VAIO VGN-FW51MF recovery discs not working

Hello everyone!

Firstly i would like to introduce you a bit in my problem. I got BSODs, bu usually when gaming on my laptop sometimes when its idle, or went to sleep/hibernate and sometimes just randomly in the middle of anything. Ok so i cleaned the dust, Bsods stopped in games, heat issue i guess. But the rest remained. I tried a lot of stuff, a stress tested CPU and other hardware with different tools and everything is just fine, so i decided to use my recovery disks, which i created when computer just came. And with no luck, when i try try format C drive it shows error : "Could not obtain a recovery drive letter". The thing is that i have basically 4 partitions on the laptop (500gb total memory) ad these are: hidden partition=about 10-12 gb. C partition=60gb and 2 more. Now the question is how can i erase ONLY C partition and reinstall my windows 7 ( HP x64) without harming the others....

 

Welcome to NBR.
When the computer is booting hit F10, that will bring up the Recovery Center and options to reload the OS as you desire. One of the options should be for only C: drive.
Keep in mind that puts the factory image back into place (like when received it from Sony), will need back-ups of your various apps or the software you have loaded. Also Windows Updates will be required. Yes, it will have the programs and other items Sony loads on the systems - often referred to as bloatware.

 

Well i understand that, and i did that also through the F10 but i get the same error "Could not obtain a recovery drive letter"...thats the problem and i dont really want the backup of software that was installed by me, because it might be actually the problem, all i see right now is to reinstall C: partition and make a fresh start, basically i have back up the settings of all my programs on the other partitions, so setting them up again wont be a problem it will just take a couple of hours to reinstall. But anyway I'm open for any kind of recommendations, probably someone of you know much better way to do it.

P.S right now I'm in clean boot and will leave it for hours now, if i will get BSOD, then reinstall is preferable, if everything will be OK, then will try to isolate service that causing that...will keep You informed.

 

Just got back and found the computer with frozen desktop and dimmed display...in clean boot, then i guess its something in system itself or drivers, but i checked them all....and got no errors...please help!

 

Beginning to sound like you have a failing hard drive. Can you boot into windows to run check disk?
If it won't/can't reload from F10 and Recovery DVDs don't work and now you're getting lock-ups. Suggest highly you back-up any data you have on there, run check disk and see what it tells you.

 

The interesting thing is that i ran check disk not once and with /chck disk and with vaio hardware scan....everything is normal.

Check disk also did in the system itself, like from properties option and as a scheduled chesck before boot, the one thing which is odd though, i cannot ANYHOW run /sfc scan now, not in windows mode, note from any other CD ( vista installation cd in recovery environment, in windows 7 RE)

 

Any current BSODs and more importantly some of the code numbers from them?
Since have the Vaio software loaded are all the drivers for the system up to date?
Have you tried the Installation DVD (you mention above) and tried the repair options?

 

the last BSOD code:
- System

- Provider

[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}

EventID 41

Version 2

Level 1

Task 63

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2011-04-18T19:27:52.090820400Z

EventRecordID 219549

Correlation

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8

Channel System

Computer SONY-VAIO

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-18


- EventData

BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0


Yes i updated what i could, checked then manually on the esupport page on my laptops model page. But i removed most of the software long time ago, only left Vaio control center and event service - thats all.
And yes i ran Startup Repair from installation CD. And unfortunately i dont have an backup image of system, but i promise to myself i will do it as i deal with this problem

 

Another option what i thought about could be this: I need a clean installation DVD of Windows 7 home premium OEM with no activators or any other additional thing inside, then i can just wipe the partition and install clean windows and use then my activation code underneath the laptop

 

Here's the link for downloading win7:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html
From checking your error code numerous cases report to audio drivers - has it always done this or just recently after some updates?
Believe your plan to re-load the OS is your best bet.

 

I also noticed right now and already started defrag process of C drive, it was 1% fragmented, can it cause the random BSODs???

Defragmentation is done with windows feature

 

Audio drivers...u know there is a story behind it, when i install original last version of realtek drivers , everything is messed, WMP does open any file, another players ( VLC BSplayer and Winamp) randomly open files when i changed settings a bit, but the strange thing is that all of the players can lay files with different settings, some will play with Realtek High Definition Audio Device, some with other settings like DirectWave.....

 

Normally BSODs are hardware related - something has been updated (drivers) or some other mod/upgrade that is causing the issue?
Any upgrades recently - i.e. more RAM etc
Any Driver updates you remember doing? (audio, video card etc)

 

OK posted while I was typing - source of the Audio Drivers?

 

Audio Drivers - should be two under the Device Manager for your system:
Realtek Audio Driver & ATI HDMI driver
See if any yellow triangles with a ! mark inside on any of your devices.
If remember an issue, download from Sony the original drivers for your model, then uninstall both of those drivers, re-boot and install the original drivers. Re-boot again and see if that solves your freezing/BSOD issues.

 

Drivers yes- that was the first thing i was trying to find/change/update and so on...ok i tried original factory video card drivers and new last ones, nothing changed after both tryouts. Audio drivers installed by system when i made re-boot. Just Automatically found everything and installed, in device manager i do not have ATI HDMI driver and no Realtek Audio driver, but instead 2x "High Definition Audio Device" and "Bluetooth hands-free Audio"

 

A small question btw my model number is VGN-FW51MF and i was bought in UK,but the EU esupport page dont have this mdoel only VGN-FW51MF/H

 

From looking thru a couple of models (to include earlier versions of the FW) - these are pretty standard drivers for the audio. Link:
Sony eSupport - VGN-FW510F - Software Updates & Drivers

Just ensure pick the right OS (Assuming 64 bit)

 

I think it's the same. The "/H" is just a code for the color

 

Hi again, well u know laptop stayed idle, just was downloading the image of windows 7 from the link posted above....and everything went fine,although i turned off sleep and hibernate, it finished download, and stayed idle for some hours...absolutely fine....i will try now to reinstall audio and HDMi drivers and see what happens, will keep you updated

 

OK, instelled them, got no more sound....tryed to adjust players manually - no luck, uninstalled drivers, rebooted, camputer again found anotherones and installed. Sound appeared again, and everything is fine. Now just will be waiting for something to appear, in case i report here immediately.

 

Odd, is this the factory install of the OS or did you clean install the OS after you purchased the system?
The two original drivers should work - picking up 2x Audio drivers was one of the primary reasons for BSODs when searching your error code.
You say they install, (the Sony original drivers), but then you have no sound?

 

Exactly! I got computer with the OS already installed, all i did when i first turned on computer - i made recovery disks...it was more than 1 year ago....since then, a was ofcourse updating drivers occasionally, but not too much, then about 3 weeks ago started BSODs appear not only in games, but when im on desktop and doing any other random thing in laptop, and i have feeling that a program named DriverGenious caused it when installed new drivers,the thing is that almost any guide to prevent BSODs says to update all drivers, thats what i did, but not manually, and i guess something wrong was installed, or uninstalled...Basically i tried to remove some drivers that this program installed, because they were pretty useless, nonetheless BSODs continued to appear...for now its more than one day without BSODs, this suprisingly happened after C drive defragmentation and setting Sleep/Hibernate modes to NEVER.

Now i think i might reinstall driverGenious and try to scan system for drivers and uninstall the ones that were installed by this program. I will try deleting audio drivers from within this program maybe then original sony drivers will set up normally...

 

It is really getting more ironic....I installed driverGenious again and made it to find outdated drivers or drivers that needs to be fixed......and guess which driver showed up? Realtek High Definition Audio Drivers....will try to update...lets ee what happens

 

Well I just dont believe what i am saying right now, but i traied AGAIN to install Realtek drivers R.2.48 and they worked like charm! Just needed to change setting in 2 players, the rest windows default sounds works perfectly...right now i can just wait and see if anything happens, anyway so far everything is still strange and unclear, but i wanted to thank J&SinKTO for time, attention and advices.

P.S Please dont close the topic, in case some problems will continue, if not i will certainly inform you.

 

Glad you're up and working! My pleasure to assist.
Let me know if need future help.

 

Ok, just had a BSOD. I was surfing the internet, more specifically - watching video on youtube. Skype was running, Winamp was playing music, and a couple of folders were open. I just wanted to rename one skype contact and system froze with this disgusting long beep sound....made hard reboot. here is BSOD info:

System

- Provider

[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}

EventID 41

Version 2

Level 1

Task 63

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2011-04-21T15:03:35.576019500Z

EventRecordID 223759

Correlation

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8

Channel System

Computer SONY-VAIO

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-18


- EventData

BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0

If it is again the audio driver could the Winamp cause it? Because of some wrong codecs or something???

P.S windows media player refuses to play any video/audio file changed playback device to realtek and nothing shows error, tried reseting all settings with microsoft fix tool, problem still not resolved.

Just fixed the problem with WMP playing any file. Here is the link: http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/150742-wmp-wont-play-after-installing-latest-realtek-driver.html
Might be also useful for somebody

 

At this point I think part or your solution is uninstalling DriverGenious and any recommended updates it provided/recommended for you. Then using the original drivers that came with the laptop. Granted some may be a bit old, but laptops and Sony in particular is finicky about the drivers.
Your blue screens are driver related and primarily due to ones that your Sony does not like.

 

Case in point - my FW285 is almost 2.5 years old, save for a couple of updated drivers (all from the Sony site) most of them are still the original ones.
That's also with a RAM Upgrade, CPU upgrade and SSD. No blue screens.
Sonys are nice but particular about their drivers and the install order of them to make the systems function correctly.