# Need help Getting a Sony Vaio to recognize the Hard Drive



## musik8101 (Oct 4, 2011)

Hey everyone. I am trying to help a friend out with his Sony Vaio E Series Laptop. The computer had crashed and he tried to do a clean install of windows but it failed and nothing would respond. Even when you tired to do a clean install, repair or revert windows again, it just went to the light blue windows screen with the bird and nothing happened. So I used Dban to Wipe the hard drive clean and start over from scratch. After I wiped it I tried to reinstall windows and it says there are no signed device drivers found. So I checked the bios and it's not even registering the hard drive. I have been searching the boards everywhere to find a solution to this. The Bios does not allow for much change so I can not make sure it is set to a SATA connection and I have tried turning off the signed device option when starting up. Nothing is working. So I figured I could format the disk with GParted because you can boot from it and format and partition the drive without an OS. But it could not see the hard drive either. So I tried seeing if installing Ubuntu would find the drive but no luck there. So I think the only problem is the hdd not being recognized by the computer. I need to get the hard drive to show up in the bios. If someone could help me out I would greatly appreciate it.

2010 Sony Vaio E Series 
Model# VPCEB23FM
Intel Core I3
Toshiba MK3265GS HD
Bios Says...
Aptio Setup Utility -American Megatrends, Inc
Version R0300Y8


----------



## brobarapas (Sep 26, 2009)

Is the hdd spinning up when you start the lap top?

Was it been seen in the bios before you formatted it with the 2 programs,what did you format it too? take it from the lap top,put it in a external caddy and connect it to another computer,go then to disc management and assign a letter to the drive and format it to ntfs


----------



## pip22 (Aug 22, 2004)

The hard drive may have failed. You can test it with the drive maker's diagnostic software. You need to download the DOS version which runs from a bootable CD.

The links are here: Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

The DOS version is an ISO CD-image file. Create a CD from the ISO file using IMGBurn from here: Download ImgBurn 2.5.5.0 - FileHippo.com

When you've created the CD, boot the Vaio from it and the diagnostic software will open. Select the drive for testing and run the "long" or "extended" test. If it says "Failed" it needs a new hard drive.


----------



## musik8101 (Oct 4, 2011)

Well I guess I will throw this on hold for a few days. I have a connection coming so I can plug the hd in to my computer and see if I can format it. Then I can go from there. Thanks for all the responses. I will write back to see if this solves it. Thanks


----------



## musik8101 (Oct 4, 2011)

Ok so here is the updated situation. I ordered an external HD case and plugged it in to my mac. I figured I would format the HD in FAT since that was my only option on my mac. I thought if I could just format to get it to show up then I could just reformat it to NTFS when I was installing windows. So I formatted it to FAT on my mac and the HD works perfectly. So I put it back in the Sony Vaio laptop to install windows. I checked the Bios and it's still not showing a hard drive. So I tried to install windows anyways and it's still not working. I've got the same problem. So I know the hard drive is fine. I just can't get the vaio to recognize it. Any ideas?


----------



## brobarapas (Sep 26, 2009)

Try and format it to ntfs before you put it in the Sony


----------



## musik8101 (Oct 4, 2011)

I don't have another pc to format the drive to NTFS. I figured that Fat is readable by windows and pc so I could just reformat it to NTFS when I installed windows. I would think the bios would recognize it no matter what it is formatted as but I dunno. I'm running out of ideas. I have read some forums where people installed chipset drivers but I don't know how to do that without an OS.


----------



## brobarapas (Sep 26, 2009)

I think there might be something wrong with the sata controller on the m/b,If the drive is been seen and recognised in another pc there is something a miss with the sony


----------



## brobarapas (Sep 26, 2009)

What o/s are you trying to install on the system


----------



## musik8101 (Oct 4, 2011)

It is my friends computer, I have a mac. So when I plug the hdd that was wiped from the sony in to my mac it shows up and works fine. When I put the hdd back in to the sony vaio it doesn't show up in the Bios. I'm trying to install windows 7. I have tried formatting it in Fat and that worked. I have downloaded paragon NTFS for mac which allows you to format a disk to NTFS from a mac but it isn't working. I'm thinking maybe I need to reset the Bios.


----------



## brobarapas (Sep 26, 2009)

Ok can you see the hdd in the bios before you load windows from the disc,I presume you are booting from a disc?


----------



## musik8101 (Oct 4, 2011)

No, the HDD doesn't show anytime with the windows disc or without. I guess i'm just going to have to try and format it on a pc and see what happens. I definitely won't use dban again.


----------



## brobarapas (Sep 26, 2009)

Take the hdd from your mac,put it in the sony and see if it is been seen


----------



## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi if you cannot see the hdd in the bios of the sony then something has failed either the controller or the motherboard, no amount of formatting is going to change that, time for your friend to think about taking it to a sony repair centre if he has a warranty and see if they will fix it or get a new laptop


----------

