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HELP Windows 7 clean install on Sony Vaio laptop w/o recovery discs
I hope this is the correct Forum subsection to post this.
So I made a mistake while taking on a friend's problematic sony vaio laptop. They were wanting to install a newly purchased Kaspersky av, but after uninstalling the old version of Kaspersky there was a problem with an unresponsive usb mouse & mouse pad. I wasn't able to resolve the issue through various repair programs and manually reinstalling the driver, which was giving off the error code of not being properly installed or functioning. With owners consent, I decided to let Vaio Care to bring the computer back to factory condition. (I wish the owner had the owners manual to this thing.)
I made sure to backup all of the files that the owner needed saved, but failed to make any sort of backup recovery disk for the computer. Not sure if it's too late to do so, but the computer will not boot to windows any longer. I get a white blinking cursor on a black background immediately after Vaio disappears from the screen upon bootup, but cannot do anything with it.
I made a windows 7 home premium iso dvd, and when booting from it I reinstalled windows onto one of the 3 partitions on the hd (the largest of the 3 which was labeled "Primary" type). Of the other two partitions, one was labeled "Primary" and was named "System Reserved" but only 101MB, and the other was labeled "System" and was named "Recovery" and is 7.7GB. When installing, the computer does a restart but then boots up from the disk again starting the entire process over again. So I changed it to boot from the HDD, but still get the same problem of a blank cursor and windows not booting up.
When attempting the System Recovery Options on the Win7 dvd I'm given 3 different partitions (2 of which are 400+GB, labled windows 7 operating system, and located on (D: ) Local Disk). I'm guessing this might stand for the old windows 7 from the factory, and the one I installed. The other partition is 7.7GB and labeled Start VAIO Recovery Center located on (Unknown) Recovery.
System Restore, System Image Recovery, and windows Memory Diagnostic aren't doing any good. Startup Repair only gives me an issue for one of the 3 Partitions, the (Recovery Partition), and states that Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically, saying that the "Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline".
When going through command prompt I see that old data & drivers are still on the disc, but was wondering if it was too late to make some sort of a recovery disc for it? My concerns are that when I do a wipe of the drive and a clean install of Windows 7, I'm going to have many issues without having sony's factoryware installed.
Am I able to make my own disk to reinstall Sony's factoryware?
What's the best way of getting this computer back to fully functioning?
I have access to the drivers on Sony's support site: Sony eSupport - VGN-FW510F - Support
Last edited by newtechy; 03 Nov 2012 at 11:28.