Disk read error has occurred Press Ctrl Alt Delete

Hello there. I turned my computer on today. When I checked it some time later, I had an error of messages saying lots of files (mostly .dll) could not be found (or something along those lines). Explorer.exe kept crashing, before a constant bombardment of similar messages came up. After a while, clicking ok to all of them, the computer froze.

When I tried restarting, I got the message
"A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart "

Any ideas what might have caused this and fix it? If it makes any difference, I am using SATA drives.

The computer no longer boots into Windows.

 

A hard drive failure is the most obvious fault, have you tested the drive with the manufacturers diagnostic tools?

Check your hard drive using the manufacturer's disk diagnostic software - DOS version from a boot CD ....

Disk Diagnostic Software ....

ExcelStore

Hitachi/IBM

Samsung

Seagate, Maxtor, Quantum

Western Digital

 

Hello there, sorry for my lack of reply. I haven't had time to check out if this is the cause. Thank you for your help, when I do get time I will try this.