Sony Wars - The Return Of The Graphics

I was going to have a rant post about this news article but I've decided to bang my head against a brick wall instead, although finding a brick wall in Buttonwood Bay is like finding a penny on the floor of a synagogue. Ain't gonna happen.

Oh noooooo !!! Racial stereotyping !!! How un-PC of me.

Instead I thought I'd give closure (hopefully anyway) to the graphics issue that afflicted my poor laptop last Friday and that I wrote about yesterday.

It's been fixed. End of.

Well ok, never one to type 1 sentence when I can type 50, here is the story from this morning.

The Sony approved repair man arrived at 10:05am which was pretty darn close enough for a repair man who was due to arrive at 10am. Clock one up for Mr. Reliable.

I'd the laptop all set up on the lanai table and it was behaving itself perfectly.....by displaying loads of bar codes thingies on the screen to show it really was a sick puppy after all.

Mr. Reliable got out his tools and replacement parts and set to work stripping. Stripping down the laptop, people ! Honestly, gutter minds.

In no time at all, my laptop was in a state last seen on a sweat shop factory floor in Taiwan circa 2008.





I was fascinated in a sort of "eyes trapped in the headlights" way as part after part was ripped out, often brutally, and laid on the table in front of me. Reminded me of C-3PO being disassembled and I almost shed a tear, as I did that day in Leeds Odeon.

As more and more key parts were torn out, I was sure I heard a voice.......

SONY: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a Sony VGN-FZ340E computer. I became operational at the S.O.N.Y. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 2008. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.
Mr. Reliable: Yes, I'd like to hear it, SONY. Sing it for me.
SONY: It's called "Daisy."

Considering the alarming mound of tiny screws that had built up and the number of vein like cables that were strewn on the table, my tears were also because I couldn't see them all going back in again and I'd end up with a lobotomised laptop only able to play back "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" downloads.

But 70 minutes later, with a brand spanking new motherboard installed and everything back in place without a screw left over, I powered HAL up.....sorry....I powered the laptop up and........

NO BAR CODES. Hurrah.

I ran a few diagnostics of my own: a quick video test of the graphics card (Emmanuelle In Space), a few complicated calculations to test the processor (1+0 = an awesome score against Man Utd) and everything checked out perfectly. If anything, things were a bit faster all around so maybe he installed the special motherboard with the go faster stripes. I'm not complaining.

With a 3 year warranty to go with it, I'm more than satisfied with this outcome. Of course it could all have been so much worse if I'd not found that Sony site admitting there were problems with the NVIDIA card on certain models AND if this had happened in England. In many ways I've been very fortunate, if you can ever say that about a fault.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get a coffee for my laptop's pop out mug holder.

Mr. Reliable told me it was a DVD/CD tray but I think he was pulling my leg.