Disk Read Error

[ENH729]

The power went out on my house a couple of days ago for about 5 minutes during a storm. The next morning when I tried to start up my IBM laptop (see sig) I got an error message "Disk Read Error Press CTRL+ALT+DEL To Restart" and then I hear a repititive sound that sounds like a turn signal on a car. Does anyone know how to fix this?! I'm running XP if that's any help. Also, if anyone has encountered this problem before, it would be appreciated if you could tell me what you did to handle it.
Thanks

 

[smithman01]

This sounds like your hard drive is not booting up Windows XP for some reason. I would reccomend using a recovery cd or a boot disk if you have one and try booting to that in the inital start up of your computer. Be sure that in BIOS you have the boot sequence changed so that the computer will try to boot from the CD or floppy (which ever you use) before the hard drive. Let me know how it goes.

 

[smithman01]

Also, before you try this recovery, make sure there isn't a CD or Floppy Disk in your computer already that the computer may be trying to boot to. Sometimes computers will try to boot to a disk or CD before the Hard Drive, this could be your problem which would be an easy fix by just making sure there aren't any CD's or Floppy disks in your computer when you are starting the computer up. Lemme know.

 

[AnonymousI]

If its a laptop, shouldnt the battery kick in?

 

[ENH729]

Thank you Smithman. I appreciate your help and will be trying this tomorrow. I will be sure to post back with my results. As for the batteries on my laptop, they do not charge.... This laptop is a pain. I got it through work for free, but regardless, it is not very useful.

Thanks Again!