Onboard sound isn't recognized anymore (VPCSE13FX)

[zuriha]

OK this is a really strange issue.
I bought this laptop Sony Vaio VPCSE13FX like a week ago from out of the country. It has Windows 7 64bit installed on it.

Was just working on the laptop doing normal stuff.
Wanted to turn the brightness down a bit, and tried the function+f keys, but for some reason it didn't work.
Then I tried to volume up/down, and it didn't work either.
So I said lets reboot. So I rebooted.
Next thing I see is that the sound icon at the bottom has a X on it.

I open it, and I see no devices found.
I open up the device manager, and the onboard Realtek sound card that used to be there, isn't.

Next thing I did is re-install the drivers. Didn't help.
Checked BIOS if there is something related to sound disabled - none.

At this point I began to worry.

Then I though maybe it's a virus.
I download an anti-virus, did a scan - nothing found.

Then I though maybe something damaged in windows, so I did a system restore to 1 day ago - same issue.
I also download ubuntu 11.10 live cd, booted, and again, the sound card isn't even there and there is no sound.

So that's the point where I'm stuck at this moment.
Any suggestions? Can't be the motherboard just f**ked up right? it's a  week old, and the only thing not working is the sound, everything else  works fine.

Any help would be appreciated.

[rich912]

Hi zuriha,

Unfortunately this would appear to be hardware related as the device is no longer recognise by the system.

To be sure you could try a system recovery using either your recovery disks or by tapping F10 at boot when you see the Vaio logo to enter the hard disk recovery utility. Back up any data you need before recovering as the process formats the hard drive.

If that doesn't solve the problem you have the option of returing the machine to the retailer or contact Sony support.

Rich

[zuriha]

I did what you said, but it didn't worked.

But here is a strange thing - the laptop was turned off now for about 8  hours, while I slept. When I woke up and turned it on, the sound WORKED  like nothing happened!

But when I started to listen to some music, after about 30 seconds, the sound was broke again!

It like it works after it "rested" few hours, and then stops working when starting to use it.

Any logic in this?

Message was edited by: zuriha

Message was edited by: zuriha

[zuriha]

by the way, can't it be a bios issue? I updated the bios like 2-3 days ago.
How I can return to my original bios version? when I try to run the bios  update tool it just tells me I got the most recent version and no need  for update and it closes itself.

thank you.

[rich912]

Hi zuriha,

I doubt that this is a BIOS issue and unless you made a backup of the original BIOS I know of no way to roll back. I assume that this was a BIOS upgrade that was provided by Sony?

It is almost certainly hardware related. Chances are that as the motherboard warms up contact the audio chip is lost. Presumably when audio is working the device is present in Device Manager?

I suggest that you contact Support and give them the same details that you have posted here. As the notebook was purchased in a different country (probably not Europe) I am uncertain of the procedure – perhaps some other member can advise...

Rich

[zuriha]

yes the sound card shows up when it's working...

if the motherboard warms up how can it be that the only thing not working is the sound card??

it's just all seem strange to me.

[rich912]

Hi zuriha,

The motherboard will always warm up when the notebook is in use but if the audio chip or soldering is faulty then problems can and will occur.

Rich