XP fresh install on a notebook

[PoonSimon]

My notebook (a Sony Vaio VGN-S150P) refused to boot for the past couple
of days, so I tried the vaio system recovery option to reinstall the OS
in C:, but that didn't work either. Having ran out of options, I tried
installing a clean copy of Win XP from a CD.

On booting up the CD, I was able to partition the drive and get through
the DOS-style setup screen, but on getting to the windows setup GUI I
have a problem. It asks me for missing files in the E:\I386 directory
when I have already got the Win XP CD in the drive. Clicking
"browse..." gives me only the A: drive to choose from, but I don't have
any floppy drives. I keep getting the same prompt if I click OK, and
there's no way to continue with the installation/setup process.

This makes me think my CD rom drivers need to be installed first before
setup, or I will need to set up from the HD directly. The problems are
(a) I don't have a floppy drive to load the drivers onto if I press F6
before entering win XP setup, and (b) I don't have a boot disk that
will let me access the CD in a DOS-environment to copy the necessary
files to the HD and run setup from there.

Please can anyone help? I would so love to get windows running on the
machine again.... thanks to everyone for your help in advance.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Your Windows XP CD is either scratched or dirty
or defective. Clean it with a soft cloth. If you
still have issues, you need a new one.

How to replace lost, broken, or missing Microsoft software or hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-us

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| My notebook (a Sony Vaio VGN-S150P) refused to boot for the past couple
| of days, so I tried the vaio system recovery option to reinstall the OS
| in C:, but that didn't work either. Having ran out of options, I tried
| installing a clean copy of Win XP from a CD.
|
| On booting up the CD, I was able to partition the drive and get through
| the DOS-style setup screen, but on getting to the windows setup GUI I
| have a problem. It asks me for missing files in the E:\I386 directory
| when I have already got the Win XP CD in the drive. Clicking
| "browse..." gives me only the A: drive to choose from, but I don't have
| any floppy drives. I keep getting the same prompt if I click OK, and
| there's no way to continue with the installation/setup process.
|
| This makes me think my CD rom drivers need to be installed first before
| setup, or I will need to set up from the HD directly. The problems are
| (a) I don't have a floppy drive to load the drivers onto if I press F6
| before entering win XP setup, and (b) I don't have a boot disk that
| will let me access the CD in a DOS-environment to copy the necessary
| files to the HD and run setup from there.
|
| Please can anyone help? I would so love to get windows running on the
| machine again.... thanks to everyone for your help in advance.

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

My notebook (a Sony Vaio VGN-S150P) refused to boot for the past
couple of days, so I tried the vaio system recovery option to
reinstall the OS in C:, but that didn't work either. Having ran out
of options, I tried installing a clean copy of Win XP from a CD.

On booting up the CD, I was able to partition the drive and get
through the DOS-style setup screen, but on getting to the windows
setup GUI I have a problem. It asks me for missing files in the
E:\I386 directory when I have already got the Win XP CD in the drive.
Clicking "browse..." gives me only the A: drive to choose from, but I
don't have any floppy drives. I keep getting the same prompt if I
click OK, and there's no way to continue with the installation/setup
process.

This makes me think my CD rom drivers need to be installed first
before setup, or I will need to set up from the HD directly. The
problems are (a) I don't have a floppy drive to load the drivers onto
if I press F6 before entering win XP setup, and (b) I don't have a
boot disk that will let me access the CD in a DOS-environment to copy
the necessary files to the HD and run setup from there.

Please can anyone help? I would so love to get windows running on the
machine again.... thanks to everyone for your help in advance.

If you were able to boot from the CD, the CD drivers are not the problem.
When you got the missing files message is that before or after setup has
started.
If after, choose to skip the files and you will usually be prompted for
drivers after setup completes. You will need the Sony drivers to load after
setup.

--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[PoonSimon]

Thanks for everyone's replies so far.

I don't think it's to do with the CD itself as I have already tried
with another one. As for trying to skip the files, the prompt window
popped up just after the GUI phase of the windows setup has started, so
there is no option to skip the files it was looking for. All I could
choose was to try and find the file path for \I386 from the A: drive,
or to cancel installation altogether... even if I eject and put the CD
back in and click OK, it will still not recognise the files under the
E: drive so I am forced to quit installation every time.

I hope this explains my problem better - any other suggestions are most
welcome and appreciated!

 

[Michael Stevens]

Thanks for everyone's replies so far.

I don't think it's to do with the CD itself as I have already tried
with another one. As for trying to skip the files, the prompt window
popped up just after the GUI phase of the windows setup has started,
so there is no option to skip the files it was looking for. All I
could choose was to try and find the file path for \I386 from the A:
drive, or to cancel installation altogether... even if I eject and
put the CD back in and click OK, it will still not recognise the
files under the E: drive so I am forced to quit installation every
time.

I hope this explains my problem better - any other suggestions are
most welcome and appreciated!

I am sorry; I could not find a solution to your problem; I think you will
need to reinstall XP.
You can try to retreive your information from the hard drive by connecting
it as a slave drive in another computer.
Another option if you have the resources would be to replace the current
drive with another hard drive, and attempt the XP setup. If successfull, you
could then add the current drive as a slave and retrieve the information.
Are you sure the XP CD is good or is it a burned copy? It could also be the
CD Drive. If you have another CD drive to replace the current one or at the
price of CD drives maybe even purchase one to see if it is the problem.
I would suggest any option other than overwriting the current drive if the
information on the drive is very important and can't be replaced. As long as
the drive is not overwritten, the data can be retreived.
See my Software and Tools web page for some usefull solutions.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/software_tools.htm


--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[vangoogle]

You have already lost all your data when you repartitioned the drive.

Create a DOS boot disk and format the HDD as DOS or create a small
partiton and format using:
format c: /s
this will allow you to boot to DOS on the HDD.
after format boot again with the DOS boot CD. Copy the I386 folder from
the XP CD to the HDD.
Then boot to the HDD and run setup from within the C:\I386 folder.

 

[vangoogle]

I meant a DOS boot CD not floppy....