VAIO VGN Series Error Codes?

Also realize you DONT need the hard drive or optical drive to boot.  Lets get this thing to boot first!
Also try removing the battery physically dont need it to turn on either, just ac power.  Sometimes bad batteries can cause issues.

I've worked on several Sony's...and have not had any issues with them refering to diagnostic codes.  so dont know anything about the diagnostic codes on those....Sorry.  Most of the problems I had were replacing LCD's, inverters, and DC Jacks etc.

Most of the time sony's are FAIRLY decent machines....and hardware issues I've seen have been minimal.

Thanks for the ideas Wakeup. I've already tried booting it on ac with no battery, as mentioned originally however.

Going to try swapping out the memory next. I suppose there is a chance it could be a problem with the LCD, but the fact that the HD remains inactive, and the LOCK lights stay on (irrespective of input from the lock keys) seems to suggest that it's not a display problem, as everything else should be functioning properly even if the display is dead. I'm thinking it's a motherboard or RAM issue... hopefully RAM.

Of course it could be several problems ;) The user didn't really explain the circumstances surrounding the failure of the notebook to boot.

Once again, thanks for your input.

Swapped out memory with known good memory (in one slot at a time), and it didn't change the behavior of the notebook at all. And then I even tested it with no memory installed at all, with the exact same results- Num, Caps, Scroll Lock lit up, with power light green, and you can hear some movement inside (maybe a small fan or something). HD and CD have slight activity right when you press power, but then after that, nothing.

By the way, did all of this on AC adapter with no battery installed.

So at this point, I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue. Anyone concur? Anyone have any other ideas to try? Can you reset the BIOS on a notebook? I've never heard of doing that, but I would assume it's possible somehow.

Yeah, I concur. I think that some notebooks have a key combination that you can use when you power it on to reset the BIOS to defaults. But I'm having a hard time finding any helpful info on the Sony support site. Otherwise, I would imagine that it would be like a desktop computer, as you've described it, with a "clear CMOS" jumper.

Since I don't have a spare CPU laying around for this model, I cannot try swapping that out. Anyone else have any thoughts?

If not, than I'll just wrap this one up, and call it a loss. It is an older laptop and I doubt the owner would want to pay for a new motherboard, which wouldn't even guarantee a fix.

More odd behavior: decided to remove the plastic panel at the top, around the power button and Lock LCDs. Popped in battery, and it actually turned on this time- the Sony logo popped up and it played the characteristic VAIO booting sound. But then it hung up after that- the screen was black, but still clearly powered on (could never get this before). Upon restarting, it was back to the same old thing. So it's quite an odd set of circumstances. I doubt my removing the panel did anything, but whatever the case, it's odd that it would sporadically chnage like that. We'll see if it does it again soon.

I'm still working on this computer, but haven't had much time to work on it recently do to the holidays. I will continue troubleshooting this next week. Once again, thanks for your suggestions.

Great keep us informed!  thanks for comming back and show us that the question is not abandonned! :)

Sorry for the delay- this thread is not abandoned! I've just been busy with other issues. Still having the same problem- it will boot up once, and operate fairly normally (albeit pretty sluggish... but I never used this system before this problem, so I don't know what "normal" is for the system). After shutting it down, it reverts to the problem of not beign able to boot up again.

Wakeup- is there any way I can get some other eyes on this issue? Your comments have definitely been helpful, but new perspectives are always helpful. I do a lot of reading on this site, but havne't posted many questions, so I don't know the best way to get more people to look at it.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks Wakeup. I will try the request attention feature. Maybe my issue is just too enigmatic and no one was as brave as you in attempting to offer advice ;)

Ok, so for your questions: It doesn't seem to be heat because I've been able to leave the machine on over night and the next day, it hadn't shutdown or restarted, like it might if it had overheated.

As for how long it takes between won't boot to being able to boot, after it has been shutdown- it's always a few hours at least, usually a few days.

I'm thinking you may be right about hardware, on the motherboard most likely. I think my next step will be to try booting it in some different physical positions to see if something is loose or connecting poorly. Then I will do the last possible check and open up the beast and see what I can see.

Once again, thanks for tracking with me on this.

Ok, Wakeup, thanks for all your help! I'm going to close this one down. I did end up taking the whole thing apart- reseated processor and applied new thermal paste. Looked for any loose/faulty looking components, but didn't find anything. Put it all back together, and no difference. So I'm thinking this is probably a motherboard replacement. I'll check with my customer to see if they want to do that, but I'm betting it's going to be better to just steer towards a new notebook.