Windows xp

FrankLa

I have a Sony laptop that needs to have the windows xp reinstalled. I do not have the restore disc or windows xp disc. What are my options? Cheaply.

rossfingal

Why do you have to do a "reinstall"?
You might be able to do a "Repair-reinstall".
No "restore disc" - no, XP disc?
Options are limited.
(Cheaply)

rossfingal

rossfingal

Here's some info on doing a "repair-reinstall" -
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/
Read it completely!!!

rossfingal

Ironlight

You can get a copy of WinXP pretty cheap...$20 or so on eBay. Then you would need to download the specific drivers for your laptop from the Sony site.

Burn the drivers to a disk, install XP on the laptop, then install the drivers.

I've done it before on a Sony VAIO without any complications.

diyorpay

Laptops often have one or more hidden partitions on hard drive. Users have option to make a restore/reinstall disk from it. Many don't. Or there could be an option to perform this function from an F key command.

Try to find manual online if you don't have it and see if instructions are there. Otherwise try rebooting while tapping an F key, but rebooting each time, trying another. If you're lucky, you could get a menu to restore XP. Escape key is used on some too.

sdsester

Sometimes libarary book sales have legacy OS discs, manuals and things. Spring is here and those sales should start happening soon. Habitat's Restores used to take old computers and sometimes had discs and manuals as did Salvation Army. Many shied away from such things.

One of the larger salvage yards for auto parts in Central Illinois had a huge division that did nothing but take in old computer stuff. You might check around for something like it near you?

Will your system support a later OS like Vista or 7? You might have a better shot at finding a disc for those. I know lots of people despised Vista but my machine (gave it away) never had problems. Admittedly it had the memory the system sucks though.

You might post a free ad on your local Craig's List indicating you are looking for an XP program disc. I would certainly run any disc from the general eBay or Craig's list population through a virus checker before installing from it.

As suggested, I would certainly try and repair the current install but doing so may call for discs.

Have you done all the other sorts of diagnostic things like cleaning up disc space, defragmenting and optimizing the hard drives/partitions and so forth? Can you get the machine to boot in SAFE mode?

pyper

I have attempted to install XP professional from a retail box onto both Dell and HP laptops to no avail. The install ends with a BSOD.

Never tried it with Sony.

I'm guessing you need a factory disk, which you can probably get from Sony.

Or you could go to Linux.

sdsester

Come on. This is a nonsense comment.

And worthless advice.

BayIslandMike

you can create your own bootable install/restore disc if you still have the I386 directory on your laptop (you will also need a few other things like a disc burner)

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/cre...etupdisk.shtml

rossfingal

Yes, you can create a "restore" disc from the I386 folder,
off of the "hidden", restore, partition.
If you can access the "hidden", restore, partition.

I've tried to access a computer that has a "hidden", "restore" partition
using a "OEM", licensed, copy of "XP".
I wanted to do a "parallel", install of XP, so that I could try to access
files and data, off of the computer.
Also, to see if there was a chance I could get in and fix the computer -
Nope!
Better chance with "Linux" - "Bootable".

I've used the manufacturer of the hard drive's; "formatting", utilities to wipe out the "hidden" partition on various computers (Dell, HP, etc ...)
Can't use a "OEM", installation disc to install an "OS" - that will not work on those computers.
You've got to have the "original", installation, media - ("Restore Disc")!

Maybe there's something in the "Motherboard" - "BIOS" - that does not
find that compatible?!?
I have a feeling that "Sony", "Toshiba", and "IBM" - are the same.
(Any man. that uses a "restore" partition)

An aside:
I have a friend who just purchased a very, good "HP Laptop" -
one of the options was a "Restore Disc" (20 dollars more) - I told him -
do it - and, make a copy!
Think that was a good idea?
(By "default" - it didn't come with a "Restore Disc"!?)
Huh?!?

Just some thoughts!

rossfingal

pyper

Read it again -- there was no advice.

Nonsense, true, but it's Microsoft we're talking about. A lot of what they do is nonsense. Why does my new retail full XP blue screen on these HP and Dell laptops? Beats me, but it does. A friend of mine in corporate IT says that probably the laptops require drivers for the disc system that are not present in the windows CD, and that if I was clever enough I could find the drivers, and rebuild the CD and then it would work. To me, it's not worth the effort, so I have had to settle for system restore (with all the excess crap HP and Dell load up the machines with) instead of a clean install of just the OS.

But Ubuntu will go onto these machines and run just fine. And the system restore discs work. Both of which are good indications that I don't have a hardware problem. And it would be kind of weird to have the exact same problem on two different laptops....

Ironlight

I've installed WinXP from scratch on over a dozen laptops (Sonys, Toshibas, HPs, and Thinkpads) and never had a problem with the basic install. Yes I had to go back to install drivers for hardware, but the machines always worked adequately right after the clean XP install.

gregzoll

Install Linux. Otherwise contact Sony and get the correct discs.

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rossfingal

The "OP" says they don't have the "recovery disk/s", or an installation disk.
How are they going to do a "clean", install??
(Driver problems or not?)
Buy a "stand-alone" copy of XP? (OEM)
Maybe, borrow someones copy of XP?
They did say "Cheaply"!

rossfingal

Sartrean

Occam's Razor. Have you tried contacting Sony and asking if they can burn you another factory CD? Even if you had to pay for shipping, it seems far cheaper and less complicated than some of the other plausible solutions previously offered. The case of the laptop should contain some form of ID number they can use to locate the original hardware configuration.

If you are not the original purchaser of the laptop, you "may" run into some issues with customer service regarding their security policies and the possibility the laptop was stolen.