Blank screen after initial startup. BIOS options are locked

[rohanko]

i have a Sony Vaio Fw 490j with windows 7 and 2.53 ghz core 2 duo motherboard and 4 gb ram. It crashed yesterday and when i switch it on i get startup repair and start windows normally both of which dont work. I cant format since i am not getting BIOS options and i looked online in some forum and it said that some sony computers have them locked. please help!

 

[Maguscreed]

have you tried 'F2' ?
I've dealt with several vaio's and they do like to move the button around. F2 seems the most common. It's never del though which is what would be considered normal. ...and I've never heard of one being completely locked out. It's possible the person that said that just couldn't for the life of them figure out fn + pause or whatever strange key combination was used. There's pretty much always a way in.

 

[rohanko]

i pressed f2 and i got a memory diagnostic option and another option 2 use windows 7... i am running the diagnostic right now. Still no BIOS option though

 

[Maguscreed]

okay we're getting closer apparently.
If it's that config 'esc' should be the key that will bring up the setup option menu.

 

[rohanko]

yaay i got the BIOS screen thanks a ton!!!!

 

[rohanko]

i got the screen but how can i run the setup from a cd or a pen drive?

 

[Maguscreed]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91798-install-windows-7-usb-pen-drive-using-grub4dos.html

it will take a little doing, you're going to have to make the pen drive into a windows installation bootable media.
The instructions are there and if you take the time to read it over you shouldn't have any trouble.