Not booting. "disk read error occurred"

A disk read error is very common; it usually occurs as soon as your computer boots up from SSD, HDD or another hard drive and has affected a large number of users of Windows 10/8/7/XP.
This error has the message "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" on the screen like the picture below:
This message indicates that your hard drive has a problem when the operating system attempts to read the disk. That is, the disk is preventing the computer from entering into its operating systems.
Simply put, a disk error could be caused by several reasons such as incorrect boot order, BIOS issue, IDE cables failure, incorrect MBR configuration, faulty hard drive, etc.
When meeting such an issue, no matter how many times you restart your computer by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+Del" keys, this error still exists.
In the presence of this issue, it will still exist regardless of how many times you restart your computer by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+Del". In fact, a disk read error is not a problem that can be solved by a simple restart. But don't worry, this post will tell you top seven useful solutions to a disk read error occurred SSD.
How to Fix Disk Read Error Windows XP/7/8/10

Solution 1: Boot OS from Hard Drive

If a disk error occurred, the first thing to do is to check whether the boot order is correct in BIOS.
There are different ways to get into BIOS in different computer models and operating systems. When turning on the computer, the first boot screen will usually show you what key to press to go into the BIOS.
You can refer to this guidance How to Enter The BIOS On Your Computer. Once you are in BIOS, find the boot order section. In the boot order section, check to make sure the correct hard drive is placed as the first boot priority before any others in the listing.
Changing this setting might be enough to help your computer boot normally. If it is still unbootable, try the next solution to fix disk error occurred.

Solution 2: Reset or Upgrade BIOS

Resetting your computer BIOS to default or upgrading to the latest version might be able to solve "A disk read error occurred" in Windows XP/7/8/10.
Here is the step-by-step guide to reset BIOS:

1. Press a specific key (F2, F8, F12, Esc or Del) according to your computer model and OS to enter into BIOS.
2. Find the option to reset BIOS to default.

Tip: The option name is different depending on different computer manufacturers and BIOS versions, which can be "Load BIOS Defaults", "Load Default Settings", "Load Fail-Safe Defaults", "Load Setup Default" or "Get Default Values". Choose one according to the real case, then save this change.
If the disk read error on boot up persists, try the following solution.

Solution 3: Repair Master Boot Record and Boot Sector

A corrupted or damaged Master Boot Record or boot sector could cause disk errors. Therefore, repairing the MBR or boot sector might be able to fix the issue"A disk read error occurred" with USB boot.
You can use a professional and reliable partition and disk management tool - MiniTool Partition Wizard - to repair your MBR in Windows XP/7/8/10.
As a dedicated partition manager, MiniTool Partition Wizard could be used for many operations such as resize/move/extend/copy/wipe partition, rebuild MBR, migrate OS to SSD/HD, copy disk, recover lost partition, perform data recovery, and so on.
Here we strongly recommend MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Ultimate Edition. This edition has a feature called "Bootable Media" based on Win-PE; it is designed to manage disks and partitions when the operating system fails to boot or when there is no operating system.

maybe a usb device plugged? if not try in bios\boot sequence to set cdrom - hd - usbdev. then try to boot with the puppy sturdust linux cd. if it work is just the internal hd; format it and reinstall. hope it help bye

If you can get CHKDSK to run, it might fix the problem. Can you boot from the installation CD? Does your system have a diagnostic partition? ( It if so, it will be an option on the early boot screen)
Finally, can your remove the disk and install it in another computer then run CHKDSK /F
Hope this information will help.
Your response is very much appreciated. Thank you for using Fixya...

When it starts back up keep pressing F11 and see if it is booting from the HDD first.

Did you take the disc out of the drive as you re booted?

screen is black and says a disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+Del to restart

You had "Floppy disk seek failure" per your comment. Therefore this is not a problem with your hardisk. Your BIOS was configured boot up from Floppy that was why when you booted up it was looking for info from the Floppy, so if it could not find, it was sure to report to you. Just pop something out of your Floppy then you should be OK. Cheer.

It may be because of your hard disk damage or OS problem. Try to install a fresh copy of XP from a cd. boot from XP cd and install . 

Try your old HDD in it and see if that works. If it does work then nothing is damaged except your DVD drive/Controller. Try putting the new HDD in another computer, installing windows then putting it back in the HP. If all else fails then flash the bios with an updated image and see if that rectifies the problem.

Are you making the disk the "master" device when you plug it in to the PC?