NT Computer experts, I need some help.

[sighfur]

I have a sony vaio pcg-k35 laptop, its fairly old, maybe 5-6 years, my OS is windows xp, service pack 3.

Im trying to do a clean installation, vaio has a recovery wizard that offers a c drive recovery, however, when attempting to use this, my computer simplyrestarts and does nothing. Also, i've created recovery disk's using the application vaio gives you, i believe its called recovery media kit. Burned thedisk's, and my laptop doesn't read them, i know they work, because i've tried them in other pc's and its read, i don't know how or why mylaptop can burn the dvd disk and not read it... %+@?
I've attempted to install windows 7, 32bit, and it begins installation up to the restart point, upon doing so, it gets to the windows 7 screen again, andmy laptop just turns off. So i decided to remove the windows 7 start up using a dos command.
When attempting to use my xp disk it gives me an error stating it cannot install because the version im using currently is newer.
I downloaded new firmware for my Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-K14L drive, and when trying to install it, it says "target not found" ...do i need to place thisfile in a certain folder?

All i want to do is a clean installation, should i use disk manager and format? if so, do i format both partitions? Is there something wrong with my cd/dvddrive? Why can't i use the recovery wizard? Am i doing something wrong when trying to install windows 7?

.....sorry for the series of questions, i need my laptop for work, and although i can use it, it doesnt function well, ..slow... lags while multitasking... allthe symptoms of a computer that needs reinstallation.

Thanks in advance NT.

 

[SVNTI]

Windows 7 definitely wont work on a 5 year old system. At least not properly.

I'm not sure why the recovery dvds aren't working. Is the dvd in the tray when the computer restarts? Make sure you set the computer to boot fromdvd/cd tray first, other wise it's just going to read the HDD and boot normally.

You have to go in your BIOS at startup to do so.

Looking to change the boot order for your Windows XP or Vista machine? By changing the boot order, you can force your computer to boot from a CD/DVD drive, a floppy drive, or even off the network.

Changing the boot order on a PC is mostly done in order to boot from a recovery disk or from an OEM disk to run some kind of Windows repair software, such as the Recovery Console.

So here are the steps to change the boot sequence for a PC:

Step 1: The first thing you have to do is restart your computer and enter the BIOS. You can enter the BIOS when you see a message such as "Press FX to enter setup" or something similar.

On a Dell machine it's usually F2, Toshiba is F1 or ESC, HP is F1 or F2, and IBMs usually require you to go to Start, Programs and then Thinkpad CFG to start up in the BIOS.

Step 2: Now that you are in the BIOS, the tough part is finding the boot order section. Note that there are not a ton of options in a BIOS, so just go through every page if you have to until you see something like First Boot Device, Boot Order, Boot Management, Boot Sequence, etc.



It may also be under Advanced BIOS Features or Advanced Boot Options. In the above screenshot, it's under Advanced BIOS Features. Use the arrow keys to navigate.



As you can see, there is a First, Second and Third Boot Device. Scroll down and use the arrow keys to change the device to HDD (hard drive), Floppy, CDROM, or Network. You could also have a BIOS that looks like this:



The instructions for changing the boot order are in the sidebar, but usually it requires pressing the + or - buttons to move items up and down in the order list. The first item in the list is what will be scanned first when booting. If boot media is not found, it will try the second device and so on.

Finally, go to Exit and make sure you choose Yes to the Save configuration changes and exit now? question.



XP DVD should work. it should at least give you more options.
http://lifehacker.com/157...-windows-xp-from-scratch

 

[sighfur]

Thanks, but i thought of that too, but my optical drive is first. I have no clue what could be wrong, bootsector virus?