 

[KevineCove]

My laptop worked fine for several days, then the issue reoccurred. This time I tried Load Setup Defaults and nothing seemed to change. I also noticed something different - when I go into the F12 boot menu, the only options are:

HDD: TOSHIBA MQ01ABF050
Network Boot: BRCM MBA Slot 0400 v15.0.11

I wasn't taking very good notes earlier but I think I remember there being more options in the past (I know there were two options for the external drive when I tried booting Kaspersky, it makes sense they aren't there since I didn't try the recovery disk again.) Booting the HDD just gives me the disk read error, while the network boot gives me something a little more descriptive:

Broadcom UNDI PXE-2.1 v15.0.11
Copyright (C) 2000-2011 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
All rights reserved.
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable.
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Side note, what are my chances of success reinstalling Windows completely from an external drive?

 

[spooky2th]

You should be able to install windows from a disk or a USB thumb drive. If you do this, you might lose the windows restore partition/option. I would try and restore the laptop to factory specs, the way it was when new. There should be an option for that. Look at your choices when booting or in the computer manual.