Sony Vaio "Missing operating system" and cant get an "A:\" prompt

[Sp0iler]

A friend has asked that I look at his Vaio that has lost its operating system
(Win ME).It came with a Usb cd-rom and the vaio recovery disk.It works well on another machine runing windows.Is the Usb port recognized before windows starts???? I brought an external usb floppy from work but that didnt get me in either.I accessed the bios (F/2) and it sees the hardrive.Im just unable to get an "A:\" prompt no matter what I do.How do you go about getting access to the hardrive on one of these things.Perhaps some kind of access card for the reader??
Thanks for any thoughts or help.

[zoltaaaan]

I'm guessing that if you're using an USB floppy drive, the address wouldn't be A:\ but something after C:\

[Sp0iler]

I cant seem to get the computer to recognize anything pluged into the usb port.Is the port only active under windows or should the bios load the support needed to read the usb port before windows starts?The computer at this point acts as if the port is only seen when running windows.If thats the case then that would explain why I cant get in through the usb port.I think at this point I need some sort of hookup to\through the card reader.I've seen a newer cd-rom that hooks up through the reader and I'll bet thats the trick.Any thoughts???
Thanks again.

[JimP]

Hi, I haven't had to do this for a while so my explanation may not be 100%. I Took a 98 (or ME) Start Up Floppy. Burned a bootable CD on another Comp using Roxio/Adaptec. Copied the floppy to the cd. Used the AUTOEXEC.BAT file from the floppy when the burner asked for it. Nero does the same trick and probably all other decent burners. Also used a RW CD and copied it to an R when I got it right. Saves CDs. Now you have a Bootable CD that is the same as the floppy. That is if the dead COMP can boot a CD. Good Luck, Jim

[Kevin_gibson]

Try tapping F5 / F8 during boot up, and choose command prompt.

Best thing then to do is go through the drive letters i.e A: (enter) after, if it drops to an a: type in "DIR" if this list anything, then this is showing the A drive, same with any others etc etc.

[TopFarmer]

enter the bios and look in the boot order, check if it lists 'boot from USB device'.

Go to Sony's help web site and it should tell you have to use recovery cd, some place.

[Sp0iler]

Thanks for the ideas.I think the recovery disk would work if I could get the machine to see the Usb cd-rom.It does'nt show up in the bios at start up.In bios Im offered to start with:atapi cd,removable drive,or hard drive.Nothing about a USB connection .The machine just wont see the USB attached cd-rom.Again,the cd-rom works well when pluged into a good running machine so no problem found with the rom itself.I think we'll try getting a cd-rom that works off the card bus slot and see if that works for us.I have my doubts but Im lost as to how to get into this machine.
Keep the thoughts coming.
thanks again,
Sp0iler

[TopFarmer]

If you have not go to Sony help site.
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/select...6,66,9,70,5,72

If you post the model NO. and series some one my know.
You do have the USB turn on in bios.

[MoonGoddess]

Hi. I just had a problem with my Sony Vaio Laptop purchased within the past 2 years and hardly used. I turned it on after using it for a few minutes the night before and within 5 minutes of it being turned on the screen went blue or black and had a message that let me know that it Windows was shutting down to avoid further damage to me computer. WHAT!?! When I turned it on again, it wouldn't go past the Sony Vaio page and would just have a black screen with "Missing Operating System" on the top left corner. The Vaio hadn't come with any backup or recovery CD's. Spoke with computer gurus & finally sent my laptop off with one who said the C drive was completely gone, but he would set up my D drive for me. He worked on that for a while and there was a tiny (6MB? or something like that) drive he mentioned to me that he couldn't get in to or figure out how to. Today, he called and said it was the "recovery" drive! HURRAY! The way to activate it is to push F10. It is now redoing my missing C drive that was there all along. Apparently, Sony has also not been upgrading any of the software, etc. even though I had registered my laptop. Hope this helps any of you with this problem.

[sohappy]

I just wanted to say thanks for the information to the previous poster. I had the same problem with my Sony Vaio and was hunting around on the internet for some possible answers. I read your post and it was exactly what was happening with my laptop. So I tried your suggestion and it worked!!! After going through the steps it works again.Thanks.