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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.
Are you looking for spare parts for your Sony Vaio PCG-K series notebook? Search here.
STEP 1
Carefully remove the keyboard bezel using a small flathead screwdriver. Remove it slowly, there is a flat ribbon cable connecting the power button board with the motherboard.
STEP 2
Trun the keyboard bezel upside down. The red arrow pointing to the connecto on the motherboard.
STEP 3
Unlock the connector by lifting up the top side of the connector 1-2 millimeters. Be very very careful. If you break any connector on the motherboard you are screwed big time. After the connector is unlocked, you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard bezel.
STEP 4
Remove three screws from the keyboard.
STEP 5
Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest. Unlock the keyboard cable connector on the motherboard. Disconnect the keyboard cable and remove the keyboard.
STEP 6
Remove all screws securing the metal cover.
STEP 7
Remove the cover.
STEP 8
After the cover has been removed, you can access and clean both cooling fans. You can clean fans with compressed air.
STEP 9
Remove two screws securing display hinges to the back side of the base.
STEP 10
Remove four screws securing display hinges. Unplug the video cable from the motherboard. Unplug both wireless card antenna cables from the wireless card.
STEP 11
Lift up and remove notebook display panel.
STEP 12
Remove hard drive cover, memory cover and modem cover from the bottom of the notebook. Each cover is secured by one screw.
STEP 13
Here’s how you can remove the hard drive. Remove four screws securing the hard drive caddy to the base assembly. Slide the hard drive down to disconnect it from the motherboard. Lift up and remove the hard drive.
STEP 14
Removing memory modules (if needed). Carefully spread latches on both sides of the memory slot. The memory module will pop up at 30 degree angle. Pull the memory module from the slot by the edges.
Removing modem card (if needed). Remove two screws securing the modem card. Lift up the modem card to disconnect it from the motherboard and unplug cable from the side.
Remove all screws from the bottom of the notebook
STEP 15
Remove two screws securing the top cover assembly. Disconnect the touch pad cable connector on the motherboard and unplug the cable.
STEP 16
Lift up and remove the top cover assembly.
STEP 17
Push the CD/DVD drive to the right side with your thumb. Remove the CD/DVD drive.
STEP 18
Remove three screws securing the plastic cover.
STEP 19
Remove the cover.
STEP 20
The power jack is hidden under the metal bracket. Remove one screw securing the bracket.
STEP 21
Lift up the bracket. Now you can access the power jack.
Release the power jack. Now you can remove the old power jack (unsolder from the harness) and replace it with a new power jack.
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March 29th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Angel,
Looks like a stuck ; key. Have ever experienced a problem with that key before?
Turn on the laptop and tap on the ; key rapidly. Will it stop typing?
March 28th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Brilliant step by step guide! Just remember which screws are which and where they go back lol. I followed this guide as my laptop was overheated and full of dust. Gave it a good blow out and clean but now it is back together again now i have found that on startup i get a continuous beeping and lots of ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; continuously typed automatically??? Should i open up my laptop again and see if it’s somethin to do with the keyboard lead? Thanks in advance
Angel xx
March 26th, 2009 at 5:27 am
Great step by step tutorial on dissembling. I am optimistic that you might be able to help me.
Currently my problem is that my sony vaio pcg k25 laptop system is running when I turn it on( I can here it) but the monitor is blank, (resembling a laptop not turned on). The last time I turned the system on,the monitor displayed multiple horizontal lines of all types of colors and when I restarted the laptop, only to experience a blank screen even though I can hear and am assuming the system is on and working.
I have inserted the self made sony vaio recovery disc into the CD rom hoping that the system migt reboot from the disc and it would fix itself but no luck.
My girlfriend has suggested it might need to have the battery replaced but I don’t know that for sure.
I will share with you that I recently bought an Acer 6930 to “testdrive” b/c the Sony Vaio has a wicked spyware/malware that I could not seem to remove. I was going to transfer all my data to the new Acer and start new from there.
I created an Acer backup recovery disc, forgot to label it and realised I had placed it in the Sony vaio CD rom by accident. Could that be the problem or is it a battery issue or something else.
Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Butch
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Caitlin,
1. Make sure the hard drive properly connected to the motherboard. Could be just a connection related issue.
2. Enter the BIOS setup menu and try loading default settings.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Crash,
Probably the keyboard is bad and has to be replaced.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Sergio,
Most likely it’s just a bad keyboard but also could be a problem with the keyboard controller, which means you’ll have to replace the motherboard. I would definitely try replacing the keyboard first.
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:15 am
I recently replaced the Power jack and after having it replaced, i went to turn My Sony Vaio PCG-384L (specifically model VGNGZ140E) I get the error message “Operating System not detected.” When I go into BIOS, it shows that it doesnt detect a hard drisk drive. (It states “NONE”) I lost a couple of screws while fixing my Vaio, but they are only ones holding the back plastic shell on. What can I do to check to try to find out what is causing the problem
March 22nd, 2009 at 5:03 am
Hi,
I have a PCG-K27, and I can’t get keys-UIOPJKLM and the numbers-7890 to work. I had to load windows on the hard drive using another laptop. I went into the BIOS, and tried changing the setting for the keys, but no luck. Everthing eles seems to work ok. Thanks, Crash.
March 20th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Hello, I have a Dell latitude cpx I know is an old laptop but still works pretty good,and have a little problem with the keyboard, when I hit the A,F,B and some others keys they show with a number next to it like A1, B8, do I need to replace the keyboard? don’t know what to do.
Thank you
March 19th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Instead of just changing the resolution to save time on battery …. the selection to disconnect battery was made are there any tips.. The computer will fire up and show a screen for a second and then it flashes another screen (which I do not have time to read) and then just shuts down. Any help with this biggie??
March 19th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Hi,
My PCG K37 had issues similar to what TEM described. It will power up and stay on if it is on the BIOS screen. On Safe mode with Command Prompt too, it will stay on for a long time. When I boot up to regular windows XP, it will shut down after about 5 minutes and sometimes even before that. Will it be sufficient to try to blow out the dust without opening the laptop or should I try to open it first and then dust it?
March 11th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I have a PCG K315Z with a 60gb harddrive, split into 30gb C & D drives. I want to install a 320gb Harddrive purely for more space. Do you replace it as shown in the diagram?
Also which 320gb Harddrive would be suitable for my model?
Another problem I’m having is very noisy fan when working, any ideas?
March 9th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
The fan does fully speed up withing one minute of turning on.
Will
try to blow out the dust!
March 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
TEM,
Could be overheating. Apparently, the heat sink is clogged with dust and the laptop simply shuts down because it’s hot.
You can clean the heat sink with compressed air. Spray it into the grill on the back side of the laptop. It will clean it temporarily and should be enough for installing the OS.
If it helps, probably you’ll have to lift up the keyboard, so you can access both fans and clean it from there.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Back to reinstalling a new drive into my K37. I ordered a Samsung 160GB “IDE” (
). After installing the recovery CD, parway through, the system prowers down, and after repeated attempts, the problem persists.
I can boot into the BIOS, and the systems stays on.
I can boot off a Linux CD, and the sytems stays on.
??? Install a HD, and atempt to recover, the system powers down.
Suggestions?
March 7th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
[...] By the way, in one of the previous posts I explain how to access the power jack. There are four screws securing the display bezel (mask) to the LCD cover. These screws are hidden under four rubber covers. Two black covers on the top of the bezel (marked with yellow squares) and two white covers (marked with red squares). [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
TEM,
you can try sparepartswarehouse.com
They sell parts for Sony laptops.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:45 am
OK will I fat fingered the reinsatllation of the power ribbon cable (step 2 and 3)and need to oeder a new cable (I was careful and did not damage the break any connector or the motherboard) … any suggestions about where to order, part number and aprox cost for this?
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 am
TEM,
You are linking to a SATA hard drive? Are you sure that your laptop came with a SATA drive?
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
Shwan Bosen,
Probably it’s a bad inverter.
I’m not sure where the lid close switch on this model is located, apparently it’s hidden somewhere inside the case so you cannot easily access it.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
First, no surprise that my K37 performance have become progressivly poor and has been oporating VERY hot.
The performance latency can be atributed to a failing and the 80gb HD finaly failed last week.
So before I perform a major disasembly and mess with the Heat Sync and Fan, I’d like to start by relaceing the dead 80mb OEM with a larger HD.
I spec’d out a Hitachi 250GB Travelstar 5K250 SATA 5400 RPM.
What concerns me is the power. The Travelstar 5K250 drive seems to meet the requirments of the K37(below).
http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/products/travelstar/5K250/
Power
5.0v
1.8W read/write
0.55W low power idle
Power Requirement
+5 VDC (+ -5%)
Startup (W, peak, max.)5.0
Seek (W, avg.)2.2
Read / Write (W, avg.)1.8
Performance idle (W, avg.)1.7
Active idle (W, avg.)0.8
Low power idle (W, avg.)0.55
Standby (W, avg.)0.2
Sleep (W)0.1
Should I look forward to plug, play snd walk away or…any issues I may run into???
Thanks
March 1st, 2009 at 9:41 am
I have a PCG-K33 and I have had the same problem with opening the screen up and you see everything there, but no backlight. It had happened one time before and after shutting and closing it it came back up lit up. Someone here posted the lid connector made need cleaning or the backlight inverter. How can I clean the lid connector? I know its not in the hinges as you stated, and could be the backlight invertor, but kinda want to start with the basics first and then take to a tech for the inverot if all else fails?
February 27th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Chris,
Do not remove the heat sink if you don’t have to.
If your laptop overheats, try cleaning the cooling module (fan and heat sink) with compressed air.
Lift up the keyboard as it shown in the step 4 and spray air inside the fan until all dust is gone.
You remove the heat sink only if you want to replace it with a new one or apply new thermal grease on the processor.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I just have to remove the screws labeled 1, 2, and 3 to remove the heat sink? Then I just pull up?
After that how would I clean the heat sink?
Then I will have to use a flathead to separate the heat sink from CPU. I will have to apply new grease? How much does this grease cost from where?
Thanks!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Hey,
what a great guide!!!
Thanks for that
But now I have a little question:
My DVD-drive seem to be broken.
Now I want to replace it (Matshita UJ-820D), but I can’t find an inexpensive drive (for example at ebay).
There are a lot of other Matshita drives (UJ-820B), but not one UJ-820D.
Now I need to know, whether it’s possible to replace the drive with an other model (like the UJ-820B) or maybe an other manufacturers model.
Does someone here have experiences with this?
Thanks in advance,
Winnewupp
February 24th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Thanks Allan,
If you have an older laptop most likely the CPU WILL COME OUT ATTACHED TO THE HEATSINK. You can carefully separate the CPU fro heatsink using a flathead screwdriver.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
My Vaio won’t accept the password. After using it, i leave it came and tried to log on with the password it would not come on.
February 15th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
PS: Hey Gary,
The CPU & heatsink assembly can be removed pretty easily while at step 8 (a few people posted above about this). See LaptopTech’s post near the top… post #20
The catch is… if your laptop is somewhat old, the CPU most likely WILL COME OUT WITH YOUR HEATSINK. Mine did anyways. Once at step 8, the only thing needed is to remove the three screws on the heatsink assembly and CAREFULLY pull strait up. It will take a little bit of force to remove the CPU from its locked socket…
After you get them out, you have to separate the CPU from the heatsink. Be careful not to damage the mating surfaces. Also, after you get them apart, be sure to clean off the old thermal compound with some rubbing alcohol before applying new grease…
February 15th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
This guide was awesome! Many thanks… I was able to clean out and re-set my heat sink (had my PCGK33 for ~4 years now)…
Lots of dust came out, also the thermal grease had turned into “cement” rather than glue (as a previous poster mentioned)… Had to use a small flat-head screw driver and hammer to separate the heat sink from the CPU!!!
Everything works fine now though… applied new thermal grease, fan speed & noise has decreased… many thanks!
February 14th, 2009 at 12:23 am
I have been an electronics tech for more than 22 years, and licensed by the FCC with my GROL. This information is so important because most manufacturers don’t want anyone to know the how to’s, or the fixes. The manufacturers want you to send your computer to them for repair. I want the take this time to thank the folks for keeping this information available. Thank you very much. You saved me around $140.00 bucks including the inverter.
sincerely yours
Dave aka techman007