Bios and Video Oh My!

[classy216]

I purchased a Sony Vaio PCG-FX240 from a pawn store in September. At first my cd drive was not working properly, but once I got a cleaner I was fine. A co-worker and several others said I should get Windows ME off and replaced with XP. My coworker said he could do this for me. He was asked for a password in the bios setup which I didn't know but he worked around it. I had three seconds to select XP or ME at startup. The more I started to use my laptop with burning cds, using the internet, etc. I found that I wasn't using XP. He said he would take it off for me and that's where it all went wrong. The next day the error said missing or corrupt file. The Sony and Vaio screens at least came up. Now its just one long beep, two short beeps and he said my bios is shot, nothing is wrong with the video card and he DID NOTHING WRONG! I just started at Best Buy so I got our Geek Squad to look at it and they said my problem is video card attached to motherboard and I need a new one. I need other opinions on this. I didn't get to play with my laptop all of November and now December. What would you do? What is my problem, besides trusting people who know enough to be dangerous. HELP!!!!

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Others said you should remove WinME and replace it with XP, when WinME was working fine? It it works, don't fix it.

Then comes the tech support fellow who knows everything - or at least won't say he doesn't know what he's doing - and things just get worse.

I find it difficult to believe that installing an operating system (even XP) would destroy graphics adapter physically. Did someone open the laptop and play with its innards (saying "I'm just cleaning it")?

 

[Rick]

I second Mic's opinion.

The beep codes are a really good place to start, but they don't mean much to me because I can never remeber them. :haha: Sony tech support could help you there though. Even though the laptop is out of warranty, if you claim you're "interested in buying replacement parts" or "fixing a customer's laptop", they will help you out.

Was the missing or corrupt file pci.sys? This is a common symptom caused by memory issues and could also cause your laptop to not work. A long shot, but possible nonetheless. Do remember the name of that missing file?

 

[classy216]

Thanks for the responses. I have two things. First, in answer to one of my responses, the error for the corrupt file was a system root dll error. Second, I searched ebay and the web for a motherboard. There is a vendor on ebay that has the motherboard for $225(I didn't tell him about this price) and another $275. I told him the price and he thinks he should pay $275-$80 he gave me to purchase the recovery disks (Sony online chat told me this would work). He also wants me to sign a receipt saying he fulled his obligation.