PCG391m Laptop display driver issue

[pipaluk2011]

My daughter, miles away from me at Uni, tells me her VIAO PCG391M is getting so hot that it burns her if she touches it, its way too hot. Its now got a blank screen, which starts as a square around the curser ( red colour) then the screen goes blank. Inbetween this it tells her that the display drivers have failed and then recovered, then it comes back on and then the screen goes blank again, or has stripes on it. It works for a while, then as soon as its been on for about 30 mins , its too hot to touch and the display goes.

Do we even have the correct model, she tells me that PCG 391M is all she can see on the bottom of the machine. Yet when i look this model up on Sony's site , it says no results.

Can anyone advise? I think this means the graphics cards are going , or its failing due to over heating. Would a bios upgrade help? And if so, which one?

thank you ever so much in advance.

Mother of the stressed out child.

Message was edited by: pipaluk2011

[bloognoo]

Hi,

I expect this is far too late to be of any use to you, but yes you're correct that it's the graphics chips overheating, and it has destroyed the video memory. I have one here I'm looking to fix with exactly the same issue. Unfortunately, any kind of upgrade, bios or whatever, won't solve it; It's a hardware issue. The most common cause is the same as for all laptop over heat issues; either the internal fan failed, the vents were cchoked by running the laptop on a soft surface for a time, or both. This tends to happen when laptops are run on users laps or lefton their beds. For future laptop happinness, I recommend working on a hard, tidy surface such as a desk or table, or suggest your student usses a folder or lapdesk. That your daughter was was burning herself on it suggests she had it sat on her lap. It's a problem with all laptops as most have vents on the bottom or edge, but the more powerful the laptop, the more heat it needs to dissipate, and this model's a bit if a beast and really needs the air flow.

As said, I expect this is far far too late to be useful, but regardless of how things have gone, invest in a lap desk

H