BleepingComputer.com: Sony Vaio Vgn – N11s_w Laptop Just Died!

I have a SONY VAIO VGN – N11S_W Laptop running Windows XP which is not yet 12 months old. However when I moved last year I accidentally took a box to the tip with the invoice / receipt in it so I am a tad stuck to get it repaired under warranty right now!

My laptop was put in hibernate mode yesterday for approximately one hour, on return when accessing the laptop again it seemed to crash, it will now not operate or reboot correctly.

I can access BIOS but nothing else will load, cannot reboot, reformat or anything so I am at a loss of what is wrong.

I get a blue screen with the following error message:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this error screen restart your computer (not possible). If this appears again follow these steps:

Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup utilities. Check your hard drive configuration, and check for any updated drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000024 (0x001902FE, 0xF7A6F80C, 0xF7A6F508, 0xF72191FC)

*** ntfs.sys – address F72191FC base at F720C000, datestamp 41107eea

History of it, there is nothing unusual installed on there or anything new, it’s basically used for photos and simple browsing online… it did have a habit of crashing frequently and the same blue screen would appear but it disappeared that fast I never got a chance to read what it said… it would then reboot and tell me “Windows has recovered from a serious error”

I never made a back up of the recovery section to discs. I did try but for some reason it would make an entire full copy and use to pause at around the making of disc three so I gave up! It does have a recovery partition but I’ve tried what I can to re-install from that but it just keeps going back to the same blue screen!

Someone on the AOL forums told me to Run CHKDSK /F with a Win XP CD but I have no discs at all…

Any ideas what this is or how I am going to fix it. I am not bothered about re-installing it as there is nothing on there I will lose of value since I backup on my PC, can I re-install a new operating system just to salvage it to make it useable!

If I have to purchase a set of recovery discs then so be it but where from?

Any ideas would be most welcome!

chkdsk /f /r is the most likely fix for this. See if you can borrow a disk from a friend for XP - BUT be very, very careful or you'll lose everything!!!

Boot from the XP installation CD, and at the first screen you'll see a prompt to press "R" to repair using the Recovery Console. Press "R" and let it load, select the current OS (likely C:\Windows) and enter the Adminitrator password when asked (if not, just press Enter).

Then type "chkdsk /f /r" (without the quotes) and let it run. Once it's finished, note what the report says (so you can let us know), and then reboot to get into Windows.

If that doesn't work, then there's lot's of suggestions at this link: http://aumha.org/a/stop.php#0x24
Or post back here and we'll try some other stuff.

Thanks for the prompt reply I really do appreciate it.

I don’t have a Win XP disc and I don’t know anyone who has one either (not got the biggest circle of friends and those I do are all old and don't have computers!)

Could I purchase one off eBay or somewhere similar… also found on eBay someone sellling the recovery discs for my laptop model, I know if I go down that route I lose everything but don't mind if it salvages the laptop!

If you choose to purchase one, your best bet would be to contact Sony for a set. I've known some folks who've received them for free - but there can be a fee for them.

Depending on the restore media, there may be a chance to do a repair of Windows if you can't run chkdsk.

Thanks again for your help on this…

Okay I now have a set of recovery CD’s for this laptop to recover the system which I am happy to do.

I’ve followed the instructions as it tells me on the Sony Vaio Website for this model.

It tells me the following:

Insert CD

Start Vaio

Press F2 to enter BIOS

Press F9 to restore the default values

When asked to confirm press ENTER

Press F10 to save the configuration and exit the BIOS

When asked to confirm press ENTER again

The Vaio restarts and boots on the recovery CD

After that it tells me to Click Start, All Programmes, Vaio Recovery Tool …

Problem the Vaio reboots but after a minute or two takes me to that Blue Screen again and gives me the same error message. It’s impossible for me to Click Start as there is no tool bar or anything that resembles WINDOWS!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr I am at a loss what to do and how to get this system recovered completely…

Please any more help would be so grateful on this.

Just to add I found some additional instructions on the Sony Vaio start of how to do a recovery without Windows but it still doesn't work, it starts the process but then just goes back to that dreaded blue screen...

I am about to chuck this laptop threw the window!

If you're not able to get chkdsk /f /r to run, then I'd have to suggest that you download a bootable diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard drive and run it. If you're not able to locate one, I'd recommend the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test available for free from here: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

This'll tell you if your hard drive is dead, dying, or corrupted (which is the most likely reason that the recovery won't run).

Thanks for that, I shall give it a go and report back laters

I have used that link you mentioned and downloaded and managed to run a programme on the laptop. The quick test showed nothing the advanced test said part of the Hard Drive was corrupted. I tried to repair it using the disc but it still didn't work so now have opted to use something on there to wipe the hard drive and then I am hoping the recovery discs will work to start a complete fresh!

We can but try...

It depends on what caused the corruption. It was either a physical problem with the hard drive, or a problem with how the information was written to the hard drive.

If it was with how the information was written, a recovery should fix it right up.
If it was with the physical hard drive - then the problem will recur (and you'll have to get a new hard drive to fix it).

Thank you so much for your help, it’s worked. I’ve managed now after wiping the hard drive using the download from that link to use the Sony recovery discs and all is well again.

Didn’t take so long about 2 hours and about another 2 hours downloading all the windows updates I needed!

You’ve saved me a small fortune since I didn’t really have the spare funds to buy a new laptop or really even get it professionally fixed!

Thanks again, top credit to you!

Alison
a.k.a Moosegirl in the UK!

I'm glad to hear that things worked out for you! Thanks for letting us know!