Vista - A Disk Read Error Occurred Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to Reboot

I have burned the final Vista ISO image from my MSDN Subscriber Downloads and
installed it. I have tried XP Upgrades and clean installs on several
different drives. It appears to install/upgrade successfully each time.
When it does the initial reboot I get the error: "A disk read error occurred
press ctrl-alt-del to reboot" every time. What are the BIOS requirements for
Vista? Is it possible my machine is too old? I have a Dell Dimension XPS
T800r. I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A11) from Dell's
site and still no dice. My machine [barely] passes the Vista Upgrade Advisor
tests (800MHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 5500 FX).

"Brian Adams" wrote:

> I have burned the final Vista ISO image from my MSDN Subscriber Downloads and
> installed it. I have tried XP Upgrades and clean installs on several
> different drives. It appears to install/upgrade successfully each time.
> When it does the initial reboot I get the error: "A disk read error occurred
> press ctrl-alt-del to reboot" every time. What are the BIOS requirements for
> Vista? Is it possible my machine is too old? I have a Dell Dimension XPS
> T800r. I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A11) from Dell's
> site and still no dice. My machine [barely] passes the Vista Upgrade Advisor
> tests (800MHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 5500 FX).

I have the same problem on a similar machine Dell Dimension XPS T600r and
cannot find any way around this problem. I think maybe the machine is just
too old for Vista so maybe time to upgrade to a higher spec. PC.

Hey Brian and Doug!

Same problem here: Disk read error after first reboot. Quite obviously there
is no decent boot-sector when Vista tries to reboot.

My machine is fairly new (1 year) and passed the Upgrade Advisor without any
problems (2GB of RAM; Intel Pentium 4; 3.2GHz; 1GB L2 Cache; GeForce 6600 LE)

I also ran out of ideas what the probably cause might be ...

Mike


"Doug Robmine" wrote:

>
>
> "Brian Adams" wrote:
>
> > I have burned the final Vista ISO image from my MSDN Subscriber Downloads and
> > installed it. I have tried XP Upgrades and clean installs on several
> > different drives. It appears to install/upgrade successfully each time.
> > When it does the initial reboot I get the error: "A disk read error occurred
> > press ctrl-alt-del to reboot" every time. What are the BIOS requirements for
> > Vista? Is it possible my machine is too old? I have a Dell Dimension XPS
> > T800r. I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A11) from Dell's
> > site and still no dice. My machine [barely] passes the Vista Upgrade Advisor
> > tests (800MHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 5500 FX).
>
> I have the same problem on a similar machine Dell Dimension XPS T600r and
> cannot find any way around this problem. I think maybe the machine is just
> too old for Vista so maybe time to upgrade to a higher spec. PC.

Mine was easy to discount given the age of the machine. Yours definitely
seems like it should work. I'd call MS tech support.

"Cosmicray" wrote:

> Hey Brian and Doug!
>
> Same problem here: Disk read error after first reboot. Quite obviously there
> is no decent boot-sector when Vista tries to reboot.
>
> My machine is fairly new (1 year) and passed the Upgrade Advisor without any
> problems (2GB of RAM; Intel Pentium 4; 3.2GHz; 1GB L2 Cache; GeForce 6600 LE)
>
> I also ran out of ideas what the probably cause might be ...
>
> Mike
>
>
> "Doug Robmine" wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > "Brian Adams" wrote:
> >
> > > I have burned the final Vista ISO image from my MSDN Subscriber Downloads and
> > > installed it. I have tried XP Upgrades and clean installs on several
> > > different drives. It appears to install/upgrade successfully each time.
> > > When it does the initial reboot I get the error: "A disk read error occurred
> > > press ctrl-alt-del to reboot" every time. What are the BIOS requirements for
> > > Vista? Is it possible my machine is too old? I have a Dell Dimension XPS
> > > T800r. I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A11) from Dell's
> > > site and still no dice. My machine [barely] passes the Vista Upgrade Advisor
> > > tests (800MHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 5500 FX).
> >
> > I have the same problem on a similar machine Dell Dimension XPS T600r and
> > cannot find any way around this problem. I think maybe the machine is just
> > too old for Vista so maybe time to upgrade to a higher spec. PC.

Hey Brian,

I did. But they really don't know what's going on either. Memory might be a
factor and they said it might work if I take out one of my memory sticks.
I haven't tried that yet, but if you ask me I'd say it is rather ridiculous
if I have to reduce my RAM to get Vista installed ...

Problem for them was of course, that there is no real error message
involved. Anything could be the problem ...

"Brian Adams" wrote:

> Mine was easy to discount given the age of the machine. Yours definitely
> seems like it should work. I'd call MS tech support.
>
> "Cosmicray" wrote:
>
> > Hey Brian and Doug!
> >
> > Same problem here: Disk read error after first reboot. Quite obviously there
> > is no decent boot-sector when Vista tries to reboot.
> >
> > My machine is fairly new (1 year) and passed the Upgrade Advisor without any
> > problems (2GB of RAM; Intel Pentium 4; 3.2GHz; 1GB L2 Cache; GeForce 6600 LE)
> >
> > I also ran out of ideas what the probably cause might be ...
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
> > "Doug Robmine" wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > "Brian Adams" wrote:
> > >
> > > > I have burned the final Vista ISO image from my MSDN Subscriber Downloads and
> > > > installed it. I have tried XP Upgrades and clean installs on several
> > > > different drives. It appears to install/upgrade successfully each time.
> > > > When it does the initial reboot I get the error: "A disk read error occurred
> > > > press ctrl-alt-del to reboot" every time. What are the BIOS requirements for
> > > > Vista? Is it possible my machine is too old? I have a Dell Dimension XPS
> > > > T800r. I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A11) from Dell's
> > > > site and still no dice. My machine [barely] passes the Vista Upgrade Advisor
> > > > tests (800MHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 5500 FX).
> > >
> > > I have the same problem on a similar machine Dell Dimension XPS T600r and
> > > cannot find any way around this problem. I think maybe the machine is just
> > > too old for Vista so maybe time to upgrade to a higher spec. PC.

Cosmicray wrote:

> Hey Brian and Doug!
>
> Same problem here: Disk read error after first reboot. Quite obviously
> there is no decent boot-sector when Vista tries to reboot.
>
> My machine is fairly new (1 year) and passed the Upgrade Advisor without
> any problems (2GB of RAM; Intel Pentium 4; 3.2GHz; 1GB L2 Cache; GeForce
> 6600 LE)
>
> I also ran out of ideas what the probably cause might be ...
>
> Mike
>
>
> "Doug Robmine" wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> "Brian Adams" wrote:
>>
>> > I have burned the final Vista ISO image from my MSDN Subscriber
>> > Downloads and
>> > installed it. I have tried XP Upgrades and clean installs on several
>> > different drives. It appears to install/upgrade successfully each
>> > time. When it does the initial reboot I get the error: "A disk read
>> > error occurred
>> > press ctrl-alt-del to reboot" every time. What are the BIOS
>> > requirements for
>> > Vista? Is it possible my machine is too old? I have a Dell Dimension
>> > XPS
>> > T800r. I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A11) from
>> > Dell's
>> > site and still no dice. My machine [barely] passes the Vista Upgrade
>> > Advisor tests (800MHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 5500 FX).
>>
>> I have the same problem on a similar machine Dell Dimension XPS T600r and
>> cannot find any way around this problem. I think maybe the machine is
>> just too old for Vista so maybe time to upgrade to a higher spec. PC.

processors haven't ever been much of an issue, it is the chipset / mobo.
report mobo, drive connection (pata/sata/scsi/firewire/fc-al/etc.,), ram
size, video card, network connection as these have the most effect on
ability to install/boot.

--
JosephKK
Gegen dummheit kampfen die Gotter Selbst, vergebens.Â*Â*
--Schiller