SVF1521P2E Boot option from USB

[HandiF]

Hi

Purchased a SVF1521P2EB from PC world.

Trying to use a recovery program I always use for all my laptops and desktops and have created a bootable USB Stick and also a DVD bootable disk.  Both disk and usb work on all other systems but this Sony Laptop. 

Have USB stick in the usb2 port not the usb3 port due to compatibility issues with backup/restore on usb3.  The stick is a usb2.

I have gone into bios and set usb and also tried dvd as first boot device.  Will not boot.

Have tried the assist button on the laptop and the restore (boot from dvd/usb media) also does not work, as stated these both work on other laptops and desktops.

I have tried to find the boot option menu or safe mode startup.  I have tried this by pressing various buttons each time on boot usually F2, Del, esc, F12, F10 on other systems and also F8 which does not appear to enable the laptop to start with a manual boot.

All I seem to achieve is the Vaio screen and straight to Windows8.

I do see the sony recognise the usb as the green light is flashing, no message of boot failure.

Please help as follows :

1) What is the boot option at startup to manually select a boot device.

2) How to boot into safe mode.

3) How to possibly rid the boot up screen displaying the VAIO logo.

4) Get the Sony to recognise either the bottable dvd or usb to backup the system without using the sony or built in miscrosoft bootup.

Final result should be a full image backup of the hard drive ona an extarnal harddrive/usb stick for future restoration.

Thank you for your help.

[rich912]

Hi HandifF,

I assume your operating system is Windows 8? If so pressing the Assist button when fully shut down will open the VaioCare|Rescue Mode options including ‘Start from media (USB device/optical disk)[F11]’.

Rich

[HandiF]

Thanks for the response , yes it's Windows8.

Starting from power off I press assist.

Goes to Sony Vaio assist screen.

Entered BIOS to check USB boot and DVD. No USB boot option only external drive, internal drive, DVD and network.

Set DVD to priority.

Rebooted with DVD in goes straight to Windows.

Powered down.

Start again press assist and goto sony Vaio system screen.

Selected the boot from dvd usb option.

This route neither the dvd or the usb are recognised. They are bootable but this is not reporting non bootable partition, simply not seeing either of the devices media to boot from as if not in the drive or usb2 port.

Both the devices media (DVD boot and USB boot) work on other pc/lpatop systems. Tested by me.

It would seem the VAIO system screen doesn't work with these bottable media types.

So want to try brute force and boot direct from start up to usb or dvd. However there's is a sony flash screen and the bios boot does not display any options like press f12 for boot menu, delete for bios, f8 for safe mode and so on.

The F11 button works when the assist screen is loaded and we are back to the top of this post.

I've checked in the bios, the boot option in bios is set to UEFI and there is no windows bootloader screen represented when booting up from cold. The VAIO screen then straight to windows log on from cold start.

There is a legacy option. Do you think this is worth a go with the USB stick, or will it cause further problems. I can easily switch it back once the partition/drive is backed up...I hope.

[rich912]

Hi HandiF,

I don’t know a lot about this so hope I am not giving you duff information, but I have a feeling that you are correct in the need to alter the BIOS settings to boot using Legacy as opposed to UEFI.

Rich

[HandiF · Accepted solution]

Ok sorted.

Use USB WinUSB Maker v2.0 PUBLIC BETA RELEASE 2 as Rufus USB didnt work (Rufus is gerat for nn legacy drives).

Formatted USB using WinUSB Maker along with the rescue boot software (Macrium) and currently backing up to external usb harddrive.

Once finished will change bios back from legacy to UEFI and should boot back into the usual VAIO Windows8 presintalled OS. 

This is useful if I decide to upgrade the Sonys drive to SSD or have to replace in the future.

Thanks for your help and pointers.  Will pop back and close once I know it all boots fine when reverting the legacy to UEFI in the bios.

Peace

[HandiF]

Worked.

Backed up full image of all partitions and used data on those partitions to external hard drive.

Rebooted to VAIO system set up, into bios and reset to UEFI.

Rebooted auto matically into VAIO setup (gulp and sweat), selected reboot to windows.

Up and running.

Thanks for your help.

[rich912]

Hi HandiF,

That's good news and thanks for taking the time to post your solution. No doubt this will be of help to other forum users.

Rich