My Sony Vaio Z12 almost caught on fire...

Before I say anything I want to note that I purchased a -used- Sony Vaio Z12 from a fellow member here on NBR forum. He seems to be a trusted member and initially the laptop he sent me was absolutely flawless. I'm not trying to point any fingers before I find out what the problem might be. But I just want to note that it is a used unit... The previous owner stated that the laptop was purchased around June of this year and was barely used. It appeared so when I opened it.

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THIS IS A LONG STORY. BUT I WANTED TO INCLUDE ALL DETAILS. TLDR VERSION AT END.

It's been about a week since I have had the laptop. I've run all the Vaio updates (drivers are up to date) and installed only a handful of programs. There was no type of overclocking, tinkering with the bios, or anything of that nature - only very basic programs like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

I also installed Starcraft 2. Tonight, I played for about 30 minutes and normally the laptop does get a little hot, but nothing alarming. The laptop was plugged in and set at high performance (auto - speed mode). After 30 minutes of play, I quit the game. From there I put the battery back into the laptop, unplugged it, then shut the lid while the laptop was still on. I assumed this would put it into sleep mode. Closing the laptop cover in the past the laptop would sleep automatically - as in, green power light turns to the orange blinking light.

So I put the laptop into its sleeve then into my bag. About an hour later, I open the bag and it feels like something is burning. When I pull out my laptop the entire thing is scorching hot, I burned my fingers off of it. I quickly opened the lid to see the screen appeared to be burned. I shut down the laptop manually by holding the power button then removed the battery pack. The whole laptop felt like it was burning about to explode! Which is explainable since the keyboard area is a metal-type frame.

I let the laptop sit for about 30 minutes till it cooled off. I turned it back on and to my surprised everything was working. But some issues I'm facing now is that the screen's colors seem off (not as bright as before) and it seems really blurry compared to before. Also, I haven't had a chance to test all the ports or hardware and I'm afraid something might have been damaged. Can't do any benchmarks or performance tests right now. I mean, I think something MUST have been damaged because it was so hot that I thought the thing had fried for sure.

I'm paranoid now that something has been messed up. What do you think might have caused the problem? I will be calling Sony tomorrow, any chance that I could get a replacement on it? The thing was so hot that it burned my fingers, I think that warrants some attention... But I know I'm in a bad position saying I purchased it used. What do you guys suggest I do?

Edit: I just tested Starcraft 2 and the fan instantly started to blow out really, really, hot air. I only left the game on the loading screen and the air is already very hot. It was never this hot before even after an hour of play.

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TLDR VERSION:
I put my battery pack into my Sony Z12 then unplugged it. Then I shut the lid with the laptop still on. One hour later I find the laptop burning hot. After shutting down the laptop and cooling it off everything seems to work but the colors of the screen seem off and there is some blur. Also the ports have not yet been tested. This is a used unit, so what should I do?

 

I think you're clearly the one to blame here.

First : do never put an asleep Z in a bag. Pressing anything on the keyboard awake the laptop and the lid is very flexible, which mean you will turn your Z on INTO the bag while mooving (the lid is known to flex and touch the keyborad).
You putted it into a sleeve and then your bag, which caused overheating without cooling possibility, as the sleeve is closed and tight. It seems like GPU overheat lead to an automatic power down of the computer at 97°C, as you were in stamina (auto mode on battery) I don't know what is the limit for the CPU.

Second : you pulled the laptop burning hot from your bag and shut it down. It should be better to open the lid and wait until the laptop cooled down by itself, which is a much more efficient process than dissipation when off.


I hope your laptop is not damaged.
Have a look to threads talking about overcloking, the guy who get is GT330M over 97°C said he got artifacts 3-4 days after but now everything is ok, maybe you can hope things get better (about your hotter than before air playing SCII and your blurred screen...)

Remember to ALWAYS shut down your laptop (hibernation work too) before putting it in a bag/sleeve.

 

Ok... so for point number one, if you're telling me not to put the laptop into a bag where should I put it? I mean I put it into a sleeve then a bag, do most people hold their laptops and carry them around?

And point number two what is your basis for that argument, that its better for the laptops cooling system to cool down the laptop then let the heat dissapate? Im just curious if this is a fact or your guess. I panicked, and the first thing I could think of was hit the kill switch.

But the question still stands, why DIDNT my laptop go into sleep mode? Apparently after I shut the lid it didn't go into sleep even with the lid shut. Does the laptop not go into sleep mode when the temps are high?

 

You misunderstood what I said.

Your laptop DID go into sleep mode, but by mooving, the lid of your laptop push on the keyboard and awake your laptop.
You can put your laptop into a sleeve and a bag, BUT SHUT IT DOWN first (or put it into hibernation)

And active cooling from the laptop is more efficient than dissipation, if it was not there would not be active cooling...
PLUS the cooling system of a laptop give priority to CPU and GPU, which are generating the heat.

 

You should always remember some things:
There are programs that prevent a notebook from entering sleep mode ( even Media Player can be told to do so ). So always wait until notebook actually sleeps. There are peripherals that can wake up a computer from sleep mode ( unintended by user ). So make sure ALL of them are unchecked in Hardware manager - Allow this device to wake computer.
The same thing almost happened to me with my notebook and a Logitech wireless mouse that has a nanoreceiver ( one that can be left in the USB port forever ). Close lid, put notebook in bag, grab mouse to put in the bag, press mouse button, notebook wakes up...
Since then the notebook goes in the bag only in hibernation, and only after I visually check that it stopped for good...

 

powercfg -energy ... ;-)

 

This is a true horror story. Weird how the mechanism to prevent overheating didn't kick in and shut it off.

 

Also, if you have "wake on timers" on then that will cause the PC to wake up, even from hibernation. That has caught me out - with Windows update causing the PC to start-up in the middle of the night waiting for the BIOS password. I was lucky in that it never happened to me when it was in a bag, but it so easily could have done.

I would have expected the PC shut down before overheating and damaging itself, so you may be able to argue that with Sony.

 

I have to agree with Crus-T and I'd go further to say that this applies to all laptops. Sleep is far too unreliable to use when transporting a laptop in a bag or case and I've run into exactly the same issue as you with other laptops.

If you want to avoid shutting down your laptop then use hibernate. It takes a little longer to start-up than sleep but is much faster than a full shutdown and restart and you don't lose your work either. It's also safer in my opinion because the contents of your RAM are written to the SSD.

 

I had this happen to my Z before, fortunately I don't use a sleeve and it was only in there for about a half hour.

A few years back it happened to my Fujitsu (P I think) and it literally melted itself.

I'll learn one of these days....

 

I constantly have my z12 in my sleeve and bag while in hibernation. I have noticed that once or twice that it does not close completely (not sure why). is safer to shut it down totally?

 

^always safer to shut down

 

can you manually decrease the temp where the comp will shut down?

 

I understand the point, but I would argue the other way. If you don't change any of the default settings on the PC, the PC will wake both from hibernate as well as from sleep. Sony should make it very clear in their manuals that the PC should always be shut down completely (not hibernating etc.) before transporting, to stop it overheating. Not everyone knows about wake timers etc. If it were me, I would argue with Sony that this is not clear in their documentation, and that they should repair the PC free of charge.

 

This has also happened to me. IMO, it's a problem Sony needs to address. There's two things that need fixing. One, I sleep my laptop and stick it in a sleeve. The problem is that the Z11 will not always sleep when the lid is closed. It's not that it wakes up after being put in the sleeve. It never goes to sleep to begin with. It's easy to replicate the problem. Close the lid to put it to sleep. Open the lid to wake it back up. Before the screen comes back up, close the lid again. The Z11 will not sleep at that point. You can tell by the power led being green instead of orange. It seems that while it's in the process of waking or sleeping, the Z11 ignores the lid opening/closing event.

Two, the Z11 doesn't appear to have thermal shutdown. Well past the point that my other laptops would have shutdon, the Z11 keeps on going.

I just make sure the machine is really asleep before putting it in the sleeve. Once it is, it doesn't wake back up in the sleeve. These are all software problems that Sony should fix.

 

Before shutting the lid the only program open was Firefox. Im not aware of wake timers or anything that would of prevented the laptop from sleeping.

Im also curious about why the laptop didn't auto shut down once it hit a max temp. I have no idea how high the temperature was but for sure it was past a safe limit.

Anyway I wasn't aware of the z having a problem of going to sleep (this was the issue in my case, the laptop was not sleeping properly). Even my 6 year old dell always goes to sleep when the lid is shut. I also looked through the manual and there was no indication or warning about this behavior.

I have the original reciept and box. Even though I purchased it used I should have no problem bringing it in I hope.

I do take partial blame for this but like the other users have said these are still issues Sony should be addressing. There is no warning that sleep mode and stowing away your laptops for transport could cause a potential fire..

 

Yep, there is a real problem here.

Actually I am conviced your laptop went to sleep and awake back from lid flex pushing a key. It is not really a sleep problem but a back from sleep issue that should be told to users by sony.

 

For anyone else that this happened to, did you see any long term effects on your laptop? Did yours get as hot as I described mine getting?

As of now, the track pad on my Z doesn't work anymore. First some strange reason it slightly works when i press down on the left mouse button, then move around with trackpad. Besides that I can't use it to control the pointer anymore.

I'm using a mouse for now but its still a problem. That in itself should be enough for me to qualify for warranty.

I have to wait till tomorrow to give Sony a call. I hope Sony's customer service is good, I have to leave for school in about a week.

 

I don't condone lying, but of I were you I wouldn't mention it being running in a bag/sleeve, etc. Just tell them the lid was closed, unit was asleep and clearly it overheated.

 

I never said I was going to lie and I think that's a bad idea actually. In fact, I figured the sleeve/bag part would be in my favor.

First of all how is it abnormal for someone to want to protect a $2000+ laptop with a sleeve? Then wouldn't it be normal for someone to put that laptop into a carrying bag?

Yes, the laptop was in "sleep mode" which could be potentially dangerous but no where in the manual does it state that the laptop should not be placed in sleep mode when being transported around. There is no indication that sleep mode is more dangerous then shutting down. Everyone on this forum assumes this to be common knowledge, but this is the first time that I have ever had a laptop that has problems going to sleep when the lid is shut.

Secondly, the laptop hit temperatures that literally burned my fingers. My fingers are still raw -- that's how hot the aluminum chassis got. Why isn't there an auto shutdown temperature max?

So far it seems like my track pad is broken, there doesn't seem to be much else thats messed up besides the screens colors are much more dull now and less sharp. I think that is enough to bring up their attention. Also, does anyone know if this would qualify for a replacement that is a refurbish or will Sony repair it?

 

I am very cautious on every one of my computers including my desktop when it comes to what triggers them to wake from sleep. I disable waking from EVERYTHING including wake timers and mouse and keyboard even on my desktops.

The management software written by Sony for the Z actually goes as far as letting you specify the lid-open action when it's on sleep - to turn on or not. I have not seen other laptop management software goes as far as that, other than some Dell Latitudes which defaults to do nothing on opening the LCD when on sleep.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe you can wake the Z from sleep when the LCD is closed even pressing the power button. It's possible some software kept it from fully entering sleep, or caused it to wake from sleep. But leave this speculation in the discussion here only, don't even bring this up with Sony.

When contacting Sony, do not volunteer more details than you have to - keep it as short and as straight to the point as possible.

 

My point is simply that I would not be offering information that the unit was put in a case/bag while running or woke up. As bad as this will sound, they could blame that on you and try to deny warranty repair. I would just be careful, that's all.

 

^ Exactly.

 

Note that the manual does say "If you do not intend to use your computer for an extended period of time while it is disconnected from an AC power source, place the computer into Hibernate mode or turn it off." However, the computer can wake from hibernation, which is why I think the manual is wrong on this matter.

 

This is a very good point - I had one time where I shut my z to 'sleep' it and it didn't actually sleep due to something that was running. Luckily I noticed right away and opened it back up. I totally agree with Andye, don't mention anything like that unless directly asked, in case they blame the software you've installed and put the blame on you. Best of luck getting it fixed (and dealing with Sony CS, which is a bit of a crapshoot. The people I've talked to with issues have been actually quite reasonable and polite, but I hear horror stories too).

 

I actually dont see this as a fault or a problem, sleep is probably not the best for storage and especially in some bag. Sleep is designed to quickly be accessible hence the need for those triggers to make restore normal operation. A scenario for sleep would be closing the lid (entering sleep) and leaving it on the desk to grab a bite in the kitchen or something,

Hibernation seems more appropriate for those longer periods or trasnport in a bag or something.

Is just a matter of using the appropriate power state for the task.

I do agree that when it gets really hot at the point that damage is being done, it should throttle and shutdown. But if you use your the right power state it should not even come to that.

 

Here's the thing. The last laptop I purchased was 2 years ago, a Sager NP8662 which I kept for less then a month. I did the same thing with that laptop and never had problems.

My laptop before that is a 8 year old sony, and I also have a dell that my business provides. I use this procedure of shutting the lid to transport all the time and I have -NEVER- had a problem.

Now, I would understand if the manual specified anywhere that sleep mode was indeed potentially dangerous. Although it says hibernate is best for "extended periods of time" (which that in itself is also arguable) there is no reference to sleep mode, or lack of max temperature, which is a HUGE flaw in my opinion.

I called Sony today and they are sending me a box to send in for service and repair. Unfortunately, the process will about 2 weeks or longer which is a really pain in the to deal with since I am moving this week. This also leaves a lot of room for the service reps to simply make of some excuse, but we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

For this reason ALONE, I've always thought Sony needed to put a little more thought into a more intelligent ACPI lid switch. My MBP will go right back to sleep if woken up while the lid is closed. Same for my Latitude.

 

AGAIN, I think sleep works well and what happened here come from the lid flex (note that there is not such a screen flex for the other computers you mentioned).
I think you might be able to do this using a rigid bag/sleeve for the Z, rectifying the flex problem. But keep in mind that sleep is not really appropriate for transport because it use power.

 

You can force the screen tip to flex back all you want (while forcing it closed). The system is magnetically controlled, using rather sensitive sensors in the chassis and the lid. The Z ain't 'stupid' enough to turn on tampering with those magnets in the stated manner.

That said, the Z is not smart enough like Apple's offerings in regards to the switch. Like H.A.L., I too wouldn't mind a smarter ACPI lid switch. The Z is one of the few laptops which I can simply turn on by flipping it open. Perfect for bringing out of hibernation or sleep (I always use a full shut-down when moving around though). Having a smarter switch does increase safety to a degree, and I guess seeing how people carry their laptops these days (those tight looking neoprene pouches), it might be a feature that just may save the unsuspecting some grief.

Anyways, a lesson learnt. You do NOT carry around (let alone store) something that can generate heat of over 70'C in a pouch (or whathaveyou) in a semi-awake state. That's just asking for trouble. I personally don't recommend you do it with your older machines even if they have been perfectly fine in the past.

Sure they have some safety measures in place, though you'll probably be left without a working machine for a wee while like now...

 

just turn it off, only takes a minute to boot up. sleep sucks

 

I see that you have the same model and I need to know if you having problem as the laptop randomly shut down and restart by itself or go in stamina mode and remain with a full dark screen ..............I am having this problem since last year but now I am getting tired...........any help?
thank you.

 

It's funny you mention Starcraft 2; I play it as well (on my Vaio F13)! The fan blows really loudly when I have the program running, even if I'm only on the menu screen doing nothing.

Anyway yeah I've learned to never use Sleep mode when moving my laptop anymore. EVEN IF no one is touching the laptop, it can come out of Sleep mode randomly. I used to keep mine in Sleep mode while I was asleep (lol), and I found myself waking up in the middle of the night to the fan running, the computer fully awake even though the lid was closed and untouched. Usually it's not even running an update/scan/anything... It just feels like waking up for no apparent reason lol.

 

Whats the point of sleep, if a Z can boot in 20 secs? Hibernation takes longer.

 

yeah this is a fairly common problem actually. My wife destroyed a laptop of mine, a fujitsu, doing the same thing. It was set up to sleep instantly when the lid was closed, and it usually did. But one time she closed it, put it in its sleeve, and put the sleeve into a suitcase and closed the suitcase. 16 hours later the battery finally ran down and it went to sleep after frantically trying to blow hot air through the sleeve and a suitcase full of clothes for an entire day and night.

When I opened it the next day it was still flaming hot and smelled funny. It would still occasionally boot afterwards but the video card was shot and the fan never shut off anymore.

Moral of story- never trust the lid-closing sleep function entirely. Some little background task may refuse to let go and keep the machine running.

 

Nope, I dont.

 

I'm sure this doesn't help at this point but I NEVER put my laptop in a bag/sleeve while sleeping!! I only use sleeping for when I'm not home or over the night! Whenever transportation is needed I either hibernate or shut down!

This applies to all laptops and is well known! I'm surprised you didn't know it.