VGX-XL100 Restore problem

[garrydeakin]

Hi Guys

First post on here, apologies if this has been covered elsewhere !

I recently purchased a VGX-X100 on Ebay, and it came with the restore disks (XP Media Centre).

When I try to restore the system it boots off the disk and then I get a BSOD (07B) - not sure why the restore disk doesn't see the hard disk.  Any ideas on how to get past this ?

Thanks

Gaz

[Oliver]

Hi Gaz and welcome to the forum.

Im not sure why your getting the BSOD but I wonder if it could be due to a hardware issue, is your XL100 still fully original? Please post your xl100's syatem specs so we can offer better advice...

forum.vgx-xl.com/thread/297/request-share-system-specs

Cheers,
Olivers

[garrydeakin]

Hi Oliver

It is very strange. I think the only upgrade is the hard drive, this is now 1TB.

I had an old Windows XP Professional SP2 disk, so I slipstreamed the RAID driver and SP3 onto that using NLite - that installed ok, so all the hardware is working fine.

I will get the full system specs down when I get home tonight.

Does the system restore check the hard drive type before restoring ?

[Oliver]

I think it could be due to new hardware, the discs might think its not a XL100. It has been reported on here before that some replacements motherboards have incorrect service tags...

forum.vgx-xl.com/thread/249/bios-edit

I guess other upgrades could do the same, most of us are on Wins7 so we maybe wouldn't have noticed.

For a while now the recommended OS for all the VGX-XL range has been Win7, especially now that XP is no longer receiving updates. If you can clean install an OS, this might be a good option?

Hopefully when we get your specs we will have a better idea of what is causing the issue.

Oliver

[garrydeakin]

I think actually there is a RAM upgrade in there as well.

If I try to put Win7 on there will I need to slipstream the raid drivers for this as well or will the installation be able to handle that ?

Is raid something that I can turn off ? I am not likely to be using it.

[Oliver]

I only have 1 internal hard drive (2 external) and Wins7 installed fine I never did anything with raid drivers.

Since the release of the 1.2 bios upgrade last month I've been running in ACHI mode but all modes work fine.

[garrydeakin]

OK I gave up with Windows XP and installed Windows 7 instead, no issues with disk controller cards or drivers this time.

I had to find the drivers for wifi and the chipset, though the XP ones I had seemed to work ok.

I dont seem to get any audio through my Geforce 6600 though - is that a common problem ? I got around it by connecting the audio card directly to be speaker bar, it would be nice to get it through the TV as well though if that is possible.

[garrydeakin]

Oh and it doesnt seem to reboot properly either now, it stops at the Sony splash screen and stays there. If I switch off and back on then it boots up fine, just doesnt like to reboot.

Is there any benefit to upgrading the BIOS as well ?

[IT Troll]

www.vgx-xl.com/support/guides-troubleshooting/fix-windows-7-boot-screen-issue

For the XL100 the BIOS is really only of benefit if you are planning to upgrade the CPU.

For the audio take a look at this thread in which someone is having the exact same problem:
forum.vgx-xl.com/thread/333/newbie-upgrades-xl301-graphics-problem?page=1&scrollTo=1664

[garrydeakin]

Hi Troll

I will take a look at those links, thanks.

I have managed to get a GigabyteGV-R435OC-512I PCIe card. Can I use this to replace the original NVidia GeForce 6600 thats in my system ? Is it compatible ?

Thanks

Gaz

[IT Troll]

I had to Google what that was. It is a Radeon HD4350. Ordinarily I would have said yes. But this is a PCI Express 2.0 card and someone is having trouble with an AMD card in an XL100 in another thread. I think the only way to know for sure is to test it out. It won't do any damage and you can always revert to the Geforce if you see anything odd.

[garrydeakin]

So, I finally get this beast built and installed, and the thing has died, I think the PSU has gone ! I put a paperclip in the green and black cables and turned it on, no audible or visible fan activity so I am guessing that's what it is.

Does anyone have a spare I can buy or can someone point me in the right direction ?

Thanks

Gaz

[sinful]

If you can't track down a replacement, I could probably help you out with making an aftermarket solution work.

[IT Troll]

papadelta mentioned in this post that he had a spare PSU.

It used to be possible to buy them through Sony out of warranty parts. Not sure if they will still have them though, see this thread.

[Oliver]

There's a used PSU on ebay at the moment, £34 delivered, buy it now (or best offer)...

End time: 10 May 2015 12:08:51

Item: SONY VGX XL (100) Power supply ( PSU )

URL: pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=171749814796&alt=web

But I think ITTroll has a better idea, I would try to get in touch with papadelta first.

[papadelta]

Hi 

I am happy to sell the PSU that I bought on EBay a couple of weeks ago. I have tested it and it works fine. 

Cheers 

[garrydeakin]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies, been offline for a couple of weeks.

I managed to get a replacement through Ebay - made an offer and got it for £20 so I was happy with that, also there was another XL100 on there, working and complete, and I managed to pick that up for £31, so I should be good for parts now for a while :-)

Does anyone do PSU repairs ? If so then happy to send this faulty PSU to them if they think they can have a crack at repairing it.

Thanks

Gaz

[Oliver]

Hi Gaz,

I know a few members had been looking out for faulty PSUs so they can work on an after market PSU upgrade project.

Since the new BIOS, the PSU is now limiting the CPU upgrade possibilities in the (ASUStek "NIACIN" P5BW-MB motherboards) at least, making this a worthy project.
This would have been an excellent cause to donate it to, but I'm not sure if anyone is still working on the project?

[garrydeakin]

Hi Oliver

No problems, I am happy to donate it if someone can get some use out of it - just let me know and I will drop it in the post :-)

Thanks

Gaz

[jwa4]

I'd be interested in the PSU if its still available.

Thanks!