My Sony Vaio notebook refuses to turn on for no reason at all but after some it comes back alive
I have had a Sony Vaio notebook, for about 3 years. Recently, it just refuses to turn on for no reason at all. I mean, the power button does not work, and nothing starts. Just when I was about to give up (3 months later) and tried one last time on the power button, it turned back on! After a couple of months of working fine, it died again. A couple of months later, it came back alive again! I did absolutely nothing to it. It never dies when I am using it – only when the laptop is shut off, and the next time I try to turn it on, it does not respond. The only clue that I have is that windows takes a long time to load (but that may just be the many programs I have installed on it). I tried cleaning the fan, but no use. The battery is not the greatest, but it does not run even with the battery removed. It does not seem to be overheated because the processor does not even get any power to it. After 2 repair shops, nobody seem to be able to tell me what the problem is. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help! Thanks!
It’s very hard to troubleshoot a laptop with a problem like yours. An intermittent problem is the worst!
I would recommend unplugging the battery, wait for couple minutes and then try to start the laptop using just AC power, but it looks like you’ve already tried it. I had a Sony laptop before and got the same problem 2 times. I was able to get my laptop back to live by removing the battery and starting it from the AC adapter.
I think it’s possible you’re your AC adapter might have an intermittent problem.
It also might be a loose connection somewhere on the system board. If I would get this laptop for repair, I would open it up and reseat all connections on the motherboard. I would try to strip it down to minimize the system and leave just the system board, the memory and the CPU and try to turn it on with an external monitor attached. If the system still doesn’t work even when it’s stripped down, I would suspect that the motherboard is bad. I know that’s not a lot of help, but that’s what I would try to do.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I have a SONY PCG-K25 … For a while had it took a while to resumes windows. One day when it took a while to resume i turned it off and turned it back on. Since then when i press power button the fans come on for a few seconds and then nothing. Tried cleaning out the fan and still nothing.
February 4th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Erica,
What do you mean by “It does absolutely nothing”? It’s completely dead and there are no LED lights when you plug the power adapter or it will not boot to Windows?
When the laptop starts making a rattling noise, it might indicate either a problem with the cooling fan or the hard drive. A failed hard drive might halt the entire system, but you still should see some LED lights when you plug or turn on the laptop. Can you?
February 4th, 2007 at 4:13 am
I have a Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 for 3 years. While I was using it, it started making this rattling noise. Otherwise, everything worked fine. This went on for a couple of months. One day, the rattling noise was louder and the computer shut itself off. Now, It does absolutely nothing when I try to turn it on….with or without the battery.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Steve,
As you can see on the step 21 of this disassembly guide, the DC-IN harness plugs directly into the system board. There is no power board; all circuits are located on the system board. If the power LED flashes orange when you try to power up the laptop, it usually indicates a major power failure somewhere on the system board.
I guess the local PC shop will quote you a new system board.
January 20th, 2007 at 3:40 am
Hi! I have a toshiba tecra A2 that has recently died without warning. All of the sudden it wont turn on (doesnt even try to boot)it jut flashes the orange power light at me. I have checked the (external) power supply – this appears to be supplying the correct voltage – I have also tried powering it up with ad without the battery pack – with the same (lack of) result. I am suspect now of thepower supply inside the unit – but fearful of what my local pc shop will charge to repair it. Just wondering if this is a common fault with toshibas and if perhaps there is a “how to” on repairing it? Any feedback would be appreciated.
January 17th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Sir, I recently had the HD replaced in my TOSHIBA SATELITE 1805-S254. When I use the DVD/CDRW I get several messages. When I put a disc (audio,data,dvd) in I get “THE DISC IS CORRUPTED OR WRITTEN IN A FORMAT NOT SUPPORTED BY WINDOWS”.
This question has been published here.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Alfonso, re: reply # 53. Thanks Joe. I bet my problem is the same since the syntoms are similar. Would you mind sharing the store information.
Thanks a lot,
Alfonso
January 17th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Laptop Freak, re: reply # 51. Thanks for helping me figure out that my Compaq M200 has a bad mother board. I priced the new replacement board and it doesn’t seem worth the expense. I did find an store where the company will rebuild the board for free if I buy the parts from him. He said there are three parts that generaly go bad. If all threee are bad it will cost around $125.(plus shipping)
Thanks again for your help.
January 16th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I have a gateway mx6027 that shut off while i was using it this morning and will not turn back on. I tried another AC adapter and battery but could not turn it on still. When i plug the broken laptop into the new AC adapter the adapter makes noise but it doesn’t when connected to a working laptop. Any suggestions of what would be the next item to check in troubleshooting this problem?
January 16th, 2007 at 6:56 am
Joe,
Did you ever find out what was wrong with your Presario 2000. I just had a similar problem yesterday. It just turned off and refuses to turn on again.
TIA,
Alfonso
January 15th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Even I have Compaq Laptop 1700 Series.. Recently, it just refuses to turn on for no reason at all. I mean, the power button does not work, and nothing starts.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:47 am
C,
May be the AC adapter is dead? Find a voltmeter and test voltage the AC adapter puts out.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Hi,
I have a IBM Thinkpad R52. serial # L3-B0253. When I click on start and then turn off computer and then click on turn off, it does not turn off. I took it for repairs and they did a backup , I don`t know if that constitutes reformattting the hard drive , but it works for two days and the same problem continues. I really don`t know what to do. Can u guys please help? I `m very frustrated.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:43 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite 1805-S203 series
part no. PS181U-00CFCHE
I plug in the ac adapter and there’re no lights that go on whatsoever. I’ve left it plugged in for 24 hours and still the laptop won’t turn on. I’ve tried taking the battery out, nothing. What could be wrong? I should say that the laptop hasn’t been used for several months nearly a year also it is bent slightly where the ac adapter plugs into the laptop but it still plugs in securely, i think. Maybe there’s a way to see if the laptop is receiving electricity in the first place.
January 7th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Joe,
Here are some important quotes from your comments:
1. The laptop went dead, like someone hit the power button
2. The light on the charger does light up but the computer does not
3. I tested the power supply with an OHM meter. There is power going to the jack
4. From the time the computer went out it would not start up on battery power either
Sounds like you might have a problem with the system board. Sorry man, I will not be able to help you over the Internet.
January 7th, 2007 at 4:58 am
I have same problem with my sony notebook. At the moment I am trying to find solutions and came across this site from doing a search in google.
The power adapter stays cold when plugged in even though the green LED lights up at the end of the power lead.
I have tried starting my notebook on battery power only but the machine is just dead.
I have decided to buy another power adapter to see if I can get any life back into my notebook.
January 5th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Thanks for your time.
I’m not much for electronics but I tesed the power supply with an OHM meter. There is power going to the jack but I can’t tell you the amps or volts. I don’t know what internal wire the guy was talking about.
From the time the computer went out it would not start up on battery power either.
If you think my next step should be taking the computer apart to check for loose wires, than that’s what I’ll do.
January 4th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Thanks for your patience. While using my COMPAQ PRESARIO M2000, the laptop went dead. It was like I was watching a TV and someone hit the power button. The computer never turned on again. The light is lit on the power supply but the computer is dead. Nothing happens when I hit the power button. No lights, no sound, nothing. This was the first time that I had a problem with this laptop. I have all my important files backed up onto my spare Toshiba so I figured I would try to tinker with the Compaq and try to get it running again.
You started to help me with this problem a few days ago, but I was getting emails addressed to Alex about a Sony laptop.
Thanks so much for your help and patience!!
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Joe,
If the laptop just “died” it’s probably still has some charge in the battery. Can you start the laptop from the battery power? Test the AC adapter. Even though you can see the light on the adapter, it’s still possible that the adapter will not output any power. Find a multimeter and test the voltage on the adapter plug.
In the comment 37 you asked: “one person said that it sounded like the internal wire from power supply had come loose”. What wire you are asking about? Do you mean the power jack? Yes it’s possible, but from my experience if the power jack gets loose, you still can see the power LED flashing when you wiggle the power plug inside the jack. Not sure.
If you have nothing to lose, you can open up the laptop and check if the power jack loose and resolder it if needed. Download the maintenance and service guide for your laptop (4.75MB) and follow the disassembly instructions.
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:23 pm
The light on the charger does light up but the computer does not. No
lights, no sound, nothing.
January 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
Alex,
First of all I would test the memory modules. Download and run Memtest 86+ utility. Check out this site, they sell parts for Sony laptop and your model is on the list.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Joe,
First of all, do you get any LED activity when you plug in the AC adapter? May be it’s just a dead adapter? Can you start the laptop at all, will it start just from the battery power?
January 2nd, 2007 at 11:49 am
Hi, I’ve been having promblems with my Vaio notebook PCG-K25. about 6 hours After I installed office 2003. my computer froze up. And I have to shut it down manuly. After that I couldn’t start it up again. Only if I wait for about 5 to 6 hours it will start up for 15 minutes and then it froze again. But then I noticed that the cooling fan starts to spin and then imediatly stopped to spin. I opened it up and checked the voltage for the cooling fan and the voltage has a veriation start 004 and goes down to 001 and sometimes to 000 but the other cooling fan (i’m assuming thats the cpu cooling fan.)sometimes it doesen’t work but most of the time works fine. Please if you know or if you have an idea what the problem can be please let me know. Also if you know were can I get parts for my laptop please let me know because I called Sony part service and they said they don’t sell motherboards or cpu’s for my computer. Thanks alot for your help.
January 1st, 2007 at 7:05 am
Dear Sir,
While using my COMPAQ PRESARIO M2000, the thing just died. It was like I was watching TV and sosmeone hit the power button. It was that quick. From fine to dead in an instant.
Everything I needed was backed up and I moved it to my spare Toshiba.
Since I don’t really need the Compaq I wanted to take a chance and repair it myself.
I’ve asked around a bit and one person said that it sounded like the interna wire from power supply had
come loose. Could this be? Could you please give me a few directions on how to trouble shoot this problem??
Thanks so much and have a great holliday.
Joe
December 29th, 2006 at 8:27 am
When I have a charged battery and I start the notebook with charger and battery the battery doesn’t charge but doesn’t discharge either. He doesn’t power up with only the ac adapter… It’s a strange problem. I’m an electronic engineer so if i have the schematics of the motherboard it woul be easy to repair. Does anyone know where you can find schematics?
December 29th, 2006 at 5:10 am
Back again with the inspiron 1100 power problem… I guess I did not make it clear that the laptop works great on battery power alone, all functions, internet, burn cd’s ect. work ok. the problem occures when I plug the power supply into the back of the laptop. Thanks for all the replies folks..
December 28th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
Aamir Yousufzai,
Sorry man. I don’t think it’s a broken power connector; it looks like you have a dead motherboard. The battery and adapter plugs directly into the motherboard and if the laptop is still “dead” even with a known good battery and AC adapter, then most likely you have a bad motherboard.
First. Usually power connectors do not break like that. It can get loose but most of the time you still can see some live in your laptop if you wiggle the power plug inside the jack.
Second. Even if your power jack just “died” completely, you still would be able to start the laptop on the battery power, at least see the power LCD flashing (if the battery is discharged).
December 28th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Walker11,
I think there is something wrong with the motherboard itself, the lightning strike fried something on the motherboard. I really don’t know if replacing the power jack can help you to fix the problem. Anyway, you have nothing to lose. Good luck! Please let me know if you can fix the problem by replacing the jack. I think you are not alone and your experience can help other people who suffer from a lightning strike.
By the way, make sure that your “known” good adapter actually has the same polarity as the old one. I mean if the old power plug has “+” inside and “-“outside, the new adapter has the same layout.
December 28th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Jake,
I don’t have a lot of experience with Dell laptops, because I work mostly with Toshibas. When I have a situation like yours on a Toshiba laptop it usually indicates a problem with the motherboard. Sorry man, I cannot give you more accurate adv ice.
Try minimizing the system. Remove all devices you can access – hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, etc… Try reseating memory modules. If it doesn’t help, then probably you are out of luck and it would be necessary to replace the motherboard.
BTW, one more idea. Check out the voltage on the AC adapter. Make sure it’s the same as on the label. May be the adapter is broken and outputs wrong voltage. Try starting the laptop just on the battery power. It’s just a guess.
December 28th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
Erik,
The battery is connected directly into the system board and if the laptop will not run with the battery attached, you have either a bad motherboard or bad battery.
Did it happen with the old battery too? If yes, then probably you have an issue with the motherboard. If the laptop works with old battery, may be the battery will not keep charge, but the laptop still works and will not shut down (but it shuts down with the new one), then probably your new battery is bad.