screen totally dead

[virginprune]

just got a VGN-SZ4XWM/C, running vista etc etc. Trying to set it up in a Belkin LAN (not easy - see separate post). suddenly, screen goes completely blank. tried varius permutations of moving mouse, arrow keys, power button. nothing. It's not "Fn-F7" either. Oh wait, i did long press on power button and it rebooted to "you didn't shut down properly screen" so i guess we're ok... well i'll leave this up here in case anyone else gets the same... just keep your finger on the power button. Sucks when a computer is sulking after less than a week. bit like a puppy taking a dump on your brand new rug. you know it's only going to get worse...

[MattWilson]

Welcome to ClubVAIO

Do you have the proper vista compatible drivers for your device?

[jumbles1971]

Your computer hadn't gone into Hibernate or whatever it was that was causing the problems when Vista came out?

[virginprune]

no, but it MIGHT have been when i briefly took out the battery (mains still connected). if so, that sucks if you need to make a battery switch!

[MattWilson]

That will be the reason.

You need to completely turn off the machine before removing the battery or you risk damaging the battery or even the machine

[jumbles1971]

There was a problem with some laptops not turning the screen back on when they came out of one of the sleep modes in Vista. It was fixed by a BIOS update for a lot of models.

[virginprune]

ah nice, not very user friendly, that feature... thanks 4 info.

[virginprune]

hmm, i went to the download site, but it's not so clear. since the computer is new, i guess so.. i downloaded several other drivers etc that were lurking there, and now i have complaints that the roxio driver is incompatible with everything... so i guess this download section is not, um, intelligent? ie. i can't get it to discover what is out of date or needs replacing in my configuration?

[MattWilson]

hmm, i went to the download site, but it's not so clear. since the computer is new, i guess so.. i downloaded several other drivers etc that were lurking there, and now i have complaints that the roxio driver is incompatible with everything... so i guess this download section is not, um, intelligent? ie. i can't get it to discover what is out of date or needs replacing in my configuration?

Anything listed in the downloads section is newer than the stuff on the laptop and there are dates on them so you know if you look next time.

What Roxio driver?

You can use VAIO update 3 for automatic detection of important updates. It is an icon of a bolt of lightning and a screen in the system tray.