Error Loading Operating System

NamaeNamae
edited March 2007 in Hardware
I recently performed a complete system recovery on my Sony Vaio PCVRS-310 using recovery CD's that I had to burn myself. During the recovery process one of the CD's (4 of 7) would not read so I ended up skipping it. Now every time I restart the computer I get a message that says "Error Loading Operating System." I have tried running the startup recovery cd again, but the vaio recovery wizard will not load. I keep getting a message saying "Remove the cd and press ok, your system will restart from the recovery partition." I have tried resetting the BIOS and now I am in the Windows recovery console, but I have no Idea what commands I should use to troubleshoot the problem. I did notice that I have two operating systems though. One is C:\i386 and the other is C:\minint. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2007
    Some important questions:

    1) Is there any data on the computer you would hate to lose?
    2) How many partitions are on the hard drive?
    3) Did you burn the Recovery Discs when you first bought the computer, or just now?

    At first glance, the easy answer to your problem is that the unreadable Disc Four contains essential files which are preventing the computer from being able to boot on its own. It is also quite possible that enough of the restore process was completed so that it "thinks" it has already done the job and won't let you start over.

    By answering the questions above it will be easier to advise you as to the next step to take. :)
  • NamaeNamae
    edited March 2007
    Thank you for your response. I do not have any data on the computer that I need and I believe there is only one partition. When I access the Recovery Console and type in MAP it displays \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1 so I am assuming it has only one partition. I burned my recovery CD's as soon as I heard that Sony does not make them for my particular desktop. It was a while after I had purchased it, but not recently.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2007
    Many manufacturers like to stash components of the recovery data on a hidden partition on the hard drive. The fact that you had to burn seven CDs to make a complete recovery set would indicate that this is probably not the case for your computer.

    The easy way out would be to get a standard Windows CD and do a clean install from that, though this presents several problems:

    1) You current CD Key will probably not work, meaning you'd have to buy a copy of Windows.
    2) Any extra programs which came with the computer would also have to be purchased (such as MS Office, etc, if applicable), or downloaded from Sony (drivers and utilities, etc).

    If I were in your position I would look through Sony's support forums and see if you can find others in the same boat. It may also be possible to find some kind soul with the same computer who would burn you a copy of the troublesome Disc Four.

    It might be worth a shot to see if Disc Four is readable in another computer. If it only has a bad spot or two you might get lucky and be able to copy the bulk of the CD to another disc and be able to get clear through the installation process.

    Whichever route you choose, I'd zero out the drive and start from scratch. From the description of the error you're getting I doubt you have much choice.
  • NamaeNamae
    edited March 2007
    I just finished a clean install of the windows XP SP2. When it was finished installing half of the screen was black and I could'nt figure out what was wrong, probably something with the resolution. Out of frustration I tried loading the recovery cd's again and I got it to work this time. I was curious if this is going to cause any problems in the future or if I can uninstall the Windows XP SP2 without causing any problems and just use the recovery cd's again. Are there now two operating systems on my pc?
Sign In or Register to comment.