Can't get repair disks to work for reinstall

ajinaz · 01 Sep 2013

I have a Sony VAIO laptop (VGN--FE880E) that I had upgraded to Windows 8. This was a mistake since it just bogged down with many errors.
I decided to go back to Vista using the manufacturers recovery media.
I pulled the HD from the laptop and formatted it on a PC thinking I would just put it back in the laptop and pop the DVD recovery media back in, start it up and let the DVDs reinstall.
Did that and the laptop wont boot from the CD. Just keeps coming up with "No operating system found". I set it to boot from optical drive first, cleaned the DVD, and everything. It just won't boot from the DVD drive.

The DVD reads fine in other PC.

I have the ability to hook the hard drive to a pc using usb or SATA internal. Is there anything I can do on the PC to make the HD boot in the laptop and bypass the optical drive?

**Pauly** · 01 Sep 2013

I dont personally own a sony laptop or ever used vista so i cant say for sure but generally on windows 7 your recovery data is held within a recovery partition on the HDD and the disc you have is there to instigate the recovery process pulling info from one (hidden) partition on the HDD and restoring to another (C) partition

Do you have a label on the machine with the windows key on it, if so you should be able to do a clean install and use that key to activate once installed
Have a look at this Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista

The HDD would need to be in the target machine during the install of the OS, loading it in another machine then transferring would not work as it would automatically install drivers for the other machines hardware

ajinaz · 01 Sep 2013

I believe that all of the information is located on the DVDs (3 of them). A couple years ago I upgraded the HD and installed everything from the DVDs and it worked fine. I do have the key. I'm just wondering if there is any way to get enough information on the HD using a PC to transfer it over to the laptop and continue the install.

theog · 01 Sep 2013

I believe that all of the information is located on the DVDs (3 of them).

As you have a 3 DVD set, are booting from disk 1?

ajinaz · 01 Sep 2013

Yes disk 1 is in. I think my DVD drive isn't working right. I'm wondering if there is a way to use the disks to get the necessary information onto the hard drive using another computer to get it to boot up when returned to the laptop.

**Pauly** · 01 Sep 2013

The only way i can think would be to install windows with disk in another machine then run sysprep on the OS to prepare move to original machine but im not sure perhaps others will have an opinion
Some like sysprep some dont
Kari has done a nice tutorial about this he may be able to help if you get stuck, i will point him to this thread
Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

gregrocker · 01 Sep 2013

Try a Clean Reinstall following steps same as in my signature picture below.

Sometimes wiping the HD will also force Recovery disks to run, but if you have a COA sticker with readable Product Key then you`ll have a much better install with the clean reinstall.

ajinaz · 02 Sep 2013

Pauly said:

The only way i can think would be to install windows with disk in another machine then run sysprep on the OS to prepare move to original machine but im not sure perhaps others will have an opinion
Some like sysprep some dont
Kari has done a nice tutorial about this he may be able to help if you get stuck, i will point him to this thread
Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

Worked like a charm. I'm up and running. Thanks!

gregrocker · 02 Sep 2013

Good call, Pauly! Wish I could rep you again.

**Pauly** · 02 Sep 2013

Good job, glad to hear you got it sorted mate