Vaio fj270 wont boot to windows stuck with a blinking underscore

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First, check and make sure there are no CD's in the CDrom player. Also, check an make sure there is no external storage devices, such as a flash drive, external, etc.

Advanced troubleshooting tips:

· First troubleshooting - When you turn the laptop on, are you able to see the splash screen? This would be the computer manufacturer's screen display that usually shows a picture but may also be text and usually appears right before the Windows logo screen. If the answer is yes, then more than likely, the operating system is corrupt. This can be caused by several things including viruses, power surges or hardware failure. If your computer hits the windows screen and reboots back into a loop, this is also signs of Windows being corrupt.

Solution - Take the hard drive out of the laptop and slave it to another working desktop computer to retrieve your data. You may need a special cable for this because the laptop hard drive is smaller than the cable in a desktop. This process can be done, taking precaution that both computers are off while slaving the hard drive. After you attach the hard drive, turn the desktop on, it will read it like another drive and you will be able to pull all of your information from it. You only want to grab the user files, not other data and run a scan to rid of viruses. Then attach the hard drive back on and reformat it.

· Second troubleshooting - If you hear the operating system chime but do not see a picture and all the lights are on, then this would indicate that the back light on the screen is out. You can test this simply by hooking the laptop up to a monitor and see if you get a picture. If the computer screen shows on the monitor, then your back-light is out. If it doesn't show up then your video graphics card is out.

Solution - If the back light is out, it is easier to order a new screen (new or used) from eBay and just switch out (simple process and you can find a replacement for under 50 dollars on eBay). If it is the video graphics card, then you can also purchase one from eBay and switch out (a little tougher because you have to take the top of the laptop off). You can get assistance with this from the manufacturers website (service manual) and pull specs for free.

· Third troubleshooting - To test the battery, take the battery out of the laptop and turn on with just the adaptor. If it boots, then the battery will need to be replaced. There is no way of testing the power adaptor but 85% of the time, this is the problem. Even if lights come on, the adaptor sometimes gets so overheated that it silently goes out but gives just enough power to make the lights come on. The power adaptor can be found on eBay for under 20 dollars and is cheap enough to replace (first) to make sure that is not the problem. The battery can also be found on eBay for under 60 dollars.

· Fourth troubleshooting - If you do not hear any beeps and the above solutions did not work. Then your motherboard has failed. This can be caused by surges or dust. You can purchase a replacement from eBay for a fraction of the cost and replace (this is tough and I am not sure if they have specs for this). You can do it yourself, just be sure and put everything back together as it was.