Vista System Recovery won't finish install

>I have a used Sony Vaoi VGC-LS30E purchased from a third party. When I
> started it up, it looked like it was going into some sort of PC recovery
> mode
> (I'm not familiar with Vista at ALL, so half the stuff it was doing, I
> don't
> recognize).
>
> It went through a very lengthy process of installing all sort of
> bloatware,
> and I went to bed. When I got up this morning, there was an error message
> that Windows had recovered from an error, and please restart the computer.
> So I did.
>
> Now I get the following message: "Windows could not complete the
> installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the
> installation." There is only one thing to do - -click OK.
>
> Oh, by the way, the installation software is located ON the computer.
>
> I can't get it to do anything else (have tried Safe Mode with and without
> command prompt).
>
> I feel held hostage.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> JMFlint