Needing a startup disc for a sony vaio desktop

[Guest]

I got great advice earlier, but the bottom line is that I'd have to rewrite my hard drive. It is painful to look at all the files I'd need to be able to use the internet, my favorites, my email address books, my data files etc. and know I have to loose them all because I do not have an appropriate sony startup disk. Sony says contact Microsoft, and Microsoft says to contact Sony. See what I mean? Doesn't anyone know how to get a startup disk off the internet that would let me get my windows working again on my sony machine? Without having to do a full system restore that is. I lost my sony windows because I had too many corrupt files from power spikes. I've bout an expensive UPS backup so it won't happen again, I just need a startup disk. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks

The VAIO PC by SONY is not shipped with a Windows XP installation CD. The
Windows XP Operating System is installed using the bundled VAIO recovery CDs.
SONY does not offer a Windows XP CD separate from these recovery CDs. If you
are prompted to insert a Windows XP installation disk, please use the following
path

From Sony

C:\Windows\i38

NOTE: If the Windows XP driver files are not found in th
C:\Windows\i386 folder, the install process may be referrin
to the drivers provided with the software or hardware produc
being installed. You may instead need to insert the software C
included with the product and direct the installation to th
appropriate path. Please contact your third-party produc
manufacturer for additional installation information and support

 

[Malke]

I got great advice earlier, but the bottom line is that I'd have to
rewrite my hard drive. It is painful to look at all the files I'd need
to be able to use the internet, my favorites, my email address books,
my data files etc. and know I have to loose them all because I do not
have an appropriate sony startup disk. Sony says contact Microsoft,
and Microsoft says to contact Sony. See what I mean? Doesn't anyone
know how to get a startup disk off the internet that would let me get
my windows working again on my sony machine? Without having to do a
full system restore that is. I lost my sony windows because I had too
many corrupt files from power spikes. I've bout an expensive UPS
backup so it won't happen again, I just need a startup disk. Anyone
got any ideas? Thanks.

(snippage)

So what you're saying is that you didn't make any backups of any of your
data and now you need to run the Recovery, which will put your system
back to the way it came from the factory. Since you didn't quote any of
your previous posts, I don't know what your original problem was, but
if you want to salvage your data, take the machine to a good local
computer shop (not a BestBuy or CompUSA type of store) and ask them to
rescue your data and reinstall Windows. As long as the hard drive is
visible, this can be done easily and relatively inexpensively.

As I said, I didn't see your previous posts, so if this has already been
covered, please forgive me.

Best of luck,

Malke

 

[CS]

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 14:56:06 -0800, "Candy"

Hi Candy:

As was stated previously, in order to reinstall the Sony version of
XP, you'll have to use the Sony restore disks. As you know, that will
destroy all your data. However, with an OEM machine like Sony and
the special version of the OS they provide from the factory, there
really is no way to create restore disks that will leave your data
intact now that you have a different version of XP on the machine.

You might consider making a backup of all your data files, email
addresses, and so forth by copying them to an external hard drive or
burning them to a CDR or RW. Then use your Sony restore disks and
afterward restore the files you copied to CD.

There really is no easy way to do it. Lots of work and probably a
loss of some of your files. But it's a lesson learned about making
backups. I've been there myself and it's a real pain to get
everything back in working order. Good luck and keep the coffee
brewing.

Regards.

 

[Alex Nichol]

The VAIO PC by SONY is not shipped with a Windows XP installation CD. The
Windows XP Operating System is installed using the bundled VAIO recovery CDs.

The VAIO Recovery CD that shipped with a friend's model , about a year
back, provided for doing a repair as well as for a complete destructive
restore. Boot it and see if it offers the option.