Can't find hard drive or OS

[JennieS]

Hi!
Yesterday I thought it was time for me to format my Sony Vaio VGN-NR31E, so i rebooted the computer with the first Recovery-disc (that I created myself when I bought the computer). The Recovery-menu popped up and I chose "Restore complete system". It all went fine and when it reached 20 % it told me to put in the 2nd recovery disc, which I did. It then continued working til it reached 21 %, then I got an error message saying: "Error 309:69". I clicked "ok" and a new error message popped up saying "Error 319".

"Shoot" I though, clicked "ok" again and rebooted the computer and tried once again and again to restore complete system. It didn't work. So I thought maybe something's wrong with the 2nd disc, but how do I fix it without spending money on ordering a new one from Sony? I coulnd't come up with a solution, so instead I used the Command window (the one that looks like DOS) and I wrote "format c:". Wrote and done, but now here's the problem. When I tried to start the computer normally without a cd it said I didn't have an operating system and since my recovery dvd's didn't work I tried to use an old xp-recovery dvd instead of vista. This old dvd is really for an old computer, but I thought I could give it a shot. Wrong by me. I couldn't even start the installation because no hard drive was found. I read somewhere that XP can't find SATA hard drives, but what can I do about that when I don't even have an OS and can't change anything in BIOS?

Please help me if you can. I can't survive without my computer and the computer I'm on now SUCK.

[Thalamus.]

Hi JennieS,

welcome to Club VAIO..

You're Vaio has a hidden HDD recovery partition so as long as it has not been deleted you should be able to recover your Vaio back to the original installed OS and programs just as it was when you first used your Vaio.

To do this Start your Vaio and when you see the Vaio logo screen press the F10 key repeatedly this should normally start the recovery process..

[JennieS]

Hi Thalamus!
Thanks

The recover-partition is still there and I've tried several times to recover Vista through there, but I'm not sure what to do. A menu pops up and there are four options. Which one should I choose?

[Thalamus.]

Does this help...

[JennieS]

The thing is when I'm supposed to choose an operating system there's nothing to choose. The first time I tried to restore the computer I could choose Vista, but now I can't even choose that. Instead I can Load drivers, but it doesn't say what drivers to load and the file-format needs to be setup information (.info). What should I choose there and where do I find it?

[Thalamus.]

A menu pops up and there are four options. Which one should I choose?

What four options do you have.?

[JennieS]

* Windows System Restore

* VAIO Hardware Diagnostics

* Restore C: Drive

* Rescue Data

If I choose the Windows System Restore it says no restore points can be found, probably because I formatted the C: drive.

I just did the VAIO Hardware Diagnostics and it said nothing was wrong with the hardware.

If I choose Restore C: Drive I get an error message saying "Cannot use this recovery disc for this computer. Confirm the model type" and I don't even have a disc in the computer.

When I press Rescue Data and the normal data rescue it starts working and then it says it can't detect an external drive (cus I don't have one) and if I choose the custom data rescue it says it cant detect the internal drive.


So I just tried all of these and none of them work, so what to do now? Order an expensive recovery disc from Sony or try to install Windows 7 Beta and see if that works?

[JennieS]

So, I've been in contact with the e-support and they tell me there's probably something wrong with my recovery-discs and that I should call them to register so they could send me new recovery-discs for no extra cost. But yesterday I installed a beta version of Windows 7 and then I used my recovery-discs to install drivers and it worked without any error-messages. Doesn't that mean my recovery-discs are just fine?

After installing the beta version of Windows 7 I tried rebooting my computer with the recovery-discs just to see if I could restore the computer now that I had an operating system again, but I got the same error-message saying "Error 309:69" and I also got "Error 305:69". So I'm thinking maybe somethings wrong with the recovery-partition on my computer, what do you think?

[Thalamus.]

Hi JennieS,

unfortunately I don't know what causes the error codes did Sony support offer any reasons.?

Have you tried resetting the BIOS to default settings.?

Restart your Vaio and Press F2 when you see the Vaio logo.

wait for the BIOS to load

then press F9 Setup Defaults

ensure yes is highlighted and press enter to confirm

then press F10 Save and Exit, ensure yes is highlighted and press enter to confirm.

Maybe the replacement recovery disc's will work correctly..

[JennieS]

Hi Thalamus!

Sony support answered with just two sentences: "Yes, there's probably something wrong with your recovery-discs. Contact our telephone support to register and get new recovery-discs without extra cost."

And yes, I did reset the BIOS to default settings yesterday and it didn't help. I guess I'll have to call the support tomorrow. They just closed for today.

Thank you for all the help! I'll let you know if the new discs work whenever I get them.