"Disk read error" during boot when pc has been turned off for a while

"Disk read error" during boot when pc has been turned off for a while

Hi all,

I just bought a new HDD since my 500gb drive wasn't big enough. I bought a 1.5TB drive and I wanted to use both drives. First I tried to transfer my Windows install to the new drive, I started getting some errors while booting up after a few hours. First Windows froze during the boot screen (at the point where it says Starting Windows... and normally the moving logo should appear). So I changed some boot priorities in BIOS and then I got a different error. The one where it asks if you want to start Windows normally or want it to check for problems. Whenever I tried to check for errors it froze during loading. When I picked start Windows normally it worked. Even when I had to reboot for a program. Then overnight I got the error again. I fixed it again and decided to just do a clean Windows install on the new drive.

During install all went well. No problems after rebooting as a result of installing programs or updates whatsoever. Then again overnight It showed the "Disk read error". Tried to fix it the same way but it didn't work. After changing BIOS boot priorities to only boot from the Windows drive it froze up during the Windows screen again or I got the error to run Windows normally or check for problems. This time I couldn't choose an option there, like my keyboard was frozen. So it always picks to check for problems and that doesn't work.

The fix I found this time was to use my Windows 7 disk and choose to repair my Windows. Problem is that it has to restore it to a restore point. But at least I got into Windows again. Even after reboot. However the next morning I had the same thing all over again. Again fixed it with Windows cd. Turned it off, waited about an hour, turned it on again and again it freezes during the Windows startup screen.

Does anyone know what the problem could be here? My guess would be that there's something wrong with the HDD since I never had the problem before I placed the new one. I'm thinking of returning to the store with it but maybe someone here has a solution.

Btw if I leave my pc on long enough while it's frozen during the Windows screen it reboots automatically and I get the screen where I can choose between normal boot and Systemrecovery boot but this time I can select a normal boot and it will boot without problems.

Still I will probably get the error again once I turn my pc off for a while and turn it on later. Any ideas of how to get rid of this problem for good instead of an hour?

Thanks in advance!

Is the old hard drive still installed and connected in the PC?
Does it still have W7 on it?
What happens if you disconnect the old hard drive and only have the new one connected?

The old drive is still installed, but I already formated that drive so it doesn't have Windows 7 on it anymore.
The way I use the HDD's is Windows, Programs and Documents on the new one and Games on the old one. That way all the partitions have enough capacity.

Just booted it to see if it froze again and it did with both drives installed. So I manually turned the pc off and unplugged the old drive. Then I booted it up again, this time it just gives me a black screen after BIOS, not even the Starting Windows... screen. Also have had this "error" a few times before. And found out that I can fix that problem most of the times if I change boot priorities in BIOS. A DVD-drive is enabled as Boot option 2, because it has the Windows cd in it.
After changing boot priorities back to only boot from my new HDD I got to the recovery or start normally screen again. Ofcourse this time it froze up again during the Starting Windows... screen and after waiting long enough it rebooted itself and gave me the two options again. This time when I picked Start windows normally it did boot up without freezing. Weird thing was that it was installing the drivers again and needed to reboot to finish the install. I just let it do all these things.

I will turn it off now and leave it off for 15 mins or so and boot it up again to see if I also get the error when the pc has been off for some time and only the new HDD is plugged in.

You will want to go to the hard drive manufacturer's website and download their diagnostic tool for testing the hard drive. Burn that iso to a CD and boot with it to test.

You could also put your W7 installation disk in and boot from it (CD drive first in the boot order) and then run Startup Repair. You may need to run it 3 times. Be sure the second hard drive is disconnected when you do this, just to be sure.

Just tried it but it didn't work. Still froze up during Starting Windows... screen. Old HDD is completely unplugged, even the power cord. It's so weird that it won't boot on first try, but it will boot on the second try if I wait untill it reboots itself and then choose Start Windows normally.

Btw is it normal that I get an error if I choose the recommended Startup repair? Not that I really care much about that, but it seems like that's also not normal.
Error says that it might be caused by another hardware device like an external HDD if I remember correctly.

Sorry if I don't use the correct error descriptions, my system language is Dutch so I just manually translate the error codes.

Do you think this is a hardware problem of the new HDD itself? Because then I'll just return it and get a new one. Although I'm not looking forward to installing everything all over again. Already cost me my whole weekend to have everything installed the way it is now...

Just checked and since Samsung is now part of Seagate I downloaded their diagnostic tool. They have two, one for Windows and one for at boot. I already ran all tests except Long Generic (since that one took very long) on the Windows version and that one reported it was okay.
Will leave my pc off now again for about 10 mins and then run the boot one from cd to see if it finds problems then. If that doesn't show anything I'll try System repair from Windows cd again, but I already did that once and it then just put my pc back to a restore point and ofcourse booted up normally after that, but after it being off for a while showed the same problems.

Just tried the Seagate diagnostisc tool that runs on boot but that one couldn't find any HDD's. Guess that one isn't compatible with my HDD. Just created a Startup repair disc since my own Windows cd doesn't have all the options (upgrade cd) and gave me an error that it wasn't compatible with this Windows version.

The Startup repair didn't find any problems, I ran it a few times but nothing was found, so nothing was repaired. After that it booted up normally so I turned it off and left it off for 15 mins again and ofcourse it again froze during the Windows screen.

I just don't get the problem, Windows reports everything is fine when it's testing it, when the HDD is tested there seems to be nothing wrong with it. But still something isn't working correctly.

Thanks for the quick replies btw. Think I'm just going to ask the store I bought it from if they have any solutions and otherwise return it. I'm 99% sure that it's a problem with the HDD since I never had it before that and the Windows install is clean. Already tried different SATA cables and ports but it's all the same.

No, the Seagate Seatools boot disk actually works with almost any brand of hard drive (I just think it's better to use the manufacturer's diagnostic), so the fact that it did not see your drive is problematic. It could very well mean the drive is defective.

It could be that the drive does not spin up when first started, or that there is a connectivity issue when first started that causes the problems, but once it is going everything is OK. Either way it would be a defective drive.

That does bring one other problem to mind: if you are having an issue with your power supply - in that it is not supplying good power to the drive when starting up cold - that might also explain the behavior. But for this to be true it would have to do it with both new and old drives.

If you have the capability to do a disk image of that new drive that would make the process of replacing it easier without having to reinstall Windows and all your stuff again.
You could also attempt to clone the 'new' drive to the 'old' drive (if it will behave itself long enough to do so). You could then just clone from the old drive to the replacement drive when you get it.
Either way you will need a Disk Imaging program (I use Acronis True Image) and an external hard drive if you want to do the image backup idea. Or just image to the old drive.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm now almost finished with the Long generic test since the store asked me to try that one too. They also said that even if the test didn't find anything I should still contact them again so they can see if they have a new drive for me to replace it. Since I already tried a clean Windows install they also think it has to be a hardware problem.
I think I'll just copy my partitions plus Windows install to my old drive again (after shrinken the partitions ofcourse) since it seems that the program I used for that worked fine (I used EaseUS Todo Backup / EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition).
Will take some time but still beats installing everything manually again as I did this weekend... Especially since I have an upgrade version, which means I first have to install Windows XP before it will even accept my license key for Windows 7 after install. Upside to it is that I don't have that system reserved partition. I'll let you know what the Long Generic test results are, although I don't think it will find anything since it's testing it while it's working properly.

Btw the PSU is only a few months old and as said before, I've never had this problem untill I installed this new drive. Both the old and the new drive are hooked up to the same cable so that can't be it.

One more off-topic question. My old drive is 7200 RPM and the new one is 5400 RPM (prizes of new drives have gone up a lot lately, so I had to settle). Would it be better to put Windows on the old one because of that or do games or programs benefit more from more RPM or is the speed difference barely noticeable? Both drives have SATA2 connection and 32MB cache.

Both! Theoretically the 7600RPM drive is faster and therefore better for the OS, but in reality the difference is so slight that it would be hard to measure. Something like a 56 second start up time vs a 61 second one.

And yes, the Easeus software will definitely do the trick.

Hate to point this out to you now, but just so you know in the future:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html?filter[2]=General%20Tips

Lots of good stuff like that in the Tutorials section. Take a look once you are caught up!

I tried that one already but Option One did not work for me. When I just installed Windows 7 directly to my drive without any previous Windows version on it and manually entered my product key it said that that product key was to be used only as an upgrade install etc. and wouldn't accept it. The second option did work since that's just the normal way to upgrade from e.g. Windows XP to Windows 7 with the upgrade disc. Luckily you don't actually need to install the whole XP. Problem with my Windows XP license is that it won't accept it anymore for some reason. And if I choose to skip licensing it during install it won't go to the next step. So actually all I need to do is install Windows XP, untill it asks for a product key. Then reboot my pc with the Windows 7 upgrade disc and use the method described in Option Two and voilà, it accepts my upgrade license.
I could also ask if I could trade it in for a better model, like a 7200 RPM, SATA3, 64MB cache but this one only costed me €60,- and drives like that go for at least double nowadays. I'm not paying €65,- extra for 500GB more and some barely noticeable performance boosters. But that's just me I guess.

Let us know how the new drive works out.

Well a little update. The store wanted me to use the Samsung diagnostic tool version and they told me about Ultimate BootCD. That did have the ES-Tool. Used it and ofcourse it didn't find any problems. Hope they'll take it back, just sent them an e-mail again.
I'd say you were right about it being a malfunction in the drive itself. Seems to me that it loads some Windows bootup related part of the drive slower than the rest of the drive. It seems that the problem fixes itself if I just let it reboot itself a few times while choosing the Start Windows normally option every time. Eventually it will loads Windows normally.
Another reason why I think there has to be something wrong with the new drive is because I get a black screen after BIOS (so not even the "Starting Windows..." screen) if there are any secondary boot options enabled, when the pc has been off for a while and normally the freeze problem would occur.
It will only get to the Windows screen directly after the first boot attempt if I apply these settings in BIOS:
Boot Option Priorities:
Boot Option 1: Samsung HD154UI
Boot Option 2: Disabled
Hard Drive BBS Priorities:
Boot Option 1: Samsung HD154UI
Boot Option 2: Disabled

If I apply any of the following settings it will just give a black screen after BIOS:
Boot Option Priorities:
Boot Option 1: Samsung HD154UI
Boot Option 2: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222AL
Hard Drive BBS Priorities:
Boot Option 1: Samsung HD154UI
Boot Option 2: Disabled

or

Boot Option Priorities:
Boot Option 1: Samsung HD154UI
Boot Option 2: Disabled
Hard Drive BBS Priorities:
Boot Option 1: Samsung HD154UI
Boot Option 2: Samsung HD501LJ

My thoughts are that the mobo might already figure out that there's something wrong with the Windows drive, so it also looks at the other boot options. Since the other boot options don't have an OS installed it won't load anything. But if I give it no other options it will do it's best to force a Windows load out of the new drive, but will fail at the first attempts.

Does that even make any sense? I mean it should not be a problem that there are secondary boot option enabled as long as the first one is the Windows drive, since that would be it's first choice and should already boot from it, not even looking at the other options.
When I only had my old drive installed with Windows I believe I also had other boot options enabled (DVD drives) and it never had any problems finding the correct one (as long as my old drive was the first option and not a DVD drive).
The "Disc read error" seems to appear randomly sometimes. Another thing is that sometimes when it does start Windows it won't give a signal to my main screen. Eventhough it did receive a signal when the BIOS loaded. I have two screens setup so I know that it does bootup normally because my secondary screen shows me my extended desktop. Also this "error" seems to occur randomly and is always fixed by rebooting again.
Waiting for their response now. Hope the have a new drive for me and that the new one will work. Otherwise it might be some sort of compatibility issue. Then I would probably need to look for a different model.

There is no compatibility issue that involves hard drives and PCs. A hard drive is a hard drive. The only issues are connectivity.

First issue is format: IDE, SATA, etc. But that is pretty hard to screw up.

Second issue is BIOS settings: in SATA there is the issue with IDE mode vs AHCI mode (which is actually more of a software issue). If you install the OS in IDE mode then it will have problems if you were to change it to AHCI mode afterward. But other then that it is just a matter of the BIOS recognizing the drive.

And third is the OS boot sector protocols.

But real basic: the BIOS is programmed to discover drives and then look for the ACTIVE flag that tells it that is where to look for boot files. If the files needed to boot are not in the partition or drive marked ACTIVE there will be trouble. If the files are corrupted there will be also.

There can be an electrical problem: the drive is just not ON. This can originate in the power supply, the connector, or the drive itself. You try different electical connections to test.

There can be a data connectivity problem: this can originate on the motherboard, in the data cable, or in the drive itself. Try a different SATA port on the MB, or a different data cable.

Well both times the OS was installed in AHCI mode and it's still in AHCI mode. I also tested switching it to IDE mode but ofcourse that didn't work.

It's definitely not fixed by using a different SATA cable or port, tried both without success.

Well I'm sure the boot files for OS are on the drive (ofcourse) and I'm pretty sure that they're not corrupted. If they were it wouldn't boot after a few tries I'd think. Plus I had the same problem with my old OS install that I copied from my old drive.

Only thing I can try is test it with a different power cable/connector. I believe my PSU has at least two cable for SATA and so far I've just used one since it has just enough connectors to hook them all up on one. Will test this in a few hours when I'm at home. Hope it will fix it. That would probably mean that the connector it's hooked up to doesn't work properly, since all the other devices connected to the cable are fine. Since the new drive is connected to the 3rd connector and the old drive to the 4th (which it was connected to even before I got the new drive) I think the cable itself is fine.

I wonder if your HDD doesn't take too long to spin up and that creates problems, in other words your HDD is not up to full speed and can't properly read data, that's why you get no disc or errors on the first bootup and then everything seem to work on reboot. There should be something in BIOS to delay boot up and see if that fixes it, or simply hit reset during BIOS to delay HHD reading. If that's the case the second question would be if that is normal for this particular drive or is it defect.

Just tested with my other power cord, but still the same problem.

About the drive maybe taking to long to spin up fully:
I'm not sure if this could be the problem. That would mean that the pc would boot normally if I would enter BIOS settings and just wait a few seconds and then continue the boot process by exiting BIOS. This however is for as far as I know not the situation. For as far as I can remember. Plus that wouldn't explain why it sometimes takes the drive only two attempts and sometimes more. Ofcourse I will test this some more after this post, just to be sure.
Also if I understand it correctly, according to Samsung it should take approximately 13 seconds to get the drive spinning at full power (13 sec Drive Ready Timer (Typical) according to the Samsung specs). So if it takes more than 26 seconds to start up I would say there's something wrong with it.

Please correct me if my conclusions are wrong, sadly I'm no expert.

EDIT: Is there any program or other way to measure the drives start up ready time? Also I checked the BIOS and the MB manual but I couldn't find any option to slow down the boot process. Although if this turns out to be the problem, I'd rather use my old drive for Windows, since it seems I would have to slow it down quite a lot.

That would seem to be your best option: use the faster drive for the OS and the big new drive for data.

You should not need to, nor is it advised, to muck about changing the boot process. The drive is the problem, don't create another!