Big Vaio Problem

[Airdog]

Hello, I recently purchased a laptop off of somebody (Sony Vaio PCG-FX340) and about a 3 weeks into the purchase I ran into a major problem.

The computer froze and displayed a couple of vertical lines in the LCD screen. Upon trying to reboot the system it would turn on, and basically do nothing. I cannot access the BIOS or anything. The light turns on, I get a very small noise from the HD and nothing further.

The weird thing is that one day I went to turn it on again and it worked, and then a few hours after using it it did the same lock up routine and it hasn't recovered from it yet.

My virus program (McAffee Online) was fully updated so it definitely couldn't have been that.

I've opened up the system, and I noticed that the fan spins on the initial few seconds and then shuts off immediately.  One thing that I've thought is maybe the system thinks it's in sleep mode and puts itself asleep immediately.  I've looked at the cables and it looks like they're going on right.  

Does anybody have some suggestions as to what the heck is going on? I don't want an expensive paperweight!

[query]

Reseat the battery, memory module(s) and any PCMCIA or PCI cards in the system.  If that doesn't work, chances are you need a Sony repair shop.

[trav]

Welcome to Poasters, hope you enjoy it here!

[Airdog]

Thanks a lot for the immediate answer to my question - I'll try it out.

[Airdog]

Just wanted to let you guys know that the solution that you provided worked right away - thanks a lot.