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Who do you go to for tech support?

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  • #1

    Who do you go to for tech support?

    I have a Sony Vaio that's just out of warranty. I upgraded Windows and now am having some serious software issues -- I think it's a driver crashing, and it's causing hard freezes and pretty much making my computer unusable out of safe mode. DH and I are both pretty computer-savvy, and we've exhausted all our ideas and options. Who do you go to for tech support? Don't say Apple or we'll have to move this to debates.

    Some call center worker with a troubleshooting database is not going to solve this for me -- I need an expert. Recommendations?
    Wife of PGY-4 (of 6), cat herder, and mom to a sassy-pants four-nager.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Poky!
    married to an anesthesia attending

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    • #3
      What version did you upgrade to? Are you getting any error messages at all, or just hard freezes? How long does it take if you run out of safe mode before it crashes? If you go into device manager, are there error icons? What have you already tried?

      I generally end up asking google first when I have trouble; it's very rare that I'm the ONLY person having a problem, the hardest part is finding the right words to search for, and sifting through all the garbage to find the help you actually need.
      Sandy
      Wife of EM Attending, Web Programmer, mom to one older lady scaredy-cat and one sweet-but-dumb younger boy kitty

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      • #4
        Hey poky! I'll give you all the info I can. I've done a lot of Google research too, so I'll tell you what I've found.

        I upgraded from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate so that I could do auto Windows Backup to our network drive, an option that wasn't available on Home Premium. I also had some really minor problems with my wireless staying connected and I wondered if a fresh start might help that. We did a full wipe and new install of Ultimate.

        After Windows installed, I installed all the drivers from the Sony website specific to my model #. I skipped installing all the Sony bloatware though. Once all the new drivers were installed, I began to get hard freezes. They happen any time in any program, but most frequently while running Google Chrome, since that's what I do most often. The freezes happen most frequently within 5 minutes of starting up, but not exclusively. Sometimes it will run for an hour or more before freezing. Whatever I was doing is visible on the screen when it freezes. I have to do a hard restart.

        DH tried to solve the problem by updating my drivers from the older versions Sony provided. Specifically, he installed the newest driver from the NVIDIA website for my GeForce 310 video card. After that, the hard freezes turned into black-screen hard freezes. I think he also updated BIOS at this point... Also, to answer your question, there were no problems in my device manager.

        We reverted to the Sony-sourced driver and the freezes changed back to the way they were before. So I thought I was on to something. I did some Google research about NVIDIA drivers crashing and learned that others with Sony Vaios had this problem and had more luck with older drivers. I couldn't find a specific recommendation on driver version though -- it seems that each driver version works better with some computers than others. So I tried another old driver from the NVIDIA website (I did clean uninstalls each time). With this version of the driver, my computer ran without problem for about 12 hours and then did a BSOD and dump, with the error message referring to an NVIDIA service that had crashed (nvlddmkm.sys).

        So I reverted one more time back to the Sony-sourced driver, and I'm operating in safe mode. I'm seriously considering doing another full wipe and install... My brother recommended creating a system restore point right after I reinstall Windows, then running the computer for a while between each driver install to make sure it's working properly. ( I know, should have done this the first time)...

        That's where I'm at. If my brother's recommendation doesn't lead anywhere, I think I'll need to find a tech person/company.

        Thanks!

        ETA: Also, with all the various freezes and BSODs, I get super-loud fan noise at the same time.
        Wife of PGY-4 (of 6), cat herder, and mom to a sassy-pants four-nager.

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        • #5
          Ah. OK. My experience with drivers on laptops is limited. When you first installed the new version of windows, was everything working? Why did you manually install drivers in the first place?

          Also, just FYI, I'm pretty sure it's free to use CrashPlan to back up to an external drive; if you just can't get ultimate to work properly, you might go back to home premium and try that, if that's the only reason you upgraded in the first place.
          Sandy
          Wife of EM Attending, Web Programmer, mom to one older lady scaredy-cat and one sweet-but-dumb younger boy kitty

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          • #6
            I manually installed the drivers from the Sony website because certain features didn't work without them -- Windows Aero features don't work with a standard VGA driver, you need the driver for the dedicated video card... other things like the wireless card, the SD card slot and the USB 3.0 won't work without their drivers. I think Windows was working fine when it was freshly installed, but I'm not sure I ran it like that long enough to detect a problem. And of course, none of the components worked until I installed their drivers. I guess I'll take my brother's suggestion on the fresh wipe, system restore point, and slow reinstall of the drivers. After that, though... anyone have a recommendation on tech support services?

            Thanks!
            Wife of PGY-4 (of 6), cat herder, and mom to a sassy-pants four-nager.

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            • #7
              Video drivers generally suck. If it were my laptop, I would install Linux Mint on it. It's not as bloated as Windows and runs well on older machines. Do you have any Windows-specific applications you need?

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              • #8
                Originally posted by bobk View Post
                Video drivers generally suck. If it were my laptop, I would install Linux Mint on it. It's not as bloated as Windows and runs well on older machines. Do you have any Windows-specific applications you need?
                I totally hear you. I bet linux would work for most of my needs, but I've read on some forums that my video card has trouble in linux too, so I'm not sure that would solve it.

                ETA: also, itunes/syncing ipod in linux?
                Last edited by MsSassyBaskets; 10-10-2012, 02:17 PM.
                Wife of PGY-4 (of 6), cat herder, and mom to a sassy-pants four-nager.

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                • #9
                  If you're going to wipe the drive anyway, I would give Linux a shot. It would probably take an hour or two to burn a copy and run the install.

                  iPod support sucks in Linux, that's a big drawback. It's another reason why I gave up managing mp3 files and just use the Rdio streaming service for music. It works fine on Linux using a regular browser.

                  Another drawback is that Netflix streaming movies don't play natively.

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                  • #10
                    haha, I got to my DH, then my FIL for Apple stuff, because that is all we have (outside of my work laptop). FIL has been an apple fanboy since the beginning and all the way through the rough 90s
                    Married to a newly minted Pediatric Rad, momma to a sweet girl and a bunch of (mostly) cute boy monsters.



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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by SoonerTexan View Post
                      haha, I got to my DH, then my FIL for Apple stuff, because that is all we have (outside of my work laptop). FIL has been an apple fanboy since the beginning and all the way through the rough 90s
                      I know, I've always had DH or my brother help me fix my computer.... I've NEVER had to pay someone to do it before. Sadly I think I've really effed it up this time. I'm pretty sure I actually fixed the driver issue about three fixes ago and all the subsequent freezes have been due to overheating. And I just kept running it hot because it took me a stupid long time to figure it out. I've probably fried half the hardware by now. Anyway, there's a local shop I might try but I was just curious if anyone had had luck with geek squad or Sony care or any other services out there.
                      Wife of PGY-4 (of 6), cat herder, and mom to a sassy-pants four-nager.

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                      • #12
                        We had luck w/Geek Squad through our Best Buy store! good luck!

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                        • #13
                          Three words: Not.my.husband

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by GrayMatterWife View Post
                            Three words: Not.my.husband
                            Ditto

                            We go to my brother, he is the family rocket scientist (literally).
                            Tara
                            Married 20 years to MD/PhD in year 3 of MFM fellowship. SAHM to five wonderful children (#6 due in August), a sweet GSD named Bella, a black lab named Toby, and 1 guinea pig.

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                            • #15
                              Get a mac!
                              Wife to NSG out of training, mom to 2, 10 & 8, and a beagle with wings.

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