Hi,
I just used ccleaner lastnight, and it seemed ok,but when I powered on my computer today, It won't boot at all. It makes a weird clicking noise, and I get a message on a black screen that reads:

"A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

oh yeah, FYI I am (or was) running Windows XP sp2, but now windows won't start at all...

Can any of you help me Right now, I'm using a borrowed computer!

Are you able to boot into Safe Mode? If you don't know how to do that, all you have to do is restart your computer, and before the Windows loading screen (or in your case, the error message) comes up, hit F8 over and over (a couple times a second). This should bring up a menu with a Safe Mode option. Use the arrow keys to highlight that option, and hit ENTER.

See if you can get into Safe Mode first, and then I'll give you some suggestions.

OK, I'll give that a try right now & let you know in a few minutes! Thanks!




No...I can't get to that. I tried hitting the f8 (I've done that before when I've had a problem, so I know how to boot in safe mode), but now that made it start repeating the following:

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright © 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM

It just keeps flashing the above over & over?

Hmm... What kind of computer do you have? It seems like F8 is also a command key for your BIOS. When your computer first starts up, and it shows text or a picture or whatever, that is your BIOS (Basic Input Output System) running through its POST (Power-On Self Test). Apparently F8 must tell your BIOS to run through a certain test, or check for some hardware or something. Wait until the BIOS is done with its routine, and then do the F8 thing while the '_' is flashing at the top left corner of the screen (right before Windows starts). You may have to try it a couple times to time it just right, but it looks like you'll have to wait until BIOS is finished before hitting F8. Try that out.

If and when you do get into Safe Mode, open up My Computer and right-click the drive that has Windows on it (most likely 'Local Disk (C:)'). Select Properties from the menu, then click the Tools tab on the window that appears, then click 'Check Now...'. Check the two boxes, click 'Start', and click 'Yes' when asked to run the check on the next restart. Then, restart your computer, and let the scan run. If you are having disk errors, this may fix it.

I have a Compaq Presario R314OUS Laptop.

It never gets to that point where Windows is about to start. When I power on, the only thing that comes up is the Compaq Logo in middle of screen, and in lower left corner it says

"Press <Esc> to change boot order"
"Press <F10> to enter Setup, <F12> to boot from LAN

Then it goes to that flashing message about the media test I mentioned above.

I'm aware of having to get the timing right on the F8 thing, and it's not that. It won't respond to the F8 at all, it just beeps each time I hit it.

I have tried going into setup, and I can get there. When I go to the tools tab to do the self test, it won't do the test. It shows the "Execute SHORT test", but below that it says
Estimated test time: "Diagnostics not supported"

So it appears I may be totally hozed! Any more suggestions? Pleez?

means that it can't boot for any one of the following reasons:

- non-system disk in floppy or CD drive
- bad BIOS or CMOS settings
- bad hard drive (physically, cable connection or no bootable file)

If the simple stuff doesn't check out, boot from your system restore CD.

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the suggestions...I tried everything...inclucing booting from my system restore cd. It won't even boot from the cd...it errors out and only gives the option to quit.

I'm totally baffled. I've managed to recover from issues that even the HP tech rep couldn't solve, but this one totally vexes me! How could ccleaner render my hard drive unuseable??

I say that because using ccleaner is THE ONLY THING I DID before shutting down the computer, and nothing or no one touched it prior to my starting up again the next day (this is when the inability to boot began).

If anyone has any more suggestions, I'm wide open. I'm really screwed if the one-year-old $1200.00 laptop is ruined. HELP!

if its under warranty take it back ;D

You people and taking things back! Don't you ever "fix" anything?

Stupid question yakattak: does your notebook have a floppy drive, and if so, do you have a disk in it? And if so, have you tried removing it and restarting the computer? I've had this happen a lot, and if your computer is set to boot from the floppy first, it will try to find an OS on it, which of course there is none, so it won't boot into Windows.

If that is not the problem, it is always possible that your hard drive has simply gone faulty (which would not be caused by CCleaner, as it is a hardware failure). The best way to test this out would be to take out your current HD and slip in one that you know works. Sadly, you most likely don't have any notebook HDs sitting around, but that may end up being where the problem resides.

I have changed a few notebook hard drives in the past (Dell, IBM, Canon, and HP), and it isn't difficult in the slightest. Actually, it is usually easier than swapping a desktop hard drive, because you don't have to mess with cables. But 2.5" HDs are fairly expensive. A good place to buy them is geeks.com. Here is a link to the ones you would want.

I know that isn't what you wanted to hear, and it isn't necessarily the problem; but it is a possibility as notebook optical drives and hard drives are always the first things to go. I bought a brand new HP notebook two years ago, and the CD-RW/DVD combo drive died after 2 months! Good thing the warranty covered it!

I am running into the same exact problem. I have tried everything. This is not my machine, I am trying to fix it for my parents, so I am not positive if they have ever downloaded CCleaner. This is the forum that popped up when I searched for the error. This error seems to have started when a WD External Hard Drive was installed. I have tried unplugging the device, plugging it back in, bouncing it (turning power off and back on), and everything else I can possibly think of, including starting in safe mode. Unfortunately, the system just keeps going directly to this error. The device is not under warranty and I would prefer not to replace the device if it can be fixed. I'm not even sure it's the Hard Drive. The only thing I can think of is it is trying to boot from the external drive and not finding an OS.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've searched several forums. You were right. The Hard Drive is shot. If you're having this problem replace you're HD, that is the only fix I can find.

Ok, now it let me enter BIOS and disable the Realtek HD, I disconnected the WD External HD and the laptop booted just fine. I'm not sure if it's fixed or I just got lucky, but it does look like it was trying to boot from the external HD for some reason. My parents did install the automatic HD backup, and I have been busy all day trying to clean up their registry that is completely FUBAR. I think a lot of these problems are originating from this stupud Auto Sync BS they installed. I'll let you know if it continues to work.