I have a sony Vaio laptop its quite old (about 4 years) a few days ago it started to freeze about a minute after being started up. Everything locks keyboard, mouse and screen I have tried everything I can think of but the only thing that works is to turn it off and start again. I only get about a minute before it freezes so not much time to check things over it even does it if I put it in safe mode. All the hardware seems to be working ok so i'm not sure what is happening can anyone help?

Hi Jimbo,

You are right, that's not a great deal of time to work with. What it sounds like is that the CPU has been overheated, or has developed problems. 90% of the time someone brings a computer to me that is acting like this, it is the CPU. The other 10% is broken out into a myriad of other suspects.

I would start with first seeing if the problem was with the OS or the hardware. You can start the computer at the DOS prompt by pressing F8 as the start up begins. Starting at the DOS prompt keeps most of the Windows system from starting up. Do that, and just type DIR a few times every minute and see if the system locks up on you. Let it go for about half an hour, checking it now an then. If you freeze up there, then you are probably looking at a bad CPU or bad RAM. If you don't lock up, then something is wrong with the OS, which the final out come will be reloading the system, so you might as well do that and get it over with.

There are several diagnostics you can run, but none of them work in a minute after start up.

Another thing you can try is to get a Knoppix disk and start up with that (read more about Knoppix here : http://www.d-a-l.com/articles/library/80.html ). Again the idea would be to keep the Windows OS from running, to see if what you are experiencing is a hardware issue. Something to keep in mind with the Knoppix check is that occasionally a hard drive gets messed up enough to cause this as well.. since Knoppix runs off the CD ROM and in RAM, the computer may not freeze up because the hard drive isn't being used. You can of course check this by accessing the hard drive from Knoppix several times over an hour period to see if you can cause a freeze. Run a MPEG off the drive or a music MP3 file or two... that should be enough access to see if the drive is dieing.

Let us know what you find out..

Glenn

Thanks for the help since posting the last message the problem has got worse now when pressing the on button it makes a small noise and does not do anything the screen stays black and nothing happens. The power light is on but thats about it can't get any responce from it.

If this is the case, then I'm going to guess your CPU has bit the dust. Sorry to be the barrer of bad tidings, but that sounds like the case. Something I have done in the past is to open the case, and using one of those compressed air cans you can find at just about any computer supply store, use the compressed air to chill down the CPU and try starting the computer while blowing on the CPU. If it starts and lasts longer than it is, then it is deffinetly the CPU. I won't last long and if you keep trying to start it, it may not work at all.. its just something I've done in the past to confirm it is the CPU before replacing the chip.

Despite the little 'quick chill' trick, you are looking at a new chip or a new board...

Glenn

Originally Posted by jimbo22

I have a sony Vaio laptop its quite old (about 4 years) a few days ago it started to freeze about a minute after being started up. Everything locks keyboard, mouse and screen I have tried everything I can think of but the only thing that works is to turn it off and start again. I only get about a minute before it freezes so not much time to check things over it even does it if I put it in safe mode. All the hardware seems to be working ok so i'm not sure what is happening can anyone help?

Are you running off the battery or an AC adapter?

Have you tried removing the battery and just using the AC adapter?

You can also try with the battery removed holding the Fn-F5 keys while powering up. Another possible key would be F10.

Other ideas here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Vaio+wont+boot


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