I have a classic PCG-R505GCP that my dad gave me when the hard drive crashed. I replaced the HD three years ago but I keep getting warnings that the C: drive is running out of space even though I've deleted/moved stuff to the D: drive as much as possible. I finally decided to repartition the HD.
The problem is when I try to run the recovery disks, the machine gets hung on the first disk with a black screen and blinking cursor. I don't even get to the Recovery Utility wizard. I thought that maybe the CD drive was stuck so I put in an audio disk and was able to play all tracks no problem.
I also have tried hitting F2 and going into the BIOS (as directed in the manual) but I don't know/remember the password.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Otherwise, the machine runs fine but the disk space warnings are quite a nuisance considering the D: drive is W-I-D-E open.
New Development: I guessed the password correctly and followed the instructions about going through the BIOS and that did not help. It just gets stuck on that black screen. Could the CD be bad?
Joined: Feb 28, 2003
Posts: 9160
From: Chicago,IL, USA
Posted: 2010-01-03 16:38
Hello Duhey2,
Greetings and welcome.
Now that you can get into the BIOS did you set the Boot order to have the notebook boot off the CD Rom first? Do you get the message "To boot off of the CD Rom Press any key" before you get the black screen with the blinking cursor? Is it a DOS cursor, can you type at that screen?
It could be a bad CD. If you have access to another computer with a CD burner you could try making a copy of the first disk which will let you know that it is readable and also eliminate the possibility of a bad disk.
When you click on "Properties" of the C drive does it show that the drive is full? How is the "C" and "D" drive partioned now? (What amounts on each drive)
Thanks for your prompt reply and welcome. Oddly, after spending all morning jacking with this thing, it decided to work. The only thing I did different was put the CD in the drive a few minutes before shutting down. Then a window popped up advising me that the disk I inserted was a recovery disk and to shut down the computer. Anyway, I'm all done with reformatting/repartitioning the drive. I did want to answer your other questions though...in case someone else has the same issue.
I now know that anytime I install something I'm going to put it on the D drive.
Thanks again!
Member Quote
On 2010-01-03 16:38, jttar wrote: Hello Duhey2,
Greetings and welcome.
Now that you can get into the BIOS did you set the Boot order to have the notebook boot off the CD Rom first? No.
Do you get the message "To boot off of the CD Rom Press any key" before you get the black screen with the blinking cursor? No.
Is it a DOS cursor, can you type at that screen? I could not type.
When you click on "Properties" of the C drive does it show that the drive is full? Yes, it was all blue.
How is the "C" and "D" drive partioned now? (What amounts on each drive) It was 6GB on the C and 48 on the D. When I got to deciding how to partition I saw that 7GB was the default [and probably what I went with when I replaced the HD] but I bumped it to the largest at 16GB.
Joined: Feb 28, 2003
Posts: 9160
From: Chicago,IL, USA
Posted: 2010-01-04 20:47
Duhey2,
Way to stay with it and getting it to work. Happy to hear all is back working and it was a wise move to increase the "C" drive to 16GB. Even when you install all the Program files on "D" drive the registry file continues to grow on "C". The 16GBs should be enough of a buffer to last a long time.
I hope to see you check in here from time to time and share your expertise.
BTW, if you ever run into not remembering a password blocked BIOS again remove the CMOS battery for a few minutes then boot up. You will get pass the password screen but will have to reset all the BIOS settings also.
Joe
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Posted: 2010-01-03 13:03
