Sony VAIO with Vista - missing operating system, please help

[Lpspider]

For the past few months my Sony VAIO with Home Premuim Vista has been blue screening. Now it says "Missing operating system".

What is causing this, but more importantly how to do get rid of it? I have a copy of most of my files, so if necessary I can reinstall vista, but I dont' know how from the blue screen. I don't have a Vista disk, it came preinstalled on the Sony VAIO.

Please help.

Thanks,

[AnnMarie]

I have a copy of most of my files, so if necessary I can reinstall vista

How do you reinstall Vista on a Sony Vaio without a Vista disk? Have you spoken to the retailer that sold you the machine?

Bluescreens are usually hardware issues Lpspider. Is this laptop still covered by a warranty?

[Lpspider]

How do you reinstall Vista on a Sony Vaio without a Vista disk? Have you spoken to the retailer that sold you the machine?

Bluescreens are usually hardware issues Lpspider. Is this laptop still covered by a warranty?

I was told by someone who works in IT that there's a way to somehow prompt the computer to reinstall the operating system to the state it was originally.

I have not spoken to the retailer and I'm finding very limited support of Sony's website.

I was told by the same person above that it was likely there was a problem when the software was originally installed that caused the blue screen.... maybe not. It's covered for another six months, yes.

[Lpspider]

I suppose what I really want to know is if I can fix this myself without professional help; and if so, how might I do so.

[AnnMarie]

Yes I understand that but we would need a lot more information than a "blue screen" to help diagnose what the issue might be and as you cant boot it now, unless you can remember the error message word for word, we wouldnt have a clue where to start. I really think you should talk to the retailer. If you do have a warranty in place, you may void it by attempting to fix it yourself.

[stalechips2000]

If i were you, Just send the laptop to Sony so that they can fix it for you.It may be a long wait, but it's the easy way out.

[Jazzgirl]

I would definitely contact Sony since it is still under warranty. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a hardware problem (hard drive?) but they ought to be able to direct you to the diagnostic utilities to be able to determine if it is a hardware problem. Sony should also be able to tell you how to recover or reinstall the Windows software. Don't wait. Call them. :-)