Cannot boot from CD or zip

Hi
I have succesfully saved an image of my Vaio laptop hardrive to an external usb drive. Now I want to transfer that image to a brand new disk. But I cannot get my laptop to boot from the bootable CD. I'm no techie but I've been tinkering with reordering the BIOS settings all afternoon and I flashed upgraded the BIOS but it will still only boot from the hard disk. I made a recovery disk on a usb zip disk but it won't boot from that either. I guess this is not really a DriveImage problem but I can't find anything on the web except 'set up your BIOS'. SOMEONE must know how to sort this PLEASE!

 

Your posting leaves me a bit confused. Are you attempting to run true Image by Acronis, or Drive Image by Power Quest (now owned by Symantec)? If the former, you have the right forum. If the latter, try the Symantec support website.

Assuming True Image, I suggest that you provide addition details about your PC, like age, CPU, RAM, internal disk size, operating system, etc. And, provide more details as to exactly what happens when you boot with the CD inserted. For example, does anything flash on the screen about hitting some key to boot from CD, or does the CD light go on as if it is trying to read the CD? Have you tried the bootable CD in a different PC, one that you know is capable of booting from a CD?

 

I checked the Sony website and they list dozens of Vaio laptops, including user manuals, FAQs, and other things of interest. The info you need to boot from CD, assuming that your PC can do it, is likely contained on that website. Also, please include exactly which model you have in your next posting; it would really help.

 

Hi, xplat

What software program are you using DriveImage or TrueImage, I am not being rude but this is an Acronis TrueImage Forum so any advise you get here might not work with DriveImage.

Just seen this which might have some bearing:- Can I clone via networked Macintosh?

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hello xplat,

Can you boot from some other bootable CD such as a Windows Installation disk? If not, then perhaps you need to press a certain key(s) during bootup in order for your Sony laptop to detect the CD as per a Gateway laptop user's experience detailed in this <previous post>.

Regards

 

Oops! Apologies yes I mean True Image, sorry.

Now properly told off here are my machine details

Sony Vaio PCG-GR215MP
1 gig P3, 512 RAM, 30 gig HD, Win XP Pro with SP2

I have made a new boot CD via Rescue Media Builder cd aside from the one that came in the True Image 8.0 box. And I have made a bootable zip disk. When I boot with the either of the CDs or zip inserted it's just ignored, no messages. It doesn't seem like it's trying to read it at all. I'm going to buy some floppy disks (never thought I'd say that again) and try booting via a usb floppy drive.

My BIOS boot list looks like this
1. CD-ROM Drive
2. Removable Devices
3. Hard Drive
4. Network Boot

One thing I'll mention is that in my BIOS settings there is a little cross next to the Hard Drive option that the other options don't have. But there seems no way to control that.

Looking at the thread refered to in Menorcaman's last post I haven't tried making a safe mode CD so I'll give that a go too. Also I'll investigate the key combo idea. Does anyone have an idea what that mightbe on a Vaio? (hittng Esc gives me the BIOS settings)

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

Hello xplat,

As Menorcaman suggested try to boot the laptop with Windows Installation CD. If you can do it the problem is in Acronis Bootable CD and needs to be investigated. If you cannot I assume the best way would be to contact Sony Support Team and ask them how to boot your particular model with CD. You may also find some information on User's Guide for your laptop. According to the BIOS settings you mentioned, the boot priority is correct.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Well I finally managed it. Booted from floppies and restored the image to a new hard disk. Image restore is not a quick process is it?!!

I CAN boot from my system restore CD-ROM but NOT from the TI boot CD (neither boxed nor software generated version). Any thoughts on that Ilya?

I have the same partition sizes as before on a bigger hard disk, so mission not quite accomplished yet but I think there is a way to sort this from what I read on the forum - maybe I have to buy more software to resize my partitions?

 

Hi again xplat,

I still think there is a possibility that you need to do something with your Sony laptop before it will boot from a standard bootable CD rather than Sony's special recovery CD. Perhaps the red cross you noticed on your bios boot list is a clue to the fact that the HD is set as the default boot device? I'm only guessing here but if there are actual numbers against each of the boot devices listed, does anything happens when you press the #1 (CD-ROM) key?

Regards

 

Hello xplat,

As for Acronis Bootable CD, I would still suggest that you contact SONY for possible solution. I am afraid I cannot provide you with the exact instructions on how to boot the laptop from the CD. According to your description, the laptop even doesn't start booting at all.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hi
Well I finally got it sorted after 4 days of posts back and forth with Sony e-support (not including the 24 hours it took to get signed up)

They said:
"We Would also Advise to keep tapping the Spacebar as System is booting
as you need to press a key to Activate booting from CD this is to prevent booting From Recovery CD by accident if the recovery CD is already in Drive"

Leaving aside how uneccessary this functionality actually is, I tried tapping the spacebar. But it just bought up a Hardware Profile/Configuration Recovery Menu. I contacted e-support again and (after another day) we were going to leave it that it was a fault with the Acronis boot CD when I just thought I'd try tapping the old spacebar again.

This time it worked!!! The secret is to tap slowly and regularly when you see the Sony logo. Don't tap fast or hold the key down for too long or you will get the recovery menu. I'm guessing this is the same with other Vaio laptops as my wife's would not boot either although I haven't got around to tapping her spacebar yet.

So that's the answer. It's not science but the black art of spacebar tapping.

It's EXTREMELY annoying that there is no mention of this in any Sony documentation and that it took e-support 3 days to mention it.

However it may be no great surprise to anyone who has encountered the Kafka-esque world of the Sony support web sites.

Anyway just thought I'd update and hopefully save other Vaio users days of frustration.

I'm now waiting for Disk Director Suite to arrive so I can resize my partitions. Hope not to see you on the boards re that one ;-)

 

Hi, xplat

Thanks for getting back and telling use how you fixed it, very useful to know to pass on to others.

What dance routine next.

Thanks again.
Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hi xplat,

Well I never!! We learn something new each day don't we.

As TheQuest said, thanks for posting back with the result so that it can be filed in our memory banks.

Oh, and good luck with Acronis Disk Director Suite. At least now you will know what to do when booting from its rescue CD .

Regards