sony vaio unstable/won't boot

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

I hope someone can help,
this laptop ( specs below) is acting up.

Sony Vaio vgn-fz21s laptop
intel core 2 duo processor T7500
memory: 2gb/go ddr2 sdram
hdd: 200gb/go
wlan: 802.11a/b/g/n
screen: 15.4" wxga (1280 x 800)
blu-ray disc, combo bd-rom/dvd+-rw/+-r
dl/ram drive
graphics:nvidia geforce 8600m gs gpu
OS: windows vista home premium

it is attached wirelessly to a home network and router.
no other hardware is attached.

the laptop is about 18 months old and has been working without problems up til now.

The problem is intermittent and usually looks like this:

after power-on a sony logo screen appears.
however the screen displays a number of vertical green lines running in parallel from top to bottom of screen.
the screen then goes black, and then a large number of quotation marks ( " ) appear all over the screen.

the "recover page" displays next......offering the option to do either a restore or a normal start up.
The restore option sometimes works but more usually doesn't . The start windows normally option sometimes works, but more usually doesn't.

If the machine does boot......it is very unstable and usually results in either a completly black screen and a frozen system or a blue screen.

If the blue screen appears it says
"hardware malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
nmi: Parity check/memory parity error
the system has halted"

On the occasions that I have been able to get the system running I have managed to run a number of checks:
I've run AVG, Malwarebytes, Spybot......it's clean.
I've also run Chkdsk and a full Sony troubleshooter/diagnostic.

Can anybody help and perhaps point me in the right direction?

micker377 · Joined: May 27, 2005 Posts: 1012

Sounds like the video chip, card, whatever it uses, is bad! Is there any type of warranty left? If not, contact Sony and see if there is an upgrade to help this.

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

thanks Micker......any and all suggestions gratefully received.

since posting i managed to get the darn thing booted up and running...( for a little while)...........however I got the black screen again shortly after "power on" but this time it came back to normal along with this message:

"Driver display stopped responding and has been successfully recovered"

The display driver in question is "nvlddmkm".

It's all gibberish to me......does it make sense to anyone else?

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1464 Location: ann arbor

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2657

I note this

bobn9lvu · Joined: Aug 03, 2004 Posts: 99

You know this could also be a video gpu problem.
Does it use an Invidia gpu which is prone to overheating?
The overheating could easily cause all the problems you described.

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1464 Location: ann arbor

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

first of all a big thank you to all of you for your willingness to help.

The laptop isn't mine, it's my teenage sons. Without it he's the saddest and most pathetic looking thing I've seen in a long time. Today the missus took him to the circus...tomorrow who knows.....I'll perhaps try and introduce him to "daylight" and if he's up to it, maybe show him where the garden is Laughing

Anyway, thing is Laptops and Vista are a complete mystery to me ( i'm sticking with a proper PC in a tin box with XP).....and I haven't seen a bsod for 10 years....so I'm a complete fish out of water here.

Thanks Bern and as you suggested I did a complete backup of the HD.
Hard Disc occured to me as a possible....but in any event I anticipated a fresh install, so I'm all backed up on CDs/DvDs. I've checked the Hard Disc using a Sony Hardware Diagnostic...linear seek test is ok, random seek test is ok, funnel seek test is ok and surface scan test is ok. I'm not sure whether the Sony Diagnostic covers everything that chkdsk/f covers so I've ran that aswell ( twice actually)....again nothing odd reported.

Although the laptop is set to receive automatic updates, I've checked manually. It has now been updated to Vista SP2 and ( despite reservations) to IE8. Sony Viao also have an update application and again although set to automatic, I've checked manually, and just aswell because although some driver updates and patches had been downloaded they required to be manually installed ( and hadn't been).

I've cleaned out all the junk files, defragged the hard disk, ran a (gentle) registery checker and defragged the registery. I've uninstalled some odd looking toolbars that my son appears to have acquired and disabled a few unnecessary services and startups.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself on the basis that despite an impressive collection of restore points my restarts were going not only without incident but much faster and slicker. False dawn I'm afraid the problem is back.

For info: the Vaio Hardware Diagnostic not only checks the hard disk but runs some 10 checks on the CPU and a Access Test on the memory....they all came up OK.

I plan to physically check the memory modules tomorrow. I'll let you know. Meantime is there any other memory test software I can/should be using?

Incidently I googled and searched for info on the "driver display stopped and succesfully recovered" message :
from what i can see this problem has been around for a while.....certainly since vista appeared on the scene. It appears to be associated with Nvidia....but it's the internet so there appear to be as many fixes are there are people with the problem......however a (fairly) common observation was that overheating accompanied this "message" and temporary system freeze. Until I read BOBs post I had discounted this as being significant ( largely because the internet posters were, or claimed to be, highend gaming geeks with overclocked rigs). However I have noticed that the laptop can get very hot. Berns point though is well made, my problem is apparent at cold at startup, but, I can get the machine to run and do restarts OK even when it is ( to my mind) moderately and acceptablely warm. My thinking at the moment is that the driver display message/problem is a result of the overheating,if/ when it occurs, more a symptom of that or another problem that the problem itself.

sorry for rambling......and thanks again

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

It has been a long night and i can't get the machine to boot in anything put safe mode. Confused

I did however run the Advanced Startup Diagnosis and Repair:

startup repair

diagnosis and repair details:

session details

system disk = \device\harddisk0
windows directory = c:windows
autochk run = 0
number of root causes = 1

Test Performed:

check for updates
system disk check
disk failure diagnosis
disk metadata test
target os test
volume content check
boot manager diagnosis
system boot log diagnosis
event log diagnosis
internal state check

Each of the above tests were completed successfully and returned an error code = 0x0.

However the Diagnosis and Repair details did say:

"Root cause found:
Unspecified changes to system configuration might have caused the problem

Repair action: System Restore
Result Completed successfully. Error Code = 0x0
Time taken = 74615ms

Repair action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x2
time Taken = 653473ms"

There was then another Diagnosis and Repair

session details
system disk = \device\harddisk0
windows directory = c:windows
autochk run = 0
number of root causes = 1

Test Performed:

check for updates
system disk check
disk failure diagnosis
disk metadata test
target os test
volume content check
boot manager diagnosis
system boot log diagnosis
event log diagnosis
internal state check

IE THE SAME TESTS AS BEFORE & AND AGAIN ALL WERE SUCCESFUL & WITH ERROR CODES = 0x0

THE FOLLOWING TESTS WERE ALSO PERFORMED

boot status check
setup state check
registry hives test
windows bootlog diagnosis
bugcheck analysis
access control test
file system test ( chkdsk)
software installation log diagnosis
fallback diagnosis

Again all were successful & with error codes = 0x0

However again the message

"Root cause found:
Unspecified changes to system configuration might have caused the problem"

I then ran the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool.
It did 2 passes in Standard Mode and didn't find or indicate any problems.

I disabled automatic restart in advanced startup options ( f Cool

reading the bsod it advised:

check disk space
if a driver is identified in the stop message to disable it and check with manufacturer for updates
try changing video adapters
check for bios updates
disable bios memory options such as caching or shadowing

It then gave the following technical information
0x0000008e ( 0xc0000005,0x8c72e2bb,0x8e61b9bc,0x00000000)

that is:

Stop Code:
0x0000008E ie kernal mode exception not handled

Exception that was not handled :
0xC0000005 ie status access violation indicating that a memory access violation occured

Address at which the exception occured :
0x8C72E2BB

The Trap Frame:
0x8E61BC

Reserved:
0x00000000

Confused

Later ( after some coffee Razz

) I'll try and run the Memory Diagnostics Tool again...this time in Enhanced Mode.

However on the basis of the Kernal Mode Exception Not Handled error being generated ( 0x0000008E) my googling tells me that nearly always means a hardware compatibility issue which sometimes includes a driver issue ( or a need for a bios upgrade) Rolling Eyes

I'll also try and get a look at the EVENT LOG and see if it tells me anything
( who knows it might point me to the faulty driver) Cool

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1464 Location: ann arbor

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

i'm in the middle of the Extended version of the Windows Memory Diagnostic ....
it should be finished in about another couple of hours.

Meantime, I came across a reference ( about 6 months old)on another forum where somebody described exactly what what problem I'm having. A few others have chipped in saying they too are having this problem. Everyone appears to have run every test in the book without success. However one post looks promising:

"My warranty has expired, so I am on my own with this problem and decided to hand my laptop into a specialised Sony laptop repair shop.

They diagnosed the problem, they said that the overheating caused the graphics chip to come away from the motherboard. Using thermal paste, they soldered it back on again. The man showed me an array of laptops waiting to be fixed and there was a bunch of Sony Vaio's with the exact same problem! I requested that he fit a cooling unit as well so that it prevents it from happening again. Sony Vaio's are notorious for overheating, had I known this, I would have had the Cooling Unit put in a long time ago."

Thoughts anyone?

bobn9lvu · Joined: Aug 03, 2004 Posts: 99

I am willing to bet its the GPU thats the root of your problem.
Also Sony does know about this issue, as it is a design flaw.
I have read on another forum about this same issue affecting several laptop manufacturers that used nvidia gpus.

You might want to contact Sony, as they might possibly fix it for free.

Just google " Nvidia gpu overheating" and you will see what I mean.

(fingers X'ed ) Cool

Bob

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1464 Location: ann arbor

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2657

I see this

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

thanks Bob. I followed up your Google suggestion. It certainly looks like there has been problems with this component. Particularly the overheating issue. Interestingly it has been suggested that in an attempt to "repair" this problem downloadable updates did little more than increase the fan speed. The implication here is that the manufacturers, rather than either recall the products or agree to fix them properly, deliberately did a temporary quick fix than would would extend the life of the component until the product was out of warrranty. I'll do a bit more research on this issue before I contact Sony. I don't expect them to be very helpful unless I go to them prepared and with some facts and info to make a case. I am out of warranty by about 6 or 7 months so I agree I'll need to go down the " they had previous knowledge of the problem" route.

Just for info: I completed the extended Windows Memory Diagnostic......no apparent problems.
( Hint: for anyone thinking of doing this ......do it overnight......it takes hours)

Zlim, thanks for that. I'll follow that up and thanks for reminding me about Belarc.

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

"Display Driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and successfully recovered". This has only happened 1 or 2 times per day and ONLY since the first of July. There are no earlier incidences of this particular event notification.

Here's my current thinking......the GPU is failing. When the laptop is running normally, it's at low temperature and coping ok. If some application ( teenagers playing games for example*) makes higher demands on the graphics, it gets hot and tends towards a "fail". At this point one of 2 things happen. Either the display driver stops responding and successfully recovers" ( resulting in a temporary blip in the game) or the driver stops responding and doesn't recover ( resulting in the "black screen"). Even if the driver recovers, this cycle will continue while there remains high demands on the graphics until it fails to recover.

Obviouly there is more to it than this because it can fail to start from a cold start. I can anticipate a failure to boot from the very first graphic to appear on the display screen milliseconds after power on. If the display screen has the tell-tale green vertical lines....it won't start normally ( this results in the screen with the """" ), the stop/bsod warnings and then a diagnostic startup.

* some of the "fixes" that other folks on the internet report as working to reduce liklihood of this problem or extend the period between crashes are to underclock, switch off aero, reduce the quality of the screen graphics etc etc.

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2657

I knew HP got bad chips (I don't think it was video) and wanted people to update the BIOS to increase the speed of the fan - to delay frying everything. They got found out and now offer an extended warranty on certain models because of this.
I was not aware that Sony was doing the same thing. <sigh>

goretsky

Hello,

The problem is with the materials used to connect the nVidia GPU to the logic board (I do not know if this is a discrete card that plugs into the motherboard or the actual system board of the SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21S ).

The actual silicon GPU processor is in a package known as a flip chip which is soldered to the logic board. The points of contact on the flip chip package where it is actually soldered to the board are called bumps, and is this instance, the wrong type of solder material was used for these sites, causing the contact between the flip chip package and the logic board to fail, resulting in the behavior you have noticed. From your description, it only appears to occur when the video chip has generated enough waste heat, but I suspect that over time the problem ill occur at lower and lower temperatures as more bump points fail.

This has been discussed on several news articles, including this one on InfoWorld's web site, this one on Tech Report. and this one on Tom's Hardware.

SONY should be able to repair this out of warranty at no charge to you because the work would essentially be charged back to nVidia.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

looks like next move is to contact sony.

big big thanks all

i'll let you know how i get on

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1629 Location: Central FL, USA

I've read this entire thread, before attempting a response.
Typically, when weird things appear on your screen, whether it be lines or colored blocks or characters, it's a video ram problem.
I've NEVER replaced a GPU (or video card) to solve that problem.

On a desktop with a separate video card, I take the card out and wash the ram.
When the video is ON-Board, I remove the main ram, which also doubles as video ram and I thoroughly clean that.

On a laptop, I would remove all the ram and clean it thoroughly.
It costs you absolutely Nothing to clean ram.
I would especially go right to the ram if the laptop was exhibiting other problems besides the obvious video problem.

If you're squeamish about washing ram with detergent and warm water, then use denatured alcohol. In either case, I use an old toothbrush to SCRUB the ram, concentrating on the legs of the ram chips where dirt can get down between the legs and short them together.
Very thorough Drying is important before re-installing the ram.
* Don't dry ram in your microwave oven.

Just recently, I had a Sony Vaio laptop (in my shop) that had crashed.
Tests revealed it was NOT the hard drive. Every attempt to reinstall the OS failed at some point in the install.
This brought back to mind a desktop PC that had the same symptoms.
In that case is was a single stick of Spectec ram that caused the problem.

So, I took the ram out of the laptop and discovered that the second stick of ram was an off brand, not original equipment. I removed that ram from the laptop and proceeded to reinstall the OS with NO more problems.
As luck would have it, I had a new 1 gig stick of the appropriate ram that I had bought from "Crucial" for my own laptop and I installed it in the Sony.
Today that little Sony laptop is running like a champ!

Bad ram can cause all sorts of problems in any PC, like boot failures and scrambled data on the HD, as well as video problems.

Good Luck!
The Doctor Cool