Which specific link again was for that laptop? Didn't see one for the PCG-C1VG and the other close ones either didn't work or were in Japanse.

If he could boot from a CD, why not stick the Windows setup disk in?

Thanks for the link Rich-M. Found 1 link that had pics of the laptop disassembly sequence. Will try and open the laptop up later this week.

By the way Bob, here's the direct link to that page. Seems to be for the PCG-C1VE/N/J but the pictures look exactly like the PCG-C1VG as well.

http://www.geardigest.com/2001/02/15...soe/page8.html

Thanks for all the replies. Really appreciate all the advice given out. Now its time to revive that Sony ...hopefully!

If you can boot from the external drive, another option would be to use something like a Knoppix Boot CD.

Then you could:
Boot with the CD
Try copying the source files from your OS CD to the hard drive
Then boot to the hard drive.

Sure would save all that hassle of the recommendation to take apart the computer case to take out the hard drive.