Laptop factory reset problems

John_Smith_2019

I have a Sony Vaio SVF1521P2EB running Windows 8 (came installed).
It's running slowly and I want to factory reset. I'm sure I've reset it before.

I've tried turning off, plugging in power lead and trying to get into reboot screen by pressing Alt + F10. Also tried F1, F2 and F8. None seem to work.

I have tried pressing the 'Assist' button. That gets me into Vaio Care Rescue Mode, which is a grey screen with touch screen boxes (not the kind of very basic BIOS screen).

I can get to Recovery / refresh, which gives me a blue screen with touchscreen options for languages.
Then
Troubleshoot - Reset - Windows 8.1
But then I get a message saying ''unable to reset PC. A required drive partition is missing''.

If I go from the grey screen to the BIOS setup, I can get to the very basic text text type screen, where I can select the option for factory defaults - but when I press enter on 'yes' it doesn't reset the laptop.

I have managed to get from 'advanced' options into the command screen (again a very basic black and white text screen). But I'm not sure what I can type to factory reset from there.

Any advice?

Thanks.

debitcardmayhem

Do a clean install of Windows or better still install Windows 10 , there aren't many people using W8 ... why would they ? It must be possible to find a fresh install ISO for W8 but [STRIKE]I can't find where[/STRIKE] , well OK I won't spend time on that piece of worst OS ever released:eek:

EveryWhere

As aforementioned, Windows 8 is no longer supported. Windows 8.1 Update 3 is supported.
It's not recommended to Factory Reset to an unsupported operating system anyway.
So you can move to Windows 8.1 Update 3 or Windows 10.
We can help you with that.
You should also take the opportunity to move to a solid state drive at the same time. It will breathe new life in to your old laptop.

Intel® Core i5-3337U processor
Windows 8
Memory: 4 GB
Hard drive: 500 GB

will fly with the addition of a solid state drive.

EveryWhere

Posting this here for reference; https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/laptop-pc-svf-series/svf1521p2e/downloads

Neil_Jones

Nine times out of ten on the branded systems if the recovery partition is missing then it usually means somebody made the recovery disks at some point and this frees up space on the drive, although not many people do this anyway.

Its arbitrary anyway. Windows 8 is a strange kettle of fish for reinstallation purposes because of the way the installer works, you need the right version of Windows 8 otherwise it'll ask for a key. If the machine came with 8 (and not 8.1) you'd need an original 8 disk for reloading and you can update to 8.1 later.

I remember this was a right pain in the backside at the time because officially the only way to update to 8.1 was through the Store (not as you'd expect Windows Update) - this rarely if ever worked first time if at all. I did figure out in the end how to get it updated to 8.1 without using the Store, I might have it documented somewhere.

And it was possible to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8, despite what MS said at the time, you didn't need 8.1 to upgrade.

EveryWhere

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Nine times out of ten on the branded systems if the recovery partition is missing then it usually means somebody made the recovery disks at some point and this frees up space on the drive, although not many people do this anyway.

Its arbitrary anyway. Windows 8 is a strange kettle of fish for reinstallation purposes because of the way the installer works, you need the right version of Windows 8 otherwise it'll ask for a key. If the machine came with 8 (and not 8.1) you'd need an original 8 disk for reloading and you can update to 8.1 later.

I remember this was a right pain in the backside at the time because officially the only way to update to 8.1 was through the Store (not as you'd expect Windows Update) - this rarely if ever worked first time if at all. I did figure out in the end how to get it updated to 8.1 without using the Store, I might have it documented somewhere.

And it was possible to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8, despite what MS said at the time, you didn't need 8.1 to upgrade.

Not correct. You can install Windows 8.1 Update 3 directly even if Windows 8 was the original pre-installation.

Windows 8.1 Update 3 remains a viable option as SONY provides Drivers for that device. They may not be needed. But if there are problems with Windows 10, we'll have the option of installing 8.1 Update 3 instead.

John_Smith_2019

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Do a clean install of Windows or better still install Windows 10 , there aren't many people using W8 ... why would they ? It must be possible to find a fresh install ISO for W8 but [STRIKE]I can't find where[/STRIKE] , well OK I won't spend time on that piece of worst OS ever released:eek:

Sorry, my mistake.
The laptop is running Windows 8.1 not Windows 8.

John_Smith_2019

EveryWhere wrote: »

As aforementioned, Windows 8 is no longer supported. Windows 8.1 Update 3 is supported.
It's not recommended to Factory Reset to an unsupported operating system anyway.
So you can move to Windows 8.1 Update 3 or Windows 10.
We can help you with that.
You should also take the opportunity to move to a solid state drive at the same time. It will breathe new life in to your old laptop.

Intel® Core i5-3337U processor
Windows 8
Memory: 4 GB
Hard drive: 500 GB

will fly with the addition of a solid state drive.

Sorry, my mistake.
The laptop is running Windows 8.1 not Windows 8.
How do I find out which Windows 8.1 update I am running?

John_Smith_2019

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Nine times out of ten on the branded systems if the recovery partition is missing then it usually means somebody made the recovery disks at some point and this frees up space on the drive, although not many people do this anyway.

Its arbitrary anyway. Windows 8 is a strange kettle of fish for reinstallation purposes because of the way the installer works, you need the right version of Windows 8 otherwise it'll ask for a key. If the machine came with 8 (and not 8.1) you'd need an original 8 disk for reloading and you can update to 8.1 later.

I remember this was a right pain in the backside at the time because officially the only way to update to 8.1 was through the Store (not as you'd expect Windows Update) - this rarely if ever worked first time if at all. I did figure out in the end how to get it updated to 8.1 without using the Store, I might have it documented somewhere.

And it was possible to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8, despite what MS said at the time, you didn't need 8.1 to upgrade.

Sorry, my mistake.
The laptop is running Windows 8.1 not Windows 8.

I did make a back up on a USB flash drive when I first bought the laptop - as it advised me to.
But since then I've never used the flashdrive / USB stick to reinstall anything.
I seem to remember last year I just reset the laptop to factory settings, without needing to use the flashdrive backup.

John_Smith_2019

EveryWhere wrote: »

Not correct. You can install Windows 8.1 Update 3 directly even if Windows 8 was the original pre-installation.

Windows 8.1 Update 3 remains a viable option as SONY provides Drivers for that device. They may not be needed. But if there are problems with Windows 10, we'll have the option of installing 8.1 Update 3 instead.

I can't remember if Windows 8 was the original installation, but I pretty certain it's running Windows 8.1 now, as that is what it says in: Control Panel - System and Security - System

John_Smith_2019

Thanks for the replies.
In Control Panel - System and Security - System:
It gives these specifications:

Processor: Intel(R) Core (TM) i5-3337U CPU @1.80Ghz 1.80Ghz
Installed memory (RAM): 4.00GB (3.88 GB usable)
System Type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Pen and Touch: Full Windows Touch Support with 10 Touch Points