[Wayneo13]

I installed Windows 8 on my older laptop a Sony VGN-AW190. I was having problems with the computer freezing up. A tech from Microsoft went on to my laptop and found it was a problem with the video driver. There was no update for the video driver for Win8. The tech somehow turned of the LCD on the laptop and set the laptop to use the external monitor. The LCD works because I would get a flash of start-up then it would go to the external monitor. I got some kind of virus and every time I tried to open a program the User Account Control pops up asking for a password I don't have. There was nothing I could do even with the help of a few people on here and Malwarebytes Forum. I pulled the laptop hard drive and Imaged the HD onto a partition on my other laptop. I wiped the HD. Now I want to put Windows 7 on that HD but I cannot do it on the laptop because the LCD shows nothing. Can I install either Windows 7 or the Recovery CD's on that HD through a USB connection? Do you think that will get the LCD on the laptop working? I called Microsoft and they were no help and told me the laptop worked fine for 11 months so they fixed the problem. I told them about the LCD not working and they did not care of course.

[Advertisements]

Hello Wayneo13

Have you tried pressing the tab key when you power up the computer to see if it brings up a BIOS or a splash screen (it may also be another key such as Del or Esc etc).

The tech somehow turned of the LCD on the laptop and set the laptop to use the external monitor.

If all the tech did was toggle between the screen of the Sony and the external display you should be able to turn it back on by pressing the Fn and the F7 keys down at the same time.

The above does not make much sense because if it was a video chip driver that caused the initial problem then swapping to an external display would not help because the issue would merely be switched to that.

Check out the suggestions above and post back please.

As an asides Wayneo13 can I ask you as a courtesy to let both MR Charlie and Ztruker know whether or not you still require their assistance with those two topics, thanks.

[phillpower2]

Hello Wayneo13

Have you tried pressing the tab key when you power up the computer to see if it brings up a BIOS or a splash screen (it may also be another key such as Del or Esc etc).

The tech somehow turned of the LCD on the laptop and set the laptop to use the external monitor.

If all the tech did was toggle between the screen of the Sony and the external display you should be able to turn it back on by pressing the Fn and the F7 keys down at the same time.

The above does not make much sense because if it was a video chip driver that caused the initial problem then swapping to an external display would not help because the issue would merely be switched to that.

Check out the suggestions above and post back please.

As an asides Wayneo13 can I ask you as a courtesy to let both MR Charlie and Ztruker know whether or not you still require their assistance with those two topics, thanks.

[Wayneo13]

Sorry I just got so frustrated with this I worked with this laptop for three days. I'll get back to them and thank them for their time and effort.

[phillpower2]

Thanks Wayneo13

Any joy with the two checks that I suggested.

[Wayneo13]

Sorry but nothing you suggested worked. I still have a black LCD? No Bios unless it came up and I couldn't see it.

[Ztruker]

What is the make and full model number of the laptop? Normally there is a Fn/F key combvo you can press to switch between the LCD and externbal monitor, often FN+F4. The Users Guide should tell us.

[Wayneo13]

I tried every key combination of Fn and F keys and nothing worked.

[phillpower2]

Here you go VGN-AW190

Wayneo13
As you are not even getting the Vaio splash screen I would suggest that if you can, you connect the notebook back up to the external screen and let us know if that function is still working, if it is, again try pressing down the Fn and F7 keys when you see the Sony splash screen to see if it toggles back to the notebooks own screen.

If the notebook screen remains black please toggle back to the external display and try accessing the BIOS by tapping the F2 key as soon as you see the splash screen on the external screen, you may need to restart the notebook a couple of times along the way to get where you need to be.

If you can get into the BIOS you will be able to check for any settings that may disable the notebooks own display (less likely) + set the boot sequence so that the optical drive is the first boot device and the HDD second, this will at least allow you to be able to reinstall Windows 7, use the notebook and do some troubleshooting.

Just to add, can you please advise us as to what type of Windows 7 disk it is that you have, as in is it a full retail disk, an OEM disk, a downloaded ISO, a burned copy or a back up disk that you made yourself, this to make sure that all the required software is on the DVD/OS disk that you intend using for the install.

[Ztruker]

On some Vaios, you press and hold the 0 key then press the power button. Release the 0 key once the recovery window appears. I can't find anything online that says specifically how to do this which is very strange.



In your first post you said you have Recovery CDs (DVDs actually). If you can't get recovery to work from the hard drive, use the Recovery discs.