[gwhiz]

ok,I deleted the 5gb,formarted the whole 149.05 & left it as 1 partition,put back in the pc run the recovery with 1st disc(start up recovery disc)
and it showed vaio logo then black screen saying starting vaio recovery utility powered by windows..........please wait.........
then changes to blue screen with the vaio recovery wizard it ejected disc & said install disc 1(recovery disc 1 of 1) I did, then select recovery options
i selected c drive recovery , it stated thiers no c drive(which is when I formated it I didnt name it) Please selct custom recovery to perform complete system recovery, & I did and it did the partition "complte"
then started to restoedrive and at 40% or so popped up the ERROR: incompatible Image
I clicked ok, Then pop up again saying recovery incomplete click ok to resume recovery, I do that then it reboots takes you to a black screen(instead of the vaio recovery wizard screen) saying"error loading system operation.....then you have to put 1st disc back in, reboot in order to get back to the VAIO recovery wizard, and repeats the whole thing again

I did check the propties of the disc AFTER formating while still in my pc in case it might tell you somthing or your familiar with.....
under properties ,driver tab,driver details
In driver details it reads this:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\disk.sys
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\Partmgr.sys

disk mngt. reads new volume 149.05 gb ntfs healthy

(too this is suppose to be a 160 gb drive but it only shows the 149.05gb so I assume the 10gb or so has the above in them )

thanks

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I am not sure what the problem is. It might be that the installation cd is faulty or incompatible for some reason. I suggest that you approach the technical support of Sony with this problem. Alternatively, you may consider buying a retail version of XP.

[The Skeptic]

I am not sure what the problem is. It might be that the installation cd is faulty or incompatible for some reason. I suggest that you approach the technical support of Sony with this problem. Alternatively, you may consider buying a retail version of XP.

[Ztruker]

The 149.5GB is normal for a 160GB drive. It's the difference between decimal (mfgrs use) and hexadecimal (computers use).

Sounds to me like you have 3 possible things to lok at.

1. Try a new CD drive
2. Try a different hard drive
3. Replace memory (RAM)

The easiest to check is memory. If you have two 256MB sticks, remove one and try the recovery again. If it still fails, swap the memory sticks and try again.

If that doesn't help, borrow a CD drive from a friend and try it. You should be able to do this just by disconnecting the power and IDE cable from the one in the computer and connecting it to the borrowed one outside the case, then try the recovery. Make sure the borrowed one is jumpered the same as the one in the case, either CS or Master.

To check the hard drive, you need to know the drive manufacturer. Only way to get that now is to pull the drive and look at it. Once you have that you can download the diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturers web site and run it to see if it finds any problems. If not you can have it setup the drive for a new install and try again.

[gwhiz]

thanks Ztruker for the insight otherwise I would'nt have a clue,Im in the process of fault checking those Items now,maybe thats the problem.. Once I find the solution Hopefully I do since sony is no help and would be at least $699.99 to have them to fix or more,which I would think you can replace new for that or less,,,,,,...One thing I definately know now is don't by a sony (this is my sisters pc) because like they say "like no other" full of junk software,hidden partitions and Poor costomer service, zilch, nada!!!!

thanks to both of you,The Skeptic & Ztruker for helping me thus far I do realy apprciate it..if you have any thing please pass it along

I'll post the outcome when I get done checking those items..

[gwhiz]

well Ive finaly got back up & running....heres what I did......

1st thing was followed advice from ztrucker I checked the memory by pulling 1 out at a time, and sure enough one stick was bad it would not do anything

2nd thing I did was take HDD out install as slave on onther pc And downloaded free software testdisk-6.9 at www.cgsecurity.com used it (photorec packed with it ) to recover pictures And I tried to use it to fix hdd but the MTF was to badly damaged (testdisc is a great product) just this situation was to far shot

3rd I checked the hdd by dowloading free software from Western Digital Technologies it checked out good so I used the same WDT software to write Zeroes to the hdd and reinstalled to the sony pc

4th it would start the recovery process then would keep stoping with error so I finaly found after numerous hours even days searching sony and the worl wide wibe I found this and just in case Ill attach to bootom of the page

http://www.iq.sony.c...VARSET_TOP=TRUE

so I kept doing this about 20 to 30 times ( restarting by powering off ,I even had My own thought by after power off I unplugeed for about 2 minutes plugged back in then did as said in the post, started the recovery again it would start loding were it left off and finaly it went all the way through...

thanks for all the help

I think I'll suggest to my sis to sell this aggervating no customer support from sony pc, and by one that can be repaired if need be without being so meesed up....

This Recovery CD is not for this computer is displayed after a hard drive has been replaced.
[/color]
The error This Recovery CD is not for this computer may appear for various reasons after the hard drive has been replaced. Perform the following procedure to resolve the error.

Insert the first disc of the Recovery Media Kit into the CD/DVD drive.
NOTE: Recovery CDs/DVDs may also be purchased from the Direct Accessory and Parts Center (DAPC) at http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/.

Restart the computer.
NOTE: If a system recovery cannot be performed from the Recovery Media Kit or the error reoccurs, continue troubleshooting using this procedure. Remove any disc from the CD/DVD drive.
Restart the computer.
At the SONY screen, press the F10 key.
At the Please insert Recovery CD #1 screen, insert the first disc of the Recovery Media Kit.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the system recovery.

[Ztruker]

Pheeww! That's a lot of work, glad it's you and not me

Glad you got it working though, good work on your part.

Thanks for letting us know and for the additional infomation, it may help someone else in the future.