Vaio unexpected shutdowns

[Thoke_B]

Hello, my Sony Vaio vpc-f23l1e/b has experienced unexpected shutdowns lately.

Shutdown ALWAYS happens when I'm running Program Accelerator (premium tool) in Vaio Care, however the shutdown DOESN'T happen if Civilization IV:BtS (game) is running while the Program Accelerator is running in the background (I've used this as an interim solution). No other programs have prevented the shutdown. Sometimes there's also been shutdowns when browsing the web or running Vaio Care in general. I remember one case in particular when one web page just wouldn't load due to it having a huge gif. image and after several tries of loading the page the computer just shut down (also I had a very slow intenet connection that time and the computer ran at battery power).

I suspect the problem is caused by one of the Vaio software/Windows software updates as there were no problems like this when I first bought this computer (and I ran Program Accelerator quite often back then). I can't be sure, though...

My operating system is Windows 7 64bit.

I have Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 as a web protection and Malwarebytes' Anti Malware for occassional malware scans.

And excuse me if I had any grammar errors, english is not my first language :smileyblush:.

If there's no solution to this, should I take my computer to warranty repair?

Message was edited by: Thoke_B

Message was edited by: Thoke_B

[rich912]

Hi Thoke_B,

This sort of problem is always difficult to diagnose but I would start by checking the CPU temperature.

Try one of the following free utilities and let us know the results.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

Rich

[Thoke_B]

Hi rich, thanks for responsing. I got an average of 55-65 Celsius from Core Temp while Program Accelerator was running. Average Celsius seems to be 37-48 while in light use (surfing in the web, etc.)

Also, I noticed that the screen went blue and had some text before shutting down when one of those shutdowns happened yesterday ( I was intentionally causing it to observe CPU temperature while Program Accelerator was running). Haven't noticed that before, as I'm practically never at the computer while Program Accelerator is running. I don't know if this is important information or not.

[rich912]

Hi Thoke_B,

Those temperatures are well within normal range.

You will need to find out the details on the Blue Screen (BSOD). Attached are some links that will hopefully help.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic74712.html

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/6292/how-to-troubleshoot-the-blue-screen-of-death/

http://download.cnet.com/BlueScreenView/3000-2094_4-10965136.html

Once you have determined the cause of the shut down - possibly a driver - let us know.

Rich

[Thoke_B]

Sorry I couldn't respond earlier, have been really busy.

It seems Bluescreenview cannot find any dmp. files in C:\Windows\MiniDump. If they are not in that folder, where would they be?

Also, apparently these crashes don't happen with my NEW windows account I created yesterday for this computer. So far the Program Accelerator has been working normally with that account. Hopefully this could help spotting the problem.

[rich912]

Hi Thoke_B,

You may need to enable mini-dumps.

To enable mini-dumps in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7 do the following:
•    Right click on My Computer, choose Properties and go to the Advanced system settings;
•    Hit Settings in the Startup and Recovery box;
•    Choose Small memory dump in Write debugging information;
•    Close all the dialog windows by clicking OK buttons;
•    Reproduce the system crash;
•    The small dump file will be created in the directory chosen in the Small dump directory box.

As the crash is not happening in a new account it would seem that possibly something running in the background in the original account but not in the new is the cause. You could try examining the startup items in each account to see whether you can narrow down the problem >Click Start and type msconfig in the search field > click the result and then click the Startup tab.

Rich

[Thoke_B]

Okay, now the bluescreenviewer shows something, I'll write some of it here:

Bug Check String: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Bug Check Code:0x000000d1

Parameter 1: ffffa880`01975160

Parameter 2: 00000000`00000002

Parameter 3: 00000000`00000008

Parameter 4: ffffa880`01975160

Caused by Driver: ntoskrnl.exe

Caused by Address: ntoskrnl.exe+7f1c0

File Version: 6.1.7601.17835 (win7sp1_gdr.120503-2030)

Processor: x64

Crash Address: ntoskrnl.exe+7f1c0

Tell me if you need to know more, as I don't know if this was all the important info from the file.

[Thoke_B]

Also, msconfig shows that both accounts run the same startup programs... So could the problem be in some of the settings? The new account has the default settings but my original doesn't. Is there an easy way to make everything back to default again?

And then there is a chance the problem is not necessarily caused be Windows settings....

[rich912]

Hi Thoke_B,

Im afraid that my experiance of mini-dump information is very limited and all I can gather from the info is that something is causing the Windows NT Kernal to crash. To get informed help on this I suggest you post a question on Windows SevenForums.

http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/

Rich

[chris_acb]

Hello!

I am having the exact problem with my VPCF23M1E. However, I get the sudden shutdowns (more like power losses) when trying to update Vaio Care. I haven't tried nor purchased the Premium tools since I am extremely dissatisfied with this product and I am not planning in investing any more money in it.

My computer has been randomly losing power, freezing, crashing or BSOD-ing ever since I bought it about a year ago. However, after the last "restore to factory settings" performed a week ago, I have been able to recreate the problem by updating the Vaio Care application.

Basically, if I open Vaio Care after booting up, most of the times I get a notification that "An updated version of Vaio Care is available". If I choose to perform the update, the download starts as expected, but sometime after that (could range from 15 seconds to 8 minutes), the computer suddenly loses power. However, this does not happen every time - on some occasions the installation process begins and completes successfully; on other occasions, after a while (ranging from 3 to 15 minutes), I simply get an error saying that the update could not be completed.

Upon recreating the event, i have been able to film it: https://dl.transfer.ro/IMG_1295-transfer_ro-10feb-89f734.MOV

Has this defect been identified and/or diagnosed? Has anyone been able to recreate it without using Vaio Care? Please help me find a solution to this problem.

I am also having trouble with the vendor of this product - the romanian online shop www.emag.ro - who, is refusing to acknowledge the existence of the defect, since the computer passes the "Vaio Hardware Tests" without any errors.