topic Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM! in PCs & Accessories

SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

husainz — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 07:41:47 GMT

hi there,
i have the PCV-W1 Vaio desktop...unfortunately, it turns keeps turning itself off....At one point all the hardware on the computer got messed up and the pc was completely out of order. I gave it to a computer repair and they managed to get a system operating on it and it functioning but told me that it wasnt staying on for a long enough period.

On this forum it was suggested to me that it was a cooling issue so i opened the computer up and put a standard home fan there (im not to technical! hehe). Now it seems to be working for as long as you want! but of course this cant be a permanent resolution. Since we bought the desktop, it is making much more noise inside,..i was wondering if anyone thinks thats part of the problem. Also any suggestions on what i should do to stop it turning itself off??? and settings or software etc...i dont think the temperature it turns off is very high so maybe it is a settings problem??.... :S
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

rich912 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 08:37:17 GMT

Hi husainz,

From your description it does sound as though you have an overheating problem. If you let us know the working CPU temperature (without the additional fan) we will have a better idea. MobileMeter should provide this information – it is intended for notebooks but I am reliably informed that it works on Desktops.

If overheating is the problem then cleaning the fans may solve the problem. This is an excellent guide to the procedure – Clean up your grungy PC .

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

husainz — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 14:28:41 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I have already tried the MobMeter thing. It showed that the computer wasnt significantly hot when it turns off...maybe about 43C. I guess thats below average right? The computer shouldnt turn off like this at these sort of temperatures. I gonna take it to be seen by a technician, I'll ask him to clean it out! (safer than me digging around there with a toothbrush! hehehe!)
Thanks for the suggestions Rich912!

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

rich912 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 15:42:13 GMT

computer wasnt significantly hot when it turns off...maybe about 43C

OK so that seems to eliminate an overheating issue as the cause of the shutdown as the critical temperature for the processor in your machine (Pentium 4 processor 2.80 Ghz) is 75°C. But why is the external fan preventing shutdown

Is there any information in Event Viewer?
Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > System - look for any yellow or red warnings.

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

husainz — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:14:19 GMT

Although it seems not to be an overheating issue, the fact that it never turns off with the external fan on suggests otherwise....its really odd. I looked in the event viewer and there were no significant errors apart from the fact that when it does turn itself off, when its turned back on it says "the system has recovered from a serious error" Also, when turning the computer on i get the option of pressing F1 (continue) or F2 (setup) because of some problem. next time i see it, i will definately write down the message that appears and post it here.

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

rich912 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:48:55 GMT

I strongly suspect that overheating may be an issue despite the reported temperature from MobileMeter – why otherwise would the PC run normally with additional cooling?

Let’s hope that your tech guy can give it a good clean and this will be the end of your problem.

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

robje — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:56:09 GMT

Hi guys,

i have the same problem with the same pc. I think the problem is in the power suply! If you check te hardware monitor in the bios (when starting the pc press f2) that the voltages are writen in red en are lower then tehy should be! One month a go let the power suply fix but now it's the same al over again! I think you have the same problem. You should check this and let me know. Maybe there are more people with this problem? Or people with solutions?

Rob

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

robje — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:59:50 GMT

P.S.

The software of mobilemeter does not work, check the hardware monitor and you will see the real temperature. When the mobimeter says 40c it's more like 55c!

Rob

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

husainz — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:50:47 GMT

you are absolutely right robje! i have the EXACT same problem as you...found any resolutions yet???

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

s786999k — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:25:08 GMT

has anyone found a solution for this? After 4 years my trusted PCV-W1 is also having this problem!

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

husainz — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:15:56 GMT

unfortunately, i have not yet come across any resolution...its very odd...not to mention extremely annoying for those of us who obviously dont have a warranty any more...
anyway, all the best of luck to you in finding a solution....and if you do, please do post it here so we all know whats going wrong!
Raaheel

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

s786999k — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:06:34 GMT

I had a bit of luck so to speak...

Didnt realise that I had an extended 5 year coverplan on the PC, I called up and today they came to sort the problem out, it was one of the fans, which is located at the rear right hand side, you can see it when you remove the hard drive and mine was not spinning.

Unfortunately the techguy did not have the part but he will be coming again on Tuesday to replace the part and hopefully should strat woking again. I will make sure I take down a part number for you.

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

husainz — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:10:29 GMT

brilliant! that is great for you...i really would appreciate it if you gave me the part number, so thank you for the offer. I hope all goes well on tuesday!

Re: SONY VAIO PCV-W1 URGENT PROBLEM!

s786999k — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:50:55 GMT

Hi Again,

"tech guys" from PC world came to fix the pc. They replaced the power supply & fan bit it was one whole part that includes the part you plug your power supply into and includes the fan thats on the oppersite side. I asked the part number saying that I know someone with a similar problem but he wasnt forthcoming with it so I looked at the box and the part number seems to be 146877213 but I can't find a decent picture on the internet to show you.

He seems to think the part will cost about £100 but said they offer a service for £150 where they would come to your house with the part and fix it for you or another service where they would charge a call out fee and then you pay whatever the part cost them, however he said the sony parts are expensive.

Now fitting the part it self I think you should be able to do, the guy said he has only opened up a few of these in 5 years so if you know your way around a pc you should be able to do it.

Once you take of the case and are looking at the back, if you have the same fault as me the the fan on the right hand side oppersite where you put the plug in is the one that wont be spinning.

If you remove the hard drive the part you will be replacing is the full unit behind that, it incoparates the plug unit, and the fan, but to remove it the guy have to unclip the whole back part too and then it just slides out. He was saying there is a lever sort of thing there that you need to push or pull and move the back at the same time.

Hope this info helps and you get it sorted asap.