I;m off on a little adventure and wonder if others have traveled the path. Any and all comments are gratefully welcomed .....

Am past diagnostics. Accepted the risks, know I may eat a motherboard, ... oh well .... momma don't need no new shoes

=Sony Vaio VGC=RC210G Desktop. Unaltered (nothing changed or replaced) (motherboard, chipset, processor, video & audio cards, etc. all factory)
= believe BIOS corrupted at kernel level
= original twin 160 gig Seagates fried ( to such a degree that they would no longer admit to being anything more than 5 gig. One had a 17 layer rewrite and a realignment and would not admit it was even a HDD!
=have one WD Caviar Green 500 gig Formatted and ready to go. OS is not loaded
=Sony E-Support (who, I must say, was very helpful, though slow to understand) has confirmed that the BIOS Update file I plan to load will automatically install the original BIOS.
=Knowing I will certainly only get one chance AND that Sony is known for hidden partitions on their hard drive - I am wary. Would they ambush me in the processor or at a another layer ?

Here;s my plan: 1) load original factory chipset, 2) load "BIOS Update", 3. load Sony's "Shared Library (including win XP), then servers, drivers, bells and whistles .

COMMENTS ?

Hi Humble pie...

Your question is a bit confusing.

You said a lot, but the only "problem" I heard was that you have some bad hard drives?

I'm not sure where updating the BIOS, etc. is coming from, or why?

If you have a bad hard drive, replace it. Reload the OS, and the drivers, and the updates and you will be back on your way.

If you choose to update your BIOS, you should do that because it is fixing a known problem. Very little changes in BIOS updates, and the "fixes" are usually well documented. As far as BIOS corruption, I suppose it is possible, but I have yet to ever see it, and think it is unlikely to naturally happen. Now, if someone tried to load a BIOS update and messed it up, thats a whole 'nother story (as they say).

As far as Sony sabbotaging you, that sounds a bit radical.

If you would like further help, please specify exactly what the problem is and then allow us to objectively offer the best advice.