souvik1997 wrote:
Did you try reformatting the HDD? If that doesn't work, try resetting the BIOS settings.
It sounds like a crashing hard drive rather than a corrupted hard drive to me; ie, one that is rapidly degrading and will soon suffer a full-blown head crash.
KermMartian wrote:
souvik1997 wrote:
Did you try reformatting the HDD? If that doesn't work, try resetting the BIOS settings.
It sounds like a crashing hard drive rather than a corrupted hard drive to me; ie, one that is rapidly degrading and will soon suffer a full-blown head crash.
Won't that get rid of my OS as well? This version of Windows came preinstalled, and I have no restore disk. I was in the process of restoring to factory settings when it blue screened again. The only programs running were the factory defaults.
Main question: if I format the drive will I still have windows?
No, you will have to reinstall Windows.
souvik1997 wrote:
No, you will have to reinstall Windows.
Figured, but since I don't have an install disk, how do I keep this legal?
Locate a copy of the Windows installer that matches the version that your licence is for and use that along with your key which should be stuck to your computer somewhere.
benryves wrote:
Locate a copy of the Windows installer that matches the version that your licence is for and use that along with your key which should be stuck to your computer somewhere.
Hate being a noob, but where would I find an installer that matches my version. The only thing I could think of would be torrenting or something of that nature.
You probably wouldn't be able to find your version since Windows was factory installed.
souvik1997 wrote:
You probably wouldn't be able to find your version since Windows was factory installed.
I was actually thinking about something like this. I got the computer in June-July if that helps.
Call the support phone number and see if your computer is under warranty. If it is, you might be able to reinstall Windows at no additional cost.
Once again, it sounds like your physical hard drive hardware is crashing. You can't fix that by reinstalling, by formatting, or by wiping the drive. You can fix it by getting a new hard drive, which unfortunately does indeed require you to either have restore media or an OEM disk of some sort.
KermMartian wrote:
Once again, it sounds like your physical hard drive hardware is crashing. You can't fix that by reinstalling, by formatting, or by wiping the drive. You can fix it by getting a new hard drive, which unfortunately does indeed require you to either have restore media or an OEM disk of some sort.
And I doubt a new drive is covered by warranty, which I still don't know if I have yet.
I could create a restore disk by just writing the installer into a disk, right? Then I would switch out the drives (I would certainly need a bit of guidance here), pop in the disk, and install Windows. Sounds easy enough so far, correct me if I'm wrong.
xXEpicxXXxFailXx wrote:
KermMartian wrote:
Once again, it sounds like your physical hard drive hardware is crashing. You can't fix that by reinstalling, by formatting, or by wiping the drive. You can fix it by getting a new hard drive, which unfortunately does indeed require you to either have restore media or an OEM disk of some sort.
And I doubt a new drive is covered by warranty, which I still don't know if I have yet.
I could create a restore disk by just writing the installer into a disk, right? Then I would switch out the drives (I would certainly need a bit of guidance here), pop in the disk, and install Windows. Sounds easy enough so far, correct me if I'm wrong.
You computer should have come with a reinstallation disc for windows. :/
As Sonlen says, you need a reinstallation disk. If you really knew what you were doing, you might be able to copy the recovery partition to a DVD, then image it onto your new disk, but it would take a lot of precision.
Sonlen wrote:
You computer should have come with a reinstallation disc for windows. :/
In an ideal world, yes. In the real one, sadly not (all Dell machines I've used come with a plain Windows installation CD, as did one Compaq; an hp just had a recovery DVD (so it reinstalls all the shovelware rather than a clean copy of Windows) and my sister's Acer laptop forced her to burn her own recovery discs, which took two DVDs).
OEM keys are often tied to OEM-specific installation media, too, so an installer for the same version of Windows may not work if it's from a different manufacturer (alternatively, it may - I'm not sure if there's any way to find out). An OEM key will likely not work with a retail copy of Windows, either.
If you contact the manufacturer you may be able to acquire a Windows installation CD or DVD for a small fee.
benryves wrote:
[...]If you contact the manufacturer you may be able to acquire a Windows installation CD or DVD for a small fee.
That really really bugs me, that one often has to pay a fee for that now. And even when you don't need to pay a fee, there are caveats. For example, my HP laptop made me un-uninstall the bloatware DVD burning software they had included in order to burn recovery disks based on my recovery partition; it would accept neither a third-party burning software nor me installing a fresh copy of the particular software from the software company's site. :/
Thank you all for the assistance, I appreciate it. I plan on contacting the manufacturer as soon as I get enough free time. One final question, what could of caused this? I didn't really do anything I hadn't done on any of my other computers, and if I am doing something wrong I want to stop it now.
xXEpicxXXxFailXx wrote:
Thank you all for the assistance, I appreciate it. I plan on contacting the manufacturer as soon as I get enough free time. One final question, what could of caused this? I didn't really do anything I hadn't done on any of my other computers, and if I am doing something wrong I want to stop it now.
It's a laptop, right? Are you always careful about not moving it when it is on, or if you have to, moving it very gently? Rotation, jars and bumps and thumps, and all that fun stuff can severely shorten your hard drive's lifetime. If you're always careful with it, then it could be a defective drive.
KermMartian wrote:
xXEpicxXXxFailXx wrote:
Thank you all for the assistance, I appreciate it. I plan on contacting the manufacturer as soon as I get enough free time. One final question, what could of caused this? I didn't really do anything I hadn't done on any of my other computers, and if I am doing something wrong I want to stop it now.
It's a laptop, right? Are you always careful about not moving it when it is on, or if you have to, moving it very gently? Rotation, jars and bumps and thumps, and all that fun stuff can severely shorten your hard drive's lifetime. If you're always careful with it, then it could be a defective drive.
Yes, laptop. I am very careful with it, but my family also uses it, and they are computer 'tards', if you will. I always set my laptop on my lap and sit down somewhere when I use it. My family had a netbook and always carried it by its screen because of its small size and durability, so they once picked up my 7 pound laptop like that, and I was pissed for quite a while. Lately, the laptop was making new sounds while touching or pressing on certain spots, such as creeks and a minuscule amount of static coming from the bottom, not to mention the battery case was felling a little loose.
My friend found a 500 GB internal hard drive that he says will work with Vaio for $60, and I believe I'm going to buy that one.
Make sure that they have the same interface (SATA and SATA or PATA (IDE) and PATA). I'd be happy to double-check if you want to point me to the link for the hard drive.
KermMartian wrote:
Make sure that they have the same interface (SATA and SATA or PATA (IDE) and PATA). I'd be happy to double-check if you want to point me to the link for the hard drive.
Thank you very much, Kerm.
Here is a link to it on Bestbuy.
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