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    VAIO BIOS setup - How to boot from CD-ROM Drive?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by rodrigt, Jun 3, 2008.

  1. rodrigt

    rodrigt Newbie

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    Help please. My oldie VAIO laptop (PCG-GR390) won't accept BIOS changes to boot from the CD-ROM Drive, any suggestions? Here is what I've tried without success.

    When I attempt to make/save a change it shows "!CD-ROM Drive" (placed of course at the top of the list), as compared with "+Hard Drive" for the main boot; thus I interpret the exclamation mark as a warning that the change won't work - and it doesn't. Sony Live Chat techs (2) claim that 'Advanced BIOS setting' is not supported, which I find hard to believe - not being possible to boot from a CD. The Sony website offers SOA7C03NBL.EXE as a BIOS update for this model, but doesn't explain what it does and I am paranoid about possibly killing the machine installing a BIOS update that perhaps I don't want (after having painfully solved flaky-keyboard Sony gremlins on this machine). Support via email (3 attempts) fails to explain the purpose of that upgrade - oh surprise.

    Thanks!
     
    rodrigt, Jun 3, 2008
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  2. KarenA

    KarenA Notebook Evangelist

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    Last night I can't boot from CD too, I am using SZ though, but I'll tell you what I've done to make it works.

    1. Re-create and burn the boot DVD.
    2. Put the CD in the DVD tray.
    3. Press F2 during the Sony Vaio logo, reset to default values, save and exit.

    It should automatically boot from the DVD the next time you restart.
     
    KarenA, Jun 3, 2008
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  3. rodrigt

    rodrigt Newbie

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    KarenA thanks. That is almost exactly what I had tried on my oldie PCG-GR390 model (bought in early 2002), please read on.

    For additional info that may be useful for helping me correct this problem:
    There are two reasons I want to boot from the CD drive. One is boot from a 'live CD' to use Puppy Linux (runs virtual in RAM, www.puppylinux.com). Second is for being able to reinstate a 'C: Drive image' in case of disaster (for wich I use www.acronis.com).

    So far I've tried the Puppy Linux CD that worked perfectly on my two older PCs, but failed on the VAIO laptop. (I'm determined to extend the life of my machines to avoid VISTA and wait for Windows 9, or whatever the new Microsoft marvel will be called - unless I completely migrate to Linux by then, but that's another topic!)

    Help anyone?
     
    rodrigt, Jun 3, 2008
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