Sony Vaio hangs - help!

[j.drake]

You might be lucky if the BIOS will fix it, but from my experience and all research I made it seems that it is more of a hardware problem.

Just an update - indeed I was lucky! I loaded the new BIOS, and the VAIO has been cookin' just fine ever since. So, those of you with VAIOs who are getting depressed reading this thread, be sure and check for updates and fixes from Sony before you assume the worst.

I'm glad it turned out this way, because I think the VAIO (at least the one I have) is a really nice box, which fell victim to some haphazard patching from Redmond. (gotta' be a first time for everything, right?) I'll pass along what I read here, but based on my experience, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend VAIO again.

[vaioshutdown]

The Intel goof was easily programmed around several OSs ago. The false overtemperature interrupt is detected and ignored. Intel laid out the needed code in a white paper in June 2002. The document order number is 243887-041.

There is a real problem with components on the CPU daughter board that get fried due to a faulty heat sink design. These cause the computer to shut down randomly, and in extreme cases not even boot up.

The solution is the replacement of these Surface Mount Technology components, and unless you have the tools and training to do SMT rework, I do not recommend doing it yourself, because it requires considerably above average soldering technique and precision equipment. If you attempt it without solid prerequisites, you run a substantial risk of killing the processor board.

[elc0chin0]

vaioshutdown;

Thanks for the info. I've got a VIAO 215 with a AMD 800 that keeps freezing up with win2000. I thought it was the HD for the longest time and switched it out but if left on for an extended period (over 24 hrs) it just freezes up and stops working.

Can you recommend any place that will fix the problem? From what you've stated I don't think I want to touch that.

I've also got a newer (within the last 6 months) VIAO and it works like a charm. It's using an AMD chip as well but running 1.8 gHz.

[vaioshutdown]

We receive between ten and fifty requests a week for advice on what to do with Vaio laptops of every stripe that overheat and shut down.

We haven't analyzed the cause in every model, so as of now we only fix the Pentium II F-Series models.

As far as recommending anyone to fix your machine, we must regretfully decline.