Hello to everyone, I need help to diagnose an annoying problem with this laptop.
As the owner said, it has never been dropped and no liquid was ever spilled inside, and I think it's true because there are no aethetic damages to the chassis nor internal oxidations in any part of the board, she told me that it started shutting down randomly.
I can switch it on by power button, everything works fine, Win 7 loads and works flawlessly, you can browse folders, files, listen to music and browser the internet, temperatures are in normal values (around 50°C for not loaded CPU, around 70°C after 5 minutes of 100% load ) .
It works both from the battery and from the charger without the battery, the same battery charges both in a shut down state and if you connect the power jack after windows is loaded, though battery voltage is read wrongly both by AIDA and Battery Monitor (3.8 or 4.0 V, but I can measure 12.70 Volt at the battery connector), but after searching on the net, it seems a common problem for this platform, where those softwares can't read properly Voltage values.
Windows sees battery percentage and charging.
The real problem is that the system shuts down on different times in two different ways: most of the times it shuts down when browsing the internet, both on video websites and on normal text sites, but it's not unusual to see it shuts down even when no Internet browser is running, or when it is left alone doing nothing but showing desktop.
It happens both in native Windows 7 and in Win 8.1 .
It's annoying because it can shuts down within 10 minutes or 1 hours or 26 hours, so you have to wait many hours to test if it holds on...
And it can shuts down in two ways:
1- Shuts down immediately screen and power leds, but it still holds +3VPCU
2- Screen freezes (but you can see squares blinking) like the attached image, then after few minutes it shuts down completely as in option 1, and it still holds +3VPCU.
First thought was to the battery pack itself, because on Sony support site, there is a warranty statement about VGP-BPS26A batteries retired from the market because they caused overheating of the laptop or the battery itself, but the system shuts down even without the battery...so I changed the charger IC PU10 ISL88731 with a new one, but the system still shutted down randomly.
These are values of its pins (with red probe to GND) and voltages with battery inserted and charging :
PU10
1 NC - 0.00 - 0.00
2 ACIN 508 - 3.54 - 3.54
3 VREF 758 - 3.14 - 3.14
4 ICOMP 765 - 0.00 - 2.20
5 NC - 0.02 - 0.03
6 VCOMP 764 - 0.11 - 1.87
7 NC - 0.00 -
8 ICM ISENSE 740 - 0.09 - 0.15
9 SDA 510 - 3.29 - 3.29
10 SCL 512 - 3.29 - 3.29
11 VDDSMB +3VPCU 363 - 3.29 - 3.29
12 GND 000 - 0.00 - 0.00
13 ACOK 520 - 4.65 - 4.65
14 NC - 0.02 - 0.02
15+16 VFB 238 - 0.00 - 12.73
17 CSON 146 - 0.00 - 12.74
18 CSOP 146 - 0.00 - 12.74
19 PGND 000 - 0.00 - 0.00
20 LGATE 426 - 0.00 - 1.16
21 VDDP 436 - 4.96 - 4.96
22 DCIN 636 - 18.84 - 18.28
23 PHASE 136 - 0.00 - 14.02
24 UGATE 599 - 0.00 - 16.98
25 BOOT 580 - 4.72 - 18.60
26 VCC 436 - 4.96 - 4.95
27 CSSN 476 - 19.22 - 19.20
28 CSSP 476 - 19.23 - 19.21
The second thought was about the HM65 and its ME part of the BIOS...I dumped the content of the BIOS chip U3 from an external programmer and modified it with a clean ME with the same version 7.0.4.1197, but it didn't solved the problem.
Then I updated the BIOS to the last R0200Z9, and nothing changed.
Then I modified the updated BIOS with a clean ME of 7.0.10.1203 version, the system went up and running but the same problem remains.
Third thought was about the wifi card: it is a combo wifi+bluetooth card and since windows can't drive properly the bluetooth part (Devices manager tells "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43) ) I took it out, tried to work with another wifi-only card, only by LAN cable or even not browsing the Internet, but still the notebook shuts down after a while.
I've also detached all external boards (Right USB board, Keyboard , mousepad and power button board), but still random shutting.
I'm a little suspicious of the screen freezing, so I tested capacitors on the +VCC_CORE and +VCC_GFX, and I found
C411 +VCC_GFX 314uF ESR 0.04 VLOSS 1.1%
C268 +VCC_GFX 313uF ESR 0.04 0.9
C198 +1.05 470uF NA
C251 +VCC_CORE (330) 254uF ESR 0.08 Vloss 1.3%
C228 +VCC_CORE (330) 246uF ESR 0.05 Vloss 1.5%
C221 +VCC_CORE (330) 246uF ESR 0.05 Vloss 1.1%
C246 +VCC_CORE (330) 238uF ESR 0.06 Vloss 1.4%
I thought it was a good idea to change 4 caps on +VCC_CORE with new ones of around 340uF, but didn't change +VCC_GFX ones, and still shutting down randomly.
Next, after searching a lot on the Internet, I found that many problems on these Sony mainboards are linked to UVP protection and Thermal multi circuitry, so I studied them to understand how they work, but please can you explain me better if I misunderstood something?
Firstly I tested if the PU8 circuitry worked well, heating up some of the thermal resistors to 150°C , one at time, which manages the SHDN# signal (PR217 , PR253, PR210 , PR223, PR233, PR224, PR243, PR198) responsible for many thermal interruptions, and the Thermal circuitry worked well, because every heated thermal resistor made system shut down in a similar way as the faulty one.
I then unsoldered PU8 but still the same random shutting downs.
I then unsoldered also U8 (CPU Thermal sensor) and U21 (Audio jack Thermal sensor) but still same problem.
I then found 4 other thermal resistors, (unsoldered them and they measured the expected values), then I heated them the same way as the other ones, but system didn't shut down this way
PR226 470k/04 NTC VCORE hotspot 0.11 - 0.84
PR222 470k/04 NTC GFX Hotspot 0.11 - 0.82
PR218 10k/06 NTC near GFX inductor 0.44 - 0.44
PR225 10K/06 NTC VCORE Phase1 L 1.15 - 1.15
Then I went on studing the "OVP for VEDS" circuitry, and I found another thermal resistor, this one made of a PTC (Positive Thermal Coefficent), PR156.
I unsoldered it, measured the correct value, and soldered again on board.
Then I heated PR156 while the system was on, and after a while it trigger the OVP , shutting the system down but this time there was no more +3VPCU since OVP opens PQ32.
Since all this circuitry is linked to the +3V_RTC voltage, even detaching the power jack and reconnecting it, was not sufficent to normalize the OVP (and to make PQ32 closes again, giving again +19 volt to the entire board) but it is necessary to short the +3V_RTC for a few seconds.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this way I think that I've found that the OVP circuitry is not the culprit in the random shutting down of this board, because when it shuts down randomly (the main problem) PQ32 is still closed and +3VPCU is still working.
In fact, after each random shut down, I can power up the system immediately, and it wakes up.
Instead, when the OVP circuitry is triggered, you can't start the system until you detach +3V_RTC from some seconds.
PR156 470/06 PTC THRM PROT for PQ32 GND - 0.41
Sadly I have no oscilloscope to test Y1 and Y2 frequencies.
I changed CPU, RAM banks and HDD.
Have run memtest for over 40 hours and system didn't gave any errors and didn't shut down.
From a general point of view, it seems to me that some IC (maybe PU14 ISL95831, PU9 PM6686, PU13 RT8207, PU12, PU7, U7, or others) pulls down ALL_SYS_PWRGD (that is VR_ON on PU14) when the random shut down is triggered, but how can I find the culprit one?
Even in frozen screen, I have measured all main tensions (+VCC_CORE, +VCC_GFX, +1.5V_SUS, +1.05V, +3V, +5V, +0.85V) and they seems to be what you can expect.
General measures:
PL8 11 Ohm +1.03V
PQ40 pin3 53 Ohm +0.88V
PL14 311 Ohm +5.07V
PL13 355 Ohm 3.32V
PL12 105 Ohm +1.49V
PL9 22 Ohm +0.31V
PL10/PL11 16 Ohm +0.71V
What I will try next:
Unsolder Q14 and Q13, linked to SDHN# signal
Unsolder PR118, responsible of pulling down 3VEN
Change capacitors C411 and C268 on +VCC_GFX ones
Do you think that this kind of fault maybe is due to the PCH HM65?
I can change it to a new one...
P.S.
There are 2 errors in the HK1 schematics I have:
PR243 is not for thermal protection of PU3 but for PU13
PR156 is not for thermal protection of PQ62 but for PQ32
You can find the previous therm resistors near the respective ICs.
As the owner said, it has never been dropped and no liquid was ever spilled inside, and I think it's true because there are no aethetic damages to the chassis nor internal oxidations in any part of the board, she told me that it started shutting down randomly.
I can switch it on by power button, everything works fine, Win 7 loads and works flawlessly, you can browse folders, files, listen to music and browser the internet, temperatures are in normal values (around 50°C for not loaded CPU, around 70°C after 5 minutes of 100% load ) .
It works both from the battery and from the charger without the battery, the same battery charges both in a shut down state and if you connect the power jack after windows is loaded, though battery voltage is read wrongly both by AIDA and Battery Monitor (3.8 or 4.0 V, but I can measure 12.70 Volt at the battery connector), but after searching on the net, it seems a common problem for this platform, where those softwares can't read properly Voltage values.
Windows sees battery percentage and charging.
The real problem is that the system shuts down on different times in two different ways: most of the times it shuts down when browsing the internet, both on video websites and on normal text sites, but it's not unusual to see it shuts down even when no Internet browser is running, or when it is left alone doing nothing but showing desktop.
It happens both in native Windows 7 and in Win 8.1 .
It's annoying because it can shuts down within 10 minutes or 1 hours or 26 hours, so you have to wait many hours to test if it holds on...
And it can shuts down in two ways:
1- Shuts down immediately screen and power leds, but it still holds +3VPCU
2- Screen freezes (but you can see squares blinking) like the attached image, then after few minutes it shuts down completely as in option 1, and it still holds +3VPCU.
First thought was to the battery pack itself, because on Sony support site, there is a warranty statement about VGP-BPS26A batteries retired from the market because they caused overheating of the laptop or the battery itself, but the system shuts down even without the battery...so I changed the charger IC PU10 ISL88731 with a new one, but the system still shutted down randomly.
These are values of its pins (with red probe to GND) and voltages with battery inserted and charging :
PU10
1 NC - 0.00 - 0.00
2 ACIN 508 - 3.54 - 3.54
3 VREF 758 - 3.14 - 3.14
4 ICOMP 765 - 0.00 - 2.20
5 NC - 0.02 - 0.03
6 VCOMP 764 - 0.11 - 1.87
7 NC - 0.00 -
8 ICM ISENSE 740 - 0.09 - 0.15
9 SDA 510 - 3.29 - 3.29
10 SCL 512 - 3.29 - 3.29
11 VDDSMB +3VPCU 363 - 3.29 - 3.29
12 GND 000 - 0.00 - 0.00
13 ACOK 520 - 4.65 - 4.65
14 NC - 0.02 - 0.02
15+16 VFB 238 - 0.00 - 12.73
17 CSON 146 - 0.00 - 12.74
18 CSOP 146 - 0.00 - 12.74
19 PGND 000 - 0.00 - 0.00
20 LGATE 426 - 0.00 - 1.16
21 VDDP 436 - 4.96 - 4.96
22 DCIN 636 - 18.84 - 18.28
23 PHASE 136 - 0.00 - 14.02
24 UGATE 599 - 0.00 - 16.98
25 BOOT 580 - 4.72 - 18.60
26 VCC 436 - 4.96 - 4.95
27 CSSN 476 - 19.22 - 19.20
28 CSSP 476 - 19.23 - 19.21
The second thought was about the HM65 and its ME part of the BIOS...I dumped the content of the BIOS chip U3 from an external programmer and modified it with a clean ME with the same version 7.0.4.1197, but it didn't solved the problem.
Then I updated the BIOS to the last R0200Z9, and nothing changed.
Then I modified the updated BIOS with a clean ME of 7.0.10.1203 version, the system went up and running but the same problem remains.
Third thought was about the wifi card: it is a combo wifi+bluetooth card and since windows can't drive properly the bluetooth part (Devices manager tells "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43) ) I took it out, tried to work with another wifi-only card, only by LAN cable or even not browsing the Internet, but still the notebook shuts down after a while.
I've also detached all external boards (Right USB board, Keyboard , mousepad and power button board), but still random shutting.
I'm a little suspicious of the screen freezing, so I tested capacitors on the +VCC_CORE and +VCC_GFX, and I found
C411 +VCC_GFX 314uF ESR 0.04 VLOSS 1.1%
C268 +VCC_GFX 313uF ESR 0.04 0.9
C198 +1.05 470uF NA
C251 +VCC_CORE (330) 254uF ESR 0.08 Vloss 1.3%
C228 +VCC_CORE (330) 246uF ESR 0.05 Vloss 1.5%
C221 +VCC_CORE (330) 246uF ESR 0.05 Vloss 1.1%
C246 +VCC_CORE (330) 238uF ESR 0.06 Vloss 1.4%
I thought it was a good idea to change 4 caps on +VCC_CORE with new ones of around 340uF, but didn't change +VCC_GFX ones, and still shutting down randomly.
Next, after searching a lot on the Internet, I found that many problems on these Sony mainboards are linked to UVP protection and Thermal multi circuitry, so I studied them to understand how they work, but please can you explain me better if I misunderstood something?
Firstly I tested if the PU8 circuitry worked well, heating up some of the thermal resistors to 150°C , one at time, which manages the SHDN# signal (PR217 , PR253, PR210 , PR223, PR233, PR224, PR243, PR198) responsible for many thermal interruptions, and the Thermal circuitry worked well, because every heated thermal resistor made system shut down in a similar way as the faulty one.
I then unsoldered PU8 but still the same random shutting downs.
I then unsoldered also U8 (CPU Thermal sensor) and U21 (Audio jack Thermal sensor) but still same problem.
I then found 4 other thermal resistors, (unsoldered them and they measured the expected values), then I heated them the same way as the other ones, but system didn't shut down this way
PR226 470k/04 NTC VCORE hotspot 0.11 - 0.84
PR222 470k/04 NTC GFX Hotspot 0.11 - 0.82
PR218 10k/06 NTC near GFX inductor 0.44 - 0.44
PR225 10K/06 NTC VCORE Phase1 L 1.15 - 1.15
Then I went on studing the "OVP for VEDS" circuitry, and I found another thermal resistor, this one made of a PTC (Positive Thermal Coefficent), PR156.
I unsoldered it, measured the correct value, and soldered again on board.
Then I heated PR156 while the system was on, and after a while it trigger the OVP , shutting the system down but this time there was no more +3VPCU since OVP opens PQ32.
Since all this circuitry is linked to the +3V_RTC voltage, even detaching the power jack and reconnecting it, was not sufficent to normalize the OVP (and to make PQ32 closes again, giving again +19 volt to the entire board) but it is necessary to short the +3V_RTC for a few seconds.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this way I think that I've found that the OVP circuitry is not the culprit in the random shutting down of this board, because when it shuts down randomly (the main problem) PQ32 is still closed and +3VPCU is still working.
In fact, after each random shut down, I can power up the system immediately, and it wakes up.
Instead, when the OVP circuitry is triggered, you can't start the system until you detach +3V_RTC from some seconds.
PR156 470/06 PTC THRM PROT for PQ32 GND - 0.41
Sadly I have no oscilloscope to test Y1 and Y2 frequencies.
I changed CPU, RAM banks and HDD.
Have run memtest for over 40 hours and system didn't gave any errors and didn't shut down.
From a general point of view, it seems to me that some IC (maybe PU14 ISL95831, PU9 PM6686, PU13 RT8207, PU12, PU7, U7, or others) pulls down ALL_SYS_PWRGD (that is VR_ON on PU14) when the random shut down is triggered, but how can I find the culprit one?
Even in frozen screen, I have measured all main tensions (+VCC_CORE, +VCC_GFX, +1.5V_SUS, +1.05V, +3V, +5V, +0.85V) and they seems to be what you can expect.
General measures:
PL8 11 Ohm +1.03V
PQ40 pin3 53 Ohm +0.88V
PL14 311 Ohm +5.07V
PL13 355 Ohm 3.32V
PL12 105 Ohm +1.49V
PL9 22 Ohm +0.31V
PL10/PL11 16 Ohm +0.71V
What I will try next:
Unsolder Q14 and Q13, linked to SDHN# signal
Unsolder PR118, responsible of pulling down 3VEN
Change capacitors C411 and C268 on +VCC_GFX ones
Do you think that this kind of fault maybe is due to the PCH HM65?
I can change it to a new one...
P.S.
There are 2 errors in the HK1 schematics I have:
PR243 is not for thermal protection of PU3 but for PU13
PR156 is not for thermal protection of PQ62 but for PQ32
You can find the previous therm resistors near the respective ICs.
Attached Files
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