A Disk Read Error Occurred on a Laptop | 4 Fixes + 1 Tip

The case: a disk read error occurred

“When I start my computer, Sony Vaio VGA-F140E, a black screen appears with an error MSG: ‘A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart’. If I press CTRL alt DEL, the same MSG appears again.

I did read all other review links that talk about the same problem, but it did not work again when I start the computer. I do not get Windows logo too. PLZ can someone help me with this problem?”

In fact, “a disk read error occurred” is a common issue reported by a lot of users. When you receive this error message, you can’t boot into Windows, and restarting by pressing “Ctrl +Alt +Del” keys doesn’t work at all. Following reasons may account for this error:

● Loose or damaged SATA/IDE cables
● Faulty hard drive
● Incorrect MBR configuration
● BIOS issue…

Then, how to fix a disk read error occurred on a laptop accordingly? Please move on to the next part.

How to resolve a disk read error occurred on a laptop easily

Take Windows 7 as an example. Learn how to fix a disk read error occurred in Windows 7 below:

● Solution 1: Check/Replace cables
● Solution 2: Test the hard drive
● Solution 3: Repair MBR and boot sector
● Solution 4: Reset/Upgrade BIOS
● Extra tip for fixing a disk read error occurred in Windows 🔥

Solution 1: Check/Replace cables

Turn off your computer, unplug the current SATA or IDE cables and inspect for damage. Then, reconnect them if OK and replace them if not. Also you can try different SATA or IDE ports as there is a possibility of a damaged port.

Solution 2: Test the hard drive

If there’s no problem with the cables or ports, then the issue that a disk read error occurred on an SSD/HDD can result from the hard disk itself. You can fix disk errors as follows:

1. Restart your computer and press F8 while your computer is booting to display the Advanced Boot Options menu.

2. Use the arrow keys to highlight Repair Your Computer and press Enter.

3. In the next screen, select the operating system that you want to repair and click Next.

4. In the System Recovery Options window, select Command Prompt.

5. In Command Prompt, input chkdsk C: /r and press Enter. C: is the letter of the drive where Windows 7 is installed.

6. Exit Command Prompt and restart your computer to see if the disk read error is fixed.

💡 Note:

If you can’t access the Advanced Boot Options menu with the F8 key, then you should boot from Windows 7 installation media and select Repair your computer from there.

Solution 3: Repair MBR and boot sector

1. Go to Repair Your Computer > Command Prompt as mentioned in Solution 2.

2. In Command Prompt, input following command lines and press Enter after each:

● bootrec /rebuildbcd
● bootrec /fixmbr
● bootrec /fixboot

3. Exit Command Prompt and restart your computer to see if the problem still exists.

Solution 4: Reset/Upgrade BIOS

Sometimes outdated BIOS can lead to the issue that a disk read error occurred on a laptop, so you may fix it by updating to a newer BIOS. As for misconfigured BIOS, you can revert to its default settings as described below:

1. Restart the computer and continuously press a specific key to get into BIOS. The key to open BIOS can be listed on the first screen that appears, before the Windows logo shows up. It is likely to be Esc, Del, F2, F8, F10 or F12.

2. Once booted into BIOS, find a “Load Defaults” option. Depending on your computer manufacturer and BIOS version, the option name varies. It can be called “Load BIOS Defaults”, “Load Default Settings”, “Load Fail-Safe Defaults”, “Load Setup Default” or “Get Default Values”, etc.

3.  Select the “Load Defaults” option and press Enter.

4. Save changes and exit BIOS.

Extra tip for fixing a disk read error occurred in Windows

It is lucky of you if one of the solutions offered above works out. However, if you have no luck, you may have to format the hard disk and reinstall Windows from scratch. It is really time-consuming to reinstall Windows and you will lose all your data during the process. How to protect your data and avoid Windows reinstallation?

AOMEI Backupper Standard, the best free backup software, can give you a hand.

• It offers five types of backup: System/Disk/Partition/File/Cloud Backup, which can meet your different needs.
• It enables you to run incremental backup to backup only changed data since last backup.
• To boot your computer in case of boot failure, you can create bootable media using AOMEI Backupper.

Just download this freeware and go to Backup > System Backup to create an image backup for your operating system. When a serious error occurs the next time, you can repair it by performing system restore. All your programs and files saved on the system partition will be restored as well, so you don’t need to spend time reinstalling the programs.

Tips: AOMEI Backupper Standard supports Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. If you are running Windows Servers, please turn to AOMEI Backupper Server.

To sum up

There are four effective solutions provided in this article to help you resolve a disk read error occurred on a laptop. To get prepared for the worst condition, you can backup the operating system with AOMEI Backupper. Apart from the backup and restore functions, you can transfer Windows 10 to new hard drive with the Disk Clone feature. Why not try it now?