help me computer people :(((

[euphoricism]

Ive been fighting this all day and I don't know what to do anymores.

I have a laptop, Sony Vaio mode PCG-GR370. It froze today. Thats not particularly uncommon for it, but today it wouldnt turn back on. When I rebooted it got stuck in an infinite reboot loop where it would load up until the Windows logo popped up, and then crash and reboot itself.

I figured I corrupted windows, so I grabbed the system restore disks that came with the laptop. I put the CD in the drive, it did its thing, asked me for disk 2, put it in, did its thing, repeat for disk three. At the end of disk 3 it asked me to put disk one back in. I did so, and it couldn't read it. I swore under my breath (ok, really loudly) and did a hard reboot. It then rebooted into windows XP and everything appeared fine. Then it asked me to put in the Applications Restore CD (to get all the default programs back installed) and I put it in -- and it couldn't read it.

So it seems that the cd drive stopped being able to read ANY disks mid-install. But its pretty clear to me that the drive is OK -- beyond the fact that it was just fucking working prior... The lights on it are blinky, when you put a CD in the drive it TRIES to autorun (spools up, the mouse changes to the CD icon) but fails. Windows correctly identified the type of drive as a Matshita ujda710 in the Device Manager, and the CDRom drive shows up in my computer as drive F just like it should.

But it can't read any CDs, and hence I can't really install anything. I'd like to just reformat it, but with the laptop you do that by putting a CDrom in and reformatting from there.

I don't know what to do. Help?

[nsml97]

If it does not read at all the lens could be dirty have you tried to clean it yet?

[martindcx1e]

one time my laptop kind of just forgot that it had a cd drive. it wouldn't even appear under My Computer. i eventually had to take it to a pc place to get it fixed and i have no idea what they did to it to fix it. sorry if you were hoping for something helpful

If it does not read at all the lens could be dirty have you tried to clean it yet?

omg a first post that isn't retarded or spam! welcome!

[swiggidy]

I have a vaio. I had the same rebot, crash problem once and had to re-install. Sorry, have no idea about the CD thing.

Have you tried putting the re-install disc in and restarting your computer (you don't have to continue with the format/reinstall)? That may give you a clue to weather it's the hardware, or the software.

[a500lbgorilla]

go computer yourself.

lewd motherfucker.

[thenonsequitur]

Just to make absolutely sure that the CD drive is the problem and not the CDs, I'd check the CDs on another computer. I can't really offer any concrete advice though. I've never seen that specific problem before.

[sandstorm]

check the BIOS settings during startup and see if you can spot anything funny (dunno what that would be, but anyway)

[Sprayed]

Did you buy the warranty?

[euphoricism]

Goin in order..

A) Yep, checked the lens (cleaned it with a Q-Tip. No effect. But the drive worked literally mintues before... so I dont think thats the problem.)
B) It appears on My Computer, and it tries really hard to autorun, but just can't read any discs. I think its a windows problem, but I cant figure out a way to reinstall windows without my cdrom drive working. I think if I could format, the cdrom drive would probably start working again, but without the cdrom drive I cant get the system restore disks to work so I cant even do that. Kinda stuck.
C) Putting the reinstall CD in during boot up... just ignores it. Even though the bios says to boot from the CDrom, it ignores it and goes straight to winblows. I have absolutely no idea why. I guess its POSSIBLE the cdrom drive is just dead. It seems mighty unlikely, but its possible. Its not worth me buying one though.
D) Your mom.
E) Checked the CDs on another machine, they work fine.
F) This might be it... but if windows can find the cd rom drive, you'd have to assume the Bios can find it. The bios DOES say that my secondary IDE drive is "none", which I think is wrong -- i think it should point to my cdrom drive, but I've tried to set that manually and I dont think its "sticking".
G) No, I didnt buy the warranty. In general I'm pretty computer savy, but I have never experienced this and I really cant find many instances of other people experiencing it either (though I did, interestingly enough, find a windows KB that talked about CDRoms and DVDRoms dying after installing windows. BUt doing their fixes brought about no changes.) I bought this machine used a good two years ago, and it was probably two years old then. And its an awesome machine (especially for the $250ish I paid).

Right now its not a huge deal. I got the wireless drivers loaded by using a thumbdrive and copying the CD from another PC then loading the thumbdrive. So the wireless is fine, and I can load 99.9% of the programs I want over the internet (pokerstars... uh.. instant messenger.. and firefox) and in actuality I almost NEVER use the cdrom drive (AKA, I only use it when something goes wrong.) So everything is fine now, I can surf, I can play poker, I can use AIM, I can do everything I normally do with this machine --- but if something goes wrong, I don't think I can reinstall. I'm kinda at "last chance" mode. If it dies, I think that'll be it. Maybe at that point it'll just be time to buy a new laptop.

[jackvance]

How come there's 3 disks to install windows? The ones they ship with the laptop are usually totally crap anyway, loaded with junk you don't need. Get a bootleg windows XP CD from a friend and install that one..

[euphoricism]

I assume its because it also needs to isntall things like controllers for my touchpad and stuff. I d unno though. A bootleg copy isnt a bad idea, even if I just have to get a mini-mouse.

[martindcx1e]

Maybe at that point it'll just be time to buy a new desktop.

FYP

[swiggidy]

I assume its because it also needs to isntall things like controllers for my touchpad and stuff. I d unno though. A bootleg copy isnt a bad idea, even if I just have to get a mini-mouse.

be careful of this. I had a hell of a time finding all the drivers (touchpad, function keys, power management, audio, video, etc) to get my vaio back up. Sony is fucking shiesty with their drivers.

After you find them all, you have to install them in the correct order, or some won't work. It's fucked up.

[LeFou]

Ubuntu

[swiggidy]

Ubuntu

That's as good an answer as "Buy a MAC"

[LeFou]

it's a much better answer; it costs nothing and has superior commodity-hardware support

[euphoricism]

I have a desktop. My desktop monitor cost more than my entire laptop.

Swig: thats what I was worried about, the drivers for the vaios are notoriously finnicky. I love the laptop and its paid for itself plenty times over, but it looks like I just dont have a CDRom. Eh, I never used it anyway. I can always buy an external USB one I guess.

[swiggidy]

CD's are soooo 2002