Here's what happened.

My HD has 6 partitions, 2 of them with XP. Today, using paragon's partition
magic, i created a 7th one, which i wanted to use to install vista.
I started installing vista in that partition, after he copied all the files
and such, it restarted the computer.

Since then, i cant use my PC anymore. When it boots i get this error: a disk
read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart.

If i boot with vista DVD and try to repair it, it doesnt help. It says that
in C: (where i still HAVE one of the two XP partitions) it boots from
C:\$window$.~ (something like this) instead of C:\XP (which is where i have
the XP OS files).

I even tried using the XP CD, with fixmbr and fixboot, nothing worked.

What the hell happened? I cant boot any XP OS now, i cant install vista,
HELP!!!

thanks a lot

"sauzer" <sauzer@otc.com> wrote in message
news:49779703$0$1110$4fafbaef@reader3.news.tin.it. ..
> Here's what happened.
>
> My HD has 6 partitions, 2 of them with XP. Today, using paragon's
> partition magic, i created a 7th one, which i wanted to use to install
> vista.
> I started installing vista in that partition, after he copied all the
> files and such, it restarted the computer.
>
> Since then, i cant use my PC anymore. When it boots i get this error: a
> disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart.
>
> If i boot with vista DVD and try to repair it, it doesnt help. It says
> that in C: (where i still HAVE one of the two XP partitions) it boots from
> C:\$window$.~ (something like this) instead of C:\XP (which is where i
> have the XP OS files).
>
> I even tried using the XP CD, with fixmbr and fixboot, nothing worked.
>
> What the hell happened? I cant boot any XP OS now, i cant install vista,
> HELP!!!
>
> thanks a lot

If you have a "disk read error" then you can do either or both of these
things:
- Use your WinXP installation CD to boot into the Recovery Console,
then run the chkdsk cmd.
- Download and run the hard disk diagnostic tool that your disk
manufacturer has at his web site.

i did a chkdsk /p and then a bootfix + fixmbr and still get the "a disk read
error occured".

i doubt the HD has problems since this started after i tried to install
vista... it has to do something with that i guess for sure.

any hint? should i try a chkdsk /r ?


"sauzer" <sauzer@otc.com> wrote in message
news:49779703$0$1110$4fafbaef@reader3.news.tin.it. ..
> Here's what happened.
>
> My HD has 6 partitions, 2 of them with XP. Today, using paragon's
> partition magic, i created a 7th one, which i wanted to use to install
> vista.
> I started installing vista in that partition, after he copied all the
> files and such, it restarted the computer.
>
> Since then, i cant use my PC anymore. When it boots i get this error: a
> disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart.
>
> If i boot with vista DVD and try to repair it, it doesnt help. It says
> that in C: (where i still HAVE one of the two XP partitions) it boots from
> C:\$window$.~ (something like this) instead of C:\XP (which is where i
> have the XP OS files).
>
> I even tried using the XP CD, with fixmbr and fixboot, nothing worked.
>
> What the hell happened? I cant boot any XP OS now, i cant install vista,
> HELP!!!
>
> thanks a lot
>
>

sauzer wrote:
> Here's what happened.
>
> My HD has 6 partitions, 2 of them with XP. Today, using paragon's
> partition magic, i created a 7th one, which i wanted to use to
> install vista. I started installing vista in that partition, after he
> copied all
> the files and such, it restarted the computer.
>
> Since then, i cant use my PC anymore. When it boots i get this
> error: a disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart.
>
> If i boot with vista DVD and try to repair it, it doesnt help. It
> says that in C: (where i still HAVE one of the two XP partitions)
> it boots from C:\$window$.~ (something like this) instead of C:\XP
> (which is where i have the XP OS files).
>
> I even tried using the XP CD, with fixmbr and fixboot, nothing
> worked.
> What the hell happened? I cant boot any XP OS now, i cant install
> vista, HELP!!!

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> If you have a "disk read error" then you can do either or both of
> these things:
> - Use your WinXP installation CD to boot into the Recovery Console,
> then run the chkdsk cmd.
> - Download and run the hard disk diagnostic tool that your disk
> manufacturer has at his web site.

Might also want to consider using Virtual Machine software instead of all
this crazy partitioning. ;-)
(Unless there is some specific reason - like special hardware, etc - for the
partitioning over virtual machines.)

- What does your partition manager show?
- What's on all those partitions?

Disk Read Error is fairly serious. You may *think* nothing is wrong with
the drive - but with all those partitions, you may have exposed a flaw that
others may have never exposed with the drive itself (you are actually using
parts of the drive someone else might not ever hit.) You should take the
other advice you have gotten and use the HDD Manufacturer's tool to diagnose
the hardware.

Otherwise (and only if the drive checks out) - just restore to your last
disk image/full backup (you did make one before playing with the
partitioning, I assume) and you haven't lost anything but time.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"sauzer" <sauzer@otc.com> wrote in message
news:4977a50a$0$1117$4fafbaef@reader3.news.tin.it. ..
>i did a chkdsk /p and then a bootfix + fixmbr and still get the "a disk
>read error occured".
>
> i doubt the HD has problems since this started after i tried to install
> vista... it has to do something with that i guess for sure.

"Doubt" is the appropriate word, "for sure" isn't, "guess for sure" is
contradictory. You can't be sure until you've performed a full diagnostic
check.