Vaio VGN-AR61M - Screen showing vertical lines of dots and dashes.Windows won't Open and Recovery attempts don't work.

[geowilmil]

I have a Vaio VGN-AR61M laptop purchased 2/1/2 years ago as an "as new Sony factory refurbished" product.  All has worked well up until this week when the screen froze and on restart vertical lines of dots and dashes appeared on the intial Vaio screen and on the Windows start up screen. The notebook did open in "Safe Mode" but not in "Normal Mode".  I have tried everything from System Restore to Full Computer Restore using Recovery Disks and following guidance both from manuals and Sony On-line Support. Even after Full Computer Restore was completed the laptop crashes just prior to Windows Vista opening and this just keeps happening. I'm aware that the Nvidia 8400M Graphics Card is proably the culprit and this can't be replaced or updated by an unqualified person but is there anything that can be done to resolve this issue?  Given other Vaio owners comments it now seems likely that the laptop I purchased was originally returned to Sony because of the Graphics Card issue and they've replaced the original graphics card with the same version and sold it on to a third party wholesaler knowing it should at least operate longer than the years warranty issued with the laptop. Hope someone can help.  Cheer  Geowilmil

[tomboy78]

Hi!

I have the exact same problem with my VGN-AR61M the last two days. Sometimes it will work fine for 8-10hours, while other just freezes and won't start unless it is on safe mode. Green lines/dot on startup as well. I am also looking for help about this matter but haven't found anything yet!

Sony should really provide us with some help or replacement as the did for the same graphic card on other models. It's a know issue after all!

[indzosta]

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem with my 3.5 years old VGN-AR61M.

Dots and lines for a couple days, thent it simply died.

[dawestg51]

Hi

i had a problem with my computer and I do not have the recovery CD for this model VGN-AR61M. Please can you help me, I am really desperate as it seems that sony it is not supporting this laptop anymore!!!!