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Vaio Laptop won't boot from USB and my CD-ROM drive is dead

E

ericboo

Golden Member
I wanted to reinstall XP on my Vaio laptop V505 but my built in CD-RW is dead. I bought an external DVD/RW but I can only boot from floppy, CD-ROM, network or hard drive and I cannot find any updated bios at all, much less one that supports USB boot.

Kids spilled water on it a few months ago but only recently has it stopped working.

It is a model PCGV505BX.

Help!
 
Laptop is way too old for RMA. I just realized I do have a laptop drive to IDE converter, so thanks for reminding me that I can just reformat and copy over the install CD to the drive in my desktop. I will just keep my external DVD burner. A dual layer drive for $60 can't be beat.
 
Ick. Dell is best avoided.
It's not too hard to procure an optical drive for a laptop on eBay. Unless youv'e got one of those extra-small Sony laptops, they should work just fine.
 
Originally posted by: ericboo
Laptop is way too old for RMA. I just realized I do have a laptop drive to IDE converter, so thanks for reminding me that I can just reformat and copy over the install CD to the drive in my desktop. I will just keep my external DVD burner. A dual layer drive for $60 can't be beat.
Click to expand...

I dont know if that would work.
I had exactly the same problem

I copied tbe Xp CD to the HDD which I hooked up to a regular PC, copied over the XP install disc. But when I booted to dos and tried to run it, it wouldnt allow me to run it?
Maybe I wasnt botting correctly, but its very hard when it cannot even boot froma USB floppy.

I tried to install windows but hooking up the laptop HDD to my PC and using it to isntall XP on to the Laptop HDD up until first reboot. Took it out of the PC and back into my laptop and it would not boot propertly to complete the rest of the installation.

I had to get a friends Vaio V505 and put my hdd into that, install Windows up until first reboot, put it back in my V505 laptop to complete the install. That worked!

So... its a hassle to get WIndows reinstalled without another V505...

unless they come up with a BIOS that allows boot from USB...

I have a DELL now, much much better
 
If you can get the drive connected somewhere else there might be a solution. Connect your hard drive to another computer and install windows there. If you just move it to the laptop it is not gonna work since the drivers are different. Here is where a free program called "sysprep" comes in handy. This program erases all the drivers from the system and next time it boots you get the windows installing/configuration screen. So once you install windows on the hard drive on another computer, run sysprep. The pc will shut down, you will take the disk out and put it in your laptop. Turn it on, and it should work.

Philip
 
My real problem is that I don't have the OEM XP disk, but rather a recovery CD set. I could do a fresh install from an XP CD by copying over the an XP CD to the hard drive, but that does not solve I guess it is all I can do though, unless Sony gets back to me with an actual part# to order instead of telling me to send it to an authorized repair center.
 
This sys prep is very interesting!
I might try this next time I need to reformat🙂 sounds very good..

as for sony.. they suck .. they are charging me $600 AUD to change over the drive.

As a BIOS that doesnt boot from USB is plain stupid
 
I am not familiar with the V505 but most laptops use generic CDRW or even DVDRW drives. Can't you go and buy one from newegg or another place? If not, check ebay.... Many people sell dead laptops and you could buy one for cheap and use its CDRW and keep the rest for spare parts!
 
I was just checking Newegg and was wondering if you can buy a generic drive. Sony quoted me $323 for a replacement combo drive. NOT!
 
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