Vaio problem. windows not starting, recovery not working

[monsieur fatso]

I own a Sony Vaio VGN-N230E and have Windows Vista Home Premium.

Last night I was in the middle of writing a paper for school, when my laptop froze. I could move the mouse around, but ctrl+alt+del didn't do anything, and I couldn't do anything. I eventually just held down the power button until the machine turned off, and turned it back on. It would start up, and windows explorer would just keep crashing on me. I restarted it by selecting restart from the drop down menu a few times, and this kept happening. Then the last time I was able to restart it, this message came up:

Windows error recovery

windows failed to start. a recent hardware or software change might be the cause.

If windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly, startup repair can help daignose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted during startup, choose start windows normally.

launch startup repair
start windows normally.

If I try to just start windows normally, the vista load screen will come up for about 4 seconds, and then just shut off, and the computer will restart and go back to the previous message.

When I launch startup repair, it opens the VAIO Recovery Center which gives me 4 options to choose from. Windows System-restore, Vaio Hardware Diagnostics, Restore C: Drive, and Rescue Data.

I tried system restore first, and it says I don't have any points to restore to, which is ********. Hardware diagnostics is a test to see if the problem is hardware related. I open it up, and a screen with 2 tabs comes up. Quick test, which tests the cpu, memory, and hard disk, and tools. Quick test comes back clean.
Under tools is a section that says:

Hard Disk verify and repair:
Scan hard disk sectors and repair defective sectors. You may continue using the hard disk if the diagnostic results or repairs are successful. Testing may take over 1 hour, depending on the disk size

If I try that, I select the c: drive, select the option "fix errors on the disk." and hit start. It'll start doing that, but it always freezes at 2%. I let it run all night last night, and this morning it was still at 2%.

The third option, restore c: drive doesn't do anything either. It says it will format the drive, restore my operating system, and install custom programs. Basically return it to the condition it was in when I bought it. I hit start, and the message "No System Partition" comes up. I hit ok, and it takes me back.

Rescue data also doesn't do anything. I guess its supposed to allow me to retrieve some data and save it to like an external hard drive, but I have most of what I need backed up already, so I'm not too concerned.

If I close the VAIO Recovery Center window, a small window titled 'recovery' opens, saying "OS not detected on the C: drive. Restore the C: drive or restore the complete system." I hit ok, and the computer just shuts off.

Has anyone else experienced or heard of this happening? Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do? I would try and put in the vista disc, but for some reason I didn't get one when I bought my computer. Any help would be awesome. I don't want to have to take it in, because I don't really have any money. Thanks.

[belfasteddie]

I would think that where the Fix disc option is sticking at 2% suggests to me an error with the Disk surface. Can you get into safe mode?

[monsieur fatso]

I can't. I took it to the tech department at my campus today, and they told me to contact sony and ask for a recovery disc. They didn't even really look at it.

I think I might just send it in to Sony. I didn't think I had my warranty on it left, but now after looking around on the site, I think I still do. Would they be able to tell me if I only have like the serial number on the bottom?

Also, to add to my troubles, my backup computer that I was using, well, the hard drive failed on that yesterday morning.

[PhoenixHacker]

My friend has the EXACT same problem. The computer spontaneously crashed, can't find any restore points or an operating system. I tried booting in safe mode with the command prompt and it just restarted after loading some files. I also tried recovering files but it just sat there. I advised her to take her laptop and restore disks to our school's IT or send it to Sony. Does anyone know more about this problem? I'll post here if I find anything else out.

[bhahar84]

Hi monsieur fatso!!

Can you try boot up the laptop, and try to enter the BIOS. Is your hard drive detected there?

[PhoenixHacker]

IT declared the problem to be something to do with the motherboard. My friend will likely be getting a new computer and trying to find a way to salvage the hard drive.

[bhahar84]

Originally Posted by PhoenixHacker

IT declared the problem to be something to do with the motherboard. My friend will likely be getting a new computer and trying to find a way to salvage the hard drive.

Do you using a laptop as well, PhoenixHacker? Then, if the issue is with the motherboard, seems like nothing much we can do, unless send it back to manufacturer and repair