SZ seems dead, can't get to bios, screen blank... help?

Hopefully this is in the right bit of the forum. I've looked but can't find the diagnosis of my faults... Which are these:

Led's flash and starts up, checks dvd, then goes nowhere.

Screen stays black. No bios, and no vaio bleepy noise thing.

When it died it had fuzzy lines across the screen in two bands and froze. Rebooting got half way into windows when the same happened. Since then it is dead basically.

In the past the screen went dark and I replaced the daughterboard, since then no problems until this.


As far as I can tell it's the motherboard that is broken, or the graphics card on the motherboard. Is 'reflowing' the graphics card worth a try?
I suspect I'd just ruin it all more but seemingly out of options. Any advice most welcome!

Daniel

It's a sz-2xp/c

 

Unplug it and pull the battery, hit the power button and let it sit for a few hours and it fixed, try that first. This fixed mine the second time it happened.

The first time I had this happen, it didn't fix it. Unplug it, take out the battery, open it up and pull the bios battery for a few seconds and re-assemble. The battery is at the very front of the chassis under the touchpad buttons, it plus in with a very small connector. You can't miss it. This clears the bios and fixes a lot of problems like this on Sony notebooks.

Mine did similar twice and is usually due to overheating (my vents were blocked when it happened). I didn't get to see it as it happened so I don't know what it did when it locked up but this did fix it.

Reflow only will help on the Nvidia, not the Intel.

I also recommend at some point that you go in and pull all of the heat sinks and replace the thermal tape with fresh compound too. That seemed to lower my temps. After high heat and just age the tape doesn't do as well anymore.

 

Absolutely - you have nothing to lose. Good luck!

cheers ...

 

I found a solution which worked for me.
(I got it at this source: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...4bit-clean-install-should-help-other-szs.html).

Solution:
Sometimes this occasionally happens if the system overheats, but also seems to just be a problem with Sony in general. It's really rare though. Many times, you can simply unplug it, and remove the battery. This will reset things. If that fails, repeat, but hit the power button while everything is disconnected, this drains any leftover power. If all of this fails you will need to unplug or replace the bios battery. If it was running recently then the battery is likely fine. To do this, you have to remove the keyboard and palm rest, the battery sits just above the front rubber pad on the bottom of the laptop. If you look through the vent on the front with a flashlight you can see it (it's a thin black disk). There is a connector right below the touchpad buttons to plug and unplug it. This resets the bios to factory and will fix most Sony systems that refuse to even boot into bios. Many have bought Sony notebooks off eBay in this condition for cheap because the owner was unware of this.

Hope it works for you too, let me know.

 

Hi guys
Thanks so much for your replies... I checked back a lot initially and then not til today, apologies for my late response.

I pulled it apart and unplugged the bios battery, reassembled and turned on... Alas, it still does not work. Just whirs gently without reaching the bios nor lighting up the screen or making the bleepy de bloop vaio sound.

So... If reflowing would only work on the nvidia I guess if it was going to work at all now it would work on the intel... which it doesn't. Which I'm guessing leaves me with a dead laptop.

Is there anything further I can try? Would trying another cpu be worth ago? (My housemate has an sz too of similar vintage)

Any hope?

Thanks once more for your replies, I'll check back more often. I wish it emailed that I got replies, I guess I set up my account wrong. Anyway.

night night

 

You can try another cpu, but cpu's going bad aren't that common, bad mobos are.

You can get mobo off eBay for under $200 (older model), which is much less than a new laptop (of lesser quality no less).

 

I've been looking around for motherboards on ebay, and generally trying to research whether I can carry out this surgery myself. If I replace the motherboard, it would seem to make sense to put a 7200rpm hard drive in to speed things up. Not sure how much difference a faster cpu would make, I have a T2500 I think at 2.00 ghz. My question though is whether one can put newer motherboards in older sz cases, as that would be a way to get 3 or even 4 gb of ram? Presumably the newer one just accept 2 gb modules... And maybe stick a ripped off windows 7 of some variety in there too?...
And stick in a new fan, and clean everything. In my imagination this all equates to getting a new laptop on the cheap.

Is this procedure something a fairly dexterous novice could carry out? To overhaul a vaio sz? (built computers a few times)

As you say leslieann, it's a nice quality laptop which theoretically could have a good life left...

Have any of you lot done something like that?

 

I have done that to an older Z505.
While it was worth it for that computer (I bought a whole lower chassis minus ram and HD) it most likely won't work for an SZ.


If you upgrade to the newer board, you will need the newer fan/HS assembly and probably the left side plate.

What you need to do is search up part numbers, hopefully you can find a manual and do it the easy way. The hard way is scrounge eBay and replacement part sites and compare part numbers back and forth.

While doing this, keep in mind that you can find nice late model SZ's one Ebay for about $800. So your goal should be well below that.


Preliminary cost estimate:
Left side panels run around $15-$30. Black ones are at the higher end.
Mobos run about $380
Processor runs about $90
Fan/HS $25
Ram $75
You are already at about $600 and this is a best case scenario.

If you need the lower panel, that is another $40-$60
Upper chassis (no idea)
Then there is the new drive $100


If you are dead set on this, my advice is quite different. Part yours out.
Screws $10
bottom plate $60
Sides $25
Memory $30
Processor $50
Mobo $30 (yes people buy them)
Screen $100
Keyboard $45
Battery $25(?)
DVD $50 (at least)
Power pack $30 (or more)
Wireless $20(?)
Misc (another $100, maybe more, maybe much more)

By parting it out, you can make $400-$600, Then use a bit of your own money and buy yourself a working, newer SZ. There is a working Sz-750N/C like mine on there currently for $700 (buy it now with free shipping). This will get you the newer LED screen (stronger and more efficient), faster processor, better battery, faster DVD, and most importantly a WORKING system without a lot of monkeying around, and in less time.

For a bit more (starting at $900) you might want to look into the Toshiba Portege R700 as well. Core-I5, 4gigs ram, higher resolution than the SZ, 6hours battery (actual, 8 is claimed), it's new, so you get a warranty, thinner, newer Intel video and it's lighter.

Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Portege R705-P41 NoteBook Intel Core i5 460M(2.53GHz) 13.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD
Take this and over time add an SSD and 8gigs ram, and you have one nice system.

 

Thanks for that leslieann, very comprehensive!

I was wondering about selling off the bits too... It seems trying to spice up the spec is too hard, but I've found motherboards for $150 (in england...£100) and a fan from china for $30... In which case it seems like it would be worth trying to fix it. However I am not at all confident I would not break it along the way somehow, in which case your plan to sell the bits makes a lot of sense...

It is the premium one though, with the nice l.e.d screen and so on so I would be sad to chuck it away. And while a new laptop would be lovely I don't have enough money for that at the moment... Though if that toshiba had a hi-res screen it would be a great vaio replacement for sure.

Thanks for the tips. I think I'm going to try and fix it, and failing that sell the bits.
If I turn up any interesting issues I'll come crawling back for more advice no doubt...

cheerio
daniel

 

Ahhh, I was basing these numbers on a non-premium model.

The used LED screens fetch $300 to $500(WOW, I may part mine out soon at that rate!) alone and the premium casings fetch better money and are sought after. Another thing to keep in mind, I didn't put prices for the modem, bluetooth, casings and more. I was just posting the easiest parts to get rid of fast.

I agree though, either rebuild it or part it. Upgrading isn't financially feasible at the moment, even if it all goes without any problems.

The Toshiba screen is 1366 x 768.

 

it is strange how the bits can be worth so much when you can buy a similar new laptop for 700 dollars or so... In the knowledge that I can cover the losses I shall have a crack at replacing the motherboard, here in the uk there seem to be lots of vaio szs on ebay so maybe I'll find a happy ending.

A new laptop for me wouldn't be worth it without atleast 1600/900 and I'd love the 1920/1080 vaio z screen,... maybe in the next life...

 

On the off chance that any vaio fixing whiz kid reads this, I am stuck! I bought a new motherboard (used) for my sz, and replaced it last night. I was as careful as I could be, though had basically no idea what I was doing. Switched the motherboards, rebuilt it and didn't miss a screw, though the case barely fits, looks like it had too many christmas dinners.

Turning it on, well... the led's flash once or twice and then go off. Nothing else happens. I've no idea where to go from here, short of throwing it away. ( )

The bios probably needs flashing but I don't think that would stop it booting at all.

Any ideas?
(I realise I'm pushing the internet further than one could realistically expect to yield results but would be ecstatic to hear from anyone..)

Thanks
Daniel

 

Always cover the basics, first Did you remember to put RAM back in? Do you have other ram to test with? Did you make sure to reconnect the GPU/CPU fans to the motherboard? (power).

These are the 2 things I can quickly think of that could cause your problem.

 

hi beaups!
I'll check and write back tomorrow! Thanks so much for the tips.

 

(I think the answers are yes and yes but will swap ram etc and check the plugs on the back)

 

Is there a way to reset bios on these? Is it one where leaving out the battery for a bit resets it? On some mobos resetting the bios is a useful thing to do esp after shipping and such.

 

You have to remove the palmrest and pull the bios battery connector which is located at the front edge, almost dead center.

 

well now not even the lights flash so I guess it's pretty buggered. Wondering if I should pull it apart and try again... Any idea why it wouldn't light up at all?

 

The board may have finally given up.
When one circuit fails it can stress other parts, creating a cascade effect.

Pull the memory, drive and wireless, disconnect the battery, and power, pull the bios battery (you can't have any external power or the bios will not clear), put it back in, connect power, hit the button and see what happens. It should give you some lights or something. If not then it's gone.

If you get lights, put the ram back in and see what it does. No ram will actually give you the normal lights (I checked).


You said it was bulging, that isn't right. You may have shorted something. My guess is you shorted something or somehow friend the ram or something.

 

Had the same thing happen to me on halloween night it was a truly fear ridden evening to be sure, my sz650 was dead. I quickly did my research and ordered in a replacement mother board from florida motherboardspecialists. Got it on november the 6th and installed it immediately. Turns out they sold me a faulty motherboard because it will only boot up with the intel, the nvidia chip makes allot of funny lines on bootup and then shuts down b4 entering windows. I was pretty ticked to see this after making sure to do a perfect job of reinstalling the replacement MB. They sold me a used piece of for 250. Anyway I can;t afford to be without a laptop for another week so I don't really want to send it back for a refund. The 30 day warranty runs out in like 3 days, I just wasted too much time on this and now need to pay another 50 bucks for shipping. its stupid.

I bought a heat gun and was thinking of reflowing the nvidia on my old board for kicks,

but tell me guys is there any use if the original board wouldn't boot with either the intel or nvidia? What could be wrong with the original MB?

 

That stinks, but could be why you paid so little.
$250 is actually low for the late model boards. $300-$400 seems more common, the older model boards are around $200-250

 

I got mine for around 100$ (£60) so maybe that was why it was cheap. Though it said it worked in the ebay listing so when I've given up hope hopefully that is at least recoup-able. Sounds like you did a better job than me though david. When I get a chance I'll try again to get it working and report back...

 

leslieann, I tried what you suggested pulling the hard drive ram and wireless and clearing the bios, alas no lights so I guess it's all over. It was flashing a bit after I put in the new board, but there was a big black thin piece of plastic that was left over after the surgery, I couldn't figure out where it should go and gave up. I suspect that held apart electrics that can upset each other. You live and learn... probably should have paid the extra for someone who know's what they're doing! .
Thanks for the advice,
daniel

 

most excellent news everyone, yesterday I reflowed both the nvidia and intel chips and the motherboard boots up without a hitch.
I downloaded some software to monitor the gpu temp at all times so this thing doesn't happen again.
I was very surprised to see it boot up after using a heat gun to reflow both graphic chips. I'll be returning the defective replacement mobo today, hopefully for a full refund.
before trying this be sure to do some research on youtube and google as to how its done safest. I wrapped the whole mobo in tin foil and then used a soda can to construct an extra layer of protection 4 inches around the chip. Cut an opening in both layers exposing only the chip, use a heatgun at 400F about 2 inches away for about 4 minutes. Don't touch the mobo until it cools. This worked for me.