Help! Laptop stuck at BIOS logo

My almost 2 years old vaio cb15 is not booting anymore. The booting process is stuck at VAIO logo on the POST screen. Pressing F2 key only gives the message "Entering Setup" but does not proceed any further. Hence, I'm unable to even enter BIOS setup.

The last thing I was doing was installing some packages on OpenSuse linux. The system froze & I had to hard reboot. The problem started then.

I have checked the usual things:

1. The HDD is fine & working in another laptop.
2. The RAM is OK & working in another laptop.
3. Tried reseating the RAM, using a different slot, etc.
4. Tried removing the battery & power cord, holding the power button for 30 secs.
5. Tried reseating the CPU.
6. Unplugged the CMOS battery for some time & plugged it back.

What might be the issue ??

 

Sound to me that you bricked it in the UEFI boot.
Some time ago there was a thread (not sure it was here), that due to a but in the UEFI implementation, the temporarly swap-space was being overwritten and so it did overwrite active code.

Now I'm writing this...
Not sure it was Sony.... I think it was from Samsung.

Anyway...
Try to boot immediately into recovery mode (so start by pressing the Assist button". Or keep it pressed while powering it on.

 

I don't have UEFI. Its the old BIOS. Hence, Assist button does not work.

 

Since you're into Linux, try booting off a live CD.

AFAIK pressing TAB during booting gets rid of the boot logo and shows you the regular BIOS screen (DOS screen) which might provide some useful info.

 

^^ I cannot change the boot priority as the BIOS settings does not open. Pressing Tab does nothing.

 

Try F12 for boot options. Maybe that will work.

Another thing to try is to disconnect all network connections. Unplug the ethernet cable/ turn off the wifi. It might be looking for a server to boot from.

 

Ram,HDD,Power are working fine...Then its a bios or hdd booting issue...I guess u already tried to install W7 from a CD drive...

 

You're in a tough situation. It is nearly impossible to flash the bios if you can't boot into Windows or access a GUI or some interface to enable you to input data to the computer, via a medium such as CD-ROM or USB port. I am afraid your options are, probably to send it to a place that can remove the flash ROM chip and flash it again or replace it with a new one that is already flashed or to get a new motherboard. These ROM chips can only be flashed via software ie. windows envt. in a working pc or with a special machine that writes the data directly with a laser onto the chip as is necessary in your case. If you think it is worth it you might be able to get a vaio motherboard for under $200 which beats shelling out $1000 for another vaio since your HD, CD ROM, screen, etc all work.

 

Any luck? You also have the AMI EFI bios as well I presume? My motherboard is the MBX-239. You can get it to work by replacing it with another mobo of the same model and revision, if all else fails.

 

I suggest as a last resort,you possibly unplug the cmos battery and laptop battery overnight and start the system without the cmos battery in the morning. Also try the 30 second reset without cmos battery plugged in. Good luck.