topic Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks in PCs & Accessories

2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

NagaSurayami — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 13:21:26 GMT

Im having a huge dilema.

Im in the Royal Navy and can't take my laptop to the store which i purchased it.

The laptop works fine until windows XP kicks in then the screen brightness goes so low the only way to view it is to shine a light source such as a torch onto the screen.

Its been like this for 2 days now and i dont understand why its started doing it as the laptop is only 2 months old.

The laptop itself is fine its simply when XP kicks in.

I have tried all the settings i know such as battery, screen saver, screen resolution, driver settings but none of this has helped i even reset the laptop to factory settings and its still faulty.

If anyone can help me please do...

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

NagaSurayami — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 13:24:36 GMT

Specs : --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Specifications for PCG-K315B
Processor Intel Celeron D processor 340
Network RealTek RTL8100CL - 10Base-T/100Base-TX
Cache 256 KB (on die)
Memory 512 MB
(Upgradeable to 1024 MB)
Hard Disk Drive 40 GB (IDE)
(5.6 GB reserved - recovery space)

Video Chipset ATI Radeon IGP 345M
Video Memory Up to 128 MB
Display 15.4" TFT WXGA 1280x800 (Ultra Bright)
Sound Chip Realtek ALC203 ¿ 16-bit CD-quality stereo sound ¿ 3D Surround ¿ AC 97 Rev. 2.3
Optical CD-ROM : 24 x Speed
CD-R : 16 x Speed
CD-RW : 8 x Speed
DVD-ROM : 8 x Speed
DVD +R : 4 x Speed
DVD +RW 2 x Speed
DVD -R : 4 x Speed
DVD -RW : 2 x Speed

Ports on Unit 1 PC Card Slot(s) ¿ 4 pins i.Link Port ¿ MemoryStick Pro Slot ¿ 3 USB Port(s) ¿
Ports on Unit Audio/Video Out ¿ Headphones Out ¿ Microphone In ¿ Ethernet Port ¿ Parallel Port ¿ VGA Monitor Out ¿
PC Card Slots 1 PCMCIA type I or 1 PCMCIA type II Cards and Cardbus support
Modem Built-in Modem V.92
Keyboard 87 Keys ¿ Hotkeys
Mouse Touchpad
Weight 3700g
Supplied Accessories AC adapter (PCGA-AC19V9)
Battery (PCGA-BP2NY)
Power Cable ¿ Documentation

Optional Accessories AC Adapters
Bags and Slipcovers
Batteries
Drives
Keyboards
Memory
Software and Services
USB Accessories
Wireless
Others
See Detailed Info

Dimensions (W x H x D) 357mm x 41 to 55mm x 277.5 mm
Operating System Windows XP Home with SP2

Software Adobe Acrobat Reader ¿ Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Ed. ¿ Adobe Photoshop Elements ¿ Adobe Premiere Standard ¿ Click to DVD ¿ DVGate Plus ¿ Hotkey utility ¿ Memory Stick Formatter ¿ Microsoft Works ¿ Norton Internet Security ¿ Norton Password Manager ¿ PictureGear Studio ¿ Record Now! ¿ SonicStage ¿ Sonicstage Mastering Studio ¿ Sony Notebook Setup ¿ VAIO Edit Components ¿ VAIO Media ¿ VAIO Power Management ¿ VAIO Update ¿ VAIO Zone ¿ WinDVD for VAIO ¿ Wireless Switch Setting Utility
Warranty 1 Year
2 years for Germany *

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

kee-lo_ — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 15:39:56 GMT

Can you not leave it with someone in the RN and get VAIO Link to pick it up?

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

NagaSurayami — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 17:17:35 GMT

I wasnt aware VAIO would pick it up...

I didnt realise it was a big problem i thought it had an easy fix...

Even if i could i dont know how to leave it for vaio link to pickup... I would phone them but i dont have a mobile phone and im not home until next year...

Ohh well i will just take it back to the shop when i get home and buy an alienware laptop, hopefully they will be more reliable.

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

kee-lo_ — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 17:25:25 GMT

Speak to your commanding officer, hopefully he's not the type to start yelling (or have I been watching too many movies)

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 17:54:24 GMT

Speak to your commanding officer, hopefully he's not the type to start yelling (or have I been watching too many movies)

LOL:smileylaugh: Probably too many movies Kee-Lo!!

My boss is ex RN. Well, Fleet Air Arm. Likes to shout a bit. I just put it down to him going a bit deaf from flying too many noisy helicopters

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

Akanksha — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 18:09:43 GMT

Speak to your commanding officer, hopefully he's not the type to start yelling (or have I been watching too many movies)

yep, movies! thats what it is!

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 18:26:59 GMT

LOL:smileylaugh:

Do they still have those tubes that you whistle down then shout "ENGINE ROOM!! MORE SPEED!!! FULL STEAM AHEAD!! that sort of thing

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

NagaSurayami — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 18:47:25 GMT

So none of you can help ?

Im trying to fix this without phoning sony and being charged a fortune per minute to get it fixed. Is there not an online help service such as mIRC available to sony vaio customers ?

Surely there must be some help out there other than that of a telephone...

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 19:51:33 GMT

It soundslike it may be a hardware problem which is probably why no one has been forthcoming with any suggestions.

Have you had a look to see if there are any driver updates or patches etc in Vaio-Link?

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

kee-lo_ — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 20:00:30 GMT

OK ok ok! I getchya, I've watched too many movies.....

We don't have an IRC chan, sorry.
Your problem is hardware related.... not much we can do.

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

stevep-4 — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 22:31:49 GMT

IS this one of the laptops with the light sensing device which automatically adjusts the screen brightness??

Since the screen is lit whn it starts, it is most likely a software issue, not a hardware fault.,

When did the problem begin to occur? Have you loaded in any new software recently??

Have you tried starting the laptop in SAFE mode ?

Press F8 repeatedly aqs it starts up (around the same time the VAIO screen pops up). This will load XP with the minimum of drivers and should not load up other programs.

If this works, go to RUN, type MSCONFIG and look at the startup list. It may be that there is a program which is causing the problem.

CHeck on VIAO-LINK if there are updated drivers for your laptop.

You could also try downloading XP updates from Microsoft.

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

NagaSurayami — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 10:28:04 GMT

It must be the screen as i have just plugged it into another monitor and it works fine.

SO i will take it back to the shop i purchased it form and get a replacement.

Thanks for the help guys.

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

kee-lo_ — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 13:09:10 GMT

No problem

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

stevep-4 — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 20:23:40 GMT

Give the shop a call or e-mail / letter. Let them know NOW that the unit is faulty.
Also register the unit with Sony and try to tell tehm about the problem.

Any problems with warranty issues, and you can tell them you told them when the unit was only 2 months old.

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

kee-lo_ — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 22:52:02 GMT

If you get it in before 12 months of purchase you shouldn't have any worries.

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

diverse — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:47:59 GMT

12 months is not an issue if you bought it in the UK!

You have 6 years to return an item if the fault is workmanship based or proven to been a manufacturing issue.

Ditto if your laptop breaks down 367 days after purchase, your rights extend beyond 1 year by law!

The item should be fit for the purpose (which for a laptop costing several hundred or even thousand pounds is not 1 year!

TV's are deemed to last for at least 5 years under the rules applied by Courts in the UK and 3-5 is not unreasonable to be expected from a PC!

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

diverse — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:51:42 GMT

Answering the question, have you done a factory fresh re-install? this will bring it back to how you got it (software wise!) or an XP System Restore?

Start
All Programs
Accessories
System Tools
System Restore

Good Luck!

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

jammold — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:57:39 GMT

You have 6 years to return an item if the fault is workmanship based or proven to been a manufacturing issue

Really?!?! GREAT:smileygrin:

Re: 2 months old and SOny Laptop Breaks

kee-lo_ — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 00:15:13 GMT

Yep, Rob told me this a while ago.