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Sony Laptop VGN-AR630E Vista Install Problem

2K views 6 replies 2 participants last post by  joeten 
#1 ·
A friend gave me his laptop to work on. He told me it was thoroughly infected with viruses. I asked him if it was ok to wipe his hard drive and reinstall Windows Vista. He gave me a store bought copy of Vista Home Premium (which is the OS the laptop came with). I put the Windows disk in, deleted both the partitions, recreated the partitions, and then formatted the two drives. I went to install Vista and the install got fairly far along and then suddenly stopped with the error message ' Windows can not change the boot configuration. Install cannot continue.' I looked on the web and found an MSSupport article that said to look in the BIOS and turn the 'boot time protection' off. I looked in the BIOS and can't find anything like that, the BIOS seems simplistic, I can change the drive boot order, but not much else. I contacted Sony and they told me to buy their recovery disks for $40. I told them that I don't want whatever software is on the recovery disks, I have a blank hard drive and a paid for copy of Windows in my hands and I just want to install it. Sony again pointed to their disks and then ended the help session. Is there a way to install Vista on this laptop without using Sony's disks?
 
#3 ·
joeten-

I did look at Sony's support page. The problem is that the support pages say to use the recovery partition on the laptop, but I deleted that partition. There is an option of 'can't get to recovery partition', but it just says to use a boot disk to get to the partition. there is nothing to address what to do if you delete their partition. I realize I can buy the recovery disks, but that seems ridiculous when I have a paid for copy of an OS in my hands. At this point, I want to avoid buying their disks on principal. I don't think I should be forced to buy their software when I don't want it.
 
#4 ·
joeten-

I forgot to say thanks in my last post. I appreciate the effort of reading my post. I am just frustrated that Sony's only answer is 'Buy our disks that contain the same operating system you already have.' The person I am doing this for already purchased the Windows disk and does not have much money.
 
#5 ·
Hi I 'am finding it difficult to get any info that could be helpful when your in the bios is it just a boot order tab or is there a advanced screen with further options there has to be some way to alter the configuration if you have seen the info about it it mat take going through each tab as it may not be obvious
 
#6 · (Edited)
joeten-

Thanks again for looking at my post. I agree with your statement that it seems like the MSsupport article pointing to the BIOS seems like a helpful solution, but when I go into the BIOS, I can't see that option. Like you mentioned, the BIOS seems very simplistic, almost too simplistic. I was wondering if there was maybe a way to get 'deeper' in to the BIOS where some advanced options could be found. Unfortunately, I can't find anything like that. I could only see a way to change the 'boot drive order', and that really isn't helpful. I went through every tab in the BIOS and even tried to look for options that would 'expand', but I couldn't find anything.
 
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