Sony PCG-61511M, blank screen, no drive led activity

schrungo

Hi Guys
I have been having a switch on hit/miss for some time which I have tried to live with, namely blank screen, but healthy hard disk led activity, and I have got around by
setting to hibernate instead of switch off which worked great most times.
But Monday 3rd switched on as usual and left it few minutes, Came back and found black screen,I noted no hard disk activity, and green switch on illuminated.
Had to hard switch a few times with the same result, I have two spare hard disks fully working, one with windows 10 and another windows 7, I swapped these with the same result. (apart from initially two hard disk movement sounds)
Does this point  to catastrophic hardware problem, or is there a glimmer of hope?
Any help appreciated

Thank you

techquest

Have you tried connecting a monitor/tv to the HDMI or VGA port?

Is the fan running?

Try taking out the ram and then reinserting them 1 at a time into alternate slots then try booting.

Try removing the battery and run on mains power only.

schrungo

Hello techquest
Thanks for reply.
Yes the fan is running and I have tried all the options, and I gave got nothing happening

techquest

Hi schrungo

Then sadly it sounds like you have a component failure of the motherboard or a failure of the cpu.

But before we decide that I will take a look at the product to see if there is anything further that can be done.

techquest

One last thought is it could be the bios/cmos battery is dead or has insufficient power left in it to start the laptop.

Have been trying to find the exact model disassembly video for you to take a look at but it is not so easy for your model. The link below is for a model that is very similar to yours, the bottom cover being almost identical, and should be the same process to get to that battery. I would say this would be your last step to take, which might or might not fix the problem.

bios reset Sony Vaio PCG-61511M  - Bing video

This link shows a range of batteries for varios Vaio's, you just need to select one that has the same connector type, voltage and mAh rating.

sony vaio cmos battery | eBay

I have brought many supposedly dead laptops back to life by replacing this battery.  If you've not done this before it is quite a simple process. If you decide to give it a try then clean the fan whilst you have the laptop apart. If it were me I would also clean the heatsink and apply new compound to it.

It would not be worth sending the laptop to a repair shop to do any of the above because it would not be cost effective. Given your issue though you have nothing to loose by trying this.

If you need any advice then let us know.

schrungo

Techquest
I have removed the the back cover and scrutinised the whole board, no bios battery in sight, could it be on the reversed side I ask myself, I have had this cover off a number of times to change fan, vac dust and don't remember seeing battery.
This model no as quoted on the cover label, there is also on the front bottom right just underneath the screen "VPCEE3Z0E"
When I come back will do a youtube

You are very thorough thank you

techquest

       

It's on the underside of the motherboard. It looks like it's a CR2032 3volt type battery. You can see the battery in the photo below, it clearly shows the battery on your PCG 61511M motherboard.

This is the link from where that photograph came from, which confirms it as your PCG-61511M motherboard.

https://skylots.org/images/images/de/43decd3f4073b89420810842016e9965.jpg

Make sure you put all the ribbon cables back properly and ensure the connector clips are down properly and secured.

schrungo

Hi again Techquest for the past time
Gosh you know your stuff.
That other side mother board gave me some grief, I was trying to get the battery out with the board at an angle,  that very short ribbon popped out and could't get it aligned  to get it in to clamp, found my old anti static elbow strap, connected it to radiator and that gave me the confidence to wade in, old battery measured over 3v on my fluke swapped it anyway.
No joy in the end same problem, so will remove battery, disk and bin.
I very much appreciated  your professional help, and I learnt something.
Oh one thing before I go, the hard disk  I will have to get files from, I have a caddy for just that.
I have never been able to get it working with windows 7 or 10, a old Toshiba with xp no problem although very slow, I even bought a good brand bridge on bay, no different, do you know why?

techquest

Hi schrungo

Sad to hear it's all been to no avail, but as I said it did sound like either the MB or CPU.

What interface is on your drive, SATA or IDE, looks like Sony supplied 500GB IDE's or 160GB SATA's  versions?

What model is your Caddy?

What bridge did you buy?

schrungo

techquest
They now work.......Bingo!
The laptop I am now using is borrowed from my pensioners club, I have just tried for first and both devices work, so I put it down to the Sony itself.
for the record the caddy is just a generic Chinese ide/sata thing. and the other a Anker usb3.o to sata adaptor
So now a happy bunny, the uncertainties are now certainties
thank you.