Member Avatar for mlevinsohn

Sony Vaio PCV-7762 desktop

My computer died. Kept trying to boot kept going in a circle. Tried the System Recovery CD #1 which was shipped with the computer. I got a blue screen with white letters.
"This program could not find a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive for your system. The explanation for this could be one of the following:
1. The recovery CD is not for this system 2.The drive is not a Sony drive. 3. The CD drive is in the drive bay of docking station"

I pulled the HD and put in a new hard drive. Tried the System Recovery CD #1.
"Diskette Drive B: None, Pri Master Disk: None, Pri Slave None, Sec. Master Disk: CD-Rom, UDMA 2, Sec. Slave disk CD-Rom, mode 4, Parallel ports 378

and PCI device listing

and then the above mentioned blue screen.

Is There a way to restore this computer?

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A few clarifying points tied to the thread: reports a BIOS that shows no primary hard disk and a recovery DVD that aborts saying it cannot find the CD/DVD device. That symptom set almost always points to hardware/BIOS detection or to the recovery environment lacking the right storage/optical drivers (XP-era installers need third‑party mass‑storage drivers or a compatibility mode). Microsoft documents the F6/driver limitation for XP setup and many guides note that AHCI/RAID modes will stop an XP/old OEM recovery environment from seeing drives. ()

’s “manufacturer flashes the HDD” idea is misleading. OEMs usually create a hidden recovery partition or ship model‑specific recovery media — they do not permanently “brand” a drive in the hardware sense. Many manufacturers explicitly state their recovery discs are only for the original system. If the recovery partition/discs are gone or unusable, the vendor often provides recovery media (sometimes for a fee). (manualzilla.com)

Practical troubleshooting steps (apply in order):

  • Confirm the new HDD appears in BIOS/POST; if it shows “None,” check power and data cables, try another SATA/PATA port, and verify jumper settings on PATA drives. (studylib.net)
  • If BIOS sees the drive but recovery still fails, change SATA mode to IDE/Compatibility/ATA (or load the OEM SATA/AHCI driver during setup via F6 or by slipstreaming drivers into the install media). ()
  • Try the recovery discs in another PC or try a different optical drive (confirm the discs themselves are good).
  • If those fail, install from a retail Windows XP/installation disc, then add VAIO drivers/apps (this is often the fastest fallback). (sony-latin.com)

If none of the above works and the recovery media remains model‑locked or damaged, order official VAIO recovery media through Sony’s distribution service. (support.us.vaio.com)

Notes: the easiest fix in many cases is making the drive visible to the recovery environment (BIOS cabling/port or switching SATA mode). ’s suggestion to use a full installation disc is a valid and practical fallback when OEM recovery media will not run.

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Member Avatar for jezza70

It sounds like the first HDD is dead, and then you have tried to sub in a new HDD, and use the recovery discs to load the OS. The problem with this is that the manufacturer flashes the HDD's with their own "imprint" prior to loading the OEM OS.
The recovery disk will not work on the new HDD unless you get the manufacturer to flash the new HDD. Most charge between $100-$150 plus freight to do this.
Sorry.......

Member Avatar for donkey_pasta

I think what Jezza70 is saying is that you need to install the operating system from a full installation disc, not a recovery disc.

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