Solved Sony VAIO SVF1521P2EB USB manual boot problem.

mfx

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Hi



Purchased a SVF1521P2EB from PC world.



Trying to use a recovery program I always use for all my laptops and desktops and have created a bootable USB Stick and also a DVD bootable disk. Both disk and usb work on all other systems but this Sony Laptop.



Have USB stick in the usb2 port not the usb3 port due to compatibility issues with backup/restore on usb3. The stick is a usb2.



I have gone into bios and set usb and also tried dvd as first boot device. Will not boot.

Have tried the assist button on the laptop and the restore (boot from dvd/usb media) also does not work, as stated these both work on other laptops and desktops.



I have tried to find the boot option menu or safe mode startup. I have tried this by pressing various buttons each time on boot usually F2, Del, esc, F12, F10 on other systems and also F8 which does not appear to enable the laptop to start with a manual boot.



All I seem to achieve is the Vaio screen and straight to Windows8.



I do see the sony recognise the usb as the green light is flashing, no message of boot failure.



Please help as follows :



1) What is the boot option at startup to manually select a boot device.

2) How to boot into safe mode.

3) How to possibly rid the boot up screen displaying the VAIO logo.

4) Get the Sony to recognise either the bottable dvd or usb to backup the system without using the sony or built in miscrosoft bootup.



Final result should be a full image backup of the hard drive ona an extarnal harddrive/usb stick for future restoration.



Thank you for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    i7 2.66 Fatory Clocked
    Motherboard
    EVGA X55
    Memory
    12GB 1066mhz Factory Clock
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT660
    Sound Card
    RME Fireface 800
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 26ips + Smasung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1900*1200 + 1280*720?
    Hard Drives
    1 x OCZ Agility 3 SSD 128
    1 x OCZ Agility 460 SSD 128
    1 x WD 1GB
    1 x WD 2GB
    1 X WD Raptor 150Gb
    1 x WD 500GB
    External Drives Lacie 6TB
    PSU
    Xigmatec
    Case
    Fraftal Design R4
    Cooling
    5 x 1400mm Fans low rev
    Keyboard
    MS Bulk Standard
    Mouse
    Logitech G700
    Internet Speed
    150
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    EsetNod
    Other Info
    Digital Audio Workstation -
    OTB Hardware; Access Virus TI, x0xb0x, Elektron Analog Keys, Roland JD800, Roland JV1080, TC Electronics Fireworx, Adams A7X
    ITB Software; Cubase 7.5.2, Wavelab, Native Intruments Komplete98u, u-he and lots of legally installed plugins.
    I buy my software when not freeware! Support the devs!
Did you press the assist button while the power was off?

Screenshot (49).png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Did you press the assist button while the power was off?

Thanks for the response and I can see my post is that clear, my bad.

Starting from power off I press assist.

Goes to Sony Vaio assist screen.

Entered BIOS to check USB boot and DVD. No USB boot option only external drive, internal drive, DVD and network.

Set DVD to priority.

Rebooted with DVD in goes straight to Windows.

Powered down.

Start again press assist and goto sony Vaio system screen.

Selected the boot from dvd usb option.

This route neither the dvd or the usb are recognised. They are bootable but this is not reporting non bootable partition, simply not seeing either of the devices media to boot from.

Both the devices media (DVD boot and USB boot) work on other pc/lpatop systems. Tested by me.

It would seem the VAIO system screen doesn't work with these bottable media types.

So want to try brute force and boot direct from start up to usb or dvd. However there's is a sony flash screen and the bios boot does not display any options like press f12 for boot menu, delete for bios, f8 for safe mode and so on.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    i7 2.66 Fatory Clocked
    Motherboard
    EVGA X55
    Memory
    12GB 1066mhz Factory Clock
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT660
    Sound Card
    RME Fireface 800
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 26ips + Smasung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1900*1200 + 1280*720?
    Hard Drives
    1 x OCZ Agility 3 SSD 128
    1 x OCZ Agility 460 SSD 128
    1 x WD 1GB
    1 x WD 2GB
    1 X WD Raptor 150Gb
    1 x WD 500GB
    External Drives Lacie 6TB
    PSU
    Xigmatec
    Case
    Fraftal Design R4
    Cooling
    5 x 1400mm Fans low rev
    Keyboard
    MS Bulk Standard
    Mouse
    Logitech G700
    Internet Speed
    150
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    EsetNod
    Other Info
    Digital Audio Workstation -
    OTB Hardware; Access Virus TI, x0xb0x, Elektron Analog Keys, Roland JD800, Roland JV1080, TC Electronics Fireworx, Adams A7X
    ITB Software; Cubase 7.5.2, Wavelab, Native Intruments Komplete98u, u-he and lots of legally installed plugins.
    I buy my software when not freeware! Support the devs!
Just a thought but you may be having boot problems because your new BIOS is actually UEFI and your older BIOSs were Legacy installs. Unfortunately, I can't tell you directly how to check your BIOS but maybe that can be determined via a disk management screenshot. The reason i'm now suspecting you have a UEFI install is because you never mentioned seeing the Windows bootloader symbol but you do mention seeing the Sony VAIO symbol. Typically, the win bootloader symbol does not appear during a UEFI boot. Anyway, see if this tutorial might help you construct a UEFI USB installation drive:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows-22.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
I've checked in the bios are you are indeed correct, the boot option in bios is set to UEFI and there is no windows bootloader screen represented. As you say just the VAIO screen then straight to windows log on from cold start.

There is a legacy option. Do you think this is worth a go with the USB stick, or will it cause further problems. I can easily switch it back once the partition/drive is backed up...I hope.

Will check the tutorial.

Update

Tried the tutorial and used the Rescue ISO file that Ive been using instead of the windows iso. The sony is reporting not redognised OS :(

Goig to try setting legacy boot option. Fingers crossed.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    i7 2.66 Fatory Clocked
    Motherboard
    EVGA X55
    Memory
    12GB 1066mhz Factory Clock
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT660
    Sound Card
    RME Fireface 800
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 26ips + Smasung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1900*1200 + 1280*720?
    Hard Drives
    1 x OCZ Agility 3 SSD 128
    1 x OCZ Agility 460 SSD 128
    1 x WD 1GB
    1 x WD 2GB
    1 X WD Raptor 150Gb
    1 x WD 500GB
    External Drives Lacie 6TB
    PSU
    Xigmatec
    Case
    Fraftal Design R4
    Cooling
    5 x 1400mm Fans low rev
    Keyboard
    MS Bulk Standard
    Mouse
    Logitech G700
    Internet Speed
    150
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    EsetNod
    Other Info
    Digital Audio Workstation -
    OTB Hardware; Access Virus TI, x0xb0x, Elektron Analog Keys, Roland JD800, Roland JV1080, TC Electronics Fireworx, Adams A7X
    ITB Software; Cubase 7.5.2, Wavelab, Native Intruments Komplete98u, u-he and lots of legally installed plugins.
    I buy my software when not freeware! Support the devs!
OK, so you seem to be on the right track now; however, I'm actually lost as to what your goal is here:

I don't understand why you are trying to use an unknown rescue disk and for what purpose. What is the name of the recovery program? At this point, are you just testing in case of future need or is there some issue that needs to be resolved immediately?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
OK, so you seem to be on the right track now; however, I'm actually lost as to what your goal is here:

I don't understand why you are trying to use an unknown rescue disk and for what purpose. What is the name of the recovery program? At this point, are you just testing in case of future need or is there some issue that needs to be resolved immediately?

Ok sorted.



Use USB WinUSB Maker v2.0 PUBLIC BETA RELEASE 2 as Rufus USB didnt work (Rufus is great for non legacy drives, the newer Windows8 system).



Formatted USB using WinUSB Maker along with the rescue boot software (Macrium) and currently backing up to external usb harddrive.



Once finished will change bios back from legacy to UEFI and should boot back into the usual VAIO Windows8 presintalled OS.

Bascially I am copying the image of the Sony drive to an external hard drive for future use. A lot of PCs dont come with restoration and I am a stickler to backing up asap.



This is also useful if I decide to upgrade the Sonys drive to SSD or have to replace in the future.



Thanks for your help and pointers. Will pop back and close once I know it all boots fine when reverting the legacy to UEFI in the bios.



Peace

Fingers crossed solved.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    i7 2.66 Fatory Clocked
    Motherboard
    EVGA X55
    Memory
    12GB 1066mhz Factory Clock
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT660
    Sound Card
    RME Fireface 800
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 26ips + Smasung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1900*1200 + 1280*720?
    Hard Drives
    1 x OCZ Agility 3 SSD 128
    1 x OCZ Agility 460 SSD 128
    1 x WD 1GB
    1 x WD 2GB
    1 X WD Raptor 150Gb
    1 x WD 500GB
    External Drives Lacie 6TB
    PSU
    Xigmatec
    Case
    Fraftal Design R4
    Cooling
    5 x 1400mm Fans low rev
    Keyboard
    MS Bulk Standard
    Mouse
    Logitech G700
    Internet Speed
    150
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    EsetNod
    Other Info
    Digital Audio Workstation -
    OTB Hardware; Access Virus TI, x0xb0x, Elektron Analog Keys, Roland JD800, Roland JV1080, TC Electronics Fireworx, Adams A7X
    ITB Software; Cubase 7.5.2, Wavelab, Native Intruments Komplete98u, u-he and lots of legally installed plugins.
    I buy my software when not freeware! Support the devs!
OK, fingers crossed...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Worked.

Backed up full image of all partitions and used data on those partitions to external hard drive.

Rebooted to VAIO system set up, into bios and reset to UEFI.

Rebooted auto matically into VAIO setup (gulp and sweat), selected reboot to windows.

Up and running.

Thanks for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    i7 2.66 Fatory Clocked
    Motherboard
    EVGA X55
    Memory
    12GB 1066mhz Factory Clock
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT660
    Sound Card
    RME Fireface 800
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 26ips + Smasung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1900*1200 + 1280*720?
    Hard Drives
    1 x OCZ Agility 3 SSD 128
    1 x OCZ Agility 460 SSD 128
    1 x WD 1GB
    1 x WD 2GB
    1 X WD Raptor 150Gb
    1 x WD 500GB
    External Drives Lacie 6TB
    PSU
    Xigmatec
    Case
    Fraftal Design R4
    Cooling
    5 x 1400mm Fans low rev
    Keyboard
    MS Bulk Standard
    Mouse
    Logitech G700
    Internet Speed
    150
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    EsetNod
    Other Info
    Digital Audio Workstation -
    OTB Hardware; Access Virus TI, x0xb0x, Elektron Analog Keys, Roland JD800, Roland JV1080, TC Electronics Fireworx, Adams A7X
    ITB Software; Cubase 7.5.2, Wavelab, Native Intruments Komplete98u, u-he and lots of legally installed plugins.
    I buy my software when not freeware! Support the devs!
That's wonderful news! Good luck going forward. Cheers!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
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