Troubleshooting

[Macca2811]

I have had my Vaio for less than a year and already it has gone wrong. Is this website the only place to get any so called help? It has twice sent me round in a circle, asking for loads of information but giving NONE back in return. Or I get directed to the "Help Desk", an automaton who stops work at 6pm, and who charges me €0.30 per minute to hear her voice. I DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN...HELP!!!

[Blencogo]

Hi Macca2811 and welcome to Club Vaio.

This Club is not part of the official Sony Support but if you would like to outline your problem, perhaps another user can give you some help.

[Macca2811]

Thanks - S'pose I was venting my spleen at the wrong people!
This only started yesterday. When I open up, I get a black screen with

"We apologise for the inconvenience. Windows did not start successfully"

Then I get 4 options to start Windows:-

"Start in Safe Mode"
"Safe Mode with Networking"
"Start with Command Prompt"
"Last Known Good Config"
"Start Windows normally"

No matter which one I select, I just get a quick flsh of blue screen, then this black page again. Left on it's own, it goes in this cycle constantly.

Any ideas?

[Blencogo]

Did you do anything out of the ordinary yesterday? Did you install anything new? There were some Microsoft Updates released, did you install these?

What Operating System are you using and what model do you have.

It sounds like a hardware or a driver conflict but if you cannot get into Windows using any of the options on the Startup Options Screen, it is going to be difficult to solve.

You will probably have two options: -

1. Attempt to repair Windows - you will probably need to borrow an XP Pro installation Disc from a friend and carry out a repair install or open your Vaio with the Recovery Console.
2. Carry out a Recovery using the VAIO Recovery Partition or your Recovery Discs. The disadvantage of this approach is that you will lose all programs and data on drive C:\ added since you bought the Vaio. However, this may be your only hope!