Gateway Netbook Disk Error Occurred

anoceanbetween

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Apr 19, 2013
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Please help me. I'm so upset right now. I dropped by Gateway LT4010u that I've had since December and now it won't work. It says "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart." Of course when I do that it keeps going back to screen. It doesn't have an option to boot in safe mode. There's no CD-ROM so I can't reinstall Windoes. It only gives me F2 to go to set up and F12 to change boot device (and I don't even know what that means). My laptop has Windows 7 starter kit on it with Intel Atom. I'm not sure if that info even helps. What should I do?! :'( I've seen that it could be the hard drive is loose but I don't know how to get to that either.
 

Branden

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sounds like the HDD either got knocked loose or is broken. you'll have to figure out how to get to the HDD to either reconnect it or replace it (and reinstall windows, whcih you can do with a USB drive).
 

anoceanbetween

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I'm hoping it's just loose. And I didn't know I could do it with a USB drive. Thank you for letting me know. I'm trying to get the back of my laptop open now. This is so frustrating!
 

subasteve5800

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This video shows how to access the Hard Drive for your computer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nob_ZxwFwyc
With any luck, the jolt just knocked the HDD loose and you can re-connect it.

Worst case scenario is that the HDD is damaged beyond repair and will need to be replaced. If you feel comfortable, you can buy a replacement hard drive (maybe even an SSD if you've got the cash) and install windows from a flash drive yourself. Otherwise, I'd recommend bringing it to a local repair shop.

Edit: Branden beat me to it.
 

firo40

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Yeah if you did damage the hdd, i wouild suggest buying an SSD as they are alot more shock resistant being as they are not mechanical. Let alone they are magnitudes faster then an HDD
 

migrax

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Did you purchase the warranty from the place you bought it from? If so, RMA it, if not you can replace the HDD likely for under $100.

Always buy your laptops from Walmart or Sam's Club, they have the cheapest warranties and a fairly liberal return policy.

migrax
 
If it were just a loose connection, you would get a message along the lines of "no boot media. reboot and select proper boot device." or perhaps some other message indicating that there's no operating system. A disk read error alludes to the fact that the system sees the drive but it's malfunctioning.

You can try running a utility to scan the drive for errors/bad sectors, but it sounds like there might be an error with the arm. If that's the case, I'm sorry to say you'll need to replace the drive. *crosses fingers for you*
 


Not many extended warranties cover accidental damage. Sometimes the retailer offers two types of coverage: one extended, and one extended with accidental coverage. :(
 

anoceanbetween

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I didn't purchase this computer. I received it as a gift for Christmas. I don't know what "RMA it" means.
 

anoceanbetween

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I appreciate your advice, but I don't know how to run a utility scan of the drive. I only get F2 & F12 options when I turn it on, and then the error pops up.
 

anoceanbetween

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I opened up the back and the HDD was sitting out of it's place a bit but no wires were disconnected. I pushed it back in, put everything back in its place, and I'm still getting the same error. :/
 
HDAT2 is a very thorough and good tool that can be run off of a CD. You would just need to download it, burn it, pop the disc in the optical drive, and then change the boot settings in your BIOS (F2) or select your CD drive from the quick boot options (F12) during startup.

HD Sentinel is also good, but will only tell you the SMART status when run outside the OS.
 

anoceanbetween

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I don't have a CD-ROM on this Netbook. And I have no idea how to run BIOS on this thing. It's not simple like my Dell laptop. This Gateway runs on Windows 7 starter and seems to not have options like Safe Mode available. So I don't even know where to begin with trying to do anything you said.
 
Then it's better to have a technician look at it. You can run that software from a USB stick, but that will take extra steps to prepare. You may feel overwhelmed when you load the program as well, as it's DOS based, so it won't have the user friendliness Windows provides you with.

Safe Mode is available in Starter edition, but if your hard drive is physically damaged, you won't be able to load it because the drive won't read anything.