XP Recovery from HDD fails with "Insert System Recovery Disk 2"

[AndyWallace]

Hi - hope someone can help me, I've been trawling for hours (come on Sony, fix the forum search!)

I'm trying to recover a VGN-FS315E notebook, using the F10 recovery option from the HDD recovery partition. All seems to go well until about 26% of the C drive is recovered, then the utility stops and asks for

Insert "System Recovery Disk 2" and click [OK]

I don't have any recovery disks, I'm sure none came with the PC, and it's my belief that all the data should already be on the HDD. Anyone got any ideas - or is this Vaio going to be Ubuntu'd ?

Many thanks
Andy

[Blencogo]

Hi Andy and welcome.

Three Questions:-
When running F10 are you choosing the 'Complete Recovery' option?
Do you still have the original Sony OEM version of XP installed? If not what OS do you have installed?
Have you tried clicking OK when you get the prompt asking for Disc 2?

It doesn't sound too encouraging but there are a few things you can try: -

A. Reset the BIOS Defailts and try F10 again.
1. Turn on your VAIO.
2. When you see the Sony logo, press F2 several times.
3. You will get the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility window.
4. Press F9 to get default values and then press ENTER to confirm.
5. Press F10 to save changes and exit and then press ENTER to confirm.
6. You have restored the default values and your VAIO will now restart.

B. If you have the original OS installed you can make the two Recovery Discs.
Start -> All Programs -> Vaio Recovery Tool -> Vaio Recovery Utility
and choose to make a Media Recovery Kit.

C. If you have the original OS installed you can run the recovery from within Windows:
Start -> All Programs -> Vaio Recovery Tool -> Vaio Recovery Utility
and choose to carry out a Compete Recovery to factory settings.

If these fail then you can either buy a recovery disc set from Sony Support for about £45 or, as you say, go Ubuntu.

[AndyWallace]

Thanks for your quick reply. It's as I feared - I installed a linux liveCD and was able to mount the recovery partition. The recovery .ini file specifies a number of files that are required - only the first batch are on the partition, the ones tagged as being on CD2..CD4 or DVD2 are all missing - so the recovery partition is obviously just a bootable copy of CD1, not a full recovery partition at all. The previous attempts at full/partial recovery have completely messed up the C and D partitions, no sign of any windaz files at all.

This notebook was being used long-term by a friend, they had no data of merit on it so it's more of an annoyance more than anything else. I'll have a go at a fresh XP install, hope it accepts the key on the sticker underneath the PC! I'd love to introduce my friend to Linux, but it will probably involve me in in a period of intensive support so if I can get XP running it's easier for me.

Once again, thanks for your help
Andy