Please help!! "Error loading operating system!!"

Brand new computer, and I've already managed to completely screw it up..... I was trying to eliminate some of the massive amount of bloatware that comes on our sonys (I've got the BX575B 1.86ghz M), and couldn't even figure out what a lot of the software was, so I thought I'd try seeing what my options would be doing a fresh install from the recovery discs that came with it. After installing the first DVD, a window popped up, and told me that I could do a complete reinstall by restarting the computer with the DVD in the drive. I tried it, a few times, but it just did the normal install, never even spun up the dvd. Then I tried just going to "start" then "run" and going to the "F" drive and running Sony recover from there. It took me to the Sony recover window, gave me the option to do a full or C drive recover. I chose "full", clicked "OK". It starts up, then immediately gives me an error message. I close out of it. Notice that the desktop resolution is different. Then, I restart the computer. The Vaio splash page comes up, then a blank page with the words "Error loading operating system"..... ARGHHHH, NOOOOOO!!!! And that's where I am now, I can't get it to boot from the drive so I can recover.....

Is there some key that I can push during start-up that will force it to boot from the drive? Am I screwed here, am I going to have to take it to a Sony store? Any insight? Thanks so much for anything anyone can tell me.....

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There's a chance your boot order ain't right. Go into your bios (probably by hitting del, F2, F10 or whatever key) and make sure your DVD drive is the first in the boot order.

 

thanks ice, you're awesome, that was indeed the problem, and I'm restoring from the DVD right now. Probably an obvious solution, unfortunately, though I use a PC at work, we have an IT dept there for troubleshooting, and at home I've been using a mac, so there are a lot of little "obvious" things like that I'm not aware of. Time to get a reference manual.....

Thanks again, you made my night!

 

Usually there's an option that appears for a few seconds when the recovery cd/dvd is on the drive that ask whether or not you want to boot from CD/DVD. So you might not need to change the boot order. I think if you set the DVD to be the first during boot up, it might slow the process by a few seconds.