topic Re: Why won't it boot up? in PCs & Accessories

Why won't it boot up?

bigvarn — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 18:20:38 GMT

HI all, I have a PCG-FX502 running XP home and sp2. All of a sudden it has stopped booting up. I get the right noises and a flash from the LCDs but then all lights go out (apart from the power light) and it sits there doing nothing.

I've tried removing the battery and power supply and holfding the start button to clear the cache but has made no difference.

Anyone heard of this mefore?

Any suggestions gratefully reecived.

Cheers

Re: Why won't it boot up?

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:14:42 GMT

Does the boot process get as far as the Sony logo? If so press F8 and select safe mode. From there on it will be a matter of determining which device is causing the problem.
If the boot doesn¿t get this far then it is a hardware problem. Alternatively enter the Bios, if you can, and check that the hard drive is recognised. If it is not then it may have failed but, normally, in this circumstance, you would receive a message that the operating system was not found.

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kiiyt — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 21:21:24 GMT

The same thing happened to my PCG-FX701 yesterday; ie, no boot.
The mchine makes all the right noises, etc, powewr light on, 3 green lo lights flash, but no hdd light. It never gets to he Sony screen so cannot access anything.

Can the BIOS be accessed in this state?

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kee-lo_ — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 21:28:57 GMT

Did you two go to Windows Update yesterdayt?

Re: Why won't it boot up?

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 21:31:36 GMT

The same thing happened to my PCG-FX701 yesterday; ie, no boot.
The mchine makes all the right noises, etc, powewr light on, 3 green lo lights flash, but no hdd light. It never gets to he Sony screen so cannot access anything.

Can the BIOS be accessed in this state?

Try continually pressing and realising F2 from the second that you switch on. This, hopefully, will take you into the BIOS.

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kiiyt — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:46:13 GMT

As far as I know, Windows Update was not visited. Another family member was using the machine when it just locked up and blanked the screen.

Now it just will not boot, so i'm not sure whether it's a corrupt BIOS, failed CPU, or failed HDD, though with a hdd problem I would have expected an initial BIOS boot including the Sony screen.

Any ideas?

Re: Why won't it boot up?

chic — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 11:07:04 GMT

You say you are running sp2. If you downloaded and installed sp2 from the internet, get a cd and try to reinstall sp2 again

Re: Why won't it boot up?

rich912 — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:04:32 GMT

Now it just will not boot, so i'm not sure whether it's a corrupt BIOS, failed CPU, or failed HDD, though with a hdd problem I would have expected an initial BIOS boot including the Sony screen.

Any ideas?

I doubt that your hard disk is the problem as this would not prevent you from entering the Bios. It could possibly be a memory issue with either one of the chips or even one of the slots.
If you feel confident enough to open it up (and assuming that it is no longer under warranty) then try swapping things around. I don¿t know your memory configuration, but there will be two slots. Try leaving one blank and try all permutations with each of the chips/slots. Make sure that you disconnect the AC power adapter and remove the battery before trying this.

It is also worth trying the Reset Button which you will find recessed in a tiny hole on the underside of your notebook.

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kiiyt — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:00:41 GMT

Had a look inside the other day and nothing amiss there.

Have tried reset as suggested to no avail. Memory is a single 256mb, which i have swopped to the other slot and back, but no joy.

Machine still not booting, just the power, battery & three lock lghts on initial power on, then the power and battery light remain on with no other activity.

Could it be a CPU failure?

Re: Why won't it boot up?

rich912 — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:44:00 GMT

Have tried reset as suggested to no avail. Memory is a single 256mb, which i have swopped to the other slot and back, but no joy.

Machine still not booting, just the power, battery & three lock lghts on initial power on, then the power and battery light remain on with no other activity.

Could it be a CPU failure?

Did you try the reset with power on?
There is always the possibllity that your single 256 chip is u/s.
It could be a CPU failure, but this sort of problem is so difficult to pinpoint without the correct diagnostic equipment.:smileysad:

Re: Why won't it boot up?

Jay1 — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 16:38:57 GMT

as Rich said the laptop should boot up if the hdd does not work.
Did u install anything before this happened or did u do any thing tht could affect the laptop ie intalled a software.

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kiiyt — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:56:27 GMT

Nothing installed prior to seizure.

Re: Why won't it boot up?

LannyWatkinsUK — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:36:59 GMT

I am having a similar problem with my a217s notebook

On boot up you hear the jingle that comes with the vaio logo, but the screen stays white. Has anyone come accross this and if so what did they do to resolve it?

I have not had a chance to take out battery yet or press reset. Just out of interest by pressing the reset button, does it just reset the Bios or do i look forward to losing more?

Re: Why won't it boot up?

bigvarn — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:05:32 GMT

BINGO!

Have taken battery out and removed power supply. Removed both 256 modules and replaced the original one on it's own, plugged into power and we have lift off!

Also tried the above with the other non-original chip module and it won't boot in either slot. MAchine boots fine wih the original module in either slot. I think we have a memory problem.

Thanks for all the tips guys. Let's hope I don't get any problems with my new B1VP eh?

Cheers:smileyhappy:

Re: Why won't it boot up?

ayu — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:57:41 GMT

I got the same problem with my Sony Vaio FX203K. Once I turn it off, it won't boot again. But after a few days or weeks, it boots again successfully and works normal. Every time I want to use it, I have to wait for days or weeks to check if it starts. And only by chance, it boots. I bought the FX203K in June 2001 at the cost of about 2500 euro. I couldn't use it since November 2003!!! (Used only 2 and a half years.)

I spent 80 euro, had the FX203K sent to Sony France service center to check the problem. Sony asked me to pay 600 euro to replace the motherboard. That's odd. I can buy a brand new desktop with that money! I refused the offer.

Last year (06/2004), I found the following site http://www.sparkybruce.com/sony_info/vaiomemskt.htm that suggests it is the Memory Socket solder problem. I tried the solution, but it failed to fix my FX203K.

Recent days, I took the FX203K out again to try a new idea because I thought it could be the problem of the Power button. So I opened the front panel, and flipped the board under the Power button, I used a plastic stuff to push the small metal button, it worked and it worked two days this way. But unfortunately it failed again when I tried to stick a little bit glue under the power button to give a little resistance to it.

And now I nearly break the button, it still does not boot!

I hate my Sony Vaio!

But I still hope somebody come up a solution.

I found many people got the same problem, see site:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/5449/?o=700

I believe this Sony Vaio "boot problem" is a common problem.

Albert

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kee-lo_ — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 21:31:15 GMT

Glad to hear it's all sorted.

Re: Why won't it boot up?

kiiyt — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 22:13:19 GMT

Back to my FX701, i've been to the other sites linked in these threads and discovered a huge, global, Vaio boot epidemic.

Most of the problems revolve around some form of memory problem.

To refresh, my FX701, with Windows XP SP2, was in use (MS Word) when it locked up (screen shutdown) and would not boot up. No software had been installed prior to failure.

When attempting to start, the power and battery lights illuminate, followed by a momentary flash of the three lock lights.

Then nothing.

The machine had 256mb of memory on one stick. I have interchanged this memory stick with another known good one, as well as installing them in both slots, but no joy. The suspect memory stick has been tried in another machine and works.

An inspection of the memory to motherboard connector pins for dry/missing solder has revealled nothing amiss.

I am therefore left with two possibilities;

1/ A failed CPU

2/ A faulty motherboard

Any other ideas would be most welcome.