Help restoring VAIO F from recovery DVD

Hi 7 experts,

Need help in restoring my VAIO F from recovery DVDs

I created the recovery DVDs when I first got it, and used it successfully last year to do a re-install.

Now the computer got stuck again, and I tried to do restore/reinstall from the DVD but am unable to.

When I power it on with DVD #1, it shows the menu of (a) Start VAIO Care Rescue (b) Repair Windows.

I select the "Start VAIO Care Rescue", press ENTER, it say "Loading Windows files",
then the flying Windows screen appears, then a blueish screen with white cloud like screen appears,
and it's stuck there, I waited for hours.

I dont get any other screen or form.

The laptop incl the dvd drive is fine, can boot up linux just fine,
the DVD itself is fine, I can read it on another machine.

What do I do to restore / reinstall the VAIO?

It's a Windows 7 Home Premium, if that matters.

Thanks.

Follow this tutorial to do a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.
Everything is included.

Be sure to read the SPecial Note to Vaio owners at the end so you have no problem regaining some features like backlighting if required, since their software is tetchy and some is required besides just the drivers which is all we normally recommend to avoid bloatware that throttles Win7.

If you have any problems let us know here.

Sometimes when Factory Recovery DVD's fail it helps to wipe the hard drive first with Diskpart Clean Command. But it seems you were trying to run Vaio Recovery from its partition and not the disks, two different methods of Recovery. It's always best to try onboard Recovery first and then if it fails use thee Recov Disks which reinstall the Recovery partition as well, except in rare cases.

But the Factory Win7 preinstall never performs anywhere near as well as a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

gregrocker said:

But it seems you were trying to run Vaio Recovery from its partition and not the disks, two different methods of Recovery

Thanks.

I was trying to re-install from dvd, not from recovery partition.

Tried both the rescue DVD and the Windows DVD, and in both cases it freezes,


I could boot up off a Linux cd and read the NTFS hard disk.

These steps overcome 90% of install failures: Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums. Report back results, exact point of failure and any verbatim error messages.

Make sure the install media is bootable in another PC as it may not be written correctly. I'd use a fresh ISO with the tool provided from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 if in doubt.

Unplug all other drives and peripherals, Reset the BIOS to defaults. Set SATA controller to AHCI. Set HDD to boot first in BIOS setup, trigger media using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key.

gregrocker said:

These steps overcome 90% of install failures: Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums. Report back results, exact point of failure and any verbatim error messages.

Make sure the install media is bootable in another PC as it may not be written correctly. I'd use a fresh ISO with the tool provided from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 if in doubt.

Unplug all other drives and peripherals, Reset the BIOS to defaults. Set SATA controller to AHCI. Set HDD to boot first in BIOS setup, trigger media using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key.

Yes, the DVD is bootable. As I mentioned before, I created a fresh DVD from ISO of rescue DVD and also another fresh DVD from Microsoft distribution ISO, and all boot up fine.

No peripheral is connected. There are no error messages at all; it just hangs with a blue screen with cloud and white contrails and leaves etc.

With rescue DVD, it says Loading Windows files, then the screen with those flying blobs merging into the Window screen appears, then a blue screen with cloud and white contrails and leaf and then it hangs there.

With Microsoft DVD, it's about the same, only shows "Setup is starting" and
that rotating small white wheel like circle .. and it hangs there.

The only thing I noticed is that the mouse/trackpad responds to movements, that's it!

Also, I could boot a linux cd, the trackpad wasn't working there, and I didn't even try,
but otherwise worked fine with an usb mouse, I could read and write the C: drive from linux.

The question is, with the Rescue DVD, a screen with options come up,
I don't remember the exact details, but that's not coming up.

Tried the USB flash drive route and it freezes at exactly the same point.

I used the Windows7 ISO that I downloaded following badger906's link
made it bootable onto a brand new 16gb usb flash drive

changed bios to boot from external,
it boots off the usb fine, the light on the usb drive blinks,
then the Windows7 screen appears with selection for language etc.; I click Next (pic#1)
then the Windows7 screen with the "Install Now" appears, I click that (pic#2)
then a window with "Setup is starting..." appears (pic#3)

and that's it, it stays there for ever
and of course now there's no activity on usb drive light

And that's exactly the situation I had with the Windows7 DVD
and also with the Rescue DVD.

btw, there were no beeps etc. when the machine starts, either from cold or warm
so not sure if it could be motherboard or memory

as I mentioned before, I tried a Puppy Linux cd and that boots and runs just fine,
I could even read and write the ntfs C: partition from there.

What could I try next?

Thanks

Complete every step in Windows 7 Installation Failure - Overcome reporting back results as you go.