How to unplug drives not required to start windows?

M

madmattm

New Member
my windows vista sp2 will not install, i want to do this but dont know how:


To work around this issue, turn off the computer and physically unplug all drives that are not required for starting Windows. Power up the computer and restart the service pack installation.

Any help would be much appreciated thankyou
 
Open up your case and unplug the data and power cables to the drives that do not contain your windows installation. It's that simple. How many hard drives do you have installed and do you know which hard drive holds the windows installation?
 
madmattm said:
when i go on my computer it says i have 1 hard disk drive
Click to expand...

Well you want to leave that drive plugged in. What's the model name and number of your PC? There may be some incompatibility with SP2 and your machine. I read your other thread and the MS articles. I don't think that the drives are an issue, unless you've used a third party app to clone your hard drive. If you have, then maybe we can restore your system boot files and try the SP again.
 
ive got a sony vaio vgn-ns10l. and no i havent cloned my hard drive. unplugging my drives is what microsoft said
 
madmattm said:
unplugging my drives is what microsoft said
Click to expand...

Right, I understand that. You could unplug your optical drive (CD/DVD drives) and remove any USB flash drives or camera card drives (if any), restart your PC, then try the installation again, but I doubt that will solve the problem. You can't unplug your primary hard disk drive that contains windows. I'll take a look at the sony site to see if there are any fixes for this installation issue.
 
Repost the model name and number please. The number you gave me is incorrect. The closest match is the VGNNS101 series, which would be a laptop. Is this a laptop? If it is, don't bother unplugging the optical drive.
 
madmattm said:
it is a laptop called Sony VAIO VGN-NS10L
what number do you want?
Click to expand...

That's fine. There's no information at the sony site regarding SP2 installation issues for your lappy. Did you download and install the standalone SP2 package that stranglehold recommended in your other thread? If you continue to get the error, don't sweat it. Like I said, this SP may be incompatible with your lappy. I've a Sony Vaio desktop that refuses to boot with XP SP3. Service packs aren't always compatible with the OEM hardware in some of these machines. If you want more help, you should consider calling sony or engage in an online chat at their support site.
 
People are have having the same error if they have GRUB boot loader installed, but I dont really think that would be the problem here.
 
StrangleHold said:
People are have having the same error if they have GRUB boot loader installed, but I dont really think that would be the problem here.
Click to expand...

It could be a number of things. It does seem to have something to do with the boot loader. Maybe a reset of the MBR and boot sector would help? If you want to try that, here's the instructions from Microsoft. Use the /fixmbr and /fixboot commands. If you don't have access to a Vista DVD, you can download the recovery disk here. Yes, it's a torrent, but it only gives you access to the recovery environment, it's not an installation disk. You'll need a program like uTorrent to download the file and an ISO burning program, like ImgBurn, to create the disk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top