Right, I managed to find the Boot.wim file and added it to the boot menu as per SIW2's instructions in the link Greg posted above. Restarted it and selected NST WINPE IMAGE.
Its currently using VAIO CARE to restore to factory settings :)
As it is installing its quite worrying to watch how much crap is being installed that comes bundled with the VAIO from the factory.
I will try and remove most of it using msconfig and add/remove programs but there is no way I can see me getting the process count in task manager down from 80+ as it was, down to exactly 30 processes it had with a clean install of windows
Good work. I had condensed the steps SIW2 gave throughout that thread here: Boot Recovery Partition using EasyBCD. But I posted the source thread for you yesterday. Do you think the link above will suffice in the future?
What I would do after recovery is try to tame the bloatware using Clean Up Factory Bloatware. Let us know of any issues you experience.
Did you use the actual MS phone activation number to try to activate with the partial key as others have reported doing recently?
If that fails and you need a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 I would research how to back up the SLP activation file to reinstall it after a Clean Reinstall and activate. The Admins don't want us helping further with that since it can be abused by others.
Greg & Tony: I recently had to phone activate one of my systems. MS only asked for the first group of the key. I was prepared to give the whole key, but was taken aback when the support person said something I didn't catch (hold on, I'm checking... or something). I had to ask "What, I thought you'd need more". Anyway a few moments later, I was able to enter the key supplied by MS and everything works as expected.
Write down the new key MS gives you, maybe using indelible ink on you COA sticker.
This is just an FYI based on recent experience as it relates to partial keys - actual mileage might vary.
Hi Greg,
The link you posted is fine as I understand the basics, but the info that SIW2 posted in the source thread contains pictures which may be of use for others as a basic step by step guide?
The Re-install is nearly done. Funny how I have been watching for the past half an hour to see it installing all the 'bloat'! The fresh install took all of about 10-15 minutes all in - This is knocking on 45 minutes now.
No I didn't use the phone activation number, just the UK customer services number that put me through to the so called technical department.
And thanks for the last tipThe only problem I found with a fresh install was mulitple drivers out of date, and numerous conflicts in device manager.
I could not get AMD catalyst control centre to install the 5570 drivers (It was showing 1.0 in graphics section of windows experience rating, where this was around 6 before)- it said the graphics adaptor drivers where out of date, and even after downloading from Sony Site it still wasn't having any of it.
Just finished installation, and wow - 90 processes at idle state!
The correct way to handle drivers in Win7 is detailed in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.
There is no reason to install any drivers (and certainly no driver bloatware) until all Important and Optional Updates are done and then only supply the ones missing in Device Manager. Win7 is different than XP since it is close to driver-complete, nearly to the point of Win8 which requires no user involvement with drivers.
You can take time to learn which Sony bloatware you want to keep or uninstall, but still effectively kill it by turning off everything except MSE, gadgets/stickies, and Skydrive in msconfig>Startup and >Services after hiding all MS Services. See if that resolves the CPU spiking. If not use Process Monitor to isolate the problem Services as detailed in Step 7 of Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.
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