# Stop error 0x000000B4



## HOGTYD (Dec 15, 2007)

I have a sony vaio laptop i cant get it to start in any mode, safe or otherwise. nor can I get the recovery discs to work. I'm not a computer wiz. please help.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

video driver failed to initialize 0x000000b4
you may have lost the video chip is the laptop under warranty


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## HOGTYD (Dec 15, 2007)

No Im sure its not, what are my options.


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

Hi.. just 2 questions if you dont mind...

1. Can you still boot to BIOS at least?

2. Does the error come up when laptop begins to start Windows (safe mode or normal mode)?


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## HOGTYD (Dec 15, 2007)

I Can boot to bios will not boot in safe mode, error is in normal mode


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

Hi again....

---- hardware ----
Booting to BIOS -- OK

--- windows ---
Safe Mode -- NO GO
Normal Mode -- NO GO

At this point, I think it could be Windows (related) problem and not your hardware. To check if it is Windows related or not, I suggest you download a linux live CD such as Knoppix or PCLinuxOS. Boot from this CD and run the live CD version of linux. If somehow you still cannot go into GUI mode or encounter error when live CD starts Xserver (assuming error is the same/similar to before), then it could be hardware related already.


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## HOGTYD (Dec 15, 2007)

Where do I find these files


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

You can download from:

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_ionfiles&Itemid=28

The files I believe are ISO (around 700MB in size) and can be burned to CD. You can then use that CD to boot and run linux live (live CD does not install to your hard drive). Once the live CD is up and running, you can then test for the symptoms you encountered when using Windows. 

If you still encounter them, it would probably be your video chip already. 

Should it be a video chip failure, your option is to replace the video chip (if it is not soldered on the mobo otherwise you need to replace the motherboard).


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