Computer Crashed. What to do? - Snowboarding Forum

Extremo · 03-13-2013, 02:51 PM

My girlfriend's Sony Vaio crashed and now it says "No Operating System Found". It didn't come with operating disks and she didn't back it up.

Anyone have any advice to get this thing running again?

atr3yu · 03-13-2013, 02:59 PM

Usually on a consumer grade laptop that would be a failing hard drive. The drive needs to be replaced and the os reloaded. May need to contact Sony for disks. I am a creditable nerd, and I am currently standing in a server room to boot.

Casual · 03-13-2013, 03:00 PM

My first bit of advise would have been to boot from disk and run windows recovery but without that... sorry no go.

Best bet is take it to a tech, it might be a simple fix for them.

I also agree with above - bad hard drive is quite likely but they might be able to recover some data if they can boot it up.

Psi-Man · 03-13-2013, 03:06 PM

Yup, sounds like the HD, hopefully she didn't have anything on there she needed.

...one thing you can try is getting into the BIOS (F1 or Del) on startup and see if the hard drive is detected. I'm not sure what the Sony bios looks like, but it should be fairly straightforward to find the hardware detected. If the hard drive is not there then you can be pretty certain you have a HD issue.

SimonB · 03-13-2013, 03:52 PM

Most laptop have a recovery partition on which you can boot to repair/reinstall Windows.

You could give that a try.

The-Snoopy · 03-13-2013, 03:52 PM

hmm it sounds like a looooong shot but i fell over this: Operating System not found Solution PC - YouTube

Maybe give it a shot.

atr3yu aint it possible to boot the BIOS and see it it recognize the HD ? im quite rusty in this game ^^..

/Snoopy

snowklinger · 03-13-2013, 03:58 PM

If there is actual info on the drive that you are trying to save, your best bet would be to take it apart and slave the drive into a desktop system, then use that system's OS to navigate to the injured drive and pull data off it (hopefully).

Even with a corrupted OS, the likelihood that the WHOLE drive platter is unreadable is kinda low....or at least it's demise is not certain...

FirstChair · 03-13-2013, 04:07 PM

I have seen this happen when somehow the BIOS gets changed so that it does not boot from the correct drive.
Check the boot order in the BIOS to see if it is correct before proceeding.

atr3yu · 03-13-2013, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The-Snoopy

hmm it sounds like a looooong shot but i fell over this: Operating System not found Solution PC - YouTube

Maybe give it a shot.

atr3yu aint it possible to boot the BIOS and see it it recognize the HD ? im quite rusty in this game ^^..

/Snoopy

Yeah you should be able to get top the bios no matter what. And yes if it sees no drive you are screwed.

Extremo · 03-13-2013, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The-Snoopy

hmm it sounds like a looooong shot but i fell over this: Operating System not found Solution PC - YouTube

Maybe give it a shot.

atr3yu aint it possible to boot the BIOS and see it it recognize the HD ? im quite rusty in this game ^^..

/Snoopy

Just tried removing/reinstalling the hard drive. No luck. BIOS sees the hard drive but still no OS.

I'll try to check the BIOS.

03-13-2013, 02:51 PM	#1 (permalink)
Extremo -LIFETIME MEMBER- Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: NH Posts: 3,116	Computer Crashed. What to do? My girlfriend's Sony Vaio crashed and now it says "No Operating System Found". It didn't come with operating disks and she didn't back it up. Anyone have any advice to get this thing running again?

03-13-2013, 02:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
atr3yu Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Nelson, BC Posts: 469	Re: Computer Crashed. What to do? Usually on a consumer grade laptop that would be a failing hard drive. The drive needs to be replaced and the os reloaded. May need to contact Sony for disks. I am a creditable nerd, and I am currently standing in a server room to boot.

03-13-2013, 03:00 PM	#3 (permalink)
Casual Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Edmonton Posts: 459	My first bit of advise would have been to boot from disk and run windows recovery but without that... sorry no go. Best bet is take it to a tech, it might be a simple fix for them. I also agree with above - bad hard drive is quite likely but they might be able to recover some data if they can boot it up. __________________ ...

03-13-2013, 03:06 PM	#4 (permalink)
Psi-Man Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 285	Yup, sounds like the HD, hopefully she didn't have anything on there she needed. ...one thing you can try is getting into the BIOS (F1 or Del) on startup and see if the hard drive is detected. I'm not sure what the Sony bios looks like, but it should be fairly straightforward to find the hardware detected. If the hard drive is not there then you can be pretty certain you have a HD issue. Last edited by Psi-Man; 03-13-2013 at 03:15 PM. Reason: added info

03-13-2013, 03:52 PM	#5 (permalink)
SimonB Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Quebec, QC Posts: 326	Re: Computer Crashed. What to do? Most laptop have a recovery partition on which you can boot to repair/reinstall Windows. You could give that a try.

03-13-2013, 03:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
The-Snoopy Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Denmark Posts: 72	hmm it sounds like a looooong shot but i fell over this: Operating System not found Solution PC - YouTube Maybe give it a shot. atr3yu aint it possible to boot the BIOS and see it it recognize the HD ? im quite rusty in this game ^^.. /Snoopy

03-13-2013, 03:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
snowklinger Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: fuck boulder Posts: 2,834	If there is actual info on the drive that you are trying to save, your best bet would be to take it apart and slave the drive into a desktop system, then use that system's OS to navigate to the injured drive and pull data off it (hopefully). Even with a corrupted OS, the likelihood that the WHOLE drive platter is unreadable is kinda low....or at least it's demise is not certain... __________________ is it late october yet?

03-13-2013, 04:07 PM	#8 (permalink)
FirstChair Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Champlain Valley,VT Posts: 91	I have seen this happen when somehow the BIOS gets changed so that it does not boot from the correct drive. Check the boot order in the BIOS to see if it is correct before proceeding. __________________ You can't idiot proof anything because fools are so damn clever.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode