Laptop rebooting its self on boot

[Guest]

I have a sony vaio laptop that used to work just fine till I decided to start using it again. When it boots up and i'm able to see the vaio symbol and after about 2 seconds on the top left the '_' character moves from the top left down about 2 lines and then goes black and repeats this process. Could this be that the hard drive is messed up and the computer has nothing to boot? or possibly the ram?

 

[Darkbreeze]

To start with, make sure bios hasn't been corrupted by a long term power loss or that the battery isn't the source of the issue. Does the unit power up with the battery removed and just the AC cable connected? The reason I ask this, is that some units won't boot if there is a serious issue with the battery, like a shorted cell or other potential serious problem.

If it does, I'd try disconnecting the AC charging cable and the main battery, pressing the power button for about sixty seconds and then return power to the unit and make another attempt to boot.

If it does not, there is an issue with the charging cable, power jack or motherboard.

If that doesn't help you can download and run Seatools for DOS to check the hard drive health:

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-dos-master/


If the hard drive checks out ok, try removing the memory module or modules and cleaning the "teeth" on the memory with a lint free cloth or coffee filter and isopropyl alcohol then reinstalling them and try to boot again. If there is more than one module, try booting with only one module or the other if cleaning is not effective.

Make sure there are no USB or DVD disks connected that might have bootable data on them that's overriding the normal boot process.

Try going into the BIOS and resetting to optimal default settings.

Try entering Windows using the advanced boot menu options and choosing the Safe mode option to get into windows and check for issues. You can usually enter the menu with the advanced boot options by pressing F8 or Shift+F8 repeatedly as soon as you press the power button to turn the unit on and continue pressing until the advanced boot menu options appear. You may also, if you are able to access those options, have the choice to attempt a repair, reset or refresh of the OS at that menu as well, depending on your windows version.