hello,
i have a Sony Vaio laptop (PCG-71314L) that has Windows 7 Home Premium on it (i think it's 64-bit). i was removing files and programs from it to give it to a friend for christmas. i was going to make recovery discs after i removed everything (i was planning on just making an image of the drive on multiple dvds). i removed many programs from the add/remove programs in control panel, and then i removed about a dozen sony vaio programs (probably a mistake).
now when i boot the computer, it says "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 diagnose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted during startup, choose start windows normally."
it then gives me two choices: Launch Startup Repair (Recommended) or Start Windows Normally.
if i do "Launch Startup Repair" there is a brief Microsoft Corporation load screen, and then i see the standard windows 7 background (blue, with some white swirl lines and a small bird and branch), and it gives me a mouse cursor to move around, but it never does anything after this (i have let it sit for about half an hour, tried pressing enter, clicking the mouse, pressing ctrl-alt-del, and nothing). the hard drive activity light remains off.
if i do "start windows normally" is sits at the "Starting Windows" screen with a picture of a glowing multicolored window pane with the colors red, green, blue, yellow and looks like it is slowly pulsating. the hard drive activity light seems to be on a solid orange color and does not move indicating any activity. after several minutes, the computer just reboots back to the Windows Error Recovery screen again.
if i try booting into safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt I get a screen that says "Loading Windows Files" and scrolls through a bunch of files but freezes when the last file on the screen shown is: \Windows\System32\drivers\CLASSPNP.sys
if i choose "repair computer" i get to the blue windows background screen with the bird and plant, and the working mouse cursor, but nothing else ever happens.
if i try "last known good configuration (advanced)", it goes to the Recovery Tools screen and freezes (see next paragraph for description of this screen).
if i press ALT-F10, i get to a screen that says "VAIO Recovery Tools are being launched. Please wait." but i can wait up to half an hour and nothing happens. it's as if the computer is frozen there, maybe because i removed the recovery tools application (im not sure if i did this or not, but it's quite possible).
i am able to boot into linux using an ubuntu 10.10 live disc. there, i see the following partitions:
main partition (309GB)
another partition (10GB) this must be the vaio recovery partition
some other partition (about 30MB to 100MB or so if i remember correctly) - this third smallest partition might have just been the linux live partition, but i don't know for sure.
i am also able to boot with an old windows xp installation disc i found, but i dont really want to install xp.
for some reason, booting with a windows 7 install disc doesnt work, a vista install disc doesnt work, and a windows 7 recovery disc i downloaded from CyberNetNews doesn't work either.
now, it looks like the recovery partition is still there and somewhat intact - is there any way to recover this partition and reinstall windows or factory reset the drive/computer without the use of the sony recovery utilities? is there a way to run some other generic recovery program? is it possible to replace some possibly damaged system files on the main partition (classpnp.sys) from the recovery partition to fix this problem? what else can i do to diagnose this? i can get to the file system through linux so im hoping something can be done with your help.
thank you.
i have a Sony Vaio laptop (PCG-71314L) that has Windows 7 Home Premium on it (i think it's 64-bit). i was removing files and programs from it to give it to a friend for christmas. i was going to make recovery discs after i removed everything (i was planning on just making an image of the drive on multiple dvds). i removed many programs from the add/remove programs in control panel, and then i removed about a dozen sony vaio programs (probably a mistake).
now when i boot the computer, it says "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 diagnose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted during startup, choose start windows normally."
it then gives me two choices: Launch Startup Repair (Recommended) or Start Windows Normally.
if i do "Launch Startup Repair" there is a brief Microsoft Corporation load screen, and then i see the standard windows 7 background (blue, with some white swirl lines and a small bird and branch), and it gives me a mouse cursor to move around, but it never does anything after this (i have let it sit for about half an hour, tried pressing enter, clicking the mouse, pressing ctrl-alt-del, and nothing). the hard drive activity light remains off.
if i do "start windows normally" is sits at the "Starting Windows" screen with a picture of a glowing multicolored window pane with the colors red, green, blue, yellow and looks like it is slowly pulsating. the hard drive activity light seems to be on a solid orange color and does not move indicating any activity. after several minutes, the computer just reboots back to the Windows Error Recovery screen again.
if i try booting into safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt I get a screen that says "Loading Windows Files" and scrolls through a bunch of files but freezes when the last file on the screen shown is: \Windows\System32\drivers\CLASSPNP.sys
if i choose "repair computer" i get to the blue windows background screen with the bird and plant, and the working mouse cursor, but nothing else ever happens.
if i try "last known good configuration (advanced)", it goes to the Recovery Tools screen and freezes (see next paragraph for description of this screen).
if i press ALT-F10, i get to a screen that says "VAIO Recovery Tools are being launched. Please wait." but i can wait up to half an hour and nothing happens. it's as if the computer is frozen there, maybe because i removed the recovery tools application (im not sure if i did this or not, but it's quite possible).
i am able to boot into linux using an ubuntu 10.10 live disc. there, i see the following partitions:
main partition (309GB)
another partition (10GB) this must be the vaio recovery partition
some other partition (about 30MB to 100MB or so if i remember correctly) - this third smallest partition might have just been the linux live partition, but i don't know for sure.
i am also able to boot with an old windows xp installation disc i found, but i dont really want to install xp.
for some reason, booting with a windows 7 install disc doesnt work, a vista install disc doesnt work, and a windows 7 recovery disc i downloaded from CyberNetNews doesn't work either.
now, it looks like the recovery partition is still there and somewhat intact - is there any way to recover this partition and reinstall windows or factory reset the drive/computer without the use of the sony recovery utilities? is there a way to run some other generic recovery program? is it possible to replace some possibly damaged system files on the main partition (classpnp.sys) from the recovery partition to fix this problem? what else can i do to diagnose this? i can get to the file system through linux so im hoping something can be done with your help.
thank you.
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