Sony Vaio AR41-S Problem

[m9performance]

Just a quick question are there any known problems with the AR41-S
had mine for about 12 months I think turn it off and when I turned it back on Xmas eve all I get are the lights on the Sony on the screen and the hard drive lights come on and then three loud beeps and nothing.
Try again still nothing but as above leave it for about 1hour the thing works fine turn it off go back to it later on the same as above three beeps and nothing leave it for about 2 hours all is well. Go to it this morning all is well turn it off. Turn it back on there’s the three beeps again leave it for about 30min’s all is well.

Any help with this please as I now dont or have a clue whats going on

cheers Mike

[m9performance]

Just a quick question are there any known problems with the AR41-S
had mine for about 12 months I think turn it off and when I turned it back on Xmas eve all I get are the lights on the Sony on the screen and the hard drive lights come on and then three loud beeps and nothing.    
Try again still nothing but as above leave it for about 1hour the thing works fine turn it off go back to it later on the same as above three beeps and nothing leave it for about 2 hours all is well. Go to it this morning all is well turn it off. Turn it back on there’s the three beeps again leave it for about 30min’s all is well.

Any help with this please as I now dont or have a clue whats going on

cheers Mike

Now won't come on at all all I get is the three bleeps and the sony logo on with the hard drive light going but nothing on the screen any body please help

[Blencogo]

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear your problem. I did see your post yesterday and left it for someone who may be able to help more than me. Unfortunately, no one else has replied so I'll try to give you some hints even if I don't know the answer.

The three beeps from the BIOS during POST usually points to a memory problem or an 'option ROM' problem. See if you can identify the exact code from here: -

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/nonworkingcomponent/ht/beepcodestb.htm

To try to fix the memory problem, I would try re-seating the two RAM memory modules (ground your hands on a metal part of the Vaio's frame before touching the modules)by taking them out and re-inserting them.

If it is the Option ROM problem, that means that a piece of firmware or hardware necessary for a successful boot is faulty. As your problem is intermittent, my guess (and it is only a guess) is that it is hardware related and my wild guess would be a faulty hard disc controller or faulty RAID firmware.

If you could still boot I would suggest updating the RAID Driver to SATA Driver Intel8.5Sus_A - 8.5.0.1032 which is available on your model's download site here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/downloads/updates/updates.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons&c=0&s=VGN-AR&m=2679

Also a look into the Intel Matrix Storage Manager may reveal a HDD fault. It is worth trying to boot into Safe Mode by tapping F8 when you see the Vaio Bootscreen and if successful try these.

If it is the HDDs you should still be able to boot from a disc. Try booting with your Recovery Disc 1 in the drive or borrow a XP/Vista install disc and try that.

Good Luck and I'm sorry I can't help you more with this problem.

[m9performance]

Thanks mate you are a diamond will try the hints over ther next few days