Laptop HDD says error "A Disk Read Error Occured. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart" after I dropped it

[Guest]

Hello, I recently dropped my laptop(It's an ASUS K55VM) while it was running on Windows 7 from about 1m high. I was a little bit dent on the side, but nothing really serious on first look. When I dropped it, it was running on Windows, after the drop it continuing working without any signs of breaking down, I also sent a Facebook message after that. As I was frustrated I turned it off after a minute or two. When I wanted to turn it back on some time later an error message "A Disk Read Error Occured. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart". I restarted it but it kept showing up. I know it's a result of the fall. But in the BIOS the HDD is recognised and it's odd to me that I was able to use it some time after the fall. I hope that the HDD isn't completely dead because I can't afford a new one at the moment.

I tried installing Ubuntu on it. In the setup it recognises the HDD, but it shows an error while intalling it. It says something like "Input/output... error while writing on /dev /sda."

There are no weird noises coming from the laptop and I am currently using it from an Ubuntu Install CD(With the Try Ubuntu feature).

Everything else appears to be working normally. I've read that after a fall the HDD can get damaged, but it's really odd that it didn't die at once. I haven't opened the HDD cover to see if something is deattached(I'm not sure it will solve anything).

I don't know A LOT about computers and I know less about laptops, because this is my first one. I would like it to be a small fixable problem, and not quite expensive because I spent nearly all my money on getting this laptop in the first place.

I hope I get some helpful answers and that they are cheap to apply.

Cheers, and thank you.

 

[lonewolf7]

Hi, this message usually appears when OS is not detected. In your case this may be different cause you dropped it. So put your installation media(DVD/USB) and try to boot from that. In some cases startup repair will do the job. If the problem persists try to open the back cover of your laptop it's pretty easy, and see if there's a loose connection(your HDD). Good Luck.

 

[popatim]

run some drive diagnostic software on it. The Hirens boot disk has several.

 

[OxygeN1337]

I only tried installing Ubuntu 12.04(a 32bit one) on it so far, because that is the only instalation CD I had at home. During the installation it shows errors and I didn't install properly. And now when I turn on the laptop I get a message like: "Please choose a different boot device" or something like that. I should get a Windows 7 installation CD soon, but I doubdt it will solve anything. I'm currently using the laptop on the Unbuntu with the "Try Ubuntu" feature, and it's running well. I also saw the disk in some "Disk Utility", and the S.M.A.R.T satus is: "Disk has a few bad sectors.". The disk is recognised in this Disk Utility and the BIOS. But I can't install Linux on it or Format it.

Also I have opened the laptop cover for the HDD, and the HDD is on the side the laptop fell. And also if it makes any difference the model is "ATA Toshiba MQ01ABD050".