Motherboard Failure Symptoms - A Happy Ending

[Steve Mitchell]

Scary happenings. I'm working on my computer and all of a sudden my curser freezes on the screen and the keyboard does not work. I double check all the connections, but still no go. I powered down the computer. When turned back on, the power light came on, but the hard drive activity light was not blinking. I then swapped monitors to see if that was the problem....no change. Uh Oh...I thought a hard drive just crashed. Although the drive is less than two years old, and has shown no signs of wear gave me a ray of hope. I had a power supply failure before which had similar symptoms.

About 10:30 am I haul the computer to Frys Electronics the authorized Sony service center which Sony directed me to. Technician checks power supply, all is ok there. He then informs me that the computer has to be sent back to Sony for repair and it will be 8-12 weeks. Trying hard not to become totally unglued I told him six to 8 weeks was not acceptable and Sony instructed me to take the computer to Frys...an authorized repair center. More conversation ensues about the criticalness and urgency of the content on the computer and likelihood for recovery. I pay $179 for priority service where they disassemble and test all components in the computer....@ 3:30pm I receive a call informing me the motherboard is the problem and needs to be replaced. They state they can't order the replacement motherboard from Sony. I have to do that? 4:00PM call Sony ... next day 10:10am motherboard arrives at my door...11:00am take motherboard to Frys repair center... 4:30pm computer is fixed (extra hard drive added as well).

A PIA experience with a happy ending. Under the circumstances, pretty good service,

[django]

wow Steve, that's not what normally happens in those situations!! you got real lucky.

My first sony some years back the MB crapped out after two weeks of owning it, luckily sony was quick and replaced the whole thing for me. I'm sure some people will argue, but I love Sony products, i've had nothing but good luck from laptops, desktops and headphones.

did you happen to notice any strange beeps when you turned the computer on? Usually the beeps are codes for what the problem is and if you hear none that is a bad sign.

[Steve Mitchell]

Yes I feel very lucky. There were no warning signs. If I had not replaced it with a Sony motherboard made for my computer, all data and operating system software would have been lost.

Originally Posted by django

wow Steve, that's not what normally happens in those situations!! you got real lucky.

My first sony some years back the MB crapped out after two weeks of owning it, luckily sony was quick and replaced the whole thing for me. I'm sure some people will argue, but I love Sony products, i've had nothing but good luck from laptops, desktops and headphones.

did you happen to notice any strange beeps when you turned the computer on? Usually the beeps are codes for what the problem is and if you hear none that is a bad sign.

[django]

Yeah, that's their (and probably most) policy. Returning it to the customer in the original condition it was sold to you. I.E. reformatted.

a way around that if you know your going to get a new HD or have an old one lying around is to swap it out before you send it back then when it's returned put the old one back in.

[El Hacko]

That is indeed a happy ending Steve. I'm glad to hear you were able to save your data. I am imagining that you, as a professional, current data loss could be catastraphic. Of course I know you backup and store your data often don't you?
It's good that you a competent technician working on it. Most of the time they want to dump everything and start from scratch. Glad to know that didn't happen.

[jliechty]

Originally Posted by El Hacko

That is indeed a happy ending Steve. I'm glad to hear you were able to save your data. I am imagining that you, as a professional, current data loss could be catastraphic. Of course I know you backup and store your data often don't you?
It's good that you a competent technician working on it. Most of the time they want to dump everything and start from scratch. Glad to know that didn't happen.

Yeah... most techs are lazy and will just want to reformat. You're lucky that you were able to get a motherboard that quickly for a proprietary system (such as Sony, and to a lesser extent these days, Dell). I realize that it's not possible for everyone, but if you depend on your computer, it's always best to have a spare computer - even if it's an older crappy model, it can still be useful to get you through while your main system is being repaired.

[swartzphotography]

i also have a sony vaio computer i will say they are very good with the exception of my video card as of late is not doing its duty. its suppose to be a 128 megabite geforce4 mx 440 but according to the system it is only recognizing 64 megabite. i think its because the guy i got the computer from loved to overclock things. i hate that why do people feel the need to overclock anything it only causes problems in my opinion. anyway im glad you had a happy ending. this makes me think of getting an external hard drive to back up work but burning to cd's so far has been ok for me

[django]

Have you tried getting the driver/software from nvidia? I constantly have problems with video cards for some reason and installing the latest drivers seems to help sometimes.

Originally Posted by swartzphotography

i also have a sony vaio computer i will say they are very good with the exception of my video card as of late is not doing its duty. its suppose to be a 128 megabite geforce4 mx 440 but according to the system it is only recognizing 64 megabite. i think its because the guy i got the computer from loved to overclock things. i hate that why do people feel the need to overclock anything it only causes problems in my opinion. anyway im glad you had a happy ending. this makes me think of getting an external hard drive to back up work but burning to cd's so far has been ok for me