Cutting and pasting from MS:
CAUSE
This behavior can occur if either of the following conditions is true: • Your computer uses an Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) hard disk controller, and the following conditions are true:
• You use a standard 40-wire connector cable to connect the UDMA drive to the controller instead of the required 80-wire, 40-pin cable.
• The basic input/output system (BIOS) settings are configured to force the faster UDMA modes.
• The file system is damaged and cannot be mounted.
UDMA Controller
If your computer uses a UDMA hard disk controller, use the following procedures:
• Replace the 40-wire cable with an 80-wire UDMA cable.
• In the BIOS settings for your computer, load the 'Fail-Safe' default settings, and then reactivate the most frequently used options such as USB Support.
Damaged File System
If this is the case, restart the computer to the Recovery Console, and then use the chkdsk /r command to repair the volume. After you repair the volume, check your hardware to isolate the cause of the file system damage.
To do this, use the following steps: 1. Start your computer with the Windows startup disks, or with the Windows CD-ROM if your computer can start from the CD-ROM drive.
2. When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press R to select the repair option.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted to do so.
NOTE: If no administrator password exists, press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, on the drive where Windows is installed, type chkdsk /r, and then press ENTER.
6. At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to restart your computer.
For additional information about how to use the Recovery Console in Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314058 (
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/EN-US/) Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console.
If this procedure does not work, repeat it and use the fixboot command in step 5 instead of the chkdsk /r command.
END PASTE
I always run chkdsk /r three times in a row. If this does not work I replace the HDD, it's usually failed, if it cannot be soft-repaired as detailed above.