'A disk read error occurred' message appears

[mpup]

Hi, this message appears when I turn my laptop on: 'A disk read error occurred'.

I'm not sure what the reason is, I have check several sites about it and also on www.vaio-link.com
but it doesn't really tell me much. Something about CMOS settings on my laptop, but I don't know where that is. I happens all the time I turn my computer on and all it says is that message and to press Ctrl, Alt & Delete to restart. However I have to do that several times till i can actually get the Windows XP screen to appear. Can someone help me? And tell me what the problem is? And how to solve it?

[Rob Pomeroy]

Sounds like you have a failing hard drive.  Is it still under warranty?

Persevere until you manage to boot into Windows, then run a thorough Scandisk on the drive:  Bring up Windows explorer; right-click on the hard drive (C: ).  Click properties.  Select the Tools tab; press the Check Now button.

Make sure both option boxes are check, then click Start.  Be aware that this process can take a long time (hours).

[mpup]

I went to the scan disk in the Windows Explorer properties menu and did what you said and selected both boxes and press Start, its says this message:

' The disk check could not be preformed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access to some windows files on the disk. these files can be accessed only by restarting windows. Do you want to schedule this disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?'

when I press yes nothing happens.  And when I press No this message appears:

'Windows was unable to complete the disk check'

I really do not know what to do. I really hope my laptop doesn't break down. PLease help?

[Rob Pomeroy]

If you choose yes, scandisk should then run when you reboot.

[mpup]

Do I need to back up any files before I scan disk? And what happens afterwards when Scan Disk has finished? Does it give me a result of something? I'm not very good with the technical side of computers.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Scandisk will not damage any files that aren't already damaged.  It will create a log report and store it at C:\Scandisk.log (or something like that).  Easy to spot.

[mpup]

How does this problem actually happen? Installing new software? Memory full up?

I have been using this laptop like I usually do & its has only been 2 years old.

[Rob Pomeroy]

It could be something as simple as a manufacturing defect.  Hard drives are vacuum-sealed units.  The read heads hover just above the surface of the disks.  If the vacuum seal is less than perfect, dust can enter the hard drive and get between the read heads and the disk platters.  This causes the heads to crash on the disks; physical damage results.

Just one possbility.

[mpup]

Ok, thanks.

I have done the Scan Disk as suggested. Is there anything after that I should do? Or is it all fixed now?