VGN NR21Z Won't boot normally unless I disable graphics, please help

[Nightjar11]

Hi I have been quite happy with my notebook until recently it began to boot up, but  with  thin blue lines running horizontally down the screen and then the screen went blank and it failed to complete the boot cycle. (Sorry about my lack of correct terms - i'm new to this). It allowed some kind of windows ,fix start up program, to run, but returned a message saying it failed to fix it. It will boot in safe mode and allow you to switch of the graphics in the device driver. This is a NVIDIA GE FORCE 8400M GT and it will then boot up just fine, but with limited screen resolution. Turning the NVIDIA back on causes it to fail again after a short period of normal running. Any of you good people able to give me some pointers? I can't afford a new Notebook so happy to persevere

Many thanks

Vince

[fishmanburt]

Hi Nightjar11,

Im suffering with the same problem on my Vaio descktop. Its a VGC-LM1M. Sony Vaio have suggested that this is possibly related to a graphics card error and that they will fix any computer bought in the last 4 years, free of charge. I will contact them, as my computer falls under one of the model numbers that they have listed as affected. However if anyone knows of any other fix, then i would be really happy if they could let me know!

[thedougling]

I have the same problem with my Vaio and I've been wondering how to fix it for a while. How do I contact Sony to arrange getting it fixed?

[mjt222]

Hi,

I am getting horizontal blue lines on the screen  on boot up and entry to windows, I have tried to uninstall the graphics driver but no joy, any ideas on how to resolve? I am running windows vista and was wondering if upgrading to windows 7 would help?

Can you also advise how i remove the hard drive so i can back up my data?

Thanks

Martin

[rich912]

Hi Martin,

Do you get the same video distortion on the BIOS screen and when you plug in an external monitor?

Assuming that you also have a VGN-NR series then for removal of hard drive have a look here:

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-sony-vaio-vgn-nr-laptop/

[mjt222]

Hi Mate

Yes I get the lines in the bios screen as well? Just rung Sony premium support and they say i have to pay £65 for a diagnostic check !!

Thanks Martin

[rich912 · Accepted solution]

mjt222 wrote:
Hi Mate
Yes I get the lines in the bios screen as well? Just rung Sony premium support and they say i have to pay £65 for a diagnostic check !!

That would tend to indicate that it is a hardware problem as opposed to a driver issue.

I would suggest that you speak to one of Sony's service partners to get an idea of repair cost prior to forking out £65 for diagnostic checks.

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/contacts/asc.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-NR21Z_S