AR51SU Boot problems, broken hinge.

[dazyroze]

Last year I suddenly got the typical problem with 1 long 2 short beeps in my 18months AR51SU. I've contacted many laptop repair clinics [and SONY that asked £225 only for shipping/diagnosis and extra any repair costs...so at this time I opted out]. None provided an answer of what was wrong. Everyone was saying possibly this, possibly that, most of them were talking about the video card so the whole motherboard should be changed but all claimed that couldn't fix it.

I noticed that after a couple of tries to boot the laptop and especially when it was becoming quite hot, not only I was able to boot normally but also everything was working perfectly. This (trying to boot) could take from 1 sec up to 2 hours. As it was just out of warrantee and and me a broke student having already paid £1800 to buy it I decided to keep going like this (15 months) until recently that I broke by mistake the hinge. I went to a pc clinic that said:

- the hinge is part of the motherboard and they cant fix it unless they change the whole motherboard.

- they claimed that many (undefined) parts of the motherboard are dead plus the cable linking with the monitor (which is not) plus the monitor!!!! I believe that they haven't even looked at the laptop.

My questions:

- For model AR51SU, is the hinge part of the motherboard or can it be replaced individually?

- Has anyone a clue of what is the boot problem since for the last 15 months I manage to boot in after a couple of tries and everything works perfectly? Has it anything to do with the temperature (fan, clogs or whatever?).

What would you suggest I should do taking into account that the laptop is out of warrantee and not insured, but I really need to fix it to finish my PhD as for financial reasons I cant replace it. Also I cant pay anymore pc clinics to get no answers.

Many thanks

[Thalamus.]

Hi dazyroze,

welcome to Questions & Answers..

For model AR51SU, is the hinge part of the motherboard or can it be replaced individually?

Hinges can be fixed individually..

Has anyone a clue of what is the boot problem since for the last 15  months I manage to boot in after a couple of tries and everything works  perfectly? Has it anything to do with the temperature (fan, clogs or  whatever?).

Do you get any error messages.?

Can you expain in more deatils what problems you have when booting up your vaio.?

Another option if you are looking for a repair is to try contacting one of Sony's local authorised repaires..

To find the contact details for authorised repairer closest to you..

Open Vaio support either by clicking Support at the top of this page or use the following link:Vaio support

Under Log-in option 2: Select your model from the drop down list.

Then click Log-In

Once logged select Get In Touch

Then Click on the Out of Warranty tab

[Blencogo]

Have a look here: -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-Vaio-VGN-AR-hinges-VGN-AR-hinge-right-small-holes_W0QQitemZ320595132269QQ...

[dazyroze]

Hi Thalamus. Thanks for your reply.

When I try to boot the laptop I hear one long and 2 short beeps, the monitor and the SONY logo remain black however I can hear the fan working. The laptop is working in the background but obviously because the monitor is black I can't see if the boot process takes place normally (I believe no) or if there are any error messages. There is nothing I can do apart from switching off the laptop.

However, I noticed that when instead of switching it off I leave it for some time in this condition (black monitor, no logo) the laptop starts to warm up and the fan makes more noise. I then switch it off and straight away I retry to boot in. I may have to do it a couple of times, but 100% I manage to boot in at the end. There are no error messages and everything is normal. The only strange thing is the temperature, the laptop in general becomes really hot. I can run any Uni softwares properly, watch movies and tv, surf on the web, use the camera, everything is working absolutely fine.

I'm convinced that the problem has nothing to do with the video card but no one (professional or amateur) seems to know what happens. I hope that the latest 'professionals' have at least left it at this condition and haven't further destroyed it (I've left it there to sort out the hinge issue).

I'll have a look on local repair centres too, but I hope I won't have to pay a fortune with no results. Any suggestions about what may be wrong are welcome.

Many thanks