Sony Vaio freezes

[bumpkin]

I have a problem with a Sony Vaio VGN-S360. Its my Sisters laptop, she installed a new video driver, because it kept saying something about a video error. After that all kinds of problems, it wont go into safe mode, it wont boot the logo screen. I turned it on about 20 time before the screen would ever even light up.

When I finally got it to boot, I tried the recovery f10, after it reinstalled an error came up saying "windows\system32\config\system" was missing or corrupt.

So I figured I would do a clean install of windows xp home edition. I tried all day to get the monitor to come on, finally the next day, I just tried again and whoa....it came on, so I preceded to do a clean install........but half way through the install, the monitor went away, lights out.

That was yesterday...today I got it to come on, one time and it booted up normally and said continuing setup....the picture started fading, and vertical lines are on the screen now, but nothing. It keeps going from blue to white with lines, and rolling, then nothing?


Is it the monitor, hdd, mobo, power supply, what do I test to find out?

I figured there are people here a lot smarter than me, that could at least tell me, what I am looking for, where to troubleshoot? I have no clue?

Thanks for this forum

[Flame]

Does your sister have virus and Spyware protection? Is the laptop still under warranty?

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[bumpkin]

Yes she has protection, and no the warranty is out.  She said she should have known to keep the warranty.

What is your guess as to what the problem is?

Thanks for the reply

[Flame]

Could either be a nasty virus, or maybe overheating, which would explain why it is constantly shutting off... Are the fans running ok?

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[bumpkin]

Not sure about the fans, but the bottom of the pc seems to get hot. I guess I would need to take the bottom off to check the fans, correct?  Or just listen?

When I try to start the pc, I can hear the boot cd startup, but when I take the cd out and try to boot, all sound stops right away.

What seems strange to me, is it doesnt even seem to be trying to boot. The sony logo has only started once today, and it tried to start windows xp, but froze up and then, the screen kept going to snowy white and then it would have vertical lines of different colors.

It isnt on long enough to overheat, of course it wouldnt take long I guess if the fans arent working.

[Flame]

When you turn the computer on, you should hear the fans running as soon as you press that button. It would either be a soft hum, or a louder fan sound.

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[GX1_Man]

If you have never worked on a laptop, now may not be the time to start.  

[bumpkin]

Yes I can hear the fans running. While I was trying to hear the fans, I turned the laptop upside down, and when I tried starting it again. Surprise it decided to start up again, the logo screen came up and it said it is contining setup, it asked for me to insert the cd, and I did and it started loading windows again...........but after just a few minutes, lines started going across the screen and it started jumping and then it froze again

Now the screen is black again!!!

Thanks for your help, no one seems to know what is causing this, certainly not me

[GX1_Man]

I think you have a serious hardware issue, possibly the graphics adapter going bad, but in any case, reloading Windows doesn't appear to be the solution. Software doesn't fix malfunctioning hardware. I think the machine needs a repair shop, and you will not be able to fix this on your own. Sorry.  

[bumpkin]

Thanks so much to both of you for your help, I think you are right, GX1_Man.

Nothing seems to work and this morning when I tried, I didnt hear the fans come on, there was no sound.

[Flame]

I would say that it's either the video card or the power supply. It seems to be a power issue if the fans won't come on. Good luck at the shop  

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