Spartan73

Actually looking at them now, they dont say DVD as such on the disc, but on the CD CASE it says RDVD EN under a " Des: " Tab The discs are labelled Vaio Recovery Discs For Sony Sony VGN-FS3 Series EN ( 2 discs 1/2 and 2/2 ) :rolleyes:

Hi Seth Yes the drive light illuminates and I hear it spinning. The Vista DVD boots as happy as Larry. Hmmmm Thank you :)

other than the obvious vital brain cells required to carry out this procedure of course ! :p

Hi Guys thanks for your replies I had a dreadful feeling that what Wolfey suggested MAY be the case, but my friend says he heard someone say the same as Seth, that you should be able to use a new HDD....and I agreed :confused: ( also they are 2 DVDs - what else could possibly be on there? ) Ok - in the Bios I can see the optical drive and new hdd. But when I go into the boot sequence menu, there are no options ( that I can see ) to disable the the other drives.... I can only move them up and down in the list.. Am I missing something? We really apreciate the help guys and girls. ;)

Ok buddy will do - let you know how i get on - asap Thanks again, :D

Hi Guys thanks for your replies. Im pretty sure the Bios is finding the HDD - it is listed ( with a serial number ) in the boot menu. Boot Menu is Optical Drive Floppy ( non existant ) HDD Network I moved the HDD to the bottom of the pile and still, same error. Been reading around ( hopefully got no textually transmitted diseases ) and found out that you can press F10 on the start up screen to begin recovery from preloaded partitions - even tried that, hoping it will look for the missing software from the disc - but no joy. The recovery discs DO have the OS on them dont they? First time these discs have been used, and they are mint, so scratches are not the prob. I only have a Vista Disc at home, I will try thta in the drive later - just to see if it boots of course! Thanks guys

Hi Guys - I have another one for you. THis time - Im helping a friend, being the ever helpful guy i am ( even when i dont know what Im doing ). Sony Laptop - VGN FS315Z HDD died ( after various testing this was concluded ) so we bought a new one - installed it, and using the recovery discs are trying to reinstall the OS ( XP ) Thing is, its not recognising the disc - or booting from it. I keep getting the same error ( OS not found ). Went into the bios, and made sure boot sequence was OK, and still not able to install. Any advice please people? Thanks muchly, as always, Spart

Thanks Goku will try that first thing. Will let you know how I get on. Thanks again. Spartan

Hi guys - been a while now, dont get any sound in Firefox , or Ie, or my Poker Program. Media player is fine. volumes all up. Updated drivers and even checked for latest Java - but still no Joy Also - every time i try to start certain apps. A windows installers starts up and I have to cancel it before my programe opens. Running XP home. Thanks for looking ;)

Thanks Thanks for taking the time guys. Really appreciate it. I can understand the piracy issues involved, makes total sense. Watch this space, I may do something stupid, like trying it out! lol Thanks again.

Thanks for the reply this is what it says, but is not too clear. Although. by hardware failure, i'm assuming it means the hdd, as you shouldnt really need to back up for other hardware probs? When you first set up your computer, you should create a Windows Complete PC Backup image, which is like taking a snapshot of the programs, system settings, and files on your computer. You can use the backup if your computer ever stops working. Although this type of backup includes your personal files, we recommend that you back up your files regularly using the Back Up Files wizard. You should also update the Windows Complete PC Backup image every six months. Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore is not included with Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium. Any other opinions on the matter please guys? I guess i could always just try it and find out, but i'm trying to save some trial and error time....:-) TY

Hi Guys I've installed Vista Ultimate on my pc a few months ago, but I'd like to add a larger hard drive, for numerous reasons. Whilst I was backing up my stuff using vista, I noticed there is " back up computer " option, which advises that it saves a complete image of the drive. Am i right in saying i can slave a larger drive to the machine, ( formatted of course ) copy the image of the back up, and then set that drive as the master, and my pc will boot as per normal? Any advice on this would be muchly appreciated. ;)

WHat I mean is - I dont want to buy a perfectly good HDD - remove its circuit board- juts to "see" if i can get my HDD working, and quite possibly ruin another perfectly good grive...... a slightly expensive option don't you agree? thanks for all the advice......

Just Tried recover my files - not seeing the disc - option 2 seems a little pointless to me - ruining another perfectly good drive......hmmmm really doubt it, but i guess its an option.... thanks loads :rolleyes:

Thats what I'm thinking too. But just before I try my luck with Warranty and get a replacement ( failing that, taking my angle grinder to it ) - I'm really curious to see what " other options " Seth has for me. If I could save some info on that disc, I.e recent unbacked up data, Id be eternally gratefull. :rolleyes:

Hi Ok in Computer MAnagement In the top part of the screen its only showing the working drive and the DVD drive. In the bottom half it has Disk 0 - and its info ONLINE Disk 1 - Unknown Unreadable CD Rom ......ONLINE :mad:

Seth Hi again I got Vista Installed on the the IDE HDD - which is the Primary Master - The SATA HDD is the secondary master - not sure if this is correct. On booting up, it sees the Secondary Master slave - but gives the same error message as before. and The drive is NOT visible in Windows ( my computer ) either. Have i got the friggin thing slaved or what? lol ......I think i'm going craaazy! :o

" the noise " was coming from a grahics card fan ( which i was intending on replacing anyway ) - so not so obviously "already loose" .... Agreed - tapping wasn't the smartest move, but Many thanks for taking the time to humiliate me and make me feel even more stupid than i already do! :p

Seth Buddy - I meant - I wanted to put an IDE drive in ( temporarily ) and install Vista to that, so that I can try and slave the original SATA drive in the same system, as I have no other SAtA PC here. I was using an old 120Gb IDE drive, and it wasnt booting from DVD /installing onto it, although it was recognising the drive in the Bios setup. I stuck in a 500Gb Drive just now ( IDE again ) which i was going to use for another machine, and Vista is installing YEEHAA! - so must've been a compatibilty prob with the older HDD. Once installed, I am then going to attach the SATA drive ( broken one ) into the only available SATA port remaining, and try to SLAVE IT! I do hope this makes sense, anyway i will be back as soon as Vista has installed, and Ive tried slaving the Sata drive..... thanks for all your help bud, don't know what Id do whithout ya! :rolleyes:

Ok - just tried restarting my laptop with the Vista DVD in it, and it promted me to boot from cd etc... so it is working fine. In the broken PC, the DVD drive was set to SATA 2 so i changed it to the SATA 1 port hoping it would make a difference, but nothing. My screen just goes out of range as there is no signal..... Is it worth trying a different drive? I have a newer HDD, 500gb - wondering if there is compatibility probs with older HDD? :confused:

Hmmm yeah well - i didnt exactly hit it with a sledge hammer, but i gave the ATX case a tap. Oh well... Ive since taken the drive out - and have put in an IDE drive ( quickly formatted on another PC ) However, Im trying to install Vista on that Drive now, and cant seem to get the install going.... it recognises the drive, Ive set the boot sequence to Cdrom etc, and when I restart, nothing..... Im really drained and tired, been on this all day.....:o:o:o:o, what am i doing wrong now? Thanks.

I'm thinking the same - # oh dear oh dear! How can a HDD just die like that? Never seen anything like it..... :confused:

Nope - Wont get me into safe mode - when it prompts me for boot device, the HDD isnt there, although in the Bios Setup its recognising the serial number of it.....

I think the MB has an IDE slot - I may have a used IDE HDD which I will try and format, install Vista onto, and the slave the SATA drive to that. Temporarily of course. Im hoping that now the HDD is being recognised, I may be able to perform some sort of scan/fix as suggested??? Please let me know guys... should I press F1 to resume, and then???? :confused:

OK - when booting it recognises the Sata Hd but then says Primary Hard disk Error - Press F1 to Continue...