Member Avatar for joeykhor

Hi guys, I have a sony VAIO VGN-NR21S and I am having a problem. My laptop cant be turned on even though it is plugged in with or without the battery. I spilled some drink on it half a year ago but it was still working but then it just suddenly died in the morning when i woke up although it was still working last night. I have tried the holding down power button method and i brought my laptop in to check what was wrong and apparently the motherboard might be broken, but when i plug the power cord in the laptop, the orange battery light flashed for a second, but it still won't turn on. Do you guys know whats wrong with it ?

Thanks in advance !

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by JorgeM

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Short summary tied to the thread: reported a prior liquid spill and a single LED/backlight pulse when the adapter is connected but no POST; suggested power/reset and possible corrosion. That symptom set most commonly points to a problem in the power-delivery or initialization stage (bad DC-in jack or adapter, failed charging/SMBus/EC circuitry, or corrosion-related shorts on the motherboard) rather than a simple software fault.

Recommended triage (follow in order):

  1. Confirm the AC adapter is actually producing its rated voltage with a multimeter or a known-good compatible Sony adapter.
  2. Remove main battery and AC, then hold the power button 30–60 seconds to discharge/reset the embedded controller (EC). Reconnect AC only and attempt power-up.
  3. Try a minimal-boot: remove HDD/optical, disconnect nonessential peripherals, and boot with only one RAM stick (try each stick in turn). Listen for beep/LED codes or try an external monitor to rule out a dead LCD/backlight.
  4. Check the DC jack for play and the adapter plug for damage; a wiggle that changes LED/backlight behavior strongly implicates the jack or its solder joints.
  5. If comfortable opening the case, inspect the board around the keyboard/power jack for white/green corrosion or burned parts. Clean light corrosion with 90%+ isopropyl alcohol and a soft brush, allow to dry 24 hours. Take ESD and safety precautions; power should never be applied while hands/tools touch exposed circuitry.

Practical next steps and cautions: repeated power attempts can stress components; priority should be data recovery—remove the drive and read it with a SATA-to-USB adapter. Board-level fixes (DC-rail fuse, MOSFET/regulator replacement or connector resolder) are commonly successful but require soldering and test equipment; weigh repair cost versus replacement. Corrosion from a spill can progress slowly, so even months-later failures are typical; a professional shop can quickly confirm whether the fault is the adapter/DC jack, a simple replaceable part, or a full motherboard-level failure.

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

When you press the power button, nothing shows on the screen, not even an attempt to boot? If not, reset the battery. If that is OK, you may have a power supply issue. Has the laptop been slightly dropped or mishandled lately? May require someone with technical skills to open the laptop and reset some of the motherboard components. This sometimes helps, espically when computers are left on for long periods of time (they heat up, components expand, then power off and cool off). small chance, it may help.

Could also be that some component got slightly wet when you spilled something on it, then it finally rusted to the point where the contacts are not good enough.

Member Avatar for joeykhor

when i press the power button, nothing shows on the screen, but when i hold the power button, and plug in my power adapter, all of the lights flashed once and when screen's backlight flashed for half a second and then nothing happens after that, do you guys know why? so it is still possible to be fix if some of the motherboard components are reseted ?

Member Avatar for JorgeM

Anything can be fixed by replacing the failed part. The real question is whether it will be cost effective. In many cases, without having a tech friend, places that repair pcs charge too much making it not worth the repair.

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