VGN-A317M HARDDRIVE REPLACEMENT - HELP NEEDED

[DVDKEV]

I am replacing a dead harddrive in my VGN-A317M laptop with a brand new Hitachi SATA HDD with no Vaio drivers/utilities installed.

I dont have any recovery discs and wondered if these can be obtained from Sony? If so how?

If I cant get recovery discs, is it OK to just download the original driver/utility packs from the Sony site on another PC and burn these onto a DVD to be used as a recovery disc for the laptop, i.e. would they work just the same as the original recovery discs, do I put drivers on one disc and utilities on another or both on one disc?

I have an XP Pro disc. Do I install the drivers/utilities first then XP Pro or is it the other way round?

Thanks

[kee-lo_]

Start an eSupport ticket asking for a copy of the disks, it should cost around £70

[DVDKEV]

Thank you, I've ordered the recovery DVD from vaiolink.

Fingers crossed.

All I need to find now are the tiny screws to attach the HDD to the HDD Brackets Left and Right and secure the interface CNX-290 to the MOBO, along with the screws to hold down the memory card board. Maplins has been suggested. Any other suppliers I should try?

Has anyone got a scrap machine I can have some parts from?

[kee-lo_]

Great news

Maplin's is probably you're best bet

[simrana]

Hi, I am in a similar situation - I am replacing the hard drive of my sister's VAIO VGN-FE11S for my sister as she let some guy open up the hard drive section of the notebook before it died completely and invalidated her warranty!

I get the impression from this post that a hard drive with Windows XP installed will not work on this notebook without extra drivers installed - is that right? I don't have backup disks either, but surely these should be provided by Sony for free (the laptop cost enough when it was bought!)

[Blencogo]

Hi simrana and welcome to Club Vaio.

Like the A-Series Vaio mentioned above, your sister's FE11S has a SATA hard drive. This makes the installation of a retail version of XP difficult because XP does not support SATA drives and so the SATA drivers must be installed before the installation can recognise the new hard drive. The usual method is to copy these SATA drivers to a floppy disc and using a floppy drive connected by USB, load the drivers during the XP installation by hitting F6 at the 'Welcome to Setup' screen.

Alternatively, you can make a slipstreamed CD with a free program called N-Lite which will include these drivers plus all the Sony Drivers and Utilities. You can download these Preinstalled Drivers and Preinstalled Utilities from SONY VAIO-LINK free. Unfortunately you cannot download the preinstalled Applications - if you want these programs, you have to buy the discs.

Sony's policy (whether we agree with it or not) is to ship the full recovery software installed on the hard drive when a Vaio is purchased. The new owner is then prompted on screen several times to make a set of two DVDs as the first thing they do. These can then be used to restore the Vaio to its factory condition in the event of a hard disc failure (including the SATA drivers). If the owner fails to follow this advice (and it is surprising how many don't), Sony have to make a set specific to the individual machine and will charge for this (about £60).

For most Vaio owners in your situation it is simpler to bite the bullet and buy the discs. It is not impossible to load a retail version of XP but unless you really know what you are doing, it is inevitable that problems will be encountered.

[simrana]

If the owner fails to follow this advice (and it is surprising how many don't)

You got that right! (daft sister:smileyblush: ) So what you're saying is I can get all the drivers and utilities I need to get the PC working with my own Windows XP for free, payment is only if I'm trying to get a disk that loads the full sha-bang, including the WIndows Media Centre OS, straight off a disk? Could you please give me some idea of what sort of problems I might encounter if I tried to install my own version of XP, and how serious they would be - I wouldn't call my self an expert by any means, but I was kinda looking forward to getting my teeth into the rebuild...

Also, could you confirm that it is DEFINATELY a 2.5" disk this laptop uses and not a 1.8"?!

Thanks for all the advice, Sim

[Blencogo]

Hi Sim,

Yes, the drive is a 2.5 inch SATA - these are available easily up to 100GB but I think you can get a 160GB replacement. Seagate Momentus and Hitachi Travelstar are popular drives but most are reliable these days.

Have a look at these threads to get an idea of the process and some of the problems:

http://www.club-vaio.com/clubvaio/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=35725

http://www.club-vaio.com/clubvaio/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=35507 (ignore the RAID drivers - you do not need these)

The biggest problem you may have is that the Windows XP license only allows it to be used on one PC so you will not be able to activate a second installation on your sisters Vaio if you are already using it on your PC. If it a version that is not already being used, this will be OK. If you have to buy another license it will be cheaper to order the replacement discs from Sony - with this you will also get the originally installed Applications.

Another thought - as your sister has paid for the software legitamately, the Recovery DVDs from another VGN-FE11S MAY work. Do you know anyone with exactly the same model? If so this may be worth a try first.

[simrana]

Thanks for the prompt reply Blencogo,

The licencing wouldn't have been an issue as I'm about to upgrade my PC to Vista, however after reading around the forum a bit I think it'd be best to get the recovery disks after all, as I get the impression that VAIO software applications would not work on a biuld-it-yourself Windows XP version.

One thing I am still not sure about (sorry if I sound really dense!) is what hard drives will be compatible - I can't find any info on whether this laptop's motherboard is set up for SATA-133, SATA-150, SATA-300, SATAII or even something else! AM I limited to a 4200rpm hard drive or can I get a faster one? Where can I find this information?

Cheers, Sim

[Blencogo]

Hi Sim,

Your sister's Vaio is an up to date version and the chipset will take any SATA 2.5 inch drive currently produced.

Your choice is quite wide these days - you can choose 4200, 5400 or 7200 rpm drives. The higher the speed, the faster the data access, the higher the cost and higher the noise !

Have a look at THIS REVIEW - it's a bit out of date as both Seagate and Hitachi now do 160GB SATA drives with a choice of 5400 or 7200 spindle speeds.