topic Harddrives Not there? in PCs & Accessories

Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:53:15 GMT

I turned on my computer the other day and suddenly it didn't reconize its own hardrives. I then looked in Bios by holding esc while the vaio animation loaded and they were they both 100GBs it even knew the make.
So i decided to try reinstalling windows.....however windows could not detect any hard disk devices to install to. So i decided i would try to fdisk the probelm away as it said they may need paritioning. SO i went ahead got a boot CD (which took ages!) and fdisked it and formatted it. No Good!. So i have come to the extreme now it seems i'll have to flash my bios as it seems to be a problem there. God knows how this got corrupted but if so at least i might be able to fix it. I have a Sony Vaio VGN AR21S Series I now need to know either

1. Where i can find suitable BIOS and how to flash it on

2. Any way i haven't tried to fix it

P.S. Is there any way of Sony knowing if you've open up your laptop?

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Thalamus. — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:04:44 GMT

Hi Andrewisback,

have you tried starting your AR21 and when you see the Vaio logo press the F10 repeatedly, this should start the recovery process.?

Re: Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:15:28 GMT

It just beeped a lot and then loaded and didn't work still

Re: Harddrives Not there?

ProperBritish — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:04:49 GMT

yeah, probably because you reformatted it

Re: Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:48:17 GMT

Is that it F10? nothing else?

Re: Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:33:56 GMT

I think there might be a problem with the BIOS so i think i am going to flash it is that a good idea?

I have a file downloaded from Vaio and it is my BIOS

However i need to make this into a bootable CD how?

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Thalamus. — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:46:27 GMT

I think there might be a problem with the BIOS so i think i am going to flash it is that a good idea?

Why do you think that there is a problem with the BIOS...

What version of Windows have you tried to install.?

If you tried installing your own retail version of Windows XP on your AR21S XP this could be the reason for the HDD not being detected, as XP does not contain the RAID/SATA drivers..

Did you create a set of recovery disc's.?

If not and as you have formatted and removed the hidden HDD recovery partition then you can if you wish purchase a set of recovery disc's by contacting Sony Vaio support, you can do this either by phone or via e-Support, use the following link to find the contact details: Sony Vaio Support

If you would rather try to install your own copy of XP then you may find the guide from Costap useful, use the following link to view: Full instructions to downgrade an AR31M from Vista to XP Pro

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Blencogo — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:48:51 GMT

Please keep all your questions in one thread or you will be wasting everyone's time.

I have replied to another of your threads here: -

http://club.vaio.sony.co.uk/clubvaio/gb/en/forum/viewthread?thread=55940

I suggest you just use this thread from now on.

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Thalamus. — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:58:40 GMT

Please keep all your questions in one thread or you will be wasting everyone's time.

I have replied to another of your threads here: -

http://club.vaio.sony.co.uk/clubvaio/gb/en/forum/viewthread?thread=55940

I suggest you just use this thread from now on.

Thanks Blencogo I missed your earlier reply.. :smileyblush:

Re: Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:08:04 GMT

Sorry about that.

There aren't any SATA drivers for the hardrives I have in my VGN-AR21S on the Sony support

So i looked up the hardrives on Google and it said they are on the Windows XP disk.

Its a nice tutorial that i was sent to except all the links are dead

I forgot to mention that i tried the HDD in another Sony Laptop i have a VGN-CR11S. It detected the HDD and allowed me to install windows without any additional drivers.
However when i place it back into my VGN-AR21S it doesn't load up windows. Nor when i try to reinstall windows it still doesn't detect the hardrives. The transfered one was the primary HDD and just for safty sake i swapped it with the secondray just incase. The reason i believe it to be the BIOS is this, I understand what your saying about needing drivers as it is SATA but why would i be able to detect and install on to them on a different laptop?
Also now the the OS is installed it should just start up.

Re: Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:55:22 GMT

So any one got any ideas what i can do?

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Thalamus. — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:50:02 GMT

So any one got any ideas what i can do?

I think the simplest solution would be to purchase a set of recovery disc's by contacting Sony Vaio support, you can do this either by phone or via e-Support, use the following link to find the contact details: Sony Vaio Support

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Blencogo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:57:47 GMT

The reason you have a problem is because the two hard discs in your AR21S are configured in RAID 0. The two discs are a single volume and you cannot format one alone - they must be formatted together to form one RAID Volume.

Unless you know what you are doing, the easiest way forward is to buy a set of Recovery Discs from Sony for £30 which will reinstall the original system.

Presumably you are trying to install XP Pro for some misguided reason. If you want to do this you will need to Google for "Installing XP on SATA/RAID Hard Drives".

There are two ways to install XP. One needs a USB Floppy disc drive with the SATA/RAID drivers on a disc. When the installation gets to "Welcome to Setup", press F6 to install the SATA/RAID drivers. The second way is by using nLite and creating a XP installation disc with all the drivers included. http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

It is not a simple process. You need to download all the Original Drivers Package (which will include the SATA/RAID drivers) and the Original Utilities Package for your model from here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/downloads/preinstalled/preinstalled.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons&m=2418

I attach the SATA driver and the RAID driver below:

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Blencogo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:02:03 GMT

Evening Thalamus - you got there first again!!!

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Thalamus. — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:06:49 GMT

Evening Thalamus - you got there first again!!!

Good evening to you too Blencogo..

Re: Harddrives Not there?

andrewisback — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:50:13 GMT

Ok thanks a lot guys I am sorry for being a retard and not being able to find the drivers i recently realized my misstake and found them in the original drivers pack, wow imagine that the original drivers in a pack called original drivers....no wounder i got confused.
I had to wait till today to buy a external floppy but have done and now I am in the process of installing windows back on to the laptop.

Thanks a lot agian your all stars in my eyes!

Re: Harddrives Not there?

Thalamus. — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:47:04 GMT

Good luck, hope all goes well..