topic Re: HELP - Laptop just Died in PCs & Accessories

HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 21:22:11 GMT

Have been running my Z1-RSP for a few years with no problems.

This evening, it locked up and came back a minute later saying the display driver had caused an error. The XP message said to re-start the computer and upon restart, it would start OK and provide a message to send on to Microsoft (usual error reporting thing).

Tried restarting and there is nothing. No hard drive action and the screen remains blank.

Have connected an external screen to it, and again, no action.

Have put the RECOVERY CD in, and while this initially spins up, it stops after 10 seconds. (whether the computer is on or i do boot-up from cold.

With no screen to look at I cannot say if there is any action I must take next.

Of course, with this computer, the recovery procedure is started from Windows XP.

I am wondering if the Bios has crashed, or maybe the hard drive has become unplugged...

any ideas, or is this laptop headed for the grave??

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 21:58:51 GMT

Correction to the above.....The hard drive does spin up and remain spinning...

I have dismantled the laptop and checked all connections, plus unplugged and reconnected the hard drive......still no joy.

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:25:41 GMT

Strange, back together and up and running.....

Now looking at Vaio-link for updated display drivers.

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

Blencogo — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:36:01 GMT

We aren't ignoring you - just haven't a clue what's happened!!

Sounds like a loose connection somewhere - RAM? ATI M6-C16? Screen?

The latest ATI Mobility Radeon M6-C16 driver on Vaio-Link dates from 1/6/2004 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope it holds together!

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

rich912 — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:40:47 GMT

Hi Steve,

Strange problem but pleased to hear that it fired back up again! Strangely enough yours is one of the very few models that do have a video driver update – I hope that it helps….

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

kee-lo_ — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:25:21 GMT

Wow that was odd, glad you're back on your feet

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:50:36 GMT

Cough gasp...dead

Loaded in the new display drivers and re-booted...OK.

moved the screen angle a couple of degrees and bye bye laptop.

The screen function must be inclusive in the boot up routine,since it wont complete a boot up. Not possible to use an external monitor as this is chosen once XP is loaded.

Have stripped laptop and inspected and even continuity checked the screen cables (I wondered if the open close movement had caused a breakage). All seems OK.

Have removed the hard drive and copied all new data over to the desk top.

Now wondering the worth of sending it away for repair....£150 seems to be a typical "look at" charge plus what ever parts are required.

Most likely, I will try to find another on ebay and keep this one for spares (I KNOW the screen itself is sound, as are the hard drive, DVD and keyboard.)

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

William — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:12:01 GMT

Sounds like a cable/ribbon cable problem which has fatigued due to opening and closing.

It might be worth a few £'s (or $.s) to try a new connector from HERE. Its in the USA but they ship worldwide and you can't buy parts in the EU.

Just remember your exact model may not be listed as they may only show USA models so you will have to look at the parts diagrams and try to identify your models USA equivelant. Having said that the part you require may be common to all Z1 models.

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

kee-lo_ — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:22:14 GMT

Yeah I agree William, even if you buy every ribbon cable in your VAIO it's cheaper than the £150 for the "look"

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 09:59:54 GMT

I have managed to source another Z1 which is reported to have hard drive failure after being dropped. Hopefully, a little bit of playing around and I will be back in business (with a few spare parts!!). Should arrive Tuesday.

Will keep you all posted.

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:10:40 GMT

The damaged Z1 arrived the otherday, ready for me to do some parts transfers to see if I could make one good laptop.

Revision. My laptop crashed a few times with video driver errors (lost SXGA resolution and all but 16 colours). I upgraded the video driver from Vaio-link. Rebooted and it looked to be going ok, then I touched the screen and that was the last time it fired up. Subsequent attempts at rebooting manage to spin up the hard drive and DVD drive, but never get the screen lit up and the VAIO sign. Booting stops. Tried booting from the recovery disk but again, the screen never comes to life.

The damaged Z1 had apparently suffered a drop onto kitchen worktop. Judging by the damage to the magnesium case, I guess this was from a fair height. This computer would not boot up at all. Pressing the power on button results in an audible CLICK from the motherboard. I think the motherboard has suffered physical pressure and a few circult tracks are cracked.

In a number of independant operations, I have swapped over the screens, hard drive, keyboards, DVD drive etc. etc. but to no avail. My laptop never gets the screen lit up.

I am beginning to think that apart from the video driver problem there is a problem with the BIOS. Even if the video driver is corrupt, there should be some action before XP loads either the correct video driver or a basic driver to get things started.

Since I have swapped screens, cables and checked the security of all connections, I guess the BIOS must be corrupted.
Any thoughts??

As far as I am aware, the BIOS should be in flash memory on the motherboard somewhere.

IS the entire BIOS info maintained by the CMOS batteries (look like a couple of peas in a pod), or does thebattery only maintain volatile info like passwords, date etc.??

Anyone got any ideas, or should I just auction off the laptops bit by bit on ebay????

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:11:19 GMT

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

kee-lo_ — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:50:44 GMT

Hi Steve,

Sounds terrible
The CMOS mainly stores all the parameters for the BIOS, so you'd really need to swap the BIOS chip from the ebay on to yours. It's not an easy process, but the net has tons of resources on doing this.

Not for the faint hearted

Re: HELP - Laptop just Died

stevep-4 — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 21:59:10 GMT

I would certainly have a go at swapping the bios chips over.....except there is no indication which of the many chips is the bios one, and all are soldered to the motherboard !!!