[criptonite]

Hi, I'm helping a friend who's Sony Vaio VGN-NW212F Laptop running Windows 7 keeps crash dumping. Initially, he was able to use Safe Mode but then it wouldn't even run in safe mode without a Crash Dump on start up.

Since the Sony didn't have any important data or programs on it, I suggested restoring to factory defaults. Half way through the reset process, it crash dumped again. I tried restoring to factory settings 3 more times. Same result each time.

I used the Sony Diagnostic Tools to check all hardware (this ran for about 3 hours). It reported that there were no hardware errors.

The BSOD is only visible for a short period, too short to write down the error reports, but I can tell they are different each time.

I used the linux disti Slitaz to copy My Documents onto an external hard drive and it ran absolutely perfectly. I'm tempted to install Mint to see what happens.

I don't know where to go with this. Can anyone help?

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it could be a overheating problem...
you could take it to shop for a good cleaning
or go to sony's website and get the manual to dissemble it yourself if you think your capable...
if you choose to do it yourself...take your time and make notes so getting it back together isn't a problem...
pay close attention the the cpu fan as that's probably the source of the overheating

[happyrock]

it could be a overheating problem...
you could take it to shop for a good cleaning
or go to sony's website and get the manual to dissemble it yourself if you think your capable...
if you choose to do it yourself...take your time and make notes so getting it back together isn't a problem...
pay close attention the the cpu fan as that's probably the source of the overheating

[criptonite]

If it's an overheating problem, wouldn't it do the same thing when I run Mint from a live disc. I've tried this and it runs fine.

[happyrock]

ok...list everything you've tried and the results so we don't waste each others time...