Black Screen Problems with a VGN-A617B

[Aromir]

I have a VGN-A617B which has worked perfectly for 2 years but all of a sudden the screen keeps going black. The laptop is still running with all relevant indicators on the front but I can not see anything. I have to reboot using the power button it then restarts and boots and then after about a minute it goes black again. I have tried booting in safe made but I still have the same problem. Does anyone have any ideas that are not going to involve me emptying my bank account.

[Blencogo]

Hi Aromir and welcome to Club Vaio.

Can you borrow an external monitor to see if it is the ATI Mobility Radeon X600 Graphics Adapter or if it is your LCD Screen? If the external screen works, it is your LCD screen. If an external screen does not work, it is your ATI Mobility Radeon X600 chip or its driver.

Also, when it goes black, can you still see the display if you look at the screen very closely? If so it is likely to be the backlight/Inverter.

You could reinstall the graphics driver or look for an updated one but that will depend on the diagnosis!

[Aromir]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice.

Unfortunately my problem seems to have progressed since I posted here. I tried attaching an external monitor but I can no longer get the laptop to boot. The fan does not start and the hard drive only accesses for a couple of seconds. the other indicator lights illuminate, wireless etc but the laptop does not boot. I am now beginning to panic, all the time I thought it was a screen problem I was confident of getting my valuable stuff off of the Hard Drive however now I can not access it at all I am not a happy bear. Any ideas?

[Blencogo]

Hi Aromir,

I don't know what the cause may be. See if it boots when it has cooled down as many intermittent problems are often caused by overheating.

If everything comes to the worst, you may have to remove your hard drive and try to access it using another PC and a caddy like this one: -

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?TabID=1&criteria=usb&ModuleNo=44932&doy=search&C=SO&U=Strat15

This will enable you to retrieve your important data.

I attach the manual for your model to the bottom of this post if you need to get inside! I'm afraid it is for an older model but it should be similar.