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Booting a VAIO from CD

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by mendlm2

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Iam unable to get PC to boot from CD. Because of defective OS,I loaded CD with Recovery CD, placed CD drive as primary boot device on BIOS setup, expecting Recovery to reformat my drive. The bootup process starts but stops after it list the "PCI device listing...". The CD LED blinks a few times but no further activity.
further info.... The CD worked fine the first time I ran the Recovery CD, but I panic not been sure that this was what I wanted & stopped the process as it was starting and I have not been able to load anything from the CD since...???
I am thinking maybe there is another way to boot (USB flash,etc) check the CD from the OS and then format the drive ??? All suggestions are welcome.

9 replies

by robo_dev

Does the hard drive work at all?

Maybe the hard drive is not initializing, and then the recovery process hangs at that point.

Scratched or smudged CD?

Reset the bios to factory defaults and remove all PC cards, USB devices, modems, etc when booting.

by mendlm2

Thanks..
I have removed the HD and connected (USB) to another PC, even tried loading OS as a USB drive but was not succesfull. HD is OK.
The BIOS sees the HD and the CD and they are listed on bootup by the BIOS. That looks OK.
I have tried the Recovery and also the XPHome OS CD and get the same results. NO READ
On the last suggestion, I just reset BIOS and the Sony VAIO model I have is a one piece unit and other than the HD I can't remove anything else. Booted up with the same results.

Thanks a lot and keep them coming.

by nepenthe0

This may seem a silly question, but some of us have multiple Sony Vaio computers, and the installation CDs are not interchangeable.

Since you were previously able to boot from the installation CD, and were previously able to reinstall the OS, I cannot see how the CD could be at fault.

So I would recommend starting with the most basic question: Do you have the correct recovery CD?

Rick/Portland, OR

by mendlm2

Yes, it's the same recovery CD Disk #1 that booted once before, also the reinstallation of fresh OS to the VAIO HD was done with the HD connected by USB to another HP PC, but that didn't work too well.
I think that if we can get the PC to bootup to some stage, (DOS, basic win, etc.)we might be able to run some driver to get the CD to read.???? Can this be done??? What you think.....?
Thanks for your suggestions....

by Former member

The first disk will/should be labelled "setup disk", the other two will/should be marked "disk one" then "disk two".
Application Recovery Under a "Clean Install" of the Windows XP Operating System
After installing the Sony Shared Library utility, you will be able to recover applications using the Recovery Media you created with the VAIO Recovery Wizard. The VAIO Recovery Wizard is an application included in the original shipping configuration of your computer.

1. Insert Recovery Disc 1 into the CDROM/DVDROM drive. The Application Recovery Wizard should begin.
2. At the "VAIO Application Recovery Wizard" screen, check the boxes next to the applications that you wish to install and then click "Next".

The applications you selected will be installed. In some cases, after installation, you may be prompted to restart the computer.
Go here:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNX505ZP&upd_id=1646&os_id=7
Though you will need to input your computer model to get this utility.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by mendlm2

Thanks Peconet:
You are on the ball, been reading all your suggestions.

Anyway, I do have three disks, but they are labeled as follow:
Sony System Recovery CD-PCV-W10 CD#1 V-73.0
" " " " - " " CD#2 V-73.0
" " " " - " " CD#3 V-73.0

The others are the Application Recovery.
But no matter which one I place in the device, the PC will not boot from it even though the BIOS shows the CD device as active as a Secondary Master Disk. That is why I think I might be missing some kind of driver from the boot config for the CD ??? I don't know....
The URL appers to be for some other model...

Thanks anyway

by Former member

I have place the download option on my earlier post so have a look.. :)

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by nepenthe0

So far, this is what we know:

1) You have the correct installation/recovery CD, and it worked once before

2) You have the correct booting device order set in the BIOS
3) Your hard drive is working OK

Do you have a firewire external CD ROM? If you could successfully reinstall the OS from such a device, that would focus your scrutiny upon the native optical drive.

A couple of weeks ago, True Blue described his method for installing Windows via a USB external hard drive:

http://tinyurl.com/6hw2fg

I'm hoping you won't need to go through all this, because Sony's BIOS normally energizes the firewire port to enable CD booting from firewire optical drives.

Rick/Portland, OR

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