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Solve : Please help my laptop shuts off then won't boot for several days?

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I have a Sony Vaio VPCEE23FX and I am running Windows 7. It has been awesome up until recently. A little over 1 month ago, I seemed to have an issue with it going into sleep mode and not "waking up". It happened 2 or 3 times and each time it would not restart immediately. When I hit the power button, the power light would COME on (green) and stay on, the cd/dvd drive boots, but the screen stays black (there are no beeps). I am unable to access anything (BIOS, Windows etc) because it does not boot. Also, my hard drive light does not come on. Usually within about 2 days, I can randomly push the power button and the computer will start right up.

The new issue is (it seems to me that I removed the usb drive both times this has occurred) I get the blue screen of death (STOP:0x000000D1) and the only thing I can do it shut off the computer, at which time it will not restart again - but seems to be the same as before (described above), powering on after a few days. I did run the Vaio care program that said my usb had failed (nothing odd appearing the device manager and I have no idea which port it is on the list).

So far this is what I have done: held the power button down (without the battery) for 30-60 secs and tried to turn it back on with only the power cord, I have (when it has turned on) done system restore, updated drivers, & ran every diagnostic tool I can find on my laptop.  I have reseated the RAM, put new RAM in (which I am using now - so it works). I have tried a new hard drive and it still won't boot until it's ready. Several days ago I disassembled the laptop to TRY to find the CMOS battery (I heard this could be a problem) but was unable to find it without removing the motherboard which I am not comfortable with. I am a college student and single mom with not a lot of money and can't afford a new computer at the moment. I need mine to be reliable but am running out of ideas as to what could be causing this issue. I am willing to try anything, so any ideas would be awesome! Thanks!

BTW the computer is working at the moment, I am using now! This usually means the mainboard is giving up the ghost and it's very difficult to diagnose a laptop without actually looking at it.

Sometimes the CMOS battery is very well hidden and you won't be able to find it without dissambling the entire unit.
As far as I know (I rarely work on Sony Vaio's and I'd recommend HP or Dell instead), Sony Vaio doesn't release any service manuals which makes the task of disassembling it even more difficult.

If you have replaced all user service-able PARTS and it did not resolve the problem, it's time to back-up your data and start saving for a new one. If the laptop refuses to turn on entirely, it is not a software issue.

There are a few more things you can try and there are some questions to be answered:

1. Did you spill any liquids on the laptop during its lifetime?
2. Did you clean the fan and heatsink assembly?
3. Have you tried to remove the laptop battery and then turn on the laptop?
4. Have you inspected the power supply for damage (e.g. exposed wires or grinding noise)
Thanks for the info I have backed everything up just in case it won't turn back on at all.
As far as the list of questions you menioned:

1. No I have never spilled anything on the laptop
2. When I took the laptop apart the other day I did clean the fan and the heat sink did not look like it needed cleaned.
3. Yes I have removed the battery and tried to start it and there is no difference, it still only starts when it wants to lol!
4. The power supply appears to be in good working condition. It appears to be getting power just fine, just refuses to boot for several days at a time.

I am thinking it could be, but hoping it's not the motherboard. However, if it is the motherboard, would it continue to turn on after crashing? As of right now is has crashed with a blue screen at least 2 times (Maybe 3 -my daughter was using it and something happened but she couldn't explain it lol) and then the issue with it sleeping and not waking up has occurred at least 3 times. Every time it has started back up after being off for 2-3 days. If it were the motherboard would it continue to power up on occasion or would it be totally dead for good? Quote

I am thinking it could be, but hoping it's not the motherboard. However, if it is the motherboard, would it continue to turn on after crashing? As of right now is has crashed with a blue screen at least 2 times (Maybe 3 -my daughter was using it and something happened but she couldn't explain it lol) and then the issue with it sleeping and not waking up has occurred at least 3 times. Every time it has started back up after being off for 2-3 days. If it were the motherboard would it continue to power up on occasion or would it be totally dead for good?

This is pure speculation based on my experience with repairing laptops, without being able to look at your laptop I can not tell you with any certainty that your motherboard is indeed the problem but judging from what you have stated, it very much sounds like it is the case:

The problem is that the motherboard is made up of a lot of parts. What you often see with broken down laptops is that it's not really the "mainboard" that is broken as a whole but rather one individual part like a chipset or a discrete component somewhere.

In the case of a chipset that's not functioning right, it often will function under specific circumstances like when it has been allowed to cool down entirely or when it is getting warm.  Usually this is because soldering connections get bad and when the laptop cools down, these shrink back into place. Or the other way around; they start connecting again because the components expand due to the heat.

So yeah, sometimes it will come back on and then it'll seem to run just fine until it crashes again.

A lot of time goes into determining what component is causing the problem and most laptops are just discarded because it's too expensive to try to repair the mainboard or even to replace it compared to buying a new one.

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1. No I have never spilled anything on the laptop
2. When I took the laptop apart the other day I did clean the fan and the heat sink did not look like it needed cleaned.
3. Yes I have removed the battery and tried to start it and there is no difference, it still only starts when it wants to lol!
4. The power supply appears to be in good working condition. It appears to be getting power just fine, just refuses to boot for several days at a time.

And there ends pretty much everything you can do. If you're up to it, you can ask other Sony Vaio owners where the CMOS battery is located. It's worth a try if you have the time and the right tools. Read up on protecting your equipment from electrostatic discharge before you attempt to do so, though

I also take it that you reinstalled Windows once before because of the new hard drive? And the problem continued even into this new installation?

Have you tried booting with just one stick of RAM?

What happens when you the laptop shuts down and you try to turn it on without a hard drive and battery inserted a few days later on?
I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with this

I understand what your saying about all the components on the motherboard. I have priced a motherboard and it is not worth the cost of repair, I'd be better off starting fresh with a new computer

I just put the new hard drive in a few days ago, I did nothing with it, just stuck it in to see if it would boot, and it did the first time. I thought I had solved the problem so I put the windows disk in that I had in order to install windows on it, turned the computer off (to restart it so it would read the disk) and then it refused to turn back - on until today (I put the old hard drive back in so this is the one that came with the computer & it has the original Widows on it as well).

 I have not tried to reinstall Windows on my original hard drive - would you recommend trying that? I had assumed it was a hardware issue so I gave up on the software aspect. I tried it with one stick of RAM as well. I have new RAM in it now, but tried to start it right after installing this RAM and it wouldn't start until today lol.

I tried to turn it on with no hard drive and got nothing. I tried to boot from an Ubuntu disk and Windows disk and neither worked (I have both OS on my hard drive). It's so frustrating because it keeps coming back on! If it would just die for good then I could walk away from it. I just can't stand it lol! Quote
I tried to turn it on with no hard drive and got nothing. I tried to boot from an Ubuntu disk and Windows disk and neither worked (I have both OS on my hard drive).lol!

So it does absolutely nothing with the hard drive removed? No lights, no sounds, nothing? Same as when the hard drive is connected?

That pretty much rules out the hard drive, RAM and Windows installation which really leaves just the CMOS battery.
Since I have them on hand, I always try a laptop out with a universal adapter just to rule out the power supply.

Quote
It's so frustrating because it keeps coming back on! If it would just die for good then I could walk away from it. I just can't stand it

Sometimes you can identify the defective component by putting pressure (or taking pressure) off parts of the laptop chassis (and thus the mainboard) to see when it will and when it won't boot. Once the problematic part has been found, you can see if there's a reballing service nearby that can solder on a new part. (You might have to find the parts yourself on e.g. Ebay)

That's a lot of work and possibly could financially set you back if the process isn't done properly or the laptop decides to break down again, though.

I think the safest bet is putting the money aside and investing it in a new laptop.
Before we throw the laptop in the bin, there seems to be a "critical" BIOS update:

Quote
FILE Description CRITICAL BIOS Update Utility Release Date 1/21/2011 Version R0200Z5 File Size 3.90 MB This utility updates the BIOS to version R0200Z5 and provides the following benefits:

    Resolves an issue where the optical disc drive does not appear in the system after start-up
    Improves the touchpad response
    Resolves and issue where the system may hang or freeze (stop responding) during start-up
    Resolves an issue where the system may display a blank screen during start-up
    Improves CPU throttling
    Resolves an issue where the AMD Phenom II P650 mobile CPU is improperly displayed in the System menu

That sounds a lot like your problem, doesn't it? I think it's worth the risk to try it out given the current status of the laptop.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VPCEE23FX&upd_id=6330&os_group_id=6

Follow the instructions to the absolute letter and make sure the power supply is connected and powered on. If you interrupt the process, you will brick the laptop.
Although this post is old! Im replying because i havent seen any other forums talking about this, looks like nobody has a solution for this problem! I just got one of this vaios, same model and same problem!! Doesnt boot for days, the only solution i found so far is swapping the hard disk a couple of times (with good working hard disk) and it boots!! Ill try that bios update and post back results! I noticed that this happened after turning on the laptop with a blank hard disk on it and a usb stick on it ready to load a windows 7 installation, when i saw the hard disk that said no operating system found i turned it off, to start with the proccedure of booting from usb, when i hit the on button i saw 1 blink of lights, hard disk spinning, fan on, cd tray RESPONSIVE, but bios wont boot! I removed the battery, pressed the power button for 30 seconds, removed ram, tried to boot with one stick, swapped ram from another laptop, connected an external monitor, checked the lcd with a flashlight, used only power supply, was thinking about opening and look for that cmos battery, took out a new hard disk and put on an old hard disk and put it on, pushed power button, saw lights blinking twice and it booted! Happened twice with the same laptop!


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