Recently my laptop and both external hard drives died. This question
involves my laptop. The issues of the hard drives will be asked
separately as I don't think they're related.

My question for the researchers is of course, will I ever get it up
and running again? If so, how? And if not, please explain so I know
for certain that it is hopeless. Give me closure. I wonder if the
researchers here might avoid my question as people are inclined to not
want to hear bad news and not be satisfied with the answer but let me
assure you that I will do my best to be objective while my favorite
computer I've ever had breathes its last breath. I'm not looking for
miracles, just an opinion of someone who knows and can back it up with
a few facts to verify the situation.

I have a Sony Vaio with no floppy and no internal CD drive so I have
never been able to wipe it clean. I like to use Fdisk every now and
then to get rid of everything and start with a fresh install to get
rid of all the junk. But without a floppy or internal drive I've never
been able to figure out how to do it.

I have Setup configured to boot from the CD but it won't recognize an
external firewire drive or an external USB floppy drive. I have
Windows XP Pro but it just won't reinstall itself the way it should.

This computer is 2 1/2 years old and pretty bogged down so I spent a
day trying to clean it up, uninstalling everything I could reinstall
later. I did this before and finally got Windows to work correctly
again. But not this time. The system kept shutting down after only a
few minutes. Everything I did seemed to make it worse. Finally, I
tried something I've never tried before. Hititng F8 to go into Safe
Mode, I instead selected "Restore system to the last known
configuration that worked" or whatever that option is correctly
called. This is what finally killed it. It boots, gives the option for
Setup, I see the Windows splash screen, the screen goes black and 35
seconds later it restarts. Endlessly. Safe mode and other startup
options - same thing.

I'm not sure what other information would be helpful. If more info is
needed for clarification I will be happy to add it if I can.

Thanks for any help

ladida...

I hesitated to post a definitive answer until we'd had some
dialog, but if the computer is automatically rebooting, even
in safe mode, and you have no CD-ROM or floppy access, I'm
afraid she may well be done for.

If you could get it to stay open in Safe Mode, there is a 
setting to keep it from automatically rebooting in the 
event of a system error. Let me know if there is *any*
possiblity of this, and I will share the settings.

In the event that you can use the F8 key during bootup
to get into 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt' (which may
take awhile to load, so don't get impatient), here is
a registry file you can import into the registry, which
will stop your computer from rebooting automatically
in the event of a system crash. This will duplicate 
the settings you could make if you could get Windows
to open in Safe Mode or Normal Mode:
http://68.15.21.151/uploads/researchers/StopAutoReboot.reg

Unfortunately, you would need to copy this to a floppy, or
some other medium which your computer is capable of accessing,
and copy the file to, e.g., the C directory, and then run this
command from the Safe Mode command prompt:
regedit.exe C:\StopAutoReboot.reg

Since you say you have no access to external media, this 
does not seem like a viable alternative.

About the only other option I can imagine is to once again
try the 'Restore system to the last known good configuration',
though I have little hope that that would effect an improvement,
rather than simply duplicating your last attempt at this.
There is a slim chance that it will restore an even earlier
copy of the registry which will work.

But hey - you've got nothing to lose at this point, right?


The bottom line is that you need access to Windows from one
of its three interfaces - the regular Windows user interface,
the Safe Mode interface, or the Command Prompt interface.

The changes you need to make to prevent AutoRebooting can
be made in both the regular or the Safe Mode interface of
Windows, with access to external media being unnecessary.

If your only available interface is the Command Prompt in
Safe Mode, you need access to external media in order to
make the changes, and you have no such access.


Sadly, this seems like one of those times when there's
nothing to be done but shoot Old Yeller.


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that  
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog  
established through the "Request for Clarification" process. 
 
A user's guide on this topic is on skermit-ga's site, here: 
http://www.christopherwu.net/google_answers/answer_guide.html#how_clarify 
 
sublime1-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by ladida68-ga on 12 Jul 2004 19:58 PDT

Thank you sublime1 for your fast and sympathetic answer.

There's no chance of getting into ANYTHING as far as I can tell. I've
tried all the startup options many times hoping something would reset
somehow. So it's time to shoot the Ol dog. But while holding a gun to
its beautiful head, I saw that spark in its eye longing for life and
thought of something else. If this question is beyond the scope of my
original question please let me know and I will post it new.

Can I simply find a new internal hard drive on eBay or somewhere else?
It would need to have Windows already loaded on it as I can't do
anything without access to external media but if I can get that I'm
assuming it will be up and running again like the lively puppy it used
to be as I'm assuming that the problem is only software related.

Sorry to keep hanging on but I have a friend that would be very happy to have it.

Other than asking this question, I'm happy with the answer and am
ready to rate and close the original question.

ladida68

---

Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 12 Jul 2004 21:03 PDT

ladida...

The history you provided would certainly suggest that the
failure you're experiencing could have been solely the
result of the changes you made in removing software and
finally using Restore System.

However, you also noted that you began this process because
the computer was "pretty bogged down". This could have been
an indication of failing hardware, as well as software
issues. A failing hard drive or a CPU which has been
overheated too often for too long could also have been
possible contributing factors.

For this reason, I would suggest that you only try buying
a replacement hard drive if you are comfortable with the
possibility that this may still fail to restore your 
computer to perfect health. This also assumes you are
comfortable with the prospect of physically replacing the
drive. I have not owned a laptop myself, but from what
I've read, the replacement process could be difficult and
tedious, depending on the way your PC is assembled.

If those factors are not prohibitive, then there's certainly
a chance that replacing the drive will give you acceptable
functionality, and if you can find a used drive for a low
enough price, then go for it! Of course the chances are 
much better if you can find an exact replacement. The 
chances of finding one with Windows installed might be
a problem, as well, since most people prefer to wipe a
drive before they sell it. Still, someone who sells used
drives may well be agreeable to installing an operating
system on it, though they would have to reinstall it
into a laptop to do so.

A transplant operation wouldn't have helped in Old Yeller's
case, but it might save this baby!

sublime1-ga

I'm pretty sure that "being bogged down" is from all the software
that's come and gone. And all the little non-expert-"tweaks" that I
like to do. It could be hardware failure but I'm guessing it's just
too much of a fluke that it died right at that moment.
In closing I'd like to thank you again for all of your help.
ladida68

For future reference.  You can do a clean install of windows by simply
picking a different windows directory.  This will get you a new
registry and then you just wipe out the old files.  Big pain==yes. 
Works==yes. Clean install and no problems.

Another thought:  Try safe mode again.  If you're networkable, boot
with networking.  Then take a crack at installing accross a network.

Thanks for the tip dr_bob. Can't say I've ever tried installing in a
different directory so I'm not sure when it would give me an option
for a different directory. I'll have to test drive it when I get my
hands on an expendable machine. Never thought about booting on a
network either but then again, it's never been setup for that so I
don't think that will work here. But I really appreciate the
suggestions!

ladida68

ladida...

Thanks very much for the rating and tip. It's been a pleasure
working with you.

sublime1-ga

Ladida,

What model of Vaio laptop???

I have a Vaio PCG-C1XN that's slightly older than yours, and it also
has no internal floppy drive or CD drive.

I *do* have a Sony external PCMCIA CD drive, and an external USB
floppy drive, and the laptop will boot from both of these.

I have re-installed my laptop several times with different operating
systems (Win 98, Win Me, and Win 2k)at various times during its life.

The point being that your laptop is by no means dead. You may not be
able to access anything on the hard drive, but it can most certainly
be resurrected if this is simply a failure of the OS.

If you got a similar system to mine, then your probably got the
re-install CD's somewhere, and if you are contemplating buying a new
laptop as a result of this, opting to buy a sony external CD drive
that's compatable with your laptop would be a far cheaper solution. If
you know a local Sony retailer they might even offer to help you out
with the loan of one, or assist you in getting it working again.

Another idea (a real long shot this) is that as my laptop is
configured to boot from a USB external floppy drive, a USB flash drive
might also work (anyone tried this???) in that you could try putting
an image of a dos boot disk onto a small usb flash drive and plugging
that into your laptop, then boot.....and cross fingers.

Don't give it up yet...

...and if you do and are planning on throwing it away......*ahem*

Andy ;)

Thanks for the suggestions xd_andy. You?ve given me a little hope. My
laptop is a Sony VAIO PCG-SR5K. I tried a USB floppy before but didn?t
have any luck booting from it so I returned it right away. I?ve
repeatedly tried booting from the CD but can?t think of anything that
would get it to recognize the CD drive before Windows loads. I?ll
definitely give it some more working over when I get back home. (I
know it might have been foolish to ask these questions when I don?t
have the computer on hand. I guess I was hoping for a cut out answer
but expecting that it just wouldn?t work.)

Maybe the PCMCIA CD drive would be seen before Windows does its thing.
I also thought about a flash drive but thought it was too long of a
shot to bother with. But you?d think there?d be a way. I?d love to
hear if something like this is possible.

Thanks for trying to save my money before I replaced everything but
I?ve already done that. It?s just hard to let it go because it?s been
such a lovely little laptop.

But either way, I think I?m still going to try replacing the internal
drive. I?ll get back to you when I get my hands on it next week.

ladida68

Did you manage to get access to the bios? You should be able to adjust
the boot order (ie floppy-->cd--->hdd) there.

According to Sony, it is either the escape key or the f2 key that you
need to press when the 'Sony' splash screen appears: it's f2 on my
laptop.

You mention needing to replace the internal drive...do you mean the
internal Hard drive? And if so, why? If it's simply a matter of the OS
having crashed, then it should be possible to re-install it.


Andy

Hello again Andy,

I can get into the BIOS just fine. I've set it to load from the CD
drive but it didn't work. I've tried to return to the default settings
and then change the boot settings again and again but still, nothing.
I'm still going to give it another shot with the floppy as I only
tried the one time.

Yeah, I meant replacing the internal hard drive. I don't have a lot of
time when I'm home before going to Thailand so if I can't get it to
boot and reinstall Windows I'll want to already have the hard drive
ready. If it does work, I'll be able to get some important stuff off
of it. If it doesn't but I have a new drive, I'll get a little more
use out of it. Besides, the original internal drive is only 9 gigs
which is part of the reason I kept wanting to wipe it clean and start
over.

I still have my fingers crossed...

ladida68

Ladida,

The good news I guess is that the laptop at least works, and therefore
should be recoverable.

Ok doke. If you are going to take the HDD out anyway, as you say, you
could probably have a crack at sticking the XP install stuff straight
onto the HDD then completing the rest of the install once you
re-instert the HDD. If you can rip the appropriate bits off of the
Sony install CD's to put onto the HDD.

Another question, you say that despite setting the Bios to boot from
the CD, it wouldn't, but are you certain the CD itself was bootable?
Really daft question, I know, and I don't mean to insult your
abilities here, but stranger things have happened. The second thing I
would question is if the CD drive itself is a Sony one, and one that
can be used by your PC to laptop to boot from. Another option could be
to install an older version of Dos onto the root of the HDD, with
appropriate drivers for the CD Rom if it proves necessary, to allow
you to at least boot the laptop, then have a crack at installing XP
from there.

It might honestly be worth giving Sony Tech support a call on this as
they have proven to be helpfull with things like that, for me at
least, in the past.

All said and done, there must be a bootable means to your laptop other
than the HDD. It's just a matter of finding out what it is.

Good luck with it, and keep us posted!


Andy

Hi Andy,
Are you still around? Thanks so much for the time you've put into helping. I 
finally got home and had a good look at the error message by getting it on video:

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Session Manager Initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with 
a status of 0xc0000263 (0x00000000 0x00000000)
The system has been shut down.

I did some searching and found many people have had this problem but the 
suggestions are centered around re-installing Windows with a CD or floppy. 
Still not a lot of help. But still no luck booting into a CD for me. I did 
check to make sure they were bootable CDs. They boot just fine into the other 
computers at least.

But I did have luck with putting it into a "NexStar External 2.5 Hard Drive 
Enclosure". It's USB 2.0 and plugs in without messing with jumper settings. 
Good for a guy like me that likes to guess.

I copied everything from it and now am wondering what to do. I'm not sure what 
to get from the Sony install CDs or what I could put on there from Windows. 
Can I just copy the whole CD? What if I formatted it and put a simple Windows 
98 boot disk on it? Could I then get into the installation? The disc is 9GB 
and is partitioned into 2 drives 7GB / 2GB. You mentioned putting an older 
version of DOS onto the root. I'm embarrassed to say I don't know how to get 
anything specifically into the root.

I'll get back to Google now and see if I can find any more info. I'll
let you know if anything happens.

ladida68

Well, I guess this might be the end. After repeatedly moving the hard
drive back and forth from internal to external trying different things
I have broken one of the pins that connect it. Not totally off but I
don't think it will come out of the hole it's in and if that will kill
the drive I'm leaving it the way it is. At least I have a pocket sized
external hard drive now that gets its current from the USB...

Thanks for all the help!!!

ladida68