VGN FS 315m Screen problem

[kinginter]

Hello people, got a problem with a 15.4" FS315M Vaio.
Boots up fine, but the screen is black - you can shine a torch on the screen & just make out that windows has booted normally. My local computer shop advised that it was just the inverter & put one in but it is still the same problem. Is it possible that the screen is faulty itself or could it be the wrong inverter. He sent it back & got a repalcement but that was the same too. I don't want to buy a new screen unless it really needs it & are the backlights on these built in to the screen?

Thanks very much

Chris

[carloscerros]

Hi kinginter,

It might be an inverter / backlight / even a MB (graphic card) issue.
Unfortunately, it's necessary high level skills to detect what is going wrong on your laptop. Sony is still expensive to repair OOW.

KR

[kinginter]

I forgot to mention that if I entered sleep mode then back out - the screen came on as normal. Until I formatted it anyway... Now funcion keys don't work

Chris

[Blencogo]

Hi Chris,

I would have guessed the backlight but if it worked from hibernate, it is possibly a software problem. I presume an external monitor works OK? Have you tried to recover your Vaio back to factory settings and see if it works OK?

Did you reinatall the Sony OEM Operating System?
XP or Vista?
Have you installed the BIOS Update?
Check your model - I thought the FS-Series only came with a 15.4" TFT WXGA 1280x800 (X-black) screen.
Which nVidia driver version are you using?

[kinginter]

Yes it is 15.4 screen - my error

I reinstalled with a brand new vista which came with my PC which worked briefly with exact same symptoms. Want to try factory defaults but can't see anything & forgot the buttons to press. Is it one of the "F" keys?
Haven't tried external monitor as mine is differet fitting on PC. You mention graphics drivers, but it would still show the bios screen wouldn't it? I can't even get to see that.

So far it has had an inverter tried & now a screen from the same model fitted still no joy. A guy has got complete new motherboard on ebay for £179 + another guy at £199. What do you think to that? I begrudge spending any money on it really as it had to have a motherboard after 9 months old anyway at Sony.

Cheers


Chris

[kinginter]

External monitor works fine - Computer guy has tried 2 inverters.

Anymore ideas?

[Thalamus.]

 Want to try factory defaults but can't see anything & forgot the buttons to press. Is it one of the "F" keys?

Hi Chris,

start your Vaio and when you see the Vaio logo screen press F10 repeatedly this normally would start the recovery process..

[kinginter]

Half way through recovery now - Started on external monitor but now the laptop screen has taken control again. Fingers crossed..

[Thalamus.]

fingers crossed..

[kinginter]

Ok, I was factory resetting the laptop & everything was going fine, screen working ok even after a couple of restarts in the process. But guess what.. Back to the same problem. This isn't even funny anymore
You can still see the images on the screen but they are blackened (This should be the inverter? yes?)
But why was it working when I was going through recovery? I have not installed a single thing, you plug an external monitor in & up it comes on the moniter bright as you like. The laptop screen doesn't come on when you put it in/out of sleep mode like it used to.

What is the inverter model/serial number on these?

Or can I send it anywhere to get tested?

Chris