HOW DOES A LAPTOP MOTHER BOARD GET FRIED ?

[Bubey]

My daughter just got back the bad news that the
"Mother Board"
on the Laptop is fried. Buy a new one.! It's a
Sony Viao and she's
only had it for about 18 months. How does this
happen?
I thought she took pretty good care of it. Which
is better choice,
replace the Mother Board or just buy a new laptop?
Thanks for the input.

 

[Andreas Koppa]

Hello Bubey,

How she knows the MB is fried?
Ask for technical assistance and a quotation, then decide.
If the MB is really fried the best bet is to buy a new lap.
BTW, some 5 years ago I had a very bad experience with a Vaio I sent for
repair under waranty due to a HD problem. They returned a refurbished laptop.
Never returned my added 512 MB RAM and they messed up the serial number
and the warranty. In the end the HD failed too and I purchased another lap.

 

[Bubey]

I read an article where it says if the laptop
shows sign of life
the Motherboard hasn't been fried and one needs to
do a
Bios re-set or upgrade. A Tech mentioned the Bios
re-set
but didn't seem to be able to give me the answer
on how to
do it if I couldn't get anything on the screen.
Any ideas?

message
Hello Bubey,

How she knows the MB is fried?
Ask for technical assistance and a quotation, then
decide.
If the MB is really fried the best bet is to buy a
new lap.
BTW, some 5 years ago I had a very bad experience
with a Vaio I sent for
repair under waranty due to a HD problem. They
returned a refurbished laptop.
Never returned my added 512 MB RAM and they
messed up the serial number
and the warranty. In the end the HD failed too
and I purchased another lap.

 

[NoConsequence]

My daughter just got back the bad news that the
"Mother Board"
on the Laptop is fried. Buy a new one.! It's a
Sony Viao and she's
only had it for about 18 months. How does this
happen?
I thought she took pretty good care of it. Which
is better choice,
replace the Mother Board or just buy a new laptop?
Thanks for the input.

This question has nothing to do with the OS.

Ask elsewhere.

 

[FeMaster]

I read an article where it says if the laptop
shows sign of life
the Motherboard hasn't been fried and one needs to
do a
Bios re-set or upgrade. A Tech mentioned the Bios
re-set
but didn't seem to be able to give me the answer
on how to
do it if I couldn't get anything on the screen.
Any ideas?

Not sure if this is the type of "reset" you are looking for, but I have
worked on a Sony Viao notebook computer, and in order to access the BIOS,
you would need to hit "F2" (probably a number of times) during the opening
logo screen when you first boot. From inside the BIOS, you should find
something similar to "load default settings", or perhaps, "Load fail-safe
settings". Pick that, Save and Exit, and see if that works for you...

I'll tell you right now, if you are able to get into the BIOS, or even see
the opening logo screen, then the MB is certainly not fried...

I have repaired units before that acted funny, and this was due to the
customer having spilled something onto the laptop, even a little bit, and
having it leak down onto the MB. The laptop I repaired recently worked fine
except that it wouldn't charge the battery, and the screen flashed (bright
to dim and back), which I'm sure was related to the power saving feature
found in all laptops that varies the brightness of the LCD depending on if
it's plugged in or running on batteries.

 

[JohnO]

My daughter just got back the bad news that the
"Mother Board"
on the Laptop is fried. Buy a new one.! It's a
Sony Viao and she's
only had it for about 18 months. How does this
happen?

My mom had the same thing happen a few years ago with a Vaio, and put the
laptop away, thinking it was dead. It wouldn't power up or anything, and the
store where she bought it gave her the same advice...new mobo at nearly the
cost of a new machine. Eventually I opened it up and saw a CMOS
battery...pulled it out for a minute and put it back in. That laptop is
being used today by my daughter to drive her iPod.

Try removing the CMOS battery.

-John O

 

[Bubey]

Where do you suggest I go for help? I assumed
since this was hardware problem and this says
"hardware".

My daughter just got back the bad news that the
"Mother Board"
on the Laptop is fried. Buy a new one.! It's a
Sony Viao and she's
only had it for about 18 months. How does this
happen?
I thought she took pretty good care of it. Which
is better choice,
replace the Mother Board or just buy a new
laptop?
Thanks for the input.

This question has nothing to do with the OS.

Ask elsewhere.

 

[Bubey]

I'll give this a try. Do you happen to know how I
can test
the battery to see if it's still good or not?

message

I read an article where it says if the laptop
shows sign of life
the Motherboard hasn't been fried and one needs
to
do a
Bios re-set or upgrade. A Tech mentioned the
Bios
re-set
but didn't seem to be able to give me the answer
on how to
do it if I couldn't get anything on the screen.
Any ideas?

Not sure if this is the type of "reset" you are
looking for, but I have
worked on a Sony Viao notebook computer, and in
order to access the BIOS,
you would need to hit "F2" (probably a number of
times) during the opening
logo screen when you first boot. From inside the
BIOS, you should find
something similar to "load default settings", or
perhaps, "Load fail-safe
settings". Pick that, Save and Exit, and see if
that works for you...

I'll tell you right now, if you are able to get
into the BIOS, or even see
the opening logo screen, then the MB is certainly
not fried...

I have repaired units before that acted funny, and
this was due to the
customer having spilled something onto the laptop,
even a little bit, and
having it leak down onto the MB. The laptop I
repaired recently worked fine
except that it wouldn't charge the battery, and
the screen flashed (bright
to dim and back), which I'm sure was related to
the power saving feature
found in all laptops that varies the brightness of
the LCD depending on if
it's plugged in or running on batteries.

 

[FeMaster]

Unfortunately, no. Some batteries have a power meter built into them to let
you know an approximate amount of power they have remaining, but this isn't
really a method of letting you know if the battery will hold a charge (is
good). The only real way to test that would be to allow the battery to
charge over-night, and then try powering the laptop with the battery
alone...

Some system allow you to "calibrate" the battery, but this is manufacturer
specific. I know how to do this on older Compaq and HP machines, but don't
have a clue on Sony units. Best bet would be to search Sony's website, or
reference the owners manual for the laptop.