Rosco[CoF]

My brother received a PC from his boss who could not get it to work, a Sony Vaio VGC-RC310G. He did not get the remote control or the recovery DVD's with it though. After some tinkering he gave up and has given it to me now. It's a decent looking rig with a lot of bells and whistles and I'd like to give it a go, but I'm kind of stuck.

Here are the detailed specs, on page 2 of the pdf

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/spe...C310G_mksp.pdf

Short list,
Intel Pentium D 3.20Ghz
mobo has the 945P chipset
1-PCI Express slot (nVidia 7600GT)
2-PCI slots, one with a TV card and the other a dual serial ports(?)
1-PCI Express 1x (open)
4-memory slots, all taken (2GB PC2-4200, DDR2)

The OS (Win XP MCE SP2) is hosed, PC will not start. The hard drive is partitioned with drivers and apps sitting on the 1st partition, XP-MCE on the 2nd partition.

What are my options for hardware upgrades? I don't need the serial ports, I could yank that and put in a nice 4850 or 4870. Can the CPU be replaced with a Core2Duo?

Also, since the OS is hosed and Sony has discontinued selling the recovery DVDs. Should I go with Vista Home Premium($$$$), or I have found a 3rd party selling Vaio recovery discs for this PC for only $32 at Sony Vaio Recovery

I'm reluctant, since I have never heard of this SonyRecovery.com site and they are not listed at Reseller Ratings.

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Consoles are schwag

OldBuzzard

Interesting problem, but we need a bit more to go on. Be a little more specific and detailed.

First, you say "it will not start". Just what does that mean?

Does it power up? If not it could be the PSU, or something as simple as the 20/24 Pin connector not seated properly. (Don't ask me how I know about the 2nd one )

If it does power up, does it POST? If so what does it do after the POST when it tries to start Windows? Any messages you get might give a clue as to what is wrong.

If it's failing when it's trying to start Windows, and you can't fix it there, for $32.00, I'd buy the restore disks, and give those a try first. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying Vista, and then finding out you can't use it.

Also, make sure to remove ANY part that wasn't in the system to start with before you use the restore discs.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Rosco[CoF]

Edit:

I did manage to get XP-MCE running, and it was running quite well. I did not see any recognizable problems in the event viewer. Ran Windows Update and downloaded a few, restarted with no problems. Tried watching Casino Royale and really was surprised at how nice movies looked on this PC. The I shut it completly off and started it again, and Windows failed to load completly again. I think I have a bad spot on the boot sector, looks like a DBAN and reinstall.
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As far as upgrades, Sony wasn't any help at all. Obviously just a copy and paste from a support manual. I hate support people some times, lazy buggers. Got this in my email this morning:

The Processor on a Sony Computer is integrated with the Motherboard and cannot be upgraded. It is not possible to upgrade an Intel Pentium Processor to an Intel Pentium II or Intel Pentium III Processor.

The maximum supported CPU clock speed is determined by the voltage, bus speed, and multiplier support of the Motherboard. For newer Motherboards, these settings may be changed or expanded as additional Processors and BIOS upgrades are made available. In these cases, the maximum supported CPU clock speed is not available.

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Consoles are schwag