Question : "Disk read Error Occurred"  ?

Hi experts.

WHAT I WAS DOING:
I was installing (trying to)win XP sp2 onto a Del 4100 New WD 320 GB HD.  

When I first booted up PC with CD in drive I got This: error---Disk read ERROR Occrred Please press Cotrl+QAlt+DEL to Restart".

So I used a floppy to format and prepare the HD.

Next I set bios to boot from CD 1st.  But i got that error, so I used floppies.
 I put in XP SP2 Floopy start up disks (set of six)  That worked perfectly.

it asked for the CD so I put it in and restarted  and Iit formatted HDD again and went through windows Set up perfectly until the 1st reboot

When it tried to do the 1st of the routine reboots (when you install XP) The same old message popped up.

RESULTS:  I cannot get any CD to boot.

I now have a guys PC that I cannot install XP into because the DVD Rom will not take  a disk, without the message.

IN THE BIOS:  There appears to be all of the ide drives being seen and enabled but obviously that is not true.

I think something is not right in the BIOS, but I cannot seem to find it.  This Bios is a very complicated one to understand,

The QUESTION IS:  How can I get this machine to recognize my Win XP sp2 Disks so I can install an OS?

SYSTEM IS:  Dell  Dimension 4100 P3 1000Mhz  Bios is version A04.

thanks in advance

Donnie616

Answer : "Disk read Error Occurred"  ?

I'm assuming you may have two of these drives on the same cable.

If you have disconnect one so that there is only one on the cable.

Also consider using another cable for the drives in case the old one is bad.



>> Question:  Do i SET ALL 3 DRIVES to CS, and disable the zip drive ? Or better yet, precisely HOW do I set the jumpers?    Thanks again.

Disconnect ZIP drive.  Disconnect one CD/DVD drive as above.  Try installing with only one CD/DVD drive and one hard drive.  You set both of these drives to CS for install purposes.