What should i do with my broken laptop?

Hi,

Introduction
I wasn't sure where the most appropriate place to put this thread would be so hopefully this is not off topic. I had a Sony Vaio laptop that was handed down to me which recently stopped working. I can't say exactly how old it is but i would guess that its around 2 years old and i do know it is out of warranty.

If someone suggest to me a more appropriate place for this post please tell me, and i'll move it.

Sony Vaio vpccw15fg

Specs -
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.20 GHz)*1
Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit (English Version)
Chipset: Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset
Memory: 3 GB DDR3 SDRAM*2 (upgradeable up to 8 GB*3)
Display: 14 (35.6 cm) wide (WXGA:1366 x 768) TFT Colour display (VAIO Display, LED backlight)
Optical Disc Drive: DVD±RW/±R DL/RAM Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 320 GB*4 (Serial ATA, 5400 rpm)
Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA® GeForce® G210M graphics processing unit (GPU) with 256mb dedicated RAM
Keyboard: Approx. 19mm key pitch/2mm keystroke , 82 keys
Bluetooth: Bluetooth standard Ver. 2.1+EDR
Camera: Front Side Camera – Effective pixels: 640x 480
Dimensions (WxHxD): 341.3 x 27.5-38.5 x 233.1 mm
Weight: 2.4 kg (including the supplied battery)
Others: Intelligent Touchpad, Built-in monaural speakers && mic

Some history -
I used this laptop to do allot of gaming, and often used it on my lap on a bed watching movies. I never cleaned the fans before, and actually opened it up today and blew out some fluff. My suspicion is that something may have overheated and is now dead.

How it happened -
I had never experienced any serious issues with it before this happened so it was quite sudden. I was watching a movie on my lap and then it stopped, and became unresponsive. The screen just froze on the frame it was displaying. So i did a hard reboot.

The symptoms -
When i tried to turn it back on it seems the BIOS won't start up and my monitor isn't turning on at all. I can here the fans and HDD spinning and i can see the green LED for the power. When i turn it on, i hear things whirring for 5 secs, then it powers off for 2 secs then it powers back on and resuming whirring.

What i have troubleshooted thus far -
- I have tried using an external monitor. The screen still doesn't power on. Hence my laptop monitor is fine.
- I tried removing the battery and running from AC. No change.
- I tried the trick where you take out the batter and AC, hold power button for 30-60sec then plug back in. No change.
- I tried another trick i heard where you hold the power button down and keep it pressed after it starts - the screen is meant to flash or something. No change.
- I tried running it without the hard drive. No change.
- I have two RAM slots filled. I tried removing one at a time, and then swapping them into different slots, always keeping one in because apparently the BIOS can't run without it. No change.
- I cleaned the fan. No change.

My knowledge -
I think you could call the last 2 weeks a bit of a research project for me as i spent hours working towards understand the hardware components of a computer, learning about laptop maintenance and well the list goes on. My point is i'm new in this field and could use some advice and would love to learn more.

So what should i do? -
Option one - Troubleshoot further myself. In order to do this i will need to do some research and it's not easy seeing as my laptop is old and unpopular. This is one reason i am asking for you're help. Can you tell me what i would need to do next to isolate the faulty hardware? (Or point me in the right direction).
Option two - Sell the laptop. I could sell it as a whole, broken. Or, if i isolated the issue i could sell the working parts. Of course if it did isolate the issue and replacement is cheap i could keep using it or sell it in working condition.


To end off -
I realize there is a lot of detail in my post and much appreciate the time taken to read it all.
Any help i can get would be of great use, thanks in advance.

 

NVIDIA® GeForce® G210M graphics processing unit (GPU) with 256mb dedicated RAM

was this videocard/chip affected by the nvidia's notorious solder failure?

 

I have never heard of this solder failure before, interesting. I will look into it.

But i did use it myself gaming for 6 - 12 months without problems. I'll get back on that once i have time to look into it.

 

No, only the 8400 / 8600 GS GT variants were affected by the bad solder.

Looks like you did a thorough job of root causing.

Definitely something just failed, and based on what you've done it could be anything on the motherboard, AC adapter, or battery.

Only way to root cause further would be to get a replacement AC unit, battery, and motherboard, but that would be cost prohibitive. Best to just cut your losses and sell the laptop as broken, recover what you can, and buy a new laptop.

 

Well if i can't troubleshoot further without significant costs, that does sound like the idea. I guess i could get $100 for the broken laptop.

 

Let some other users pipe in here though. There's some pretty ingenious users here. And I hope you'd get more than $100. The screen, RAM, CPU, hard drive should fetch you more than that. Can always part it out, but that's probably more effort than the return you'd get if you just sold it as a whole.

 

I would rule out the AC unit/battery because the unit did just suddenly fail. My money would be either the CPU or the motherboard(video card).
The best way to really test this is to check and see if you can put another cpu in your laptop and see if it post. Or you could put your cpu in another working laptop and rule out a cpu failure.

I'm more convinced that it may be related with the motherboard\video card due to heat problems. The CPU usually does not crap out as they have thermal protection (throttle down\shut down when too hot).

 

I agree, it's probably something on the motherboard, but even GPU has safeguards. Extended periods of high heat though can kill anything.

 

Yes i'm quite convinced now it is the motherboard/gpu that is the issue.

I might use some ram in another laptop and sell the rest when i have the time.

 

That's weird. So the laptop froze while stile ON. Then, once you turned it OFF it couldn't be turned back ON, correct?
Top test the AC adapter you can use a voltmeter and check the the output is constant at around 19V.

It sound as if there is (maybe) something wrong with the GPU. If the laptop is completely dead you can try the over trick. There is a thread about it in the forum (use the search option to find it)

Have you tried to reset the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery? If you haven't you should try. Removed for around 30 seconds, and then put it back and test.

You have a few options. Assuming that the motherboard is faulty, in my experience (and believe me I have repair many laptops as a hobbyist) it is quite economical to replace a motherboard if you're the one doing the swap. the cheapest place to find motherboards is ebay.

If you can't find a cheap motherboard, the second best option is to sell the laptop for spares without harddrive, and without the AC adapter. Then sell the harddrive and AC adapter separately. This will help you maximize you profit (or minimize you loses).

last option is to sell the laptop without the following parts: harddrive, RAM, CPU, and screen. then look for a laptop with a smashed 14" screen (again in ebay). Then use the screen and harddrive from the sony to repair the other laptop. The CPU and RAM can be used to upgrade the other laptop.

 

All G72M/G84M/G86M cores and Quadros based off those cores. Also 9300M G based off G84M, and I believe certain G92M were also affected.

You've done a pretty good job with troubleshooting. The last thing you haven't changed out is your processor, but it is highly unlikely that it causing no POST. I would likely say a bad motherboard. You could maybe get one on Ebay, but honestly I would pony up for like a new laptop. You can get a warranty Core i5 machine for like 450-550 if you know where to look.

 

I already decided to get a new laptop . I have actually been looking into getting a new laptop for months now, i guess now is the time.