REALLY SERIOUS PCG-K215B SUDDEN RESTART PROBLEM!

[Kei]

Ok this is a really bad problem. I have a Vaio PCG-K215B, I bought it on the 14th July 2004.
Specs are as follows:
Intel Celeron 2.8ghz
HDD: 40GB
512MB DDR RAM
ATi Radeon IGP 345M

Everythin is updated, Windows all updated (SP1), Norton Internet Security 2004 updated, all drivers up to date. Ad-aware 6 SE installed.

Everything is clean, it's virus free, no worms. I've checked everything on the PC, I've scanned for spy-ware ad-ware, viruses, worms. I've used multiple methods: Norton, Ad-aware, Stinger, Symantec tools.

I randomly get sudden restarts on my PC. It does so without any notification, there's no Blue Screen of Death, even though I've unchecked the Automatically Restart option in the Startup/Recovery settings.
I operate the PC behind a router via wireless PCMCIA card. Drivers for the network card are certified by Microsoft.

I've put up 3 firewalls, 1 hardware from router, 1from Norton Internet, and 1 one from Windows built-in.
I get no error reports after the restart is done, no error dialogs, nothing.

I've carried a system reformat, on my C: drive, leaving the 😧 drive intact.

The problem is nothing to do with overclocking, I run even little programs at once (like Winamp and IE) and it still reboots suddenly. It's nothing do to with the power outlet, I've switched the VAIO plug to another socket and it still reboots.

At first, the problem happened like every 72 hrs or so, but now it's very unpredictable. However, it doesn't restart in loops, i.e. it doesn't restart after seconds or after minutes. It's quite random.

Could it be that some virus/worm is hidden in my 😧 partition in my system volume folders?

I have 2 others PCs, 1 desktop and 1 laptop, and they don't the problem, so I'm not sure whether it's anything to do with a worm, because it'll spread over the network.

Do you think it's all because that the VAIO is defective? Or is it a software issue?

Please anyone help me out here, this is seriously urgent.

[rich912]

Also sorry to hear that Saiyuusen. Obviously not the same problem that I had. Best of luck in sorting it!

[Kei]

This is absolutely sh*t!
That's it, I'm definitely taking it back, and getting another manufacturer. If only there's another series of Sony which has the X-black tech, but at a similar price <£900. They're all friggin' expensive jeez! £1200 average for one of those proper models (that is, not K series).

And also, my status <<<< "VAIO-fan"... yea right.
I'm staying away from VAIO now from on, well for the K series anyway. I can't afford the other models. I'm gonna take this crap back, and get a Toshiba (like my previous laptop) instead.

And I thought Sony was reliable. I was all hyped up about owning a good Sony laptop, and now this has definitely made me look at Sony in a different way.

K series = jank. FULL STOP.

[kee-lo_]

The base level of the A series can be got for around £900 @ eBuyer

[mappyuk]

This is absolutely sh*t!
That's it, I'm definitely taking it back, and getting another manufacturer. If only there's another series of Sony which has the X-black tech, but at a similar price <£900. They're all friggin' expensive jeez! £1200 average for one of those proper models (that is, not K series).

And also, my status <<<< "VAIO-fan"... yea right.
I'm staying away from VAIO now from on, well for the K series anyway. I can't afford the other models. I'm gonna take this crap back, and get a Toshiba (like my previous laptop) instead.

And I thought Sony was reliable. I was all hyped up about owning a good Sony laptop, and now this has definitely made me look at Sony in a different way.

How long have you had it for?

How long does there supplier let you have it for before offering a refund?

I hope you get one otherwise you will be stuck like me with Sony not admitting there are any faults and me being stuck with a useless laptop.

K series = jank. FULL STOP.

[kee-lo_]

Most companies it's 2 weeks.

[Kei]

I've think I've found the factor to my problem!

Since Sunday 29th August 2004, the fact the disabling the ALi 7101 Power Management system device didn't help at all. However, I looked at the power management from the main panel i.e. the Power Options Properties, and I simply went ahead and unchecked/turned off the VAIO power management.
And since then (Sunday 29th Aug), there has been no sudden restart.
It's almost been 3 days since the last restart happened.
And on this day (1 Sept 2004), I decided if the variable was the VAIO power management, I decided that I uninstall the application.

I was also wondering if this would further lead to future long term damages to the laptop because the VAIO power management had thermal controls, I was pondering whether not having VAIO PM would make the notebook heatup.

I checked this out by installing a S.M.A.R.T. application that would give me a reading on the temperature of my laptop. And from that program, I found that the highest temperature my laptop went up to was about 48-49 ºC.
Is this okay? Or do you think that the SMART application will not give an actual/true reading of my laptop's internal temperature?

And inferring from this, I think that the VAIO power management application is in conflict with the VAIO's hardware inside that controls fans, etc. So it might a flaw in the VAIO's components and not the VAIO Power management.

What do you think?

[ShadowPHP]

48-49?

I have a K215B and mine is at 58, lol

BTW, Mine hasnt had a single problem.
Had it for a month, always on, never crashed. never restarted itself.

Its Purr-fect

[kee-lo_]

48 degrees sounds good - actually thats pretty good going.
As for problems with VAIO PM, you might be on to something.

I don't think it'll do long term damage, but I can't say 100% that it won't. I know Sony would advise against this, but if you are right (which you might well be), then it's their software which leads to the shutting down of your VAIO.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Keep things like MobileMeter running and your S.M.A.R.T application going, and see if it does ever go to 50. If not, you've cracked it, and the victory is well worth the time and effort.

[Kei]

DAMN DAMN DAMN!!
I am wrong!


With all the VAIO power management uninstalled and all; I just had another friggin' restart again, this time at 8:56pm (1 Sept 2004). It happened when I just started running GunBound for 2 minutes or so.
And the crazy thing is, I already played GunBound before on the same day, and it didn't restart then.

I immediately checked the Event Viewer after it restarted, and I found something weird:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1)
Event
Date: 01/09/2004 Source: W32Time
Time: 20:56:57 Category: None
Type: Error Event ID: 17
User: N/A
Computer: PCG-K215B

Description: Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the manually configured peer 'time.windows.com,0x1'. NtpClient will try the DNS lookup again in 15 minutes. The error was: A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and......
2)
Event
Date: 01/09/2004 Source: W32Time
Time: 20:56:57 Category: None
Type: Error Event ID: 29
User: N/A
Computer: PCG-K215B

Description: The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 14 minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sheesh, what the hell is going here?!!
It's not VAIO power management or some software, it's not GunBound because I already had this even with GunBound not installed. This is really p*ss*ng me off.

[kee-lo_]

OMG, the problem has to do with the PC getting the time from the time servers.

Double click your clock, go to internet time and turn it off.
Hope this solves it !