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laptop somtimes dose not start up

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  • laptop somtimes dose not start up

    ok interesting problem. Basically when i turn on my laptop it sometimes dose not start. its power led(wifi etc..) start as normal as dose the fan but the screen stays black(no back-light at all.) and the hard disk dose not start up. Otherwise it will boot fine and run perfectly for the whole day.

    My first guess was the back-light was going but would this stop the hard disk from booting?

    Second guess is that the hard-disk is going but would this stop the screen from turning on?

    to make matters even more interesting the hard disk shows no errors dose not make any of the usual end of life sounds when it dose start.

    laptop is a sony vaio vgn-s1hp. also listed as pcg-6c1m on the bottom. About 5 years old.

    any help in diagnosing this problem would be much appreciated.

  • #2
    I had this problem with a Toshiba laptop, and it was the graphics card not being able to do any output. I'd take it into a certified shop, see if there's any shorts in the wiring. That's all I can think of.
    Carpe Jugulum : Go for the throat.

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    • #3
      Whatever the cause I hope you have your hard drive backed up, five years is coming up towards the end of your laptops useful life, it may start to throw up other errors soon.
      A PSA, if I may, as well as another.

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      • #4
        I was having a similar problem with my Mac Powerbook. Something or other was 'plugged into the wrong port' they changed it and it has worked fine for almost 3 years.
        Crazylegs is correct, you're getting near the end at 5 years.
        "What did you have for breakfast this morning? Carnation Instant Bitch?"
        -Eric Foreman That 70's Show

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        • #5
          I probably would point to some power issue. I would take it in, otherwise live with the problem.

          I guess some folks burn through their laptops. I don't. My laptop last for a very long time. To think of it, I haven't had a laptop die on me. Since I only use my laptop for very specific things, they don't get booted up much anymore.
          I've lost my mind ages ago. If you find it, please hide it.

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          • #6
            yep hard drive auto backed-up on raid-z2(solaris zfs) storage each login. Yes backups work and any irreplaceable data family photos, legal documents etc.. on optical media as you never know when a nukes EMP pulse will wipe your hard-disks . Ok you may have much bigger problems than whether or not your data is ok if nukes or other EMP based weapons are involved.

            As you mite have guest software im good at but not a clue at diagnosing hardware faults!!

            'plugged into the wrong port' will check that out tonight (if i turn laptop off it may not restart and i have work to do) have taken it apart about 3 times to clean dust out perhaps somethings worked lose.


            hoping to get one more year out if it then younger brother will be able to get me a new apple mac-book pro on student discount .

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            • #7
              Common problem for laptops that age (working on fixing one right now). Basically there's a few wires that go from the laptop mainboard to the power inverter behind the monitor which supplies power to the monitor. Usually over time the wires wear out or get a short or get cut. The good news is that the laptop will still work with an external monitor. The bad news is even though the wires and connectors usually cost under $5 total, they are impossible to find. But in your case being a Sony, I suggest seeing if you can talk with someone who services them about getting a new connector. Replacing them is pretty easy to do once you actually do get a new connector.

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              • #8
                thanx for all the help opened the laptop up and re secured all the connections. One to the screen was on but not clipped on so had worked loose(also looks a bit worn where it rubs agent the case each time you open close the screen given a layer of electrical tape). closed it back up and now it works 9/10 times.

                probably needs replacing but if its only 1 fail every few days of use i can live with it for a year.


                So to sum up what has been learned: Desktops bios allows boot if thers no monitor but (this)laptops bios dose not

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                • #9
                  yay glad it works for you now.

                  well with desktops, it kinda makes sense.
                  The monitors have their own power plugs so they don't have to share power resources with the tower. I wouldn't be surprised if the laptop routed power through the monitor first before other components got some of it. It might even be on purpose as a "troubleshooting aid" for techs.

                  but as a side note... if it wasn't fixable the HDDs and data would not be lost. Just pop the drives out and the local computer store should (knock on wood) have a case you can shove them into and use them as external drives. I did that with my old laptop after it died - copied over the files i really wanted and then wiped it clean to use as storage

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