Black screen with green dots.

[markj1993]

Since buying this laptop i have encountered countless problems. But recently the two worst are the fact that the hinge snapped then followed by my laptop not loading.

After having it on hibernate, i turned it back on for the laptop to freeze on a black screen. After powering off then back on, the laptop came up with random lines of colours then after the loading screen it just freezes on a black screen with green dots.

I have tried system restore to last week and nothing, and have also done a vaio hardware diagnostics test with no errors detected. The only options i get is to go to start computer normally or go to diagnostics, no safe mode or other options.

Any help? Thanks, Mark.

[Blencogo]

Hi Mark,

Can you please tell us the Vaio Model, the OS and the Graphics chip manufacturer,

[markj1993]

Hi, this is very strange, nothing like i've seen before 😕

It's and AR51M on vista home premium and has an nvidia gforce 8400M.

I have tried system restore which failed as it couldn't load on start up thereforre couldnt complere the restore. After many hours last night with my uncle attempting to fix it, we saved all files needed after opening in safe mode, then tried factory reset. Unfortuanately, it seems to have affected the whole system, as when i did factory reset the laptop failed to load, comes up with the windows is starting for first time, and the loading of drives, but freezes therefore i can't even load the computer anymore 😕

Completely lost. It comes up with red lines down when the vaio logo comes up, flashes blue then goes to the black screen with green dots.

Any ideas?

[Blencogo]

Hi Mark,

It could be several things but I think your nVidia Graphics Chipset has probably developed a fault and is causing the problems you have as soon as you try to load Windows.

You could try booting the Vaio and connect it to an external monitor to see if the problem is with the chipset or with the screen itself.  If the external monitor is OK then it may be a screen fault.

I would have a word with one of Sony's Service Partners - are you based in the UK?

Have a look at this previous discussion as I believe you have a similar problem: -

https://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/message/614005#614005

[markj1993]

so would as fault to the graphics card stop the computer from loading properly? 😕

edit: after researching i came across this message on the forum: https://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/message/614258#614258 .... it seems as though this is a recognised problem yet sony still do nothing about it? any advice on what the next steps are?

Thanks.

[markj1993]

Hi blencogo, thanks for the quick response.

I don't think that this is the case as when going into diagnostics or loading the laptop in safe mode, the picture is fine. However, i cannot connect it to another monitor as the keys dont work for me to press fn and f7 to change to the hdmi output.

The only time the colours come up is during loading, which is now as far as i can get but it doesn't appear to be a graphics problem.

Is there anyway of getting the files needed to do factory reset? as the laptop seems incapble to do it by the c drive.

It's quite hard to explain the problem but hopefully you follow :L

And yes i'm in the uk

[markj1993]

Apologies for the number of replies but i have just done the test recommended: http://genesis.sony-europe.com/instranet/ccil_sony/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=34820&l=en_GB&m=VGN-...

The outcome was that there where red 'dotted' lines verticly like the image second from bottom (the left side of the image). However, this only occurs in the light blue and dark blue sections of the bottom image, not in the grey. What does this mean? Hardware?

[Thalamus.]

The outcome was that there where red 'dotted' lines verticly like the  image second from bottom (the left side of the image). However, this  only occurs in the light blue and dark blue sections of the bottom  image, not in the grey. What does this mean? Hardware?

Markj1993, could you let us know if those lines are visible in safe mode and/or in the BIOS.?

[Thalamus.]

edit: after researching i came across this message on the forum: https://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/message/614258#614258 .... it seems as though this is a recognised problem yet sony still do nothing about it? any advice on what the next steps are?

Hi Markj1993,

as you can see by the statement below Sony have identified the range of models that possibly have the affected NVIDIA chip installed, unfortunately, according to Sony, it appears that your model is not included in those models..:smileysad:

Sony have released a statement confirming that some Vaio models can have  distorted video, random characters or blank screen issues due to  failure of the NVIDIA graphics chip.

The models concerned are as follows..

VGN-FZ11x, VGN-FZ18x, VGN-FZ21x, VGN-FZ31x, VGN-FZ38x
VGN-AR11x, VGN-AR21x, VGN-AR31x
VGN-C1Zx, VGN-C2Zx
VGC-LM1xx, VGC-LM2xx
VGC-LT1xx, VGC-LT2xx

[markj1993]

Safe mode no longer loads as i tried factory reset but it failed to load. On the BIOS it has the red dotted lines in the blue sections of the screen but not the grey parts 😕

I didn't the the graphics card would stop the laptop from loading, thought it'd just affect the graphics...