Windows 7: A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del...

Less than one month after I made a fresh installation of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, I got this "looping" situation:

1. The boot process starts and goes normally until...
2. There comes this black screen that reads: A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

Then it goes ad infinitum...

What can be wrong?

Hi Paul

Sounds like your HD has f ailed. You can go to the mfr of your HD and download their diagnostic tool

hard drive diagnostic tools.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

IF you are still able load the OS,
Run an administrative command prompt and type chkdsk.exe /f
Type Y when it asks if you would like to schedule a disk check for the next restart.
Type exit.
Restart the machine and checkdisk will reallocate the bad sectors on your HDD if possible.
Most likely the machine was dropped while the HDD was writing. If that isn't the case and your HDD is less than 3 years old, you have a defective HDD and should be able to get it replaced for free.

Thank you guys! I have this Belarc Advisor Current Profile (from Jan 14 2010) for that troubled PC. It reads:

Drives
MAXTOR STM3160215AS [Hard drive] (160,04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 5RA6CHSL, rev 4.AAB, SMART Status: Healthy
MAXTOR STM3500320AS [Hard drive] (500,11 GB) -- drive 1, s/n 6QM0XYC6, rev MX1A, SMART Status: Healthy

I guess I'll have to burn a disc with the Maxtor PowerMax 4.23 Bootable CD .ISO image file, since I have no access to the OS GUI. Right?

Then what? Will I get a DOS-like screen to work my way?

UPDATE
I found that I need to use SeaTool for DOS: "boots to its own operating system you can test your drive regardless of the OS installed on it. "