Sony Vaio VGN-A417M Issues

Concrete

Concrete

Concrete

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8 Jan 2007
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Hi guys,

Real long shot but basically I have been asked to look at one of these and I can't for the life of me work out what is going wrong with it. It boots and loads windows fine (tried XP/Vista/7), but it suffers from periodic/infuriating bouts of slowdown seemingly at random.

I've tried clean installs of all the OS's and it still persists, I've even removed the battery as it was being a little flakey. Windows 7 refused to install as it was flagging I/O errors (got round it, but still making me think that might be the cause?) Any ideas what is likely to be causing them?

Disabling DVD Drive in windows didn't help, and HDD SMART didnt reveal any issues. could it be a mobo problem? Anyway, I've spent far too much time on it, so it's going to get binned unless anyone has any ideas, a shame as it has a lovely XBlack screen and the specs aren't too bad!

Thanks in advance, this has really been bothering me!
 
Do a full test on the HD using drive fitness test, a though windows mem test pressing the X key, if both these show clear, then it might be throttling back, it might need a full heatsink clean and some new thermal compound applying, bit of a bugger to strip though.
 
Will do a deeper memory and HD check before scrapping it. I had thought of a thermal throttling issue, but would that not normally be preceeded by full on fan noise as it tries to regulate the temp? It's been quite quiet during these delays.
 
Is the laptop on a solid surface or are you sitting with it on your knee or moving it when it slows down, some hdds will move the head away from the disk to prevent damage if it senses movement.

It does sound like a faulty hard drive, or even faulty ram.
 
Done the hard drive and memory checks, both came up clear :(

Going to take it to bits this afternoon, hopefully that will yield some results.
 
Right then, 40+ screws removed and I got to the cause of the problem. Faulty DVD drive! As soon as I pulled the connector between the drive and the mobo the laptop started working properly and has been behaving itself for the last 24 hours on test.

Thanks for all the help!
 
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