Can't get it up, uh, the computer that is

[mikebraun]

I have a Sony Vaio PGC-K33 and I CAN'T GET IT TO WORK
OK, I am an Mac person :cool: , but I have a Vaio PGC-k33 model, two years old. Was my daughter's. She buggered it up somehow so I am trying to fix. When you turn it on, you get a quick blue screen with some writing for about 3 seconds and then it goes to a black screen where it gives you options to restart. I have tried ALL the options, nothing worked. I tried the recovery wizard that was installed on the machine, no soap. I ordered the Vaio recovery disk )($20, :angry: geeez, thank god for my Mac!) and it restarted, went to a blue screen for about 10 minutes, then shut down.
Nothing I have tried worked.

Are there ANY people out there who might give me a clue as to what to try next? :?:

Any help would be appreciated. Kinda ironic that I have to go online via a Mac to fix a PC. Sheesh

If you like, please email me with suggestions at [e-mail]

Thanks

[Chaky]

You'll need to write down the stop error you see in that BSOD. name, numbers, filename... anything you see specific to that error.

Edit:
(doh!) ...and post it here.

[mikebraun]

My SONY VAIO PCG-K33 will start, try to load Windows XP, stop, then go to the Vaio screen, then a small blue screen flashes, then I get a black screen with the following:

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shutdown to protect your files and folders , choose Last Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

IF a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to power failure or because the power or reset button was pressed, or if you are not sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally.

SAFE MODE
SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING
SAFE MODE WITH COMMAND PROMPT
last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked)
Start Windows normally

If I don't select anything, it restarts itself and the message keeps looping over and over and over after it coun ts down 28 seconds

If I try the first option and the last two options, it just keeps resetting and looping (Sometimes is just shuts down completely)
If I try the second and third options, I get 24+ lines of code that end with the following line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\atisgkaf.sys
(the lines all saying the same thing up to the \ after drivers, which is sometimes upper case and sometimes lowercase)

It then sits there for about 30 second, the blue screen flashes again and we start the whole looping all over again.

OK, i managed to snap a photo oif the blue screen, and it had the phrase, unmountable_boot_error along with pretty much the same text as the black screen.

It also had a technical line, but i can't seem to get a clear shot of that. It says STOP: then has a string of 0's folllowed by four strings of 0's in parenthesis.

[Chaky]

Try booting into recovery console.
It is done by booting from windows setup CD.
It will eventually give you an option for recovery console.
You will be prompted for administrator password. Giving that it can not read the HD, there will be none. (just hit enter)
in the command prompt type

chkdsk c /p

If you suspect bad sectors, then use /r switch, instead /p
After it is done, type EXIT and it will reboot. Remove the CD, so it would boot normal way.

If that fails, get back to the recovery console these, but one at the time, and exit (normal reboot) after each one:

fixboot c:

giving that you have one HD and C partition is the primary.

map

you will be listed with installed HD's and partitions.

then type:

fixmbr <-- followed by the HD in question from the "MAP" listing

example:
fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

That might help.
If all that fails try removing the partition altogether via setup process and making new one. That would mean loosing ALL data.

[Chaky]

correction...

If that fails, get back to the recovery console and try these, but one at the time, and exit (normal reboot) after each one:

[mikebraun]

Thx.Will give it a go