Here’s how I upgraded the hard drive in a Sony Vaio PCG-V505DXP laptop. This laptop had an older 60GB 4200RPM IDE hard drive (Toshiba MK6021GAS). The original hard drive failed and I decided to upgrade it with a faster one.
I upgraded the laptop with an inexpensive 120GB 5400RMP WD Scorpio IDE drive (WD12000BEVE) and it works like a charm.
The drive replacement procedure is pretty simple and here it is.
In the following guide I’ll explain how to remove and replace the keyboard on a Sony Vaio PCG-FXA63 laptop. I assume this guide will work for some other Sony Vaio PCG-FXA series laptops.
Also, you can use this guide for accessing and replacing the hard drive, DVD drive and cooling fan. All three could be found under the keyboard.
This guide will help you to remove and clean both cooling fans and heat sink inside a Sony Vaio PCG-GRT170 notebook. In order to access the cooling module (fans and heat sink) you’ll have to remove the keyboard, so you can use this guide for replacing the keyboard too.
Why would you need to clean the cooling module?
Let’s say you are experiencing the following problems:
1. The keyboard and the bottom of the laptop are very hot.
2. Cooling fans work all the time and make a lot of noise.
3. Your laptop shuts down on its own without any warning or error message.
This guide will help you to remove the LCD screen and inverter board from a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ645 laptop display. I think these instructions will work for many other Sony Vaio models.
Do not forget to remove the battery before you start.
This excellent disassembly guide published at LaptopLogic.com explains how to remove the keyboard and replace the hard drive on a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ series laptop. Unfortunately, you cannot access the hard drive from the bottom of the laptop, it’s necessary to remove the keyboard. The hard drive is located under the palm rest.
If you want to replace the keyboard, you can find a new one using this part number: 1-479-647-92. Be very careful when you disconnect the old keyboard from the motherboard.
This guide will help you to take apart a Sony Vaio VGN-S460B laptop. The main idea of this guide is replacing the internal memory module and hard drive. In order to replace these parts, you’ll have to take the whole laptop apart.
On this laptop, there is no access to the hard drive without removing the keyboard and a lot of plastic. There are 2 memory slots, but only one is accessible from the back cover. The other must be accessed by removing the keyboard.
1. Removing keyboard.
Follow steps 1-4. Be very careful when you disconnecting the keyboard from the motherboard. You can find a new keyboard using this part number: 1-479-166-21.
2. Removing internal memory module.
You can access the internal memory slot under the keyboard if you remove the cover shown in the step 5. Carefully remove the original 512MB memory module and replace it with a new one.
You can install maximum 2GB into this laptop, up to 1GB into each slot. Use either PC2-3200 or PC2-4200 memory modules.
3. Removing hard drive.
In order to remove the hard drive, you’ll have to remove the top cover as it shown in the step 9.
The hard drive is in the lower-right corner of the machines base. There are four screws holding the hard drive enclosure in place. Remove these screws, and the drive cable from the motherboard.
This laptop comes with a 80GB SATA (Serial ATA) 5400RPM hard drive. You can easily replace it with a bigger and faster SATA drive.
The following disassembly guide will explain how to take apart a Sony Vaio PCG-K series notebooks. I created this guide while taking apart a Sony Vaio PCG-K25 notebook but I think you can use the same disassembly steps for all notebooks in PCG-K line.
The main reason to open up the laptop was replacing broken power jack. Proceed disassembly on your own risk.
Update: I just created a new guide for Sony Vaio PCG-K series laptops. It explains how to remove and replace LCD screen with inverter board.
Before you start laptop disassembly, unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery.
This guide will help you take apart a Sony Vaio Z1 series notebook. In this notebook all so-called user replaceable parts such as memory module, hard drive, DVD drive, etc… are hidden under the top cover making them hard to access or even find.
These instructions explain how to take apart a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ220 series laptop. I had to replace the DC-IN power jack because it was broken. The jack is soldered to the power harness and can be easily replaced if you have basic soldering skills. Use this guide on your own risk.
This guide published by www.laptopsockets.co.uk explains how you can replaced the CCFL tube a.k.a. backlight lamp inside the LCD screen removed from a Sony laptop.
WARNING! This guide is only for experienced technicians. The CCFL tube is located INSIDE the LCD screen. In order to replace the CCFL tube you’ll have to remove and disassemble the LCD screen. You can damage the screen during the disassembly process.
Backlight failure symptoms:
1. Your laptop starts with a reddish tint on the screen and after a while the image returns to normal. Most likely this is CCFL tube failure.
2. White color on the screen has a red tone. After a while the backlight turns off. You still can see the image on the screen, but it’s very faint. Most likely this is CCFL tube failure.
3. The backlight randomly turns on and off without any pattern. This could be inverter failure or CCFL tube failure.
4. Your laptop starts without backlight. Everything works fine with an external monitor, but the image on the laptop screen is barely visible. This could be inverter failure or CCFL tube failure.
5. Your laptop starts without backlight. You can light up the screen for a while if you tap on the lid close switch. This could be inverter failure or CCFL tube failure.
Possible solutions:
From my experience, screen inverters fail more often then CCFL tubes.
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