Laptop just died. Help troubleshoot.

xbonez · Mar 15, 2011

Hey TPU,

My dad has a Sony Vaio laptop. He was surfing the net when all of a sudden his laptop just died. Being home, it is now my responsibility to do some magic and fix everything.

I confirmed the charger is working. There is current on the tip that goes into the laptop so it is conducting power. I disconnected the battery and tried running it on Mains directly, but no luck.

I'm thinking even if the HDD or RAM or something failed, the LED that indicates the battery is charging should still be showing something. There is absolutely no sign of life in the laptop at all.

Any suggestions on what I should check and eliminate to zero in on the problem?

brandonwh64 · Mar 15, 2011

when you press the power button does it try to come on? or so response?

Fourstaff · Mar 15, 2011

Any fancy sound or smell when the said laptop crapped out? I think it might be worth your time to open the laptop up and check for burn marks.

xbonez · Mar 15, 2011

No sound, no smell.

Hitting the power buttons elicits no response at all.

Its behaving exactly like a plastc/metal shell right now.

Fourstaff · Mar 15, 2011

Power button might have crapped out, or some wire melted or things like that is my best bet. Where, that is for you to find out

streetfighter 2 · Mar 15, 2011

Is the battery and/or the connectors in the battery bay damp/wet?
When you plug the AC adapter into the socket on the laptop does it seat securely, or does it wiggle?

Athlon2K15 · Mar 15, 2011

Fuse inside the laptop blow?

xbonez · Mar 15, 2011

Battery bay and connectors aren't damp at all.
Charger connector sits securely.

Might be a fuse or wire. Will check with another charger tomorrow just in case problem is in the charger.

HalfAHertz · Mar 15, 2011

If the LED lights on the front are not turning on when you plug it, it's either the charger or the power plug that's faulty but either way the mobo is not getting any juice. Does your dad remember if the battery was running out when the laptop turned off?

overclocker · Mar 15, 2011

You are the third person I have told this to and fixed both problems. First try taking one stick of ram at a time, if you only have one stick of ram get a test and working stick to try out. Make sure charger is working under a 1 amp load, it maybe working just not 100% and try moving the charger end that meets the laptop moving it as you hit the power button.

xbonez · Mar 16, 2011

Took the charger to a shop today and he confirmed it was the charger that wasn't working. Funny though, cause I checked the tip with a tester and it detected current. Anyways, got a new charger and its working fine now. Thanks for the help and suggestions, everyone.

System Name	Winter
Processor	AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE @ 4.0Ghz
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70
Cooling	Corsair H50 Liquid Cooling
Memory	2 x 2Gb Gskill Ripjaws 1600Mhz (7-7-7-24@1.6V)
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 470 @ Stock (Zalman VF3000 cooler)
Storage	2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB (RAID 0)
Display(s)	Hanns G 28" @ 1920x1200
Case	Antec 1200
Audio Device(s)	Onboard -- TosLink --> Z5500
Power Supply	Corsair 850TX 850W PSU
Software	Win 7 64-bit Ultimate

System Name	Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor	3570K // 10400F
Motherboard	ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling	Stock // Stock
Memory	2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage	Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s)	LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply	Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w

System Name	Winter
Processor	AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE @ 4.0Ghz
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70
Cooling	Corsair H50 Liquid Cooling
Memory	2 x 2Gb Gskill Ripjaws 1600Mhz (7-7-7-24@1.6V)
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 470 @ Stock (Zalman VF3000 cooler)
Storage	2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB (RAID 0)
Display(s)	Hanns G 28" @ 1920x1200
Case	Antec 1200
Audio Device(s)	Onboard -- TosLink --> Z5500
Power Supply	Corsair 850TX 850W PSU
Software	Win 7 64-bit Ultimate

System Name	Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor	3570K // 10400F
Motherboard	ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling	Stock // Stock
Memory	2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage	Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s)	LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply	Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w

Processor	Intel Core i9 11900K
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Carbon EK X
Cooling	Custom Water
Memory	Team DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC
Storage	WD WN850 1TB
Display(s)	43" LG NanoCell 4K 120Hz
Power Supply	Asus Thor 1200w
Mouse	Asus Strix Evolve
Keyboard	Asus Strix Claymore

Laptop just died. Help troubleshoot.

xbonez

New Member

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!

Fourstaff

Moderator

xbonez

New Member

Fourstaff

Moderator

streetfighter 2

New Member

Athlon2K15

HyperVtX™

xbonez

New Member

HalfAHertz

overclocker

xbonez

New Member

System Name	penguin
Processor	R7 5700G
Motherboard	Asrock B450M Pro4
Cooling	Some CM tower cooler that will fit my case
Memory	4 x 8GB Kingston HyperX Fury 2666MHz
Video Card(s)	IGP
Storage	ADATA SU800 512GB
Display(s)	27' LG
Case	Zalman
Audio Device(s)	stock
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-620GM
Software	win10

System Name	Alienware laptop R4
Processor	intel i7-3610M @ 2,30Ghz
Motherboard	dell?
Cooling	2 built in laptop cooling fans
Memory	16GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s)	AMD Mobility Radeon HD m290x 4GB GDDR5
Storage	256 ssd and 512ssd
Display(s)	laptop screen 17.3" 1920x1080 + LG 22" inch LCD HD 1920 x 1200
Case	My laptop back pack case
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster
Power Supply	laptop brick
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit