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wannaBtechie 0 Newbie Poster

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FS8900 Laptop that suddenly won't boot up. It was working fine one day, and the next day without warning all of a sudden it just won't boot. When you hit the power button, the power light goes on, you hear the DVD drive initialize, the number lock led, the capital letter led and the other led next to it above the keyboard are all green all the time. Nothing ever shows up on the screen, not even the Bios start up screens. The Power, battery,hard drive and WAN led lights on the front of the laptop are also lit. But the computer never even tries to boot. I tried swapping out the memory with other known good memory, I took out and reseated the hard drive, but nothing changes. After leaving the laptop on for some time, no fans come on, and the computer is cold, like the CPU never even powered up. Yet all the LEDs I mentioned above are all still on. Any ideas of what to do next? Since there is no boot up of even the starting bios screens, I figure it's not the hard drive, and since I hear no beeps, I believe it isn't the memory modules. Any suggestions or help would be welcome. Thanks.

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Dani AI

Generated

Practical next steps and what those results usually mean.

  • Check the AC adapter first: confirm it produces the voltage printed on its label with a multimeter or try a known-good, compatible charger. While plugged in, gently wiggle the barrel at the DC jack and watch for any change in the front LEDs (flicker or go out).
  • Do a full power/EC reset: unplug AC, remove the main battery, then hold the power button for 30–60 seconds to drain capacitors. Reconnect AC (leave battery out) and attempt to power on. If that fails, remove the coin-cell (RTC) battery for 5–10 minutes to clear embedded-controller/BIOS settings and retry.
  • Rule out the screen and peripherals: attach an external monitor and power up. Remove nonessential devices (optical drive, HDD, card modules, USB devices) so the board boots in the minimum configuration; note any change in LED behaviour or sounds.
  • Inspect hardware visually: with power removed, open the case and look at the DC jack soldering, nearby components and electrolytic caps for bulging or burn marks. A loose jack or cracked solder can feed indicator LEDs yet fail to energize the CPU/fan rails.

What those tests imply: LEDs on but no fans/POST often points to power-rail or embedded-controller issues, or a motherboard/component fault. Board-level problems (failed VRMs, EC, GPU/chipset solder failures) usually require either professional rework/reflow or a replacement motherboard. Reflow is a stop-gap and should be done by a technician.

Safety and next actions: always disconnect all power before opening the laptop and ground yourself to avoid ESD. If you’re comfortable, post back the adapter voltage and clear photos of the DC jack/motherboard area; those details let the community narrow possibilities. If not, get a shop quote for board-level diagnostics—that will confirm whether replacement or repair is the cost-effective path.

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