Help ReInstalling XP

[skevin007]

I recently bought a brand new Sony Vaio PCV-RS 420 from best buy and have been having problems ever since. The 120 gig hard drive is partitioned oddly (13 gig for drive c, and 107 for drive d) and I dont know if that is why. At least 2 times per day my computer will suddenly and with no warning reboot. There is no pattern to why it is rebooting, except it seems to happen more often when I am running DVD X Copy Xpress.

My problem is that the computer did not come with the actual XP Disk. I always thought that you were supposed to get the backup disk incase xp needed to be reinstalled.

Is there something I can do to reinstall XP without the disk?

I have the windows xp sticker of authorization on the computer, maybe this will help?

Kevin

[i686-linux]

Well, as far as the partitioning scheme goes, Sony has AFAIK always shipped there computers with a C: and D: drive, so that in the event the OS neeeds to be reinstalled (as with yours) One could do so, without having to format all of their personal files which "should" be stored on the D: drive. I am not sure how "recent" you bought it, but you may be able to go to Best Buy with your receipt, and laptop, and other documentation that you have, and explain that you never received the system recovery disks, but you DO have the product key. (The Windows sticker) If they can't help you, then contact Sony. I think that most (if not all) major manufacturers can provide people with copies of the media, for a charge. I don't know the prices, but I am sure it is significantly less than purchasing a new copy of Windows. In your case, you already have the license, now you just need the media. There is no way to reinstall XP without the disk. No "online" installations or anything. I don't think this is possible with Windows. Once you do obtain the Windows XP media, it would be a smart idea to copy all of your personal filesto the D: drive, if you don't already. Or, maybe you can copy them to DVD and then reformat all 120gb as on big C: drive during the Windows reinstallation. There is the option of doing a Windows recovery once you have the XP media, but I would personally recommend a full format.

good luck, and let us know what ends up working out for you!

Good luck, and post with what happens.

[skevin007]

Thanks for replying...Turns out Vaio has 3 partitioned drives: a c drive for windows, a d drive for all of your files, and a hidden 5 gig partition for "system recovery" This is the reason they do not give people a recovery disk which is ABSOLUTELY STUPID if you ask me. Leaving all recovery information on a hard drive opens the door to viruses, accidental deletion etc.

So anyway, I tried to use the recovery drive to reinstall xp, and after it deleted all of my files, an error came up saying one of the installation files had been corrupted. My computer began a loop of rebooting until I cut the power.

Long story short I borrowed a copy of XP from a friend and used F8 at boot to install it from a cd. I deleted all of the idiotic partitions so hopefully none of this will happen again.

Word of advice, if you ever buy a vaio: delete the partitions before you do anything!

[Catweazle]

You borrowed a copy off a friend! :eek: Look out in 30 days time!

But seriously, this trend towards including the installation files on a hidden partition is insidious. At the very least, a 'Recovery CD' should be provided, in case of drive failure or viral corruption.

[i686-linux]

Word of advice, if you ever buy a vaio: delete the partitions before you do anything!

I agree! I was unaware of the hidden restore partition. I wonder how long sony has been doing that for? But it is rather ridiculous how they split like that! I had a client who owned a VAIO with 5gb for c:\ and 15gb for d:\. After you install a full Microsoft Windows and Office, Adobe Photoshop, Quickbooks, security patches, and all the other misc software that they needed, it left about a few hundred MB on the c:\ drive. What a waste of the 15gb. And trying to use d:\program files\ is sorta messy, as I'm sure most of us have seen!

Glad this was solved.