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    While upgrading XP to Vista : a disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Rahul, Jan 19, 2009.

  1. Rahul

    Rahul Notebook Prophet

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    The day I had gotten my Sony Vaio TZ exactly back on January 2008, I wiped off the copy of Vista Business with all the Sony bloatware and installed a clean install of Windows XP. Just now I had gotten a virus on the computer and just decided to format it and also try out Vista again, this time installing a copy of Vista Ultimate SP1 my brother has.

    I chose the option of formatting the drive and doing a clean install vs. upgrading from XP and keeping all my files and documents (I backed them up before formatting). I left it to do the installation and came back a bit later to find the XP Shutdown screen had hanged. I shut off the computer and turned it back on and after the Vaio splash screen, there is just a blank DOS screen with the words: "A disk read error occured, press CTRL-ALT-DEL to restart" and upon restart, the same message appears, with the Vista disc present in the drive or not. I also tried the Vaio Recovery Wizard that would use the hidden recovery partition to go back to the factory Vista but it gives an error message and hangs.

    So my computer is now a brick and I am using my old Compaq laptop which I gave to my brother. I've googled and seen others having my problem but haven't found solutions, can you guys help me out please to which I can install Vista or XP again? On my old Compaq laptop, I upgraded from XP to Vista no problem but others have had this same problem as me when installing Vista.

    Here's a thread where the person has the same problem as me.

    http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/mi...up/264482-disk-read-error-during-install.html
     
    Rahul, Jan 19, 2009
    #1
  2. pixelot

    pixelot Notebook Acolyte

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    OK, so you select at the BIOS to boot the CD drive, and you still get that error? :confused:
     
    pixelot, Jan 20, 2009
    #2
  3. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    What is the provenance of that SP1 _Vista disk your brother has? If it's an OEM disk from a non-Sony OEM, it's unlikely to work in your _Sony.
     
    Shyster1, Jan 20, 2009
    #3
  4. gerryf19

    gerryf19 I am the walrus

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    sounds like the sata drivers are not included in vista...
     
    gerryf19, Jan 20, 2009
    #4