Laptop HDD

[boofhead]

Sony viao hard drive crashed. Bought a new one, also the set up disks from Sony. But they don't work, they say they cannot see the hard drive, or it has no Volume to select during the setup process.
Bios sees a hard drive, right size, but even trying to load a copy of XP does not work, fatal error, windows shuts down to prevent further damage.
Might be no partition? Drive not formatted?
Anybody had this problem?

[mixture]

Might be no partition? Drive not formatted?


Nope ... the boot 'n' fix CDs will wipe and format your drive as per the manufacturers pre-configured partitioning scheme.

The problem is more likely that your CDs are a little old and are lacking drivers to suit the new drive (did you perhaps buy a drive of a significantly larger capacity than the old ?)

[boofhead]

No, same capacity and same type, similar brand name. It was cheaper than I expected, because I bought it from an office supply store, but should be good quality. I was afraid it might not be one that Sony approves, or maybe they only allow their own drives to be used, but the one that came out was not marked as a Sony so that should not be the case. Maybe it is faulty, and my next step is to take it back for an exchange, if I can find the receipt.
I tried loading a copy of Windows 98, as well as a copy of XP, neither of which would load because they both said the drive was faulty, or at least that they could not read it.
The discs came directly from Sony and just received so they are up to date.
I guess the obvious answer is that the drive is faulty in some way...

[Milo Minderbinder]

wrong setup disks for the machine
Presumably its a SATA drive? WinXP setup disks (except very late ones with service pack 3 integrated) don't contain the drivers to enable the SATA connection during setup. They have to be loaded via a floppy during the early stages of setup by using the F6 routine.. And it needs to be a "real" floppy drive - USB ones don't work
I'll guess that Sony machine does not have a floppy drive - in which case you're scuppered. You need to get the correct disks for the model, and they'll probably be a recovery image CD, NOT a windows setup CD
You need to speak to whoever mis-sold you the windows setup disk, and get it swapped for the correct one

[boofhead]

Was nothing wrong with the drive or the setup disks. It was finger trouble.
The choices I had when I started the program were to diagnose the system, a button to click and a description of what it did, and another button to reformat and set up the original programs on the C drive, including an explanation of what would happen, which I pressed and got nowhere, because the drive letter was not found.
And a small check box labeled "skip" with no explanation.
So I skipped, and the program ran, reformating and loading all that my tiny little shrivelled heart could desire.
I hate computers.

[Milo Minderbinder]

the C: drive wouldn't be found as it hadn't been created through formatting.