can't get laptop to boot from cd

[Lily]

I need to reformat a Sony VAIO laptop. I have the OS cd, but
even though I can get it to see it, I can't get it to boot from it. I
went into setup and made cd first boot (of course) and have tried
disabling boot from anything else. It lists hard drive, floppy, cd
and network. It seems that the cd reader is slow to read,.. too
slow before it tries to boot from hard drive. If I disable hard drive,
it immediately says no os.

I have tried copying the os cd to a different brand medium thinking
that maybe it just wasn't reading that cd. Nope, no luck. I don't
know how to make it boot from network. Not sure how to do that.
I figure I would need a server (which I don't have).

any other ideas??????????

 

[Frank McCoy]

I need to reformat a Sony VAIO laptop. I have the OS cd, but
even though I can get it to see it, I can't get it to boot from it. I
went into setup and made cd first boot (of course) and have tried
disabling boot from anything else. It lists hard drive, floppy, cd
and network. It seems that the cd reader is slow to read,.. too
slow before it tries to boot from hard drive. If I disable hard drive,
it immediately says no os.

I have tried copying the os cd to a different brand medium thinking
that maybe it just wasn't reading that cd. Nope, no luck. I don't
know how to make it boot from network. Not sure how to do that.
I figure I would need a server (which I don't have).

any other ideas??????????

The CD is probably slightly damaged.
Five suggestions:
1. Get somebody with a desktop computer and CD-Writer
to copy your CD onto a fresh one.
(It's legal to make *backup* copies of a damaged one.)
2. Get one of these CD-Repair cleaners and polishers.
3. Call the supplier of the OS; and see if you can get
a replacement CD. Even Micro$haft will often do so.
You just keep using your original validation numbers.
4. Get a CD-drive cleaner.
5. Get a replacement CD drive.
Often CD drives deteriorate in their ability to read over time.

 

[Lily]

5. Get a replacement CD drive.
Often CD drives deteriorate in their ability to read over time.

Did I mention that I am not rich? Yes, it acts like the reader. These
cd readers for Sony VAIO are not cheap. The cd is good. I need a work
around
for booting.

 

[pen]

Did I mention that I am not rich? Yes, it acts like the reader. These
cd readers for Sony VAIO are not cheap. The cd is good. I need a work
around
for booting.

What about booting from a floppy with the CD drivers on it?
Then run the setup from the CD. Assumes you can read the files on the CD
and that only the boot part is trashed. You can get boot disks here;
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

 

[Frank McCoy]

Did I mention that I am not rich? Yes, it acts like the reader. These
cd readers for Sony VAIO are not cheap. The cd is good. I need a work
around
for booting.

My guess is *still* the CD, not the drive.
Often defects that will keep a drive from booting aren't all that
visible; nor do they show up when reading the CD normally.
However, if you don't want to even *try* my suggestions ....
They're about as cheap as you can go.

Your complaint about my answer seems to be that you don't WANT to find a
solution; just to complain.
"A. I don't think it's what you suggest so I won't try that."
"B. I don't like any alternative because it's too expensive."

 

[sandy58]

My guess is *still* the CD, not the drive.
Often defects that will keep a drive from booting aren't all that
visible; nor do they show up when reading the CD normally.
However, if you don't want to even *try* my suggestions ....
They're about as cheap as you can go.

Your complaint about my answer seems to be that you don't WANT to find a
solution; just to complain.
"A. I don't think it's what you suggest so I won't try that."
"B. I don't like any alternative because it's too expensive."

--
_____
/ ' / ™
,-/-, __ __. ____ /_
(_/ / (_(_/|_/ / <_/ <_

There ARE people out here that can't afford to just rush out & buy,
Frank. It's nice to be nice.

 

[Frank McCoy]

There ARE people out here that can't afford to just rush out & buy,
Frank. It's nice to be nice.

I didn't *suggest* buying; except as a *very* last resort!
I suggested:
A. Copying the CD.
B. Cleaning and polishing the CD.
C. Cleaning the drive.
D. Getting a *free* replacement CD from the manufacturer.

He insists that none of my ideas are worth trying because the drive is
bad ... without evidence other than he can't boot to support that idea.

The CD having a tiny scratch or imperfection he can't see would do the
same thing; so I suggest TRYING.

He doesn't want to even TRY the cheap or even free stuff.
He just wants to complain he can't afford a new drive.

Then you come in, not reading what I say, and blast me for suggesting he
try replacing the drive *as a very last resort*!

Geesh.

 

[Lily]

Hi Frank, Sorry you got riled. I did copy the cd three times. I went out
and got two different brands
in case this older Sony was brand sensitive. That didn't work. I tried a
different disk in it and it started
just fine which told me the drive itself was okay.

It just wasn't spinning up fast enough to boot. I should have taken more
time to explain this to you.
I did try a different boot cd and it would not spin up fast enough either.

So I did as Pen suggested and that worked. This Sony did have an A drive so
it was the logical
thing to try.

Thanks so much for your wiliness to help and for your excellent suggestions.
But on any laptop older
than 3 years, I would never buy or suggest that a client buy a replacement
cd player. I know you didn't
know the age of this laptop and I'm not saying that it is always a terrible
suggestion to buy a replacement
optical drive. But I'm not sure I would ever do it for any laptop... but if
I had to and the laptop was like
a year one week old and out of warranty, I would certainly be very upset
about it.

And so I hope that you aren't upset. We girls have to stick together. ;-)

 

[Lily]

What about booting from a floppy with the CD drivers on it?
Then run the setup from the CD. Assumes you can read the files on the CD
and that only the boot part is trashed. You can get boot disks here;
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Thanks Pen!!

That worked. It was on my list to try but was not optimistic about the cd
reading even with the boot from A drive. However, it did. Yahoo!!!

 

[Frank McCoy]

Hi Frank, Sorry you got riled. I did copy the cd three times. I went out
and got two different brands
in case this older Sony was brand sensitive. That didn't work. I tried a
different disk in it and it started
just fine which told me the drive itself was okay.

It just wasn't spinning up fast enough to boot. I should have taken more
time to explain this to you.
I did try a different boot cd and it would not spin up fast enough either.

OK ... That's different from what I understood.

So I did as Pen suggested and that worked. This Sony did have an A drive so
it was the logical
thing to try.

I didn't suggest *THAT*; because I thought the CD was the only bootable
software you had; and you can't just *copy* from that to a floppy.

I suppose I should have thought about having somebody else *make* you a
bootable floppy and then running the CD from that; but it didn't occur
to me right then. If I'd been doing it myself; that would have been one
of the first things I would have tried ... after cleaning and polishing
the CD, that is.

Thanks so much for your wiliness to help and for your excellent suggestions.
But on any laptop older
than 3 years, I would never buy or suggest that a client buy a replacement
cd player. I know you didn't
know the age of this laptop and I'm not saying that it is always a terrible
suggestion to buy a replacement
optical drive. But I'm not sure I would ever do it for any laptop... but if
I had to and the laptop was like
a year one week old and out of warranty, I would certainly be very upset
about it.

Oh, I'd be *very* upset ... But I'd still *do* it; as it would be much
cheaper than buying a new laptop.

Actually, I did something similar with *my* laptop:
Bought a replacement floppy (about the same price as a CD drive for the
same laptop) because somebody had trashed the original; and I needed a
writable boot-drive since the machine didn't allow booting from USB
drive.

Rather than trash an old machine, sometimes finding replacement parts
pays off. It can be surprising how cheap some parts are. (Well, they
*have* to be; to be competitive with just scrapping a computer and
buying new.) Often you pay more in shipping than for the part itself.
Sometimes they have minimum-orders; and the part you want is only a tiny
fraction of that.

And so I hope that you aren't upset. We girls have to stick together. ;-)

Oh, NOT upset.
Just trying to pass on my own experience with same.

I have *lots* of experience trying to keep computers running without
spending lots of dough. I don't *have* any extra dough to spend ... or
at least very little. Right now my computer budget is nonexistent.