I've had my Sony Vaio (PCG-F360) for about 4 years now. Recently, I've been having problems with the Power supply. I think that's the problem, at least. Whether the battery is plugged in alone or with the AC Adapter plugged in, the computer shuts off after a few minutes. It's so aggravating, I can never finish doing all my work without the compter shutting down on me 5-6 times before I finish. It's not the external power supply, it's gotta be the internal power supply, because it happens with or without the AC Adapter plugged in. When it does shut off, the power light is still illuminated, and if the battery is in the computer, the battery light is still on, but everything else is off. I even tried disabling the power management settings, but it still shuts off. There was a few times that I had to turn the computer on and off because the computer refused to start up, just the same two lights illuminated, but nothing starting up. The killer is I must have spent about $2,300 for it when new(P2 400, 4 GB hd, DVD drive and Floppy, 14" monitor 128mb ram, etc), and accessorized on top of that another $500-$600 in it.
I decided to get a new one. I'm not exactly in a position to spend a lot of money now being that i'll be getting hitched in the summer, so I have to spend every penny wisely. Besides, I'm not taking my desktop with me when I leave, so this'll be my replacement..I decided between the Gateway 400 series and the Dell Inspiron series notebook. After researching and pricing around, I settled with the Dell Inspiron 2650. I really wanted the 8200, but it's a lot pricier. I initially set it up with all my equipment, and it pushed $2,000. I did a lot of compromising, and finished with this:

Mobile Pentium(r)4 processor,1.8 GHz-M 14.1 XGA Qty: 1 Unit Price: 1,227.00
Floppy Drive: Floppy Drive
External Mouse: Logitech Optical USB Mouse
FREE TaxCut Deluxe Software from H&R Block:FREE TaxCut Deluxe software from H&R Block
Security Software: Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer
Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options:1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-In Service
Bundled Software: Upgrade to Microsoft(r)Office XP Small Business w/Money 2002 and Educate
Operating System: Microsoft(r) Windows(r) XP Home
Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM,200MHz,2 DIMM
Primary Battery: 59 WHr Lithium-Ion Battery
Hard Drive: 30GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Network Adapter: Integrated Network Card
Fixed CD/DVD Drives: FREE 24XCD-RW/DVD Combo Upgrade (from CD-ROM) Roxios Easy CD Creator(r)
Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio, Image Expert Standard
Modem: Internal 56k Modem
Mail-In Rebate Offer: SAVE $150 with mail-in rebate! System price shown before rebate
Video Card: 16MB DDR 4X AGP NVIDIA GeForce2 GoTMVid
Internet Access Options: 6 Months of America Online Membership Included


Sub-Total: $1,227.00
Shipping: $0.00
Tax: $0.00
Total Price: $1,227.00

I set up an account with Dell, and was pre-approved for their card. With that, I save $25 for opening the account, get free shipping, and Dell is offering a $150 rebate for the 2650 notebook. They have 0% financing for 90 days, so I'll break down the payments into the 3 months and have it paid off by then to avoid any interest charges. Remember, I compromised a LOT, I really wanted more power and more equipment, but I have to watch my spending... What do you think?

Ed

 

Ed,

I would stay clear of Dell if I were you. I have had issues with them in the past. The real reason to stay away is the fact that they are no where near you. For any problem, you have to call them and possibly send them the computer. That is if they pick up the phone at all, and if they do, they will try to find a way out of having to fix it. Think about it, would you spend $2,000 on a High Definition TV without seeing it and speaking to someone face to face first? I certainly won't ever again. Not after dealing with Dell. I will only buy someplace locally.

As far as the older machine goes, are all your power options in this section set to never?



If they are all set to never and it is still shutting off, then you probably also have power options set in your BIOS. You will have to disable those settings as well.

 

Check the bios, Sony has somewhere in its Bios to Shut Down if an error occurs.

 

Don't buy the 2650. The lower-end Dell laptops are pieces of junk. Trust me. I made the biggest mistake of biting on the price and getting a 2500 about 2 and a half years ago. P3, 766MHz, 10GB, etc, etc. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it started falling apart. Figuratively and literally. I tossed it away in about a year and a half, and got a Toshiba instead. With rebates and everything, I ended up paying 1,900 including the 300-dollar Best Buy extended warranty program. P4, 1.7GHz, 40GB, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 15" monitor, remote control, the works. I'm quite convinced that Toshiba makes one of the best laptops out there.

Look into it and see for yourself. It's a great value. Good luck.

 

I think you can get a really good deal on a Thinkpad T series from ebay. Check the IBM authorized auctions on ebay.
Built in wireless, XP pro, DVD player/CD burner.
Keep in mind they are usually T23. T30 I believe is current.
http://www.stores.ebay.com/ibmauthor...pt3/index.html

We purchase laptops from here for mobile sales people that don't need anything too fancy.

 

How do I check the bios?

I realized another thing..If I boot up the computer in safe mode, it doesn't shut down. If it is the bios, why would it just start happening out of nowhere? I haven't done anything different to my computer lately that it should happen!
Ed

 

?

 

I don't know on Sony's how to get into the BIOS. Try hitting ENTER, F1, ESC or DEL during startup. Make sure you do this immediately, before windows starts to load. It may tell you when you turn the machine on to hit a key to get into the system settings. Try those and see if they work.

 

Well, I tried just about everything. I called up Sony Tech support..I didn't think i'd have the ability to do that without paying, but I did. I tried a few different things, and the problem still has not been solved. My last resort is to do a full flush of the HD with my System Recovery CD and reinstall everything. If the problem persists at that point, that will determine that the problem is hardware related and not software. The only bish at this point is to be able to successfully save all the information I don't want to lose on my Desktop. It would probably shut down on me at least a dozen times before I am able to get everything over from one computer to the next..
Ed

 

So did you get into the BIOS? Still unclear whether you got in.

 

The laptop starts windows and works fine for a certain time but then suddenly switches of itself / shuts down randomly - without any connection to what you do.
Reason for this weird shutdown is the thermal sensor that monitors the processor core's temperature. For some reason it works faulty.
Under certain conditions the thermal sensor incorrectly generates an error warning to the operating system which causes an immediate shutdown to prevent the processor from overheating.

Solution to the problem:
A hint was that Windows did not shut down in "Safe mode" (press F8 when booting). The system seems to ignore the error warning from the thermal sensor in this mode. Having this situation, there had to be a software solution.

Responsible for the shutdown are these two features under Windows 98:
- Advanced Power Management support
- Intel 83271EB Power Management Controller
Unfortunately it is not possible to disable APM since there is no entry for this feature in device manager. Sony windows seems to support ACPI (a newer standard in power management) and does not show it in device manager. But: there is a way to get your system running again. You only :-( have to "re"install windows. But - and that's the trick - with a non-Sony-Windows-CD.
Mind! Installing over the top of your existing OS will NOT work! You have to make a new installation...

Do as follows:
In bios (press F2 after turning on laptop) disable all entries concerning power management, apm or acpi.
Install windows, NOT from Sony-CD but from normal Win98 CD (try to get non SE=second edition).
Choose "Standard" installation not "laptop".
After installing go to:
Run | Settings | Control Panel | System | Device Manager | System devices and disable
- Advanced Power Management support
- Intel 83271EB Power Management Controller
by going to the bottom of the panel and toggling "Disable in this hardware profile". Do not remove; just disable it.

Now restart system and install necessary drivers from sony system disc (directory /drivers/grafics /drivers/...)
Updated drivers see here:http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/link_fseries.html

Driverpage from Sony (click on "Vaio User" button): here:
http://www.vaio-link.com/

The Laptop should now run without shutting down randomly.

This solution does work with Windows 98 / Win 98SE ONLY.
At the moment there is NO way to get ME/2000/XP to work!

Cheers!

 

Yes, but all the settings they recommend to modify were already disabled..
H@ckforlife, I tried all of that, except for updating the drivers. Fock it, I'm getting a new laptop. The way they make it sound, it'll always have this problem..I don't have the time or patience to reset my computer for it to only work 25% of the time..
Ed