I/O error Computer won't boot now and I think it's because of an external card that was not removed properly. Now I get a disk read error. Tried to do system recovery and it won't work because of a I/O error. Any suggestions to clear this up?

Sounds like a disk issue. It kind find the OS so it's then trying to PXE boot (boot from the network). Have you changed the boot order recently? or do you have a USB key connected to your server? are you able to connect to the management interface (hp ilo, dell drac) to see if you had any raid or other hardware issues?

If you getting this error then you won't be able to open computer in safe mood, Because this error message indicate that there is no proper bootable media selected or there is no OS in your Hard drive.
First thing you can do is go to BIOS and check what is your First boot device selected, if it is other then Hard drive then change it Hard drive and save setting and come out of it.
If there is any media, like Pen drive or any CD then remove it and start your computer.
If still you have same problem then I am afraid that your OS is Corrupted.

First remove any power cables and batteries(if laptop) from your system and hold down the power button for 15 seconds.

Plug the power cable back in & attempt to boot.
If this does not solve your problem then you will need to remove all non-essentials from your system.

If laptop, this simply consist of battery, ram, optical drive & any other removable bays or devices. Unplug all cables except the power cable & attempt to boot.

If desktop, you will need to remove any cables plugged into your computer except keyboard, mouse, power, video, sound, & network cable. Open the case & remove any PCI cards, except video cards, unless you have on-board video, unplug the data & power cables going to the optical & hard drives. Now attempt to boot. If you have no luck you can remove your RAM sticks & try again. If you get an error beep warning you about no ram then you might have a bad ram stick. If none of the above works then you may have a bad power supply or motherboard. Power supplies are pretty easy to test with tester or use a spare.

Shut the computer OFF and open the case. Check to be sure that the power cables AND the data cables that come from the power supply and motherboard (or IDE controller expansion card) and go to the HD / Optical / Floppy drives are all fully seated into their respective connection points. Some data cables (SATA types in particular) for HD and optical drives are easily dislodged from the jacks on the drive and controller. Make sure you don't disrupt any of them while checking. This may be a good time to vac / blow any accumulated dust out of the case. Make sure the power supply ventilation slots and fan are not clogged with dust and dirt. The same holds true for any other fan and heat sink on CPU, video processor, MoBo chipsets, etc. Dust will cause interfere with cooling and cause these components to run hot. Heat will cause erratic operation.

If your drives are controlled by an expansion card (ie: not from the motherboard itself), you may wish to remove and re-seat the card in the motherboard slot. This helps to re-establish good continuity between the slot and the card contacts.

When satisfied that the cables and expansion cards are connected properly, replace the cover and power up. Enter the BIOS setup page and make sure that all of the drives are listed. Make sure that the your boot drive appears in the list of drives your computer will seek at boot time. As long as the drives in the boot order do not have bootable media or sectors, the computer should eventually check your boot drive. Of course, if you set the boot drive as the first bootable device,the boot time will be reduced.

If you can't boot your normal boot drive, you should obtain a bootable image and place it on media that matches a bootable drive on your computer (USB, Floppy, CD or DVD). You can download boot images for Windows / DOS / etc. here free of charge.

Once you have booted from one of these images, you can proceed to test and optimally copy data from a drive the will no longer boot. If you are unable to access the original boot drive, there may be a problem with the cable, power, controller or even the disk itself. Your ability to recover the data will depend on how much time & money you want to spend on doing so.

I hope this helps & good luck!

I would state use the Restoration Disk, and perform a Repair. (Non-Destructive Installation)
This will repair the Nvidia settings for YOUR computer.

But more than likely Acer did not provide a Restoration Disk, and it is my understanding it may be hard to get a hold of. (Acer Support)

This makes me think you have installed a new Nvidia graphics card, since specifications indicate it comes with Integrated Graphics that is Nvidia GeForce 7050.

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/acer-aspire-m1641-u1521a/4507-3118_7-33234219.html

{Integrated Graphics is also referred as OnBoard Graphics.
ON the motherBOARD. The graphics chipset (GPU) is soldered to the motherboard, and Not to a removable graphics adapter card,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPU

IF SO, the software (Installation disk) is installed FIRST, then the graphics card is physically installed.

IF not you get a driver conflict.

When a device is installed on a computer, (Such as a graphics card), Windows 'breaks it's neck' to find matching suitable drivers.

If THE drivers are not there, Windows will match up one of it's THOUSANDS of generic drivers.
This won't do.

Windows: "Which drivers do I use? These or THESE?"

[Drivers are small pieces of software, that allow the Operating System to 'communicate' with a device ]

Is this what you did? Install the graphics card, THEN use the graphics card's installation disk?

Post back in a Comment.

Regards,
joecoolvette

Causes

1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM file.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.
10. Failing to enable USB keyboard support in the BIOS.

Solutions

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source

Many times this error is caused when the computer is attempting to boot from a non-bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM. First verify that no floppy diskette or CD is in the computer, unless you are attempting to boot from a diskette.

Note: This error has also been known to occur when a memory stick is in a card reader and the computer is attempting to boot from it. If you have any card reader or flash reader make sure that no memory stick is inside the computer. Additionally disconnect all USB drives, cameras, ipods, iphones, etc. from the computer.

If you are attempting to boot from a floppy diskette and are receiving this error message it is likely that the diskette does not have all the necessary files or is corrupt.

If you are attempting to install Windows XP or Windows 2000 and are receiving this error message as the computer is booting verify that your computer BIOS has the proper boot settings. For example, if you are attempting to run the install from the CD-ROM make sure the CD-ROM is the first boot device, and not the hard disk drive.

Second, when the computer is booting you should receive the below prompt.

Press any key to boot from the CD

Important: When you see this message press any key such as the Enter key immediately, otherwise it will try booting from the hard drive and likely get the NTLDR error again.

Note: If you are not receiving the above message and your BIOS boot options are set properly it's also possible that your CD-ROM drive may not be booting from the CD-ROM properly. Verify the jumpers are set properly on the CD-ROM drive.

• Verifying the CD-ROM cables are correctly connected.

Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS

Verify that your computer hard disk drive is properly setup in the CMOS setup. Improper settings can cause this error.

Corrupt NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM file

Windows 2000 users
Windows XP users

I've gist had the same problem after flashing bios ...
go to BIOS and change the SATA mode to IDE. it worked for me.
original instructions:
also You have to turn OFF (disable) the boot from network. The error your seeing is result of the network boot rom not finding PXE server to boot from. Again, be sure to disable boot from network.
PLUS it seems if only 128 MB is showing as memory then the memory sticks might be damaged and not able to retain information/data to complete the installation process. Best take them out clean it properly & replace & try again. Nothing to do with BIOS!

wma files won't be read, only mp3 files, in my experience. My 512 mb SD card works, but it won't read my 8 gb SDHC card. I suspect it can't manage SDHC (high capacity) cards. I haven't tested yet, because as it turns out, neither can my computer... I think I'll fall back to a flash drive.

First you should check if there is any disk on your cd room, if there is any disk you should remove the disk from the cd room, if there is no disk the possibility is your hard drive getting error
Press f2 or delete to enter your bios set up system
Look for boot menu
Set the first boot as a HDD and the second boot as cd room and disable the third boot
Save and Exit the setting
if your computer still won't load you need to reinstall your windows
insert windows cd and go to set up again by pressing f2 or delete button
Set the first boot as cd room then the second boot as HDD
Save and exit the setting again
When the message press any key to boot from cd appears you should press the space bar or another key
Then just follow the instruction of formatting

If your hard drive was running at the time you dropped it, your hard drive might have crashed. Sorry to tell you this buy you most probably need to replace the hard drive.