A disk read error occurred - HP Compaq dx6100 PC Desktop

A disk read error is very common; it usually occurs as soon as your computer boots up from SSD, HDD or another hard drive and has affected a large number of users of Windows 10/8/7/XP.
This error has the message "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" on the screen like the picture below:
This message indicates that your hard drive has a problem when the operating system attempts to read the disk. That is, the disk is preventing the computer from entering into its operating systems.
Simply put, a disk error could be caused by several reasons such as incorrect boot order, BIOS issue, IDE cables failure, incorrect MBR configuration, faulty hard drive, etc.
When meeting such an issue, no matter how many times you restart your computer by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+Del" keys, this error still exists.
In the presence of this issue, it will still exist regardless of how many times you restart your computer by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+Del". In fact, a disk read error is not a problem that can be solved by a simple restart. But don't worry, this post will tell you top seven useful solutions to a disk read error occurred SSD.
How to Fix Disk Read Error Windows XP/7/8/10

Solution 1: Boot OS from Hard Drive

If a disk error occurred, the first thing to do is to check whether the boot order is correct in BIOS.
There are different ways to get into BIOS in different computer models and operating systems. When turning on the computer, the first boot screen will usually show you what key to press to go into the BIOS.
You can refer to this guidance How to Enter The BIOS On Your Computer. Once you are in BIOS, find the boot order section. In the boot order section, check to make sure the correct hard drive is placed as the first boot priority before any others in the listing.
Changing this setting might be enough to help your computer boot normally. If it is still unbootable, try the next solution to fix disk error occurred.

Solution 2: Reset or Upgrade BIOS

Resetting your computer BIOS to default or upgrading to the latest version might be able to solve "A disk read error occurred" in Windows XP/7/8/10.
Here is the step-by-step guide to reset BIOS:

1. Press a specific key (F2, F8, F12, Esc or Del) according to your computer model and OS to enter into BIOS.
2. Find the option to reset BIOS to default.

Tip: The option name is different depending on different computer manufacturers and BIOS versions, which can be "Load BIOS Defaults", "Load Default Settings", "Load Fail-Safe Defaults", "Load Setup Default" or "Get Default Values". Choose one according to the real case, then save this change.
If the disk read error on boot up persists, try the following solution.

Solution 3: Repair Master Boot Record and Boot Sector

A corrupted or damaged Master Boot Record or boot sector could cause disk errors. Therefore, repairing the MBR or boot sector might be able to fix the issue"A disk read error occurred" with USB boot.
You can use a professional and reliable partition and disk management tool - MiniTool Partition Wizard - to repair your MBR in Windows XP/7/8/10.
As a dedicated partition manager, MiniTool Partition Wizard could be used for many operations such as resize/move/extend/copy/wipe partition, rebuild MBR, migrate OS to SSD/HD, copy disk, recover lost partition, perform data recovery, and so on.
Here we strongly recommend MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Ultimate Edition. This edition has a feature called "Bootable Media" based on Win-PE; it is designed to manage disks and partitions when the operating system fails to boot or when there is no operating system.

Try Windows7 instead of XP, since XP doesn't support SATA drivers to read your HDD

Was this read error on the hard drive, or on a disk installed in the CD/DVD player? If it was a hard drive, then running Checkdisk on the drive will detect and isolate any failed areas. If too many failures occur, you may want to consider a new drive before total failure (and loss of data) occurs. If it was a CD/DVD read error, then the disk may e dirty or scratched. The drive may require cleaning. Or, if the disk was burned on a PC and not commercially, the media may not be fully compatible with the drive in your machine. Some media don't work well with some brands of drives. Almost all manufacturers websites list recommended media for their drives.

This is very helpful:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/250364-32-solution-disk-read-error-occurred

You have as it states, a disc read error which means you have errors on the hard drive.
As soon as you get into your system run CHKDSK/F, that will attempt to restore the damaged files.
Make backups and look for a replacement hard drive.
Hope that helps.

You have problem at the boot sector of the disk. Maybe it's hardware problem (controler, disk) or maybe it's a virus. Shut down the system and try start it up after some minutes. If it start up make a full back up just in case ......

Stelios.

This means you HDD is either corrupt or faulty, try downloading a copy of Hirens BCD to try to access the HDD (or use and external HDD enclosure) and if you can, put it back in the laptop, if not reformat it and reinstall windows.

That's your hard drive buddy. It's either shot or isn't being noticed.

There are a couple of possibilities.

1. The hard drive is defective.

2. The operating system is corrupt.

The easiest way to test this is to run the restore cd that came with the computer to reload Windows.

If you get this error while running the restore cd then you will need to get a new hard drive.