Vista Automatic Shutdown

[nihil]

It turned out my power supply degraded and became insufficient to keep the whole thing powered up when it started reaching full loads.

Not that.............the OP has said that it isn't load related and the machine is well specified and only a year old. I know it is running Vista, but it has 4GB RAM and 256Mb of video. It isn't one of those garbage boxes they sold when Vista was first released

Also, try unplugging the laptop for a bit and see how fast the battery runs down. If it is in 2 hours or less, then you probably have a bad power source.

Afraid that won't tell you much...............running on mains only for a year and batteries can be of variable quality to the extent of exploding or catching fire.

Also, the SMU might need to be reset if you are running a x86 chip.

Not easy to do on a Sony Vaio running Windows Vista?...........PMU/SMU are Apple technologies AFAIK.

If the machine will run in its original state then it is OK.

This does sound like the monitor.

1. Try different connection cables/types
2. Look in Windows to be sure that the video settings are supported.

EDIT:

Bit of a long shot, but did the monitor come with its own "drivers" and have you loaded them?

Also, is it recognised correctly by make and model?