forum - silicon pop culture

Replacing Power Cord (AC Adapter<—->TR), specifications needed

2011-02-20T06:41:11-08:00

Hello Forum!
I need to replace the cord but I don’t know the specifications. What do you have in mind? I have a new plug already, works fine besides the short circuit in the cord.

Looking forward to see some replies from you

Many thanks and beste GrÃ¼ÃŸe
DJ

Regular BSODs… the end of my TR?

2010-01-22T07:19:13-08:00

Recently my TR had started given me frequent BSOD’s within the first few mins of getting into windows. Even safe mode would give me BSOD. I then restored an image (acronis true image) I had created a long time ago and that too gave BSOD’s after starting up. I then tried a disk check (which ran on bootup) and during the 5th cycle, my computer rebooted. I also tried removing each memory module and running them individually in either slot…BSOD again :(

However the time it takes to get BSOD varies. Windows desktop loads and then it might be almost instantaneous or take a few mins at times.

Is it the end of my TR?

I need it for XP and I need XP for running VB6 and an VB6 app I had created a long time ago.

Troubles with RAM

2010-02-22T07:36:05-08:00

Hopefully someone can reply to this. Did anyone ever found upgrade to BIOS for SONY TR3A? My problem is that whenever I install RAM module larger that 256 MB the computer won’t start so I am trying to blame BIOS for this. Did anyone had this problem?

Brightness Fn Keys not working for Sony Vaio VGN-N365E

2009-05-26T23:41:49-08:00

I just formatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP on my Sony
Vaio VGN-N365E. I also installed drivers that seemed appropriate from the
Sony Support website.

Now I can’t get the brightness to adjust. It used to adjust when I
hit Fn - F5 and Fn - F6, and I could switch with an external monitor when I it Fn - F7.. now none works anymore.. :(
(However the sound keys fn-f2 fn-f3 and fn-f4 work for some reason)

can someone plz help?

how to assamble keys from keyboard…? [solved]

2009-04-14T21:39:55-08:00

Hey Guys,

I have had some trouble with water on my keyboard, so I’ve had to remove a few keys. Now, it’s nearly impossible to assemble them again. Have a look at my attached picture.

Could you please help me to put them back into previous position without breaking these small white brackets?

Connecting to an external monitor

2007-10-22T13:41:37-08:00

Has anyone had any issues trying to connect to an external monitor? I have tried connecting to a 40” LCD a couple of times. The FN F7 combo works, but all I get for choices is “LCD Only / Setup”. No matter what I select, nothing happens. Yes, the 40” LCD is set on external / computer connection.

When I use the Display function in the Control Panel section, nothing really happens either. Does anyone have any ideas?

PCG-TR3 WEIRD BOOT PROBLEM

2009-01-30T11:25:42-08:00

Hi,
Please can somebody figure this out, ive a pcg-tr3 with 1 gig ram,was running xp fine no problems at all,i thought i would be clever and install vista.
Everything was fine till the end , the screen went all pixelated as if the software crashed, so i thought i would give into a bad install and put xp back on.
Now when i press the power button 8 times out of ten it wont post,if it does boot and i goto install xp,when it shuts down to restart it wont.
Basically it powers up fine,all lights etc but no screen.
Just tried it while sitting here now the power light and battery light flash both at the sametime as if reporting an error.
I really love this little laptop and would like to get it fixed than purchase a new one.
Any help please,thank you
steve

X505 Screen issue.

2009-01-20T19:02:10-08:00

I bought this sweet Sony X505 years ago….my girlfriend put it on the bookshelf between a few books not knowing what it was a few years ago and I just recently realized it (thought I lost it on the train)!!!

Anyway, long story short…I’ve been using it for about a month now as a web surfing netbook….and the screen is starting to show an issue.

See attached.

Any idea what this is? Loose connection? Bad screen, etc? How much does a new screen for an X505 cost? It only seems to be a problem on dark backgrounds…. however, it does show up all the time, even the bios. It seemed to have gone away for a day or so, but now it is there all the time.

TR3AP Bricked! Any Last-ditch Pointers?

2009-01-02T19:51:37-08:00

Long time reader, first post! This place has been a great resource, and I’ve really appreciated all the time/effort you’ve all provided to keep me thoroughly educated the past few years: thank you for that!

Good advice I have been given here - mix a stiff drink before continuing, this has gotten pretty lengthy!

Been living in love with my TR3AP four years now. Gone around the world a few times, but it’s been babied and is mostly a home network nerve center. It’s lean and mean since day 1; a minimum TSR’s loaded and plenty of HDD space for virtual mem maintained. 512mb added in the past 18mos ‘was’ the only Hware updgrade.

Over the last 6mos it’s been presenting the ambiguous IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSD followed by a system reboot. Nothing significant added/rem apart from memory almost a year before, but it was the first place I started to look. Extensive Google research taught me it’s definitely not the more specific DRIVER_IRQ_NOT_YADDA_YADDA. In cases with hand built PC’s memory ECC, or mismatched mem speed (as well as a handful of Hware specific issue are known to exhibit this issue), but nothing about this Sony configuration has been detailed. Though a few Sony cases are documented, they’ve not had to go through the extensive troubleshooting I have to return to the same place each time…

Being in high-tech and PC software development since ‘95 I’m fairly proficient with all things hardware, OS related, so want to ask if something has been overlooked here?

Error occurs under all scenarios:
- Both 512mb sticks and both mem bays have been tested seperately
- Memcheck x86 ran with no errors generated
- Replaced NTKRNL.SYS (WinDBG dump report)
- Uninstalled Norton AV (Event viewer error reported with NETEVENT.DLL)
- Fresh factory (Sony) HDD restore
- Stand alone XP Pro fresh install
[Both fresh OS test-cases were run before/after HDD/mem upgrades. Each continued to exhibit the error, either after a clean setup that ran for up to a day, or mid setup—reboot cycle that never allows setup to complete]
- Changed out the Toshiba 40gb for the newer Toshiba 60gb given it had exhibited knocking and perf issues for 12mos, so figured it possibly directly related
- Failing that, changed out the two mismatched mem sticks with new matching 512mb sticks

Over the course of the Hware upgrades I’ve stripped this to the metal—> rebuilt—> stripped—> had a stiff drink—> examined all parts for scorched PCB—> rebuilt, and received the same error after a few minutes of running fresh, third party app-less XP installs. Given the scenarios laid out here and the multitude of test-cases exhibiting the same error, I’m at a total loss to guess what else! Short of an EC error that only a few more hours with a multimeter and logging will provide…

Anyone more informed on this? Guess I’m just looking to know definatively that I haven’t been blind to the obvious, and my next post ‘‘TR3 Parts!’’ can be duly constructed.

As you were men, and thanks.

Tr3a motherboard replacement easy? any link to instructions? and will it solve my problem?

2008-12-08T10:41:34-08:00

I previously used this site (or Sony TR World) to replace my HDD for my TR3a. The instructions and pictures were really great as they made changing the hard drive really easy.

Are there any instructions here for replacing the motherboard and is it just as easy? I searched the web site but can’t find any instructions for motherboard replacement.
Are there any things to be careful of or I need to watch out for? (Like making sure the motherboard is compatible with my current hard drive connector) I was thinking of purchasing a replacement motherboard from ebay unless anyone advises against it.

My laptop has been great but recently it had a hard time booting up from being cold. Once it was running, it ran fine and I could restart it over and over with no problems. However, when I would start from it being off for the night, it would freeze during the boot, over and over until it warmed up. I realized I could just hit F8 during boot up and wait and until it could sit on that boot option screen for about 5 minutes without freezing and once it could last 5 minutes without freezing I new I could then start it up. If it did freeze, I would just hold down the power button and try again with F8. Now it’s completely dead and won’t even come one, or show the battery charging. Someone told me that replacing the motherboard would fix it. Has anyone encountered anything like this and does anyone have any tips or things I should know before buying a replacement motherboard?
Thanks for any help here.