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

[Narrat0r]

I've had it with this new PC. Shouldn't have even bought it. About two weeks ago, while randomly browsing the internet, my PC froze and I couldn't do anything. Not even open Task Manager. Suddenly, it restarted on its own, and after the boot screen, it gave a message:
"A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"
When I do it, it just goes back to that same screen. After about 20 minutes I turned it on again and everything worked perfectly, but I was still concerned.
Next day, I turn on the PC, I'm playing a game, and after 10 minutes of playing, it freezes, I restart the PC and again, it's "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart".
I figured that if I let it stay off for about 15 minutes, it'll pass away. So it did. After that, PC worked normally for the next 10 hours. Next day - same problem. First 10-30 minutes - disk read error. After that, working fine for a hell of time.
However, today was different. It happened again after like 20 minutes, so I turned it off and let it stay for 2 hours. I came back, turned it on and - woooow, "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart". That's where I got pissed. I thought that it was maybe because I had a DVD in the drive. Pull it out, nope, nothing works. Can't get past that message now. And also, my boot menu won't start up even after pressing F8 a billion times per second, or holding it. Please, if someone could help me with simple instructions, I'd be most grateful. I'm using XP.

EDIT: I got past that message by waiting... OK... now Windows takes a whooping 2 minutes to load, it works really slow and laggy. Please help.

 

[Maker]

I had a lot of trouble with my PC freezing a while ago. I got lots of BSODs, slow HD performace, that same error message as you etc. It turned out that my SATA cable was faulty. I replaced it and the problem went away. It's worth a shot if you have a spare cable.

 

[Narrat0r]

I had a lot of trouble with my PC freezing a while ago. I got lots of BSODs, slow HD performace, that same error message as you etc. It turned out that my SATA cable was faulty. I replaced it and the problem went away. It's worth a shot if you have a spare cable.

The SATA cable is inside the PC, am I right? I don't have a spare one, but I'll try to get one.
Please, awaiting more answers.

 

[Dr Super Good]

It could also be a faulty hard disc. They are one of the most likly components to fail inside a computer due to their mechanical nature.

 

[Elvendan]

Yes, first of all check your HDD for some errors. Maybe you will have to reinstall your OS. Also, check PC status like system and CPU temperature.
But if your computer is so new - maybe you should go to the store you bought it and demand service by your warranty.

 

[monkeypieman9]

i suggest putting in the OS disk. booting from the cd drive, and then selecting repair. It will try to find any startup problems and fix them. Works great for any kind of problems whether it be memory problems or startup.