Can I use any make of external DVD drive to load Sony Vaio recovery disk?

[chocjimmie]

Sony Vaio PC-GRT916V; Windows XP

I have looked for quite a while at the discussion board about DVD not playing any film and refusing to load the the Sony recovery DVD (CDs will work). Can I buy any other external DVD drive, plug it in and will it run the Sony recovery disc? I have tried, without success to find the Recovery files on my Hard drive. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[Blencogo · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Older Vaio models did not have the recovery software on the hard drive - they came with a 'Documentation & Recovery Disc' only - so you will need a working DVD drive to reload the software,

Uncortunately, on these XP models, it is also not possible to boot from an external disc drive.

It sounds like the DVD laser in your drive has failed and it is likely that you will need to have the drive replaced. 

Check to see if there are any Warnings in Device Manager against the drive and check there are no physical obstructions inside the drive preventing free movement of the laser head.

You could try cleaning or copying the disc but if it will not play any DVDs this will probably not help.  If it will not boot from the drive, this would indicate a hardware fault as Windows software is not yet loaded.

Sorry, but it looks like a new internal drive.