Date Posted:02:42:21 02/03/04 Tue Author:Paulo Author Host/IP: hnllhi1-ar1-4-65-062-185.hnllhi1.dsl-verizon.net / 4.65.62.185 Subject: VAIO Laptop Random Shutdown Fix
The goods news: I just fixed my Vaio F180 -- no hardware change or software reinstall :-)
The bad news: the suspend mode is gone.
There are essentially 3 steps:
1- Enter Bios and turn all power management off (APM)
2- Enter Windows safe mode
3- Replace the ACPI Bios driver by a Bios safe driver
To enter the Bios press Esc during boot and then select Enter Setup. Go to the Power menu. Set CPU to Full Throttle and Suspend and Hibernation to Off (I just turned all options to Off). Exit with save from the Bios setup. The computer reboots.
To enter Windows safe mode, press control-alt-del once the Windows desktop screen comes up. The system will then reboot and a DOS screen will ask to get into safe mode. If this didn't happen, then ctl-alt-del was probably pressed to early -- so just retry but press ctl-alt-del a little later and before the laptop freezes.
Once Windows starts in safe mode, open Control Panel, and then System. Select Device Manager. Make sure View Devices by Type is selected. Then expand System Devices and double-click on ACPI Bios (the wording is longer). The properties dialog opens. Select Driver and press Update Driver. Press Next and check "Display a list of all the drivers..." Press Next and select the "Plug and Play BIOS (fail safe)." Press OK or Next as necessary. The system will eventually reboot (may take 3 minutes in a black screen during the reboot, so be patient).
Once the system comes up, it will reinstall a number of Windows drivers. Just be patient. It may also request to reboot.
Once all this is done, Windows is back with all features, except ACPI power management. Your F180 is back to life, with all the data in your hard-disk :-)
-- REINSTALLING WINDOWS ---
For those that are reinstalling Windows. Disable power management on Bios. Use the Vaio System Disk to reinstall the system. Follow the installation instructions until the system freezes. This happens while Windows is asking for your name. As the system ask for your name, enter anything on the keyboard. Be very quick. This will force Windows to enter Safe Mode the next time it restarts. Repeat until you get into safe mode. Then follow step 2 above replacing the ACPI Bios by the fail safe Plug and Play Bios. Once Windows restarts it will continue the installation normally. We're done.
-- LINUX ---
For Linux, disable power management on Bios. Then during the install prompt enter:
linux apm=off no-hlt
-- DOS ---
For DOS, disable power management on Bios.
