Sony Vaio desktop box refuses to boot from Win XP installation CD

[robert.dodier]

Hey,

I'm coming to my wits' end here, maybe you can help.

Sony Vaio Model PCV-1154 (desktop box) crashed (while installing .Net
SDK)
and now refuses to boot from hard drive, and also refuses to boot when
there is a Windows XP Pro installation CDROM in the CD drive.
In both cases, there are some POST messages about auto-detecting
devices, then it prints
"Pri. Master Hard Disk:S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD, Backup and Replace"
I am guessing that's bad news. 8^)

I am hoping to see if the installation CD has some rescue tools on it,
if not I'll just reinstall, I guess. (sigh)
But I'm not getting anywhere with either rescue or reinstallation
since the box doesn't seem to notice the CD in the drive.

For the record, I was able to boot from a Knoppix (Linux) CD
and examine the filesystem -- looks like some files are corrupted.
That's nice but Knoppix can't fix a Windows installation or reinstall
Windows if it comes to that.

Any advice is appreciated.

Robert Dodier

 

[Randella]

Well Robert Sony was your first mistake but we can forgive you for that
one... Can you connect your CD-ROM to the secondary IDE controller?
This might allow you to force a boot from the PRO CD so that you could
run a recovery console and the commands FIX MBR and FIX BOOT?(exact
commands? I don't think so). They work wonders on corrupt and dead
drives. Also if they help, you will want to run a disk check and a
thorough one at that. I have had a drive fail more than once in a
period of minutes while I was trying to get my data back... Just some
ideas...

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

Hey,

I'm coming to my wits' end here, maybe you can help.

Sony Vaio Model PCV-1154 (desktop box) crashed (while
installing .Net SDK)
and now refuses to boot from hard drive, and also refuses to
boot when there is a Windows XP Pro installation CDROM in
the CD drive.
In both cases, there are some POST messages about
auto-detecting devices, then it prints
"Pri. Master Hard Disk:S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD, Backup and
Replace"
I am guessing that's bad news. 8^)

I am hoping to see if the installation CD has some rescue
tools on it, if not I'll just reinstall, I guess. (sigh)
But I'm not getting anywhere with either rescue or
reinstallation since the box doesn't seem to notice the CD
in the drive.

For the record, I was able to boot from a Knoppix (Linux) CD
and examine the filesystem -- looks like some files are
corrupted. That's nice but Knoppix can't fix a Windows
installation or reinstall Windows if it comes to that.

Any advice is appreciated.

Robert Dodier

Use the Knoppix CD to back up your important files. Or install
the problem hard drive in a working XP system as a slave drive.
You should be able to access your files by taking ownership of
them. Then go get a new hard drive.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Rock]

Hey,

I'm coming to my wits' end here, maybe you can help.

Sony Vaio Model PCV-1154 (desktop box) crashed (while installing .Net
SDK)
and now refuses to boot from hard drive, and also refuses to boot when
there is a Windows XP Pro installation CDROM in the CD drive.
In both cases, there are some POST messages about auto-detecting
devices, then it prints
"Pri. Master Hard Disk:S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD, Backup and Replace"
I am guessing that's bad news. 8^)

I am hoping to see if the installation CD has some rescue tools on it,
if not I'll just reinstall, I guess. (sigh)
But I'm not getting anywhere with either rescue or reinstallation
since the box doesn't seem to notice the CD in the drive.

For the record, I was able to boot from a Knoppix (Linux) CD
and examine the filesystem -- looks like some files are corrupted.
That's nice but Knoppix can't fix a Windows installation or reinstall
Windows if it comes to that.

Any advice is appreciated.

Robert Dodier

The hard drive is going bad. Backup important files and get a new one.

 

[robert.dodier]

Hello, here's how the story played out. Maybe this info will be useful
to someone.

I got this message at the POST:

and as I was saying,

In Knoppix, I copied the files I wanted to another machine (via scp).
Then I got a new hard disk, reinstalled Windows, copied the files
back over, and it looks like Humpty Dumpty is back together again.

Hope this helps someone else.

Robert Dodier