topic Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M in PCs & Accessories

Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:05:11 GMT

I have a VAIO PCG 7M1M and I am having a few problems with it, I have done a search of the forum but I am unable to find if this has been covered before.

The machine is about 18 months old, running on XP and around 4 months ago I had to have two new ram sticks installed. This seemed to stop the issues I was having then, locking up – crashing – screen going blank etc. But now the sound has developed a fault.

I leant my laptop to a friend for a few days and when it came back the sound was all crackly and it also dragging. At first I thought she had somehow blown the speakers but attaching external speakers and headphones produced the same problem. When I burn a CD the terrible quality is also on the CD when played on an external player.

I have gone through all the help topics on the machine, scanned for viruses, done system checks but still the problem persists. In addition to this problem the machine can sometimes take up to 15 minutes to boot up and can just run really slow even when I just have one application running, i.e. Word, this can mean when I type the letters catch up with my typing about 10 seconds later.

There is plenty of memory on both drives and the machine says these do not need to be defragmented.

Can anyone offer any solutions before I pay a ridiculous amount for getting it looked at professionally? I am certainly no expert but I think the sound card is shot and/ or the main board.

Any help very much appreciated.

Col

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

Blencogo — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:22:57 GMT

Hi Col,

You are quoting the chassis number - I think you probably have the VGN FS515B model.

It could be lots of things but try this long shot for starters: -

Start -> Right-Click My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager

Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
Double-click on Primary IDE Channel -> Advanced Settings.
Make sure ALL devices have "DMA if Available" selected and check that the Current Transfer Mode is "Ultra DMA Mode 4/5/6".
If any device is set to PIO mode then this is your problem.
Go Back and highlight Primary IDE Channel and right-click on it.
Select Uninstall and OK. You must uninstall - disabling is not enough.
Reboot your Vaio to reload the drivers and reset DMA.

If you have a secondary IDE Channel in Device Manager - do the same for that.

Come back if this does not work and we can try something else.

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:15:29 GMT

Thank you for your reply, yes it is the serial number, and the model is - VGN - FS515B.

I saw your advice on another thread after I had posted this one. I did all you said and it sorted out the sound, for a time. When I booted up this morning it has reverted to the previous setting. I have no idea why as I uninstalled it. As it did clear it for a time I am happy that it is not an hardware issue.

I also followed the advice on downloading tuneup, followed the guide but that seems to have done nothing. I also looked at the programs that are there on start up but I have no idea what most of them are or if indeed they are/ are not needed.

With this machine there are no recovery disks, I can create my own but after two minutes the disk is ejected and an error message appears. I'm not sure what is going on with this either but one thing I will be doing is getting a lens cleaning kit on the off-chance that the lens is compromised.

From start up to actually being able to use the machine is taking anything from 6 -15 minutes.

This is what happens.

The vaio logo appears with the pheanix lab logo, most times this just hangs and will not go any further which means I have to switch it off.

When I have got past that screen the Windows screen appears with the moving bar, this is on for roughly 2 minutes. Then the screen goes completely blank for a further 2 - 3 minutes. Then I get asked for my password and it logs me on. The system then moans and groans for a few more minutes before allowing me to open a programme.

If I cannot burn the recovery disks is there anywhere I can get some?

Cheers,

Col

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:31:36 GMT

Hi,

me again.

Right, things were taken out of my hands when the bloody thing decided to say 'no'

I had to recover the drive from start up and it is now really fast on start up, like new in fact. A mate said it might be a good idea to check the hardware from start-up as well. I have done this and this message was displayed...

Errors were detected on this PC

= surface scan test did not pass --- (E-HDD-OO4) =

Does anyone have any idea what this means? I don't really fancy spending all weekend loading everything back on if it is going to go in to a strop again a few weeks down the line.

Cheers,

Col

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

Blencogo — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:01:05 GMT

Hi Col,

It sounds like you have a damaged hard disc. A surface scan looks for physical scratches on the disc which may be caused by dropping or banging your Vaio.

Try checking your disc for errors and XP will normally find and mark bad sectors so they are not used.

1. Close all files and programs.
2. Open My Computer and right-click on your hard drive and choose Properties.
3. On the Tools tab, click the 'Check Now' button.
4. In the Check Disc dialogue box select both options - I think they are Automatic fix and Recover bad sectors.
5. Click on Start

A Warning - do this at a time you won't need your computer, it can take a long long time!

If any serious errors are reported in the dialogue box or in the Eveny Log then you may have to consider replacing your hard drive.

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:03:23 GMT

OK,

I have done that on both partitions and it just restarted and showed no message at all, is that a good thing in so much as it isn't really broken or a bad thing in it is broken too much for it to find the bust bit?

Cheers

Col

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

jaylar75 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:41:01 GMT

Hello, My PCG-7M1M has developed the same problem after 12 months of light use, and I've never dropped it, but i have found it in a few inches of dust .
I installed MS Office 2007 and after the reboot it started up slow with the broken windows music, and operates very slow.
I didn't have much on the notebook so restored it to the factory settings and it worked fine, but after installing a few programs the same problem occured.

I'm going to check the drive as Blencogo advice says.

So thanks Blencogo for the advice!

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:57:01 GMT

restored it to the factory settings and it worked fine, but after installing a few programs the same problem occured.

That has happened to mine today. Reinstalled office, got on the net for upgrades, put on firefox & avast, restarted and it is just like is was a few weeks ago. Sound gone, taking an age to start, word not keeping up with my typing. Bloody frustrating, looks like a new drive.

I do actually remember dropping it, well I knocked it off a table I have also spilled beer on it. When I had the new ram put on, my mate who did it said it stunk like a pub carpet, I have no recollection of the said incident but I cannot argue with his questioning.

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

jaylar75 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:54:32 GMT

Maybe it's office2007 then?
I checked my disc for errors and it came back clear. Your laptop could have a drink problem, I'll sniff mine tonight and if it stinks of beer we'll know our problem, our laptops are alcoholics!

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:02:21 GMT

I have now got my laptop back from repair. It now has a 160gb drive and purs like a kitten, but like with everything there is a minor niggle that I can not resolve.

The drive was damaged so badly that a recovery disk was unable to be made so it does not have the vaio opperating system installed, that I can live with but the scroll on the touchpad isn't working. I think (so does the guy that fixed it) that he missed a driver off for this. I cannot find where to get it from, if it is indeed a missing driver. To save me going back can anyone point to a place where I can download this?

Cheers

Col

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

Thalamus. — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:37:55 GMT

The drive was damaged so badly that a recovery disk was unable to be made so it does not have the vaio opperating system installed, that I can live with but the scroll on the touchpad isn't working. I think (so does the guy that fixed it) that he missed a driver off for this. I cannot find where to get it from, if it is indeed a missing driver. To save me going back can anyone point to a place where I can download this?

Hi Col,

the Alps touchpad driver should be included in the FS515B's Original Drivers Package, use the following link to download the: FS515B's Original Drivers Package

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:32:03 GMT

Thanks for that, I have downloaded from the link, which is the driver on it as there are a lot? and how do I install it?

Cheers

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

Thalamus. — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:42:25 GMT

Place the mouse drivers that you've downloaded in to a folder ie C:\Drivers\Pointing.

Go to Start > Run type devmgmt.msc and press OK, Device Manager window should open, double click Mouse and Other Pointing Devices.

Is there a mouse listed, if so, right click once on the mouse and select properties.

Select the 'Driver' tab and click on Update driver.

A new Hardware Update Window will appear, select Search for the best driver in these locations, remove the tick from floppy, cd rom and browse to the location of the downloaded Alps driver folder to included it in the search and click next.

Wait for the driver to install then click Finish, a System Settings Change window should now appear prompting you to Restart your Computer and click Yes to restart.....

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

B@stard — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:21:04 GMT

Thalamus, you are indeed a vaio expert!!!

Brilliant, thanks :smileygrin:

Re: Problems with my PCG 7M1M

Thalamus. — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:34:56 GMT

You're welcome Col..