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This is a computer I was given that I had not worked with before. The owner said that it made weird noises and failed to boot intermittently before finally not starting anymore.

A first step would be to access the BIOS, in order to boot from USB, to examine the computer. But the default keys (see below) have not worked.

How is the BIOS accessed in a Sony SVE151C11M? After pressing the power button, the screen remains unpowered and the hd-led starts blinking.

The procedures given in these two SO-links and the comments, namely

  • ASSIST button to power on
  • ASSIST button, then power button to power on
  • ASSIST or POWER button to turn on, then F2 or F3
  • ASSIST to power on, then spamming F2, Fn-F2, F3, Fn-F3, or Del
  • removing the HD and retrying ASSIST [Fn]-F2, [Fn]-F3, Del

have so far not worked. An attached screen shows no input signal.

Could this be another problem, namely a screen or mainboard failure?

UPDATE: the hd works ok in an external enclosure, so as @Richie Frame said, it is probably a motherboard error. See also this post.

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serv-inc
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As @Richie Frame pointed out (this is actually his answer, so he might wish to post one), the problem was probably a broken motherboard. The points by which to recognize it were

  • the screen was blank
  • the hd worked ok after removal
  • (none of the BIOS screen combinations worked)
  • an external screen showed no signal (otherwise, it could be graphics-related)
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