burnnoticefan

Hi all,

I'm a newbie and amateur computer user so please bear with. My laptop is going mental with a multitude of symptoms and I'm unsure if they are related, hence the vague title.

I have a Sony VGN-AR21S, Windows XP Media Centre Edition, SP3.

I'll start at the beginning and explain everything as I can't tell what's related. Before I explain problems I have Avast installed and running and have done several scans, no problems.

Have ran Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, found nothing. Ran Superantisyware, nothing, Spybot SD and Lavasoft, so I'm pretty sure problem is hardware and not virus.

The laptop is on a purchased extended warrantly. The laptop will not work without AC adaptor connected so I rang Sony Warranty. They ran me through a bunch of stuff checking power management etc, all the usual and concluded that the battery was goosed, tried to blame me saying I use it too much, shower of ..... anyway.

I didn't totally agree because when I disconnect the AC adaptor computer doesn't shut down immediately, takes about 15 seconds. Also the little battery indicator symbol shows 100%. However Sony say this can happen even if battery is goosed, however they're not replacing it under my extortionate warranty and asked me for £200 to replace. Told them to get stuffed and have ordered one online. It's BPS2C.

i started having problems using my wireless mouse. The dongle kept going dead. Replace battery and everything and did nothing. Checked under device manager and all usual stuff, no problems. Computer just wouldn't pick it up on any usb port but device manager didn't recognise a problem, in fact the mouse was just not listed under HID where it usually is. Just couldn't get computer to pick it up.

The computer has not shutdown properly for over a week, I try to shutdown or restart and it just sticks at the blue screen, I have no option but to hold down the power button and restart that way.

Seems to be getting worse, now it wouldn't pick up ANY usb device; hdd's, mp3 player, ipod, nothing! Again I went into device manager and nothing was showing unusual except for computer not seeing anything plugged in. Didn't even get the usb device not recognised bubble, just got diddly squat.

I checked services and plug & play is running, universal plug and play is not.

The computer is getting very hot and so I'm panicking now that my motherboard is goosed after reading about this on another forum. Please tell me i don't need to chuck my £2K laptop in the bin. :-(

If I do shut computer down and restart (using power off button as only way it works) the mouse and other usb devices will work for like 10 minutes, but then suddenly stops, again no bubble.

Tonight it just went mental, I couldn't get it to do anything. I suddenly had no sound either. Neither windows sounds and no sounds from movies that I watch on computer. Wideos at Sony tried to suggest I shouldn't be watching movies on laptop as it causes it to burn up, it's an entertainment laptop you shower of muppets! Fleeced my for the laptop and then the extended warranty and now just don't want to help me :-(

Again, shutting down and restarting had everything working again, for a short while.

I tried system restore, however when I went in none of the restore points I'd made were there. There was zero restore points which is confusing as I know I made some. I did have system restore OFF for a while as I had to get rid of a persistent virus that kept reinserting itself on reboot. Does that delete all restore points? I have system restore set to the maximum disc space possible.

I read somewhere else about fan being goosed causing a laptop to overheat. I can't tell, there's vented holes at the back and some sort of whirring noise but that could be the laptop hardware for all I know. However it is very hot at the back, bit like my old laptop would get if played games non-stop for like days in a row.

I really hope someone can help, many thanks in advance.

Pandex08

damn tech support, there a *****, i called them up for a desktop i have because it wouldnt turn on, i thought it was the power supply, but the next day it started to boot up and when windows started booting up the fan on the power suppy stoped whiring and the comp went dead, so i figured it must be the power supply, turned out it was a boot virus, thaten accuay wiped out about 15% of all my files before i finaly got it off, tech support said that it was probably droped or that i abused my computer, i told them i didnt do **** to it and i was getting real heated cause theiy put me on hold for an hour for this ****, so i told them to stop the ******* nonsense and to tell me what was reay wrng with it, they just hung up, so i finaly decided to tak it to the store, they replaced the power supply, still the same probem, so i brought it bake again, they said it was probab ay a boot virus, i had no way of scanning to get rid of it until i slaved it to another computer and i ran a virus scan and i got rid of it, it had done some damage and wiped out abou 15 to 20% of my personal files, so more then likly it may be a virus that has dug itself deep into your recovery files. try slaving it into another computer and get a tech expert to help you out.

sorry for the spelling errors :D