VGN S260- Help with a Hardware Issue

Let me preface this by saying that I am not very computer savvy.

I have a vgn260 that I got almost 5 years ago. I've been told that this is ancient for a Sony laptop and that I should just get a new one, but when my computer is working it does everything I need it to and is still very portable by today's standards. I had to replace the original hard drive a couple years back which I was able to do by myself, and I elected to install ubuntu instead of windows since I don't use the computer for anything beyond internet access.

The problem that my computer has developed is that a majority of the time it won't boot up. I'll press the power button, the lights near the wifi switch will come on, but the screen will remain dead and I hear no hard disk turning or other sounds of the machine "thinking." At this point my course of action is to power the computer down, shake it lightly, and try again. This tactic always works.

I have come to the conclusion that something is likely loose within the computer, although I don't hear anything when I shake it. I've opened it up twice looking for something that jumps out at me, but to no avail. I've also heard very bad things about Sony's customer support, so I'm hesitant to send it to them because A) they might not get it right, B) they will overcharge me, and C) the computer is worth less than a fresh version of microsoft office.

I've searched through this forum for VGN threads and didn't find anything like this, so hopefully I'm not overstepping my rights by asking for help. I want to know what the best course of action is for my machine. I will grudgingly live with it if I have to, but if this sounds like the sort of thing someone on geek squad or a similar service can fix cheaply then I'd like to know.

Thanks for any comments.

 

Your unit is getting power but it fails to POST. This is a common issue (a design flaw) with this series. The fix is to remove the motherboard, clip 2 plastic risers down to 50% on the bottom housing & install spacers. However, by the time this occurs, it's sometimes too late. You won't know until you try it.

 

Typical issue for the S260 and its family. You need to find someone that will "bake"/reflow your GPU if you don't want to do it yourself.

cheers ...