MIS-BEHAVING VAIO NW11S/T

[Toppam]

I have a Sony Vaio NW11S/T, which has been living with my Son at University.

Recently, it began mis-bahaving, and it has therefore been returned to 'Technical Dad' for repair.

Specification:

Core 2 Duo

4GB Ram

320GB HDD

DVD/CD Writer

15.4" Screen

ATI Radeon Graphics 'Card'.

Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit. (upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium through Sony Scheme)

Age:  17 months.

Symptoms:

Freezes without warning (in Windows or even when looking at the BIOS).

Frequently won't switch on (green light comes on, but no further).

Sometimes restarts without being told to.

What I have Done:

Conducted System checks through the Recovery Interface.  HDD, Memory amd Processor all report fine.

Changed HDD anyway.

Changed Power supply.

Swapped Memory modules in/out.

Removed CD-ROM.

Air Dusted all vents.

Reset BIOS to default settings (pretty sure this was no change anyway).

Re-loaded whole system using F12 and Recovery Disks (failed many times).

Tried to download SiSoft Sandra to check processor temperature - the Unit froze.

Conclusions:

The only thing I haven't done is disassemble it to give it a proper clean; I suspect it's over-heating, but the fan(s) seem to be running OK, and I have tried running it in particularly cold locations without success.

The unit probably needs to be returned to Sony (at goodness knows what cost), but before I do so, does anyone out there have any other ideas?  Video card? MoBo?

[Blencogo]

I think you have tried all the likely causes.

The fact that it freezes when displaying the BIOS would seem to eliminate any software/driver conflicts and point to a hardware fault - as this is intermittent then probably it is a fault on the motherboard as you have eliminated the RAM modules and their contacts.

It could be a graphics fault but this is unlikely as you have ATi Graphics - if it was nVidia then perhaps ...............................

I think the best way forward is to speak to one of Sony's Service Partners near you for advice.  The full list of Service Partners is given here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/contacts/asc.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-NW11S_T

[Toppam]

Blencogo

Thanks for that.  I guess what I was really looking for was a 'sanity check'.  After posting here, I sent an email to JFA of Oxfordshire, and I await their response.

Once it's cold (having been left overnight for example) it seems to be OK for a while.  I am currently attempting to restore from the Recovery Disks for the nth time, but it freezes as it pops out the first DVD. I guess that restoring the OS will be another job for JFA, if for no other reason than to test the repair!

Any idea of the cost of a mainboard for an NW11S/T ?  I understand they don't supply parts.

Edited to add

Attempting to Restore the HDD again.  Wish me luck.

Message was edited by: Toppam

[Toppam]

Well, I eventually succumbed and sent the laptop to the nearest Sony Authorised Repair Centre.

For a mere £48.00 inc VAT, they undertook to provide a diagnosis and quotation for any work required.

I have today received their assessment by email:

Qty     Description              

---------------------------------------------------

1       MOTHERBOARD              

Estimate Charges

==================================

Parts:                        356.18

Labour:                        80.00

Col/Del:                         0.00

NET:                          436.18

VAT:                            87.24

Gross:                        523.42

Inspection fee paid:        48.00

BALANCE DUE:          475.42

I have asked them to re-visit the estimate as it is unbelievable to me that a laptop costing less than £600 can cost £523.42 to repair!

Do you think they don't want the work?

Edited to Add:

At least it comes with a full 3-month warranty!

Message was edited by: Toppam

Message was edited by: Toppam

Message was edited by: Toppam

[Blencogo]

Sadly this is a result of our throw away society.

Replacing the motherboard seems to be the only repair option these days.

[Toppam]

Is it? Or is it the result of the Vaio closed shop 'customer support' system?

If I lived in any of the following countries this laptop would have come with a 2-year guarantee:

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Italy

Kazakhstan

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Slovakia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

Ukraine

But not for the UK, which only gets 12 months.  Rip-off Britain?  This laptop has lasted less than 18 months!  And I rather foolishly thought I was paying for a quality product.:smileyangry:

Anyone any idea where I might be able to buy the appropriate motherboard?

[Toppam]

I just thought I would share the hilarious exchange I have had through the Vaio Link System.  As the questions were submitted through the web site, I have had to reproduce them here from memory, but I assure you they were there or thereabouts:

Question 1.               Why does this Laptop, when sold in the UK, come with only a One-Year warranty, when across most of the European Economic Community it comes with 2 years of warranty cover?

Sony Vaio Answer:            The reason for that is because the computer was bought from the UK and the warranty there is only for 1 year not like most of the other European countries and you can find a confirmation about that in our official website and our authorized centers and retailers are also aware of something like that and it was acknowledged that it's fine by the English customers.

Question 2.               Why does Sony not sell spare parts for its Laptops

Sony Vaio Answer:            As per our policy we don't provide spare parts like the motherboard or any part of what's inside the computer for our customers to be replaced however we can still create a repair order to work out your issue if there is any replacements needed for any parts having malfunctions or going wrong.

Question 3.               I have been quoted £427.42 for the motherboard alone.  How on Earth can this be justified when the whole laptop cost £600 ?

Sony Vaio Answer:            The addressed quote for repairing the motherboard is the most  the appropriate quote for the motherboard  to be replaced as we are selecting you the best types and the most powerful and durable ones to able to get the perfect performance out of it.

Question 4.               Is it worth me shopping around your other Repair Centres or, as I suspect, does their monopoly mean they fix prices in order to keep them all the same?

Sony Vaio Answer:            All of our other repair centers will confirm to you we are using the same parts and offering same quotes and prices for repairing the fault you had on your computer.

Question 5.               Given my poor experience on this occasion – I bought what I thought would be a good quality product only to have it fail within 18 months – why should I continue to purchase Sony products in the future?

Sony Vaio Answer:           The idea of stopping to by Sony products shouldn't cross your mind you are having the best name in the market to deal with and to count on we are trying our best to offer you what you had requested but we still had to stick to our policies.

This last answer was very amusing given my personal experience.