sony tx650 recovery cd

I made a recovery cd, it seemed to take a while. I did the 2 DVD's.

Anyways I did some testing with it. If you reboot with the cd in. It gives you 2 options:

1.
Format C:\ and reinstall all the apps/drivers etc.. all at once.
"this just cleans your c drive and reinstalls.

2.
Restore the Hard Drive to factory orginal spec.
so basicly it reinstalls all the partions if you screw them up


The other thing I did was pop the cd in when windows was running. It poped up and let me pick between drivers and applications to install. 1 by 1. So this is perfect for people who want to reinstall a clean copy of xp.

I am going to start the clean xp install later today.
I will let you guys know how it turned out.

 

Well the reinstall went good. I made the 2 recovery dvds. I had to download stuff from the tx651 site. I got everything working execpt for the avmode button.

I had a questions.. When you use the recovery dvd to boot from and you use "restore complete system" after you click it does it start or does it go to some other menu?

 

i guess avmode uses that 6GB recovery HD. There is no other partions on the drive now execpt for C which is 57223GB.. pretty short of 60GB if you ask me.

fedora core 4 install cd sees the same thing... 57GB

i should of setup another partion for linux.. O well I may reinstall one more time.. It took a while to get this all done and working right.. AVMODE would be nice to have but i guess its not really needed.. from what I read it doesnt save battery that much at all. its just faster to loadup a dvd.

 

The AV Mode button uses the third partition on the HDD, which would be the Linux Partition. It's for the Instant On Mode I believe. Haven't tried it out yet, but I'm loving my tx650 right now. Of course it also enables you to start up other programs and folders in Windows as well. Hmm... the driver for the buttons aren't on the website or disks? Kind of sketchy I think.... Do the other buttons work? The play button and such.

 

I cleaned my HD and put winxp and slackware 10.2 linux. The hd is like 57g windows xp install or linux fdisk sees 57GB max. unless theres something hidden that I cant find. But usually linux shows everything. I have got everything work now. You need to install "instant mode" or something off the recovery cd to get the av button to work.

I havnt had much time to mess with it cause I am at work.. It was a pain to get it the way I have it now. notebook installs suck.. im gonna ghost the system tonight so never have to do this again

 

Were you able to get yours to GHOST? I tried the latest DOS version of GHOST, which was 2003 and I get an error when I try to Ghost it.

Did anyone find out if the AV Mode is in a separate partition or not? When I run partition magic, all I see is the diag/recovery partition and then the rest for the OS. Is there a third partition or not?

Thanks,

Rob

 

i replied to your PM

i cant wait for my 1gb memory to come in..
thats really the only pitfall of this notebook.. its a hair slow compared to a 1.6-1.7G centrino hd's kinda slow to.. but hoping to not use pagefile after i get a total 1.5GB

 

another thing i noticed is after you use the recovery disk, you can no longer use your CDKEY that came with the notebook for windows.. kinda lame.. but hey it gives you a new CDKEY.. prob some sony internal OEM key free to the world., but hey it works for updates. The recovery cd blows in my eyes.. its just there for drivers and apps after you install your own copy of winxp. it will help you get everything working after you reinstall.

 

I reinstalled windows 3 times.... thats how i figured all this crap out..

First I just reinstalled my own winxp pro, erasing C:\ keeping the recovery drive.
I screwed my registry up after trying to tweek ****, and didnt back it up like a dumb ass.. so i just said **** it and reinstalled... cause i wanted to dual boot..

2nd I used the recovery cd, but didnt like the fact that it still "install some crap" but was pretty limited.

3rd I wiped all partions, set up a 5Gb for slackware10.2 linux and rest for winxp..
reinstalled my own winxp pro... used the recovery cd to install all the sony requred dll's drivers etc.. bluetooth, av mode, volume buttons, FN buttons etc..

basicly i feel im on expert on the tx now, so if you have any questions let me know. I should of made a howto, how to wipe the system off. but sorry.. so shoot me your questions..

 

Hey guys.. just a quick question. I just got a PCG-K33 Vaio. Its used and I'd like to wipe the hard drive and re-install windows. Do I have to make recovery CDs? or can I just format, install Win XP from scratch and just get whatever drivers I need from the sony website?

thanks

 

its prob the same as the tx, you use the vaio stuff to make the recovery cds.. it should on your computer already..