VAIO VGN-B3VP CAN'T BOOT FROM CD

[ria123]

Hi, my cd/dvd (MATSHITA UJ-840D) is dead . Is there a way to boot from an external usb cd or from my pcmcia sony cd (pcga-cd51/A) cause I want to make a clean install of windows xp or is there another way to do it directly from hard disk?

Thank you in advance

Ria

[Blencogo]

Hi Ria and welcome to Club Vaio.

I am unsure if your Model has the HDDR Recovery Partition. Check by going to Start -> Right-click My Computer -> Manage > Disc Management. Can you see a Recovert Partiton listed? If it is then you can reinstall the original version of Windows by going to Start -> All Programs -> Vaio Recovery Tool -> Vaio Recovery Utility and choose a full recovery or just a drive C:\ recovery. Alternatively you can carry out a full resoration to factory settings by tapping F10 during the boot sequence.

I think it will only boot from a USB Sony Floppy Disc Drive (you know the 1.44MB 3.5 inch discs).
Some Vaios will boot from a PCMCIA CD-ROM but you will have to look in the BIOS (Tap F2 during boot) to see if it is supported in the 'Boot Order'. If it is there you may have to change the boot order to get it to work.

You may find the easiest way is simply to replace the Optical Drive. It is only a five minute job - you just remove two screws and slide it out. Like this: -



Do not get another Matshita, try to get a Panasonic Drive because the faceplate that exactly fits the shape of your Vaio can usually be transferred from the old drive.

[Blencogo]

Hi Ria,

Just an afterthought - what is wrong with your CD/DVD drive?

If it has stopped working completely, go to Device Manager (Start -> Right-click My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager).

Double-click on DVD/CD-ROM Drives and see if your Matshita (the name says it all really) Drive has a yellow warning triangle with a !. If it does, double click on the drive and see if there is an error code. If there is a Code number like 19, 31, 32, 39 or 41 come back here and we can probably fix the drive fairly easily.

[ria123]

Thank you very much for your replies. I realized entering bios setup that this model can boot from cd or floppy no pcmcia. No yellow marks in device manager. The problem was that it couldn't read most cd and dvd and no blank dvds. Finally I tried to clean the lens with a cotton bud for ears and clean alcohol and it seems to work fine.

Thanks again
Ria