Hey guys,
I'm hoping some of you may be able to help me, my problem (as succinctly as I can describe) is as follows;
Laptop started to freeze frequently, decided to back up my data and do a clean install using the Recovery Partition. All went fine. 2 days later I had to restart after installing SP2... next thing I know the laptop won't boot. I got the following error message;
~
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.
If Windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly, Startup Repair can help disgnose and fix the problem. If the power was interrupted during startup, choose Start Windows Normally.
Launch Startup Repair (recommended)
Start Windows normally
~
(1) If i choose startup repair Windows looks like its loading. The screen goes black for 5mins and I have a cursor, then it goes green plus the cursor, then Recovery Mode is launching please wait window pops up and thats the way it stays for hours on end with no changes.
If i choose Start Windows normally it goes back to the "windows failed to start" and loops.
Using F10 at boot i get the following;
~
Edit windows boot options for: Vaio recovery environment
Path: \windows\systme32\boot\winload.exe
[/DETECTHAL /MININT /REDIRECT RDIMAGEOFFSET=8192 RDIMAGELENGTH=3161088 RDPATH=multi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\sources\boot.wim
~
If i hit enter it goes to the Recovery mode launching please wait and gets stuck, as above.
I tried changing the partition number to 2 and 3 incase it was a hal.dll error which it wasn't.
I can't enter safe mode or any other options whatsoever, laptop just tries to reboot after each failed option choice and i end up back at the windows failed to start screen
So.... i feel like im rambling i hope im not boring you guys!
I rang sony, out of warranty, paid €55 and got some fresh recovery discs sent out to me. Next I changed the BIOS boot order from Optical Drive and disabled the other options. Popped in the disc, restarted the laptop, exact same sequence of events as (1) above happens.
Then i tried to install Vista from a Windows disc, same sequence as (1) above happens except after some time the warning "Recovery Partition or Disc cannot be found".
Finally I tried to boot knoppix with the hdd in, but disabled in BIOS and received the warning;
~
Operating System Not Found
Press Any Key To Continue
~
Tried it again, this time with the hdd completely removed, exact same error.
And that, unfortunately, is where I stay. Could it be an Optical Drive error? If so I could try boot from an external Optical Drive, but having said that I find it hard to believe as I had only been using it earlier in the day when the laptop crashed. I'm Stumped. I feel like I've exhausted every avenue, and according to google i'm not alone in this issue with Vaio. Can anyone please shed some light on this issue. I'd be eternally grateful.
Thank you in advance,
Lar.
I'm hoping some of you may be able to help me, my problem (as succinctly as I can describe) is as follows;
Laptop started to freeze frequently, decided to back up my data and do a clean install using the Recovery Partition. All went fine. 2 days later I had to restart after installing SP2... next thing I know the laptop won't boot. I got the following error message;
~
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.
If Windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly, Startup Repair can help disgnose and fix the problem. If the power was interrupted during startup, choose Start Windows Normally.
Launch Startup Repair (recommended)
Start Windows normally
~
(1) If i choose startup repair Windows looks like its loading. The screen goes black for 5mins and I have a cursor, then it goes green plus the cursor, then Recovery Mode is launching please wait window pops up and thats the way it stays for hours on end with no changes.
If i choose Start Windows normally it goes back to the "windows failed to start" and loops.
Using F10 at boot i get the following;
~
Edit windows boot options for: Vaio recovery environment
Path: \windows\systme32\boot\winload.exe
[/DETECTHAL /MININT /REDIRECT RDIMAGEOFFSET=8192 RDIMAGELENGTH=3161088 RDPATH=multi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\sources\boot.wim
~
If i hit enter it goes to the Recovery mode launching please wait and gets stuck, as above.
I tried changing the partition number to 2 and 3 incase it was a hal.dll error which it wasn't.
I can't enter safe mode or any other options whatsoever, laptop just tries to reboot after each failed option choice and i end up back at the windows failed to start screen
So.... i feel like im rambling i hope im not boring you guys!
I rang sony, out of warranty, paid €55 and got some fresh recovery discs sent out to me. Next I changed the BIOS boot order from Optical Drive and disabled the other options. Popped in the disc, restarted the laptop, exact same sequence of events as (1) above happens.
Then i tried to install Vista from a Windows disc, same sequence as (1) above happens except after some time the warning "Recovery Partition or Disc cannot be found".
Finally I tried to boot knoppix with the hdd in, but disabled in BIOS and received the warning;
~
Operating System Not Found
Press Any Key To Continue
~
Tried it again, this time with the hdd completely removed, exact same error.
And that, unfortunately, is where I stay. Could it be an Optical Drive error? If so I could try boot from an external Optical Drive, but having said that I find it hard to believe as I had only been using it earlier in the day when the laptop crashed. I'm Stumped. I feel like I've exhausted every avenue, and according to google i'm not alone in this issue with Vaio. Can anyone please shed some light on this issue. I'd be eternally grateful.
Thank you in advance,
Lar.
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Vaio VGN-FW11M
- CPU
- Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
- Memory
- 4GB DDR2
- Graphics card(s)
- Radeon HD3470
- Hard Drives
- Hitachi HTS542525K9SA00, 250GB 5400rpm