OK you tech bastards...

[aj_law]

Got everyone's favorite PC message yesterday..."a disk read error occurred...press CTRL/ALT/DEL to restart"

*sigh*

Now, this is a relatively new hard drive.  I had to replace it because the last one crapped out on me.  It was a different issue though because when the last one gave me problems, I couldn't even "see" it in the BIOS.  For the current problem, I see it listed as one of my devices so at least the CPU is picking it up.

I ran the XP recovery disk repair feature (chkdsk /r /p) and it found a problem with one of the volumes.  It repaired it and I figured I was good to go.  Restart.  No dice.

I played around with some of the BIOS settings like setting the hard drive as the first boot device, etc.  At this point, I just reset defaults and it still doesn't work. 

FWIW, when I replaced the hard drive last time, I swapped out a new motherboard battery because the PC is kinda old so I wouldn't have to worry about it losing any BIOS settings.

I checked all connections and everything seems fine.  I would try a new ribbon cable, but it's just as new as the hard drive.  Plus, if it was the cable, would the CPU be able to recognize the drive in the first place?

Sorry for the rambling thoughts. 

Any commands I should try other than chkdsk?  Pretty sure I ran fixboot and maybe fixmbr too.  If I didn't, should I?

Any other ideas?  Throw it out the closest open window?  GAHHH!

[jonzr]

You never know about cables, if you have another one try that.  Is this your boot drive?  If so, make sure it's connected to the last connector on the cable.  Or is it the one before the last one?  I think it's last.  At any rate, give the cable a shot.

It could be that your disk controller is going/gone bad.  If that's the case those are easy to swap out unless it's built in on the motherboard.  If built in there should be a jumper to disable the on board controller and you can use one plugged into an expansion slot if there's one open.

You might consider looking at any utilities that came with your HD.

I had all this happen earlier in the year and tried all of the above.  Eventually bought a new PC.