Gateway Computer will not Startup

[HollowNobody]

I have a Gateway E4300 running Windows XP Professional that will no longer startup.

This all began when about a week ago, when I came home from a weekend vacation. Before I left the computer ran fine, but when I tried starting it up after returning from my vacation it would not start. I kept receiving a message that said "A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart." Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del would loop the startup and return me back to the same message.

It was late at the time of this occurrence, so I decided to take the computer into the repair shop the next morning. When I woke up the next morning for some odd reason I felt compelled to try to turn it on again. So I did and it started up normally. I took it into the repair shop despite this. They ran scans on it, checked the hard drive, etc. , but could find nothing wrong with it. So they gave it back to me.

The next day I was using the computer when it froze. Nothing was responding so I had to turn it off via the button on the front of my tower. When I turned it back on I received the disk error message and once again by the next morning it worked fine.

This continued about 4 more times. Each evening the computer would stop working, and by the next morning it was fine. Now the "next morning magic" is no longer working. All I get now is the disk read error.

I tried contacting Gateway about it, but they redirected me to the company that they sold all of their professional models to, MPC. MPC went bankrupt recently, so now all that exists of them is a volunteer run forum that hasn't been of any help to me.

So if anyone has any idea of what may be going wrong, please help.

System Specs
Model: Gateway E4300 6-Bay Desktop
OS: Windows XP Professional SP3
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.00GHz (2CPUs)
Memory: 3GB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
Drives: C:/,D:/(backup),E:/(external)

[Mulreay]

Can you start up in safe mode? Tap F8 repeatedly on start up.

[HollowNobody]

Nope.
When I tap F8 repeatedly during startup it freezes on the Gateway logo screen rather than going on to the error screen.

[dahlarbear]

1.  Windows XP CD.  What kind of Windows XP CDs do you have, if any?

2.  CMOS Setup.  Enter CMOS setup during startup to see if there's a System BIOS option to set an access delay (in seconds) for the hard drive.  This exists to give a tired old drive extra time to spin up before being accessed for the first time.  If the drive isn't ready, I presume you'll get an error.

3.  Hard Disk Drive Diagnostics.  Most hard drive manufacturers provide "free" diagnostic downloads to make bootable floppy or CD to check the operation of the drive and surface of the disk.  Perhaps "reseat" or replace the hard drive data cable.  See how the diagnostics go in its current configuration.

4.  Memory Diagnostics.  MemTest86 provides "free" memory diagnostic downloads to make bootable diagnostic floppy or CD.

[dahlarbear]

1.  Start with the bootable memory diagnostic.  If it boots into the memory diagnostic, let it run for several hours.  This will accomplish several things:
    a.  Test your system RAM
    b.  Exercise basic CPU, video card, monitor, and motherboard functions
    c.  Probably rule out overheating as cause of freeze
    d.  Suggest issue is with Windows software or the rest of the hardware

2.  So...  test the hard drive functionality and/or disk surfaces.
     a.  Ensure hard drive is seen and correctly identified within System BIOS.
     b.  Boot to hard drive diagnostic CD and run non-destructive tests.
     c.  Boot to Recovery Console from Windows XP Install CD and use "chkdsk" command:
          (1)  "chkdsk /?" for command help and syntax
          (2)  "chkdsk [drive:] /p /r" to verify integrity of file system, disk surface and make whatever corrections it can.  Once started, do NOT abort it.  Let it finish.

3.  Disconnect any external peripherals you don't need for the test at hand to eliminate them as the source of the problem.

4.  Try booting to "Safe Mode" again after file system is checked and repaired.

[smeezekitty]

there is a small chance of bad ram
also is there a boot sector virus?
try booting from cd or floppy or usb

[dahlarbear]

I'm not saying it's a "RAM" problem.  When you're having trouble identifying a problem source, sometimes it's better to concentrate on what works rather than what doesn't work.  This frequently leads to a better understanding of the problem and its symptoms as the "potential" problem domain gets smaller.

[smeezekitty]

RAM problem can easily cause these symtomss
i had a ram problem and similer symtoms happened
ii doubt it but its not impossable

[jaythom1969]

I doubt it's a RAM problem when you get a message that sayz that "a disk read error occurred", Verify the cable is not worn or loose & that no over heating is occurring (the smaller SATA drives) produce more heat than older EIDE's. It's not uncommon for a platter, read/write heads or the head actuator to malfunction these days on faster performing drives.

Try this HDD testing tool at this link: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287