topic Factory reset without recovery partition in PCs & Accessories

Factory reset without recovery partition

mikaelkarl — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 13:23:40 GMT

I have formatted the complete HD. Is it possible to buy a CD/DVD with the same software package as I had in the recovery partition?

If not, how shall I do to install from a Windows XP Professional DVD?

Factory reset without recovery partition

Blencogo — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:12:30 GMT

What model Vaio do you have?

You should be able to purchase a set of Recovery Discs from Vaio Support.

To install XP, I need to know if you have an ATA100 or a SATA Drive.

Factory reset without recovery partition

mikaelkarl — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:08:20 GMT

It's a VGN-FZ29VN and it has an ATA drive. When I try to install Win XP I get an error message saying that the HD can't be found even though I have a primary partition C:.

Factory reset without recovery partition

Blencogo — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:18:44 GMT

You have a SATA drive and that is causing your problem.

XP does not generically support SATA so you have to install the SATA driver during the XP install by pressing F6 and installing the SATA driver from a floppy disc drive: -

http://www.alexnolan.net/articles/installxpsata.htm

Alternatively you can slipstream the install by creating an installation disc using nLite: -

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/

Factory reset without recovery partition

mikaelkarl — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:07:56 GMT

As I wrote, I have a serial ATA drive, not a SATA.

Factory reset without recovery partition

Blencogo — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:46:22 GMT

SATA stands for Serial ATA - the two are exactly the same.

Look at the specifications for your model here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/specifications/index.aspx?m=VGN-FZ29VN&l=en_GB

:smileygrin: