i have been really bugged by this messag "DISK WRITE ERROR" recently.i have formatted my 10gb Quantum Fireball hd a few times and my WindowsME keep giving this message.So,can anybody help me???please.

Usually means exactly what it says. There was an error detected when writing to the disk. This is not just a "soft" error, it is an error that could not be corrected by a retry. Normal OS error recovery procedures would retry such a failure three times, or more, before posting the error message. Now, if you have "Formated" the drive several times, ran ScanDisk several times, both from the Windows ME boot diskette and from within Windows ME in normal mode, without detecting errors or having problems there are still several possibilities. The drive could still be going bad. You get the DISK WRITE ERROR, you run scandisk or such and the drive corrects the problem by replacing the bad sector with an alternate (this will occur untill all alternates are used up). At some point, a format will start showing "bad" allocation units and it is past time to replace the drive. There could be a loose cable or connection in the system some where. The drive could be overheating and shutting down. Some drives do not detect an over heating problem untill a write operation is done. When this occurs, you drive would be dead and power itself off and you can not access it until power is cycled off. Over heating kills drives over time, and few box designs provide good airflow over them. I keep a small fan in the box just to blow air over the disk drives and the CD-ROM drives. There could be software problem. Some program could be trying to write to an area of the disk that does not exist or a virus/trogan could be trying to write to sector zero and the hardware (BIOS) is setup to prevent it.

JackG - I'm glad this has been brought up. Can you shine some light on a "BOOT DISK FAILURE" message please. I also think that this message is self explanatory but in view of what I have witnessed over a period of 6 weeks - the message and it's meaning in relation to my HDD's behaviour has left me baffled. It would take up more space than it's worth to describe accurately Every anomaly that I have seen over these past weeks. So if you could give some form or overview I would be extremely grateful. And yes I to have been familiar with the Disk Write Error :)

The error message: DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER is an error message that comes out of the POST section of the BIOS code on the system board. POST (Power On Self Test) is the code that turns on (programs) the hardware, test that it is working and sets up the BIOS. The last step of the POST process is to find a "bootable" drive, read its first or boot sector, verify that the code is valid and then branch to this "Boot Record" code read from the drive, whose job it is to start loading the Operating system. This POST routine is know as the BOOT STRAP LOADER or INT 19h routine. It uses basic BIOS level calls to first reset the device and then read the boot record sector, normally sector one, head zero, cylinder zero. (Bootable CD's use a different sector.) This operation is tried several time for each device in case of errors. Normally the first device tried (depends on the boot sequence set) is the first diskette drive. The reset and read will fail if there is no diskette in the drive. Then the next device is tried, etc. until all in the boot sequence are tried. Once a good read occurs, several check of the data read are made. And then POST branches to this code that was read from the the disk that in turn starts loading the operating system. However if any error is detected in this process, or no good read, you will get the DISK BOOT FAILURE error message. This code will skip errors caused by no media inserted on devices with removable media like diskette and CD-ROM drives. Things that can cause the error message. A diskette drive or CD-ROM drive that reports media present when there is none, will result in a read error causing this message. A bad diskette drive. A diskette with a sector zero that can not be read on the drive. A CD-ROM drive that can not read the CD inserted or a bad CD. A disk drive that is not ready, has read problems or has sector zero corrupted. When a system is powered on, it takes time for the disk drive to power up, run its own internal POST code, power on the motor and wait for the disk to come up to full speed. It then checks that the speed is stable and reads special control records off the disk including its defect map. Once this is done the drive will respond to commands from the system and report Ready status. If the drive is not ready within the timeout period (normally 20 seconds), system POST will report the DISK BOOT FAILURE. As disks age, the bearings wear and the motor control circuits weaken, with it often taking longer for the drive to come ready. Also common is the head sticking to the surface of the disk and taking time to break free. If it takes to long for the drive to come ready you get the error. Then on retry it boots OK. The second problem is read errors due to electronics on the drive, incorrect jumper settings, the IDE cable, system board, other devices attached to the IDE interface or even other adapter cards in the system. If CD-ROM is in the boot sequence, a bad CD-ROM drive or even a CD in it that does not have a good readable boot record(s) can cause boot problems. Most common is the disk drive not being set to Master. Some drives have settings that indicate they will work if no other drives are present and that master only need to be set if a second drive is present. This can cause boot failures but work OK once booted. The wrong type of IDE cable or one that is too long or the drive plugged into the wrong connector will also cause this type of random problem. UDMA-66 drives require the 80 wire cables instead of the older 40 wire cables. The cable should not be any longer than necessary. The maximum length is about 18 inches but shorter is better. The master should be plugged into the end of the cable for proper termination. Cables can have bad connections in their connectors. A second drive with a problem can cause errors on the IDE Bus. This includes CD-ROM drives. Even bad adapter cards and system boards. There was even one series of ABIT motherboards that had a cross talk problem on the board that could cause read problems and when cold, even boot failures. If the problem occurs when you first power on, but retrying works OK then it is normally a drive problem. Time to find a replacement. If it occurs during reboots and you have other read and/or write problems then it could be almost anything.

Thanks very much JackG, that at least gives me a reference point. I've had 6 weeks of that message. When it happens I can't do anything except turn off the machine and wait 12 - 24 hrs. This delay usually allowed me to either boot back up (very sporadic) Or at least get to some form of prompt whether it be from ME cd, OEM Recovery cd or ME start disk. It would then give me a small window of opportunity in which to execute some commands that I "thought" might rectify the situation. Running scandisk etc. But as it would not recognise I had a C:\ drive ("No Fixed Disk Present" - I think, was the message)- non of the commands were executed correctly. For example - I wouild see if I could format, and behold "Format terminated" or "Format incomplete". Anyway at some point it would let me do a complete format. I needed to because on the odd occasion scandisk did work correctly it told me that various things where amiss. This could range from file structure being damaged or FAT table, or numerous other things some of which scandisk could fix. BUT not ALL. Hence when it would let me, I formatted. I have managed to get it back to a state that is stable as of this moment (touch wood - dance round totem pole) It's taken a long time and a lot of formatting, which undoubtably has halved the life span of the HDD (BTW - HDD is about 14 months old). I've run quite a few thorough disk scans in DOS and ran a Disk utility from Fujitsu (HDD maker) and it said the HDD is sound enough, even after the appalling amount of work it's been put through. I could go on ...and on :) ...But won't. So thanks again for the info, much appreciated.

What you describe is a classic problem with the motor control electronics and/or voltage control electronics on better quality designed devices and system boards. The better designs have thermsters or overcurrent self resetting thermal fuses in critical circuits that may be exposed to over current conditions. This includes the voltage pins for keyboard/mouse and USB plugs on system boards, voltage and motor controls in disk drives, displays and other expensive to replace devices. They protect against over current conditions due to electrical failure, over voltage or shorts. Cheaper designs just use a land pattern as a fuse. It goes, so does the device. Thermsters are heat activated and do reset, most of the time. These devices can take anywhere from ten minutes to 24 hours to reset depending on their design. It is best to just wait until they completely reset and not "test" them while they are resetting. The problem with them is that once they are tripped a few times, it weakens them, they trip at lower current levels and/or induce more resistance in the line, reducing the voltage to the protected devices under current load. In other words, once used, they start to fail. If lucky they heal over time and do not cause problems. Often when they do get tripped again, it is complete failure, so be warned that next time you might not be so lucky. I have seen many random and hard to explain problems cause by these devices when damaged. But they are well worth having. At least you now know what the problem is and that if it occurs again, you may be able to recover. Your drive had some sort of failure and most likely messed up its internal defect map due to a failure while it was being updated for another failure. This corruption was causing the drive to work incorrectly, overheat and fail. You were able to format the drive, because at some point the drive was able reset its internal parameters and in effect low level format itself, or this may have been done by some of the tools you used. Only time and use will tell. However, I would suggest you start looking for and invest in a good new diskdrive, even if it is just used as a backup.

JackG - absolutely priceless to me that !! Get you a BIG pint for that :):) Thanks again. Viking :)