Hello, just signed up due to a friend's recommendation, I hope this forum can be of assistance. I'm not sure I am making the topic in the right area since it's related to a laptop, but it's mainly a Hardware issue, I believe. I'm not that tech savvy, just relying on what I've read/googled and what little experience I've had trying to troubleshoot computer problems throughout the years.

A bit of history: I have a Sony Vaio laptop, almost 2 years old, bought December 2007, running Windows Vista Business, 32-bit. Earlier this year the motherboard/graphics card (or so I was told) failed one day, the computer started restarting itself randomly after a few minutes, after a few restarts it started to show some strange lines running across the screen and then eventually stopped responding all together, wouldn't even boot up. I took it to my local sony shop and they said it was the graphics card and that it would need to be replaced, claimed it would take about two weeks for the part to arrive and for them to install and whatnot. That turned into a nightmare. Two weeks became two months, which then became 3 months. First they thought it was the graphics card, then they realized it was the motherboard, so they ordered a new motherboard, when that one arrived it supposedly didn't work and was the wrong one so they ordered a new one, and that one was on back order and while they waited Sony supposedly sent them a program so they could try to fix the existing motherboard but that didn't work and the new motherboard arrived a few weeks ago and I was told the computer was finally working again yesterday.

The problem: Went to pick it up today, started it up at the shop and it seemed fine, took it home, let it run and install Windows updates and it did the whole restarting that's associated with those so I did not think anything of that. I returned to check on it and noticed the wireless was no longer working, I disabled and enabled and that seemed to bring it back, so left it running updates again, came back to check on it and it seemed to have finished, so I started to use it, check my email, IM with friends, that sort of thing. Out of nowhere it closed all the programs I was using and restarted itself, I thought maybe there was an unfinished update left or something, and sure enough it gave me the "configuring updates" screen when it restarted. Waited about 20 minutes, it then showed the "Welcome" screen, then proceeded to boot up completely. I waited a few minutes to make sure it was done, then resumed using it, after about 20-30 minutes it went and restarted on me again, force-quitting all the programs, not even giving me time to save. At this point I'm starting to think my nightmare has started again, I waited for it to boot up again, try running a virus/spyware/mal-ware scan just in case and once again after about 20-30 minutes of browsing the internet, using IM programs, waiting for the virus scan, it goes and restarts itself again. I have now left it just sitting there, afraid to even load up Firefox let alone anything else for fear it will restart on me again and the cycle will never end. I'm not sure what's wrong. It's Sunday so I will have to wait until Monday to bring it back to the shop but I have to say I'm at my wit's end since it was a rather expensive investment and I need the computer for work. It was very hard to spend the last 3 months getting by on less than stellar machines only to get mine back and then have it break again. I'm not entirely sure if it's the motherboard again, I am trying to convince myself that it's not since it's supposed to have a brand new motherboard and I keep trying to tell myself they would have tested that before giving it back to me (maybe I am too naive). Since I have not loaded up any programs the computer is still running and hasn't restarted yet, so I can't help wondering if it's related to the network connection in some way or perhaps one of the programs? I was using Firefox and Windows Live Messenger for the last restart. I am currently using my personal computer, an Apple iMac. The Vaio is my work computer.

Is there some sort of test or diagnostic tool I can run to help me determine what the cause of this problem is? I don't have the Vista install disks, since the computer came with Vista installed already, I was not given any extra disks or DVDs when I bought it. I just want some advice or suggestions on what I could do to fix this, other than returning to the shop in disbelief. Apologies for the length of this post and if any wording is off, English is not my first language.

Computer specs:
Sony Vaio VGN-SZ650N
Windows Vista Business
2.20 GHz Intel Core2 Duo T7500 processor
2 GB RAM
32 bit
140 GB HD of which only 30 GB are in use
Anti-virus is AVG Free Edition
Firewall is default Vista firewall

Please let me know if there is anything else I need to add. Thank you in advance for any assistance that may be provided.

Small edit: I went to the Sony website and ran a "Vaio PC Health Check" and it claims the "Video Card needs attention" which reminds me of the initial problem in which they thought the video card was damaged but supposedly the video card was attached to the motherboard and thus the entire motherboard needed replacement. I'm not sure if this is supposed to read this way but this is what I get when I view the video card properties
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Total Available Graphics Memory 831 MB
Dedicated Video Memory 64 MB
System Video Memory 0 MB
Shared System Memory 767 MB
The driver says it was last updated in 2007 so I tried to update and it could not find any, said I had to go to the card's manufacturing website to download driver updates, went to Nvidia website and that one told me I had to go to the computer's manufacturing website since it was a specific kind of card Nvida worked with with Sony for that specific computer model (paraphrasing here). It is a never-ending cycle, it seems.

This post has been edited by yelivel: Nov 22 2009, 12:11 AM

Computers are intended for use extended over several hours in any one session and should continue to function without problem.
This sounds like the return of your previous hardware nightmare. Running it for a few minutes at the Shop, tells you that it boots, but doesn't tell you whether it will function for you in normal and expected use.

Updating Windows, browsing with IE and Firefox, and IM'ing with friends/associates are all "normal and expected" uses.
The laptop should perform flawlessly for these simple functions.


Network connections don't make computers stop suddenly.
Additionally, if you are able to connect to the internet and continue functioning with your other machine, the network access if fine.

Another indicator that the prior hardware problem has not been correctly resolved.


That's the date of the most recent Nvidia Graphics Display Driver for that machine
Filename :NVDVID-01360404-US.EXE
Version :7.15.11.128-20070724
Last Modified :09/05/2007
Size :54.90 MB
____________________

Using a computer for a few hours (in 20-30 minute sessions) is hardly stressful usage of the machine.
The activities that you describe are ordinary.

A freshly repaired machine should be expected to function well for its standard expected life-cycle of a few years.
Failure after a few hours is not acceptable.

I'm afraid you are back to the repair shop.

Alright then, I was hoping it wouldn't come to that again. Oh well. Thank you.