Question

Boot to USB on Sony Vaio

Asked by: zm15

I have a Sony Vaio Laptop, model VGN-A270P and i have loaded the Windows 7 iso to a USB drive via the UltraISO write image feature. I can't seem to boot to the USB drive. I have set everything up in the BIOS properly and it is booting to the removable device. I would use my DVD drive but it won't read DVD's anymore. It will read CD's however. I have the latest BIOS as well. Am i out of luck, or am i missing something?

I am currently running windows XP pro.

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Asked On
2009-08-23 at 18:43:06ID24675395
Tags

sony

,

vaio

,

usb

,

boot

,

windows 7

,

VGN-A270P

,

laptop

Topics

PC Laptops

,

Removable Backup Media

,

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
25

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Answers

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 18:46:33ID: 25165168

Have you made the USB drive bootable???

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 18:47:03ID: 25165172

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-23 at 18:55:05ID: 25165206

How can i tell if it's bootable right now? I have a boot folder on the USB drive. It doesn't autorun when i plug it in to windows xp right now. What needs to be on the USB drive to check if it's bootable?

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 19:02:18ID: 25165232

just follow the instructions on the webpage i provided...

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-23 at 19:26:31ID: 25165296

it doesnt seem to be working

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-23 at 19:34:55ID: 25165312

I added boot files to the USB drive, i believe i did it right. The first thing it boots to is the removable media, is there any other reason why it won't read it? The light on the USB drive doesn't even flash when booting.

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 19:38:09ID: 25165327

its possible that it cannot find anything to boot on the flash drive. have you placed the Windows 7 installation as an ISO on the flash drive??? I would try unpacking the contents to the drive and attempting to boot it that way.

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-23 at 19:42:15ID: 25165335

yes, i downloaded the iso file, had it unpacked and written to the usb drive as if it was a cd. I used the program UltraISO. Any other ideas???

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 19:45:22ID: 25165341

could you take a photo of your BIOS boot setup.

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-23 at 19:50:25ID: 25165353

yes i will tomorrow, thanks for sticking with me on this!

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 19:53:17ID: 25165362

thats ok..
Have you got any official documentation that states this system is capable of booting from a flash drive??? Just because the system cvan boot from removable media such as external CDROM or Floppy doesnt necissarily mean it can boot from a USB

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-23 at 20:20:32ID: 25165428

no i don't have anything that clearly states that it will. Just that it says removable media in the BIOS.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2009-08-23 at 23:39:32ID: 25165988

do you actually see the usb device in the boot priority? if not, it won't boot...

 

by: KavostylinPosted on 2009-08-23 at 23:47:03ID: 25166020

Removable Media is CDROM/FDD not USB

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-24 at 06:18:14ID: 25167962

no i don't actually see the usb in the boot menu or under the hard drives.

the cd-rom also shows up along with removable media.

I may just be out of luck :(

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-24 at 06:57:06ID: 25168329

could i do something like this?

Put the windows xp cd in, get to the DOS prompt, format the hard drive, and install W7 from the flash drive from there? If so , i can't remember the correct prompts, what would they be?

OR should i take the hard drive out, hook it up to the desktop (if i can, it has the old style laptop connections, not SATA), and somehow install the files to there???

 

by: alanhardistyPosted on 2009-08-24 at 07:20:37ID: 25168542

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-24 at 07:34:32ID: 25168695

i have tried some other boo utilities, but not that one. I will give it a try.

 

by: AliokasPosted on 2009-08-24 at 14:23:29ID: 25172780

I agree with Kavostylin, most likely your laptop does not have feature to boot from USB flash drive.
I use linux on usb key for testing and maybe every third or fourth actualy boots from usb key. Removable media does not mean usb flash drive.
Sony's are very tricky laptops with own weirdness, so most likely usb flash booting wasn't implemented.
Also if you activate F12 boot menu, then when you press F12 at boot and laptop is able to boot from usb flash pen, then instead of removable drive in the list you will see your usb key manufacturers name.

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-25 at 06:07:13ID: 25177096

F12 on my laptop is to boot to the network, so i am going to try and get it set up that way and do a network install.

 

by: AliokasPosted on 2009-08-25 at 08:44:27ID: 25178795

If not F121 then Esc or any other (you have to enable it in bios).

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-25 at 11:48:43ID: 25180840

esc brings me to the boot menu

 

by: AliokasPosted on 2009-08-25 at 13:12:25ID: 25181736

thats what i mean - if laptop have ability to boot from usb pen drive, then in boot menu you will see your usb pen drives manufacturers name instead of "removable media".

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-25 at 13:35:01ID: 25181959

what if i were to partition my hard drive, how would i be able to install windows 7 on the second hard drive after i boot? I guess, while i'm still in XP how do i install it would be the better question.

 

by: zm15Posted on 2009-08-31 at 19:10:38ID: 25228098

i managed to get windows 7 installed over a network following these instructions here:

http://blog.ryantadams.com/2008/02/01/how-to-boot-from-the-network-pxe-boot-with-tftp-and-windows-pe/

Thanks for your help everyone!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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