"operating system not found"

[mrrohan]

hello i have a sony vaio notebook PCG-FX150. its old P3 winME laptop. it works well until one day i tried to turn it on and it tells me operating system not found. i have tried to system recover with the CD ROM sony gave to me. i went to the BIOS and resored all default on that and still no luck. i tried opening the disc in my desktop and copied the file named restorer to a floppy and stuck that in. it was blank until i left it for 10 minutes and then it made a noise and read the floppy. it says " A:\> " and i can type whatever. i typed "restorer" nad it gives me the options to
-verbose mode
-reset improper shutdown flag
-<file name> display given file name at end of restoring

im stuck here. if anyone has any ideas of what to do from this point, or from beginning pleeease help.

i talked to sony tech chat, but it didnt help much at all.

[mrrohan]

mayeb there is something in the BIOS i can change to get it to work or read the disc properly? pleeease help

[mrrohan]

ive still been trying and got a boot file to a floppy and put it into the pc, it does just what the recovery cd does but without restarting randomly. it is stuck saying " creating a c: partition". what is a c partition?

the message i say yes to before it stops doing anything is "the hard drive is not partitioned. this utitlity creates DOS partitions and restarts your compyetr. if you see this message again it may be caused by non DOS partitions on the drive. you must delete the non DOS partitions to proceed."

i used to click yes and it would restart.
now proceed and it says creating a C: partition and hasnt moved for 30 minutes

[mrrohan]

do i need a new hard drive, i would hate that. if its last resort i will though.

does the CMOS battery have anything to do with it?

[Tweaker]

Hello mrrohan, welcome to the community.

We will need to try a few things and see if we can fix this.

Reference Information: Sony Support

Reset the BIOS to its default values.

Follow this procedure to reset the BIOS to its default values.

Restart the computer.
At the SONY screen, press the F2 key.
In the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility window, press the RIGHT ARROW key until the Exit menu is selected.
On the Exit menu, press the DOWN ARROW key until Get Default Values is selected.
Press the ENTER key.
In the Setup Confirmation dialog box, press the ENTER key.
In the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility window, on the Exit menu, press the UP ARROW key until Exit (Save Changes) is selected.
Press the ENTER key.
In the Setup Confirmation dialog box, press the ENTER key.

Ensure an active partition exists.

Follow this procedure to set an active partition.

Insert the System Recovery CD into the CD/DVD drive.
Restart the computer.
At the Welcome screen, click Cancel or press the C key.
At the A:\> prompt, type FDISK and then press ENTER.
NOTE: If FDISK reports the error Fixed Disk Not Present, there is a hardware problem and the drive partition cannot be made active until the issue is resolved.

At the Your computer has a disk larger than ... screen, press the Y key to enable large disk support.
Press the ENTER key.
At the FDISK Options screen, press the 2 key.
Press the ENTER key.
IMPORTANT: If a message is displayed that the partition is already set active, press the ESC key twice to exit FDISK and discontinue this procedure.

At the Set Active Partition screen, press the 1 key to select partition 1.
Press the ENTER key.
Press the ESC key.
Press the ESC key again to exit FDISK Options.
Remove the System Recovery CD.
Restart the computer.

Restore the Master Boot Record.

How to use the SYS command to restore the master boot record.

Follow this procedure to use the SYS command to restore the master boot record.

IMPORTANT: The System Recovery CDs for all Sony computers shipped with the Microsoft Windows Me, 2000 Professional, and XP operating systems do not include the necessary files to perform the SYS command. This is due to changes in the operating systems and in the process by which a recovery is performed. For all Sony computers shipped with the Microsoft Windows Me, 2000 Professional, and XP operating systems, perform a system recovery to restore the system files to the hard drive.

Insert the System Recovery CD into the CD/DVD drive.
Restart the computer.
At the System Recovery CD screen, press the C key.
At the command prompt, type FDISK /MBR.
Press the ENTER key.
Restart the computer.
At the System Recovery CD screen, press the C key.
At the command prompt, type SYS C:.
Press the ENTER key.
Restart the computer.

Perform a System Recovery.

How to perform a recovery with format.


Follow this procedure to perform a recovery with format.

WARNING: There is a risk of data loss. All software applications, configurations, and data added to the restored drives will be erased.

IMPORTANT: The only option available on the System Recovery CD (SRCD) is to perform a Format and Recovery. There are no options for a Recovery Without Format, Windows Only Restore, or Single File Restore (SFR).

Ensure the computer is undocked.
Connect the computer to AC power.
Insert System Recovery CD#1 into the DVD drive.
Restart the computer.
In the Recovery CD License Agreement window, press the O key for OK.
In the System Recovery CD window, press the Y key.
NOTE: All partitions will be removed and the recovery process will restore the original two partitions on the computer.

In the All data will be removed from your hard drive window, press the Y key.
In the Insert second Recovery CD window, insert System Recovery CD#2 into the DVD drive.
Press the ENTER key to continue.
When the restore is finished, remove System Recovery CD#2 from the DVD drive.
Insert System Recovery CD#1 into the DVD drive.
Press the ENTER key to continue.
In the System Recovery Complete window, remove System Recovery CD#1 from the DVD drive.
Press SPACE BAR to restart the computer.
IMPORTANT: The Application Recovery Program procedure must be used to install the application recovery modules and any additional applications. If the application recovery procedure is canceled or skipped, several programs and drivers will not be installed and many features of the system will not function properly.

NOTE: The operating system may detect and install hardware installed on the system.

In the Restart the Computer window, click the Yes button.
NOTE: The Microsoft Windows Me operating system Setup Wizard will start.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the wizard.
In the VAIO InitManager dialog box, click the Continue button.
IMPORTANT: To use the Sony utilities such as Jog Dial software, Memory Stick™ drive or the HotKeys, the VAIO InitManager must be allowed to run. If it is canceled, the VAIO InitManager will reload every time the computer is restarted until it is allowed to initialize the computer.

In the System Settings Change window, click the No button.
In the Insert Application Recovery CD Disk 1. window, insert Application Recovery CD#1 into the DVD drive.
Click the OK button.
NOTE: If the Application Recovery Program continues to prompt to insert the Application Recovery CD (ARCD), insert the disc into the CDRW drive.

In the Insert the Microsoft Word 2000 window, remove Application Recovery CD#1 from the DVD drive.
Insert the Microsoft Word 2000 CD into the CDRW drive.
Click the OK button.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
In the Restart the computer window, click the OK button.
Download and install all available driver and software updates from the Sony eSupport Web site at http://esupport.sony.com.

[mrrohan]

ok im reeeeealy thankful youre helping me by the way. ive been working on this for days non stop. i feel ive messed up so much but im not too sure. the first thing i did was reset bios values. then i went to sony support and they told me to do everything i already did. then i gave up, then i came here. as im reading this the laptop is already creating a partition, which is what it froze on before. i wish i came straight here because ive messed around a lot. okey so im about to restart the pc. i think i may have a virus but im not sure. it did freeze a lot before this problem. i used the bootdisk and got choices . help, boot with cd support, without cd support and minimal boot.

i am unable to get to the format screen because of some odd reason. it goes stright to DOS with drive a showing. i went to c and did the partitions and now it said to restart, i ctrl alt del it which i wish i shut down by holding power. now after startup i get the message saying my cdrom drive is e, which i think it used to tell me was d. i am stuck here.

i am going to retry some of the stuff you posted

thank you very much tweaker.

[mrrohan]

when im trying to restore the mbr and i do the part of sys c: it says and error.

then when i try to do it with a restore, which is all i reallyt want in the first place, it tells me drives c and d are not present and to erase all partitions and create a new c partition. i say Yes and it never stops to create c partition.

so then i restart the pc and now it says hard drive not partitioned. i must delete non DOS partitions to proceed, same message from earlier.

wow okey so now i cancel it and go to make partitions and im on set partitions screen and it says no partitions defined. no partitions to make active. does this mean im doomed?

[mrrohan]

the partition i had made earlier was a primary DOS partition. i dunno if that wanted or not. right now that seems to be all i can create.

[Tweaker]

Hold tight mrrohan, going to get some reinforcements.

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

Okay, based on one of your posts, it appears you booted using a floppy bootdisk thus the options on how to boot..

Do that again picking the option to "Start WITHOUT cd-rom support".. It will go thjrough a startup process and will end with an a:>\ prompt showing..

Now, at the a: prompt, type in "format c:" (no quotes) and press enter.. Say YES to all questions..

Once formatting is done, reboot keeping the floppy in the floppy drive.. This time, when given the options, select start WITH cd-rom support..

Again, it will begin the startup process which includes installing cd-rom drivers.. One thing you have to be careful of here is something you already noticed.. your cd-rom drive will be one letter higher than normal.. That will revert once Windows is loaded..

Once everything is loaded, put your ME cd in the drive, change to the cd-rom drive prompt (e: in this case) and type in "setup" (no quotes).. Let Windows do its thing !!

Murray

[Rich M]

I am enjoying the effort, but why did the OS disappear do you all think?
Sounds to me like we need a new hard drive here, which mrrohan asked about 3 threads back.

[Tweaker]

Originally Posted by Rich M

I am enjoying the effort, but why did the OS disappear do you all think?
Sounds to me like we need a new hard drive here, which mrrohan asked about 3 threads back.

Well Rich, before we tell mrrohan to trash his hard drive, we thought we would try something else first like good ole fashion troubleshooting.

[Murf]

Get to the A:\> prompt and type the following:

C: (hit <ENTER>)

Can you post what you see on the screen, names of files, number of files. If a file name is in a bracket [ ] then that is a directory. Do you see [windows]?????

[mrrohan]

well i went to format without cdrom support. typed format c: and then it says "format not suported on drive c. format terminated"

then the next post when u say to get to A:/ im not sure in which way u want me to but after the format c failed i am back to A;/ so im going from here.
so i put in c: and hit enter. now it says C:\>_ just like it was with A. so it just swicthed.

just for fun i typed format c in the c and it says parameter format not correct - c. i dont knwo if that means something like new drive needed or just it wouldnt wok anyways.

thank you guys a lto for helping. the laptop broke a year ago. it would freeze a lot and id have to shut it down with power button a lot. then i coulnt go into my docs. im not sure if this was at the same time or i formatted succesfully before this happened. so i did have a virus at one point. maybe that is the cause of this.

[Murray S.]

Sounds like you installed an NTFS partition on the hdd..

Try booting with the floppy again.. this time, when you get to a:> prompt, type in "fdisk" (no quotes)..

Now, use the option to remove partitions and then remove all non-DOS partitions..

Once that happens, use the option to remove the Primary DOS partition..

Reboot and go right back into fdisk.. Now, use the option to "Create a Primary DOS Partition".. say yes to all questions..

Once the Primary DOS partition has been set, use the commands I gave in my earlier post..

Murray