[Jeris]

Help! My laptop does not start. First, the Vaio logo pops up, then the Windows logo pops up, then a blip of a blue screen and then a black screen with "Operating system not found."

Finally, the computer restarts itself. What do i do?

help me somebody! =) thank you.

[Leehaa]

Have you compressed your C:\ recently? Is there a message about Ntbtlog??

Any error messages at all?

Have you checked your disk drive to make sure it's not trying to boot off anything??

Have you re-partitioned your drive of late?

Cheers,

Leah.

[samiko]

do you have restore disks? the only way i can think of is performing a repair on your machine, what operating system do you have?

[Jeris]

samiko, on Oct 16 2006, 12:26 AM, said:

do you have restore disks? the only way i can think of is performing a repair on your machine, what operating system do you have?

My SONY Vaio didn't come with a restore disk. Sony's website says that it does not include one with my laptop.

My OS is Win XP.

I am not booting off of another drive disk, whatever, no. And no, no Ntbtlog messages. No error messages that I can see...there is a flash of a blue screen, but it happens so fast, I cannot read what it says. And then, like I said, the computer reboots itself.

No I have not compressed my C:\ drive lately.

[diabillic]

Jeris, on Oct 16 2006, 07:33 PM, said:

samiko, on Oct 16 2006, 12:26 AM, said:

do you have restore disks? the only way i can think of is performing a repair on your machine, what operating system do you have?

My SONY Vaio didn't come with a restore disk. Sony's website says that it does not include one with my laptop.

My OS is Win XP.

I am not booting off of another drive disk, whatever, no. And no, no Ntbtlog messages. No error messages that I can see...there is a flash of a blue screen, but it happens so fast, I cannot read what it says. And then, like I said, the computer reboots itself.

No I have not compressed my C:\ drive lately.

That flash of blue is probably a BSOD. A BSOD followed by a looping reboot is usually caused by a failing hard drive. Grab a copy of Drive Fitness Test here, http://www.hitachigs...rt/download.htm

Burn the .iso and startup the laptop from the disk. Do the advanced test, then you should have your answer in an hour or so depending on the size of the drive.

[Jeris]

Cilix, on Oct 16 2006, 01:43 PM, said:

Burn the .iso and startup the laptop from the disk. Do the advanced test, then you should have your answer in an hour or so depending on the size of the drive.

I burn it onto a CD? Because I do not have a Diskette drive on my computer.

[Jeris]

Jeris, on Oct 16 2006, 02:05 PM, said:

Cilix, on Oct 16 2006, 01:43 PM, said:

Burn the .iso and startup the laptop from the disk. Do the advanced test, then you should have your answer in an hour or so depending on the size of the drive.

I burn it onto a CD? Because I do not have a Diskette drive on my computer.

Okay, I burned it onto a CD, booted it up, did the advanced test. Final verdict: I have a S.M.A.R.T. Failure. I haven't backed any of my important documents, pictures, etc. Any advice?

Jeris

[diabillic]

Yep, if S.M.A.R.T fails you need to replace the drive. Backup everything you need and buy a new drive.

[Jeris]

How do I back up my drive if I cannot get into Windows and if my computer continuously restarts itself?

[Dredginator]

Hey,
Most of the laptops that dont come with a restore disk actually have a partition on the hard drive for a system recovery. Its a slippery booger. When your pc is first starting up keep a close eye on what it says...in most cases it will say "press alt+f11 to start system recovery. Once you go into the system recovery there is actually (in some cases) an option to do a "Non-destructive restore" which would work out great for you if you cant make a backup. You will lose some of your info, but it will be a limited amount. Try this and let us know how it works.

[deathninja]

also, if you have a desktop you can yank the drive from the laptop get a miniIDE to IDE adapter throw the notebook hdd in your desktop get your data and be golden

if its having physical problems like ticking/clicking throw it in the freezer for several hours then quickly attach it to a working computer

should be able to recover your data

[Jeris]

I tried pressing F11, Alt-F11 tried every other combination of F-somethings to no avail. F8 is the safemode screen. My computer doesn't boot up to that, either. THe computer still restarts itself. Any other suggestions? I think I will either try the method previously mentioned (with the IDE adapter) or I will go to CompUSA to buy a housing for the harddrive and throw that into my PC.

Does anyone have any instructions for either method?

Additionally, if my SONY has two drives, a C: and D: (although I think it's just one drive; partitioned to two) will I be able to migrate all of my data (from both drives) to my PC doing it the IDE adapter way?

Jeris

[diabillic]

You will need to get an external enclosure. Also, if your going to be moving your files within windows, make sure its XP Professional. Everything in your User profile will not be viewable until you do the following:

1. Folder options -> Disable Simple File Sharing
2. Right click folder -> Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owners -> Check off Replace owner.. box

This will give you full permissions to access everything from the slaved drive. If not, boot up using something like ERD Commander and transfer off the drive that way. Make sure the drive is plugged into the computer and turned off when you boot or else ERD will not see it.

[Jeris]

Cilix, on Nov 3 2006, 12:04 PM, said:

You will need to get an external enclosure. Also, if your going to be moving your files within windows, make sure its XP Professional. Everything in your User profile will not be viewable until you do the following:

1. Folder options -> Disable Simple File Sharing
2. Right click folder -> Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owners -> Check off Replace owner.. box

Hi Cilix,

I have (or used to have) WinXP Home edition. Any complications?

And when you say I need to "do the following" do you mean I need to do that on the host computer or my slave drive? My drive crashed thats why i'm desperately looking for a way to get my data from my drive both the C and the D) to my PC

[-OCM770-]

Don't throw your drive in the freezer, forget that PLEASE! now if your drive was partitioned in C:\ and D:\ when you bought it then it means that one of those is a recovery console, probably D:\, dredginator is right, on the BIOS you should see an option to start the recovery console, mine is pressing f8, on a friends computer it's f10, it must be one of the f keys and not f1, probably f1 is to enter BIOS setup.

-OCM770-

P.S. my dad had a VAIO and it had the same problem, reformatting fixed it.