recovery dvd not working

[ianez]

Hi there,
I've read several post about clean reinstal but did not find the solution for my problem.
on my pcg-k215s suddenly I could not load the operating system...
so having no important data on the hd I decided to run a complete format and recovery process with the sony dvd I have.

Well I choose to completly recover the notebook and the process went with no issue...
after this it ask to restart for windows installation.. but every time it restart it freezes on window logo (green cursor moving sudenly stops and everything is blocked).

I did the recovery process many time, choosing differnt options... but it never works. Loading some dos from a cd I see that the hd has three directories: Install, launch and ddc completly empty.
I've tried using a xp cd I bought some months ago, but it seems it can't start from that cd . I aldo tried other cd but only recovery dvd can be loaded at start.

Now I simply can do nothing with this notebook, please could someone give me an help??

thanx in advance

Ian

[rich912]

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum.

I have heard of many problems when trying to recover the operating system using the supplied Vaio recovery media, but being unable to install using a retail version of XP (leaving aside the subsequent problems of Sony related drivers) is a first.

Can I suggest that you try reverting to BIOS defaults, remove any attached hardware (printer, USB devices etc.) and then format the hard drive prior to a clean install using the retail XP CD.?

If the same problem persists then I would suspect a hardware problem.

[ianez]

Hi there,
thank you for yor kind answer...
I've just reverted the bios to default, not many changes form the precedent settings..
but always the same...
It' seems it's not able to load any boot cd, xp he, xp pro, dos,... except the sony dvd.
I thought it was the cd reader having problem with cd format, so I writed a bootable dvd with my xp home, but it still don't load at boot.
How can I format the HD if I can access any command prompt? I've do the recovery operations I think three times for each possible choice, but with no result.
At restart the pc always freeze at windows logo.

If only I was abel to load a boot cd then I could do anything but that way... I can't find a solution.

Ian

[SpySect]

Once the laptop switches on, press F10 until the SOny Recovery Utility (in hidden partition) loads.

[Thalamus.]

Once the laptop switches on, press F10 until the SOny Recovery Utility (in hidden partition) loads.

Unfortunately the PCG-K215S does not have a recovery partition...