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This guide will help you to remove and replace memory, hard drive, optical drive and keyboard in Sony Vaio VGN-FE series laptops. As an example I took a Sony Vaio VGN-FE855E laptop. All these parts can be removed without opening the laptop case.
If this guide works for your Vaio, please mention the model number in comments below. This will help other users with similar laptops.
STEP 1.
Turn off the laptop and remove the battery.
Remove the memory and hard drive covers from the bottom of the laptop. Each cover is secured by two screws.
If you are removing the keyboard, you’ll have to remove one screw (green) securing the keyboard.
STEP 2.
Remove two screws securing the hard drive.
Slide the hard drive to the left to disconnect it from the motherboard.
Lift up the hard drive and remove it from the laptop.
The hard drive is mounted inside the caddy.
Remove two screws from each side. These screws securing the hard drive to the caddy.
Remove the hard drive from the caddy.
In my laptop I had a 2.5″ 120GB SATA hard drive installed. This hard drive can be replaced with any other larger 2.5″ SATA hard drive.
STEP 3.
In a Sony Vaio VGN-FE laptop both memory modules can be access from the bottom.
In order to remove the memory module spread latches on both sides of the slot until the memory module pops up at a 20-30 degree angle.
Pull the memory module from the slot by the edges.
This Vaio laptop can take up to 2GB memory. You can install up to 1GB memory stick into each slot.
Use DDR2 PC2-5300 or faster SODIMM modules.
STEP 4.
Remove three screws securing the optical CD/DVD drive. Pull the drive from the laptop.
If you are replacing the optical drive, it might be necessary to transfer both mounting brackets and the face plate to the new drive.
STEP 5.
Remove three screws located in the battery compartment. These screws are securing the speakers cover.
Start removing the speakers cover with your fingers.
Carefully release and lift up the right side of the cover.
Continue removing the cover with your fingers. It might take some time. It’s harder than looks on the pictures.
The speaker cover has been removed.
STEP 6.
Remove four screws securing the keyboard.
Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest.
Now you can access the keyboard cable connector. The keyboard is connected to the motherboard.
Before you can remove the keyboard, you’ll have to unlock the connector and release the keyboard cable.
In order to unlock the connector, move the black clip about 2 millimeters to the direction shown by two arrows. The click must stay attached to the white base. Now you can release the keyboard cable.
WARNING! If you break the connector, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard OR use the laptop with an external keyboard.
Remove the keyboard and replace it with a new one if needed.
Need a keyboard replacement? You can buy a brand new keyboard here.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
August 11th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I have Sony Vaio VGN-FE790 and it looks very similar. I have only 1GB RAM installed and want to upgrade to 2GB. I will order new memory soon and use your guide. Thanks!
August 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Good-morning,
I cannot express how delighted I am coming across your website. I mean it is a god-send! I know you are very busy but please this is an S.O.S.
I bought a Sony VAIO Laptop with this serial number VGN-NR52B barely a year ago. The warranty just ran off! I woke on Monday to use it but it didn’t respond at all. I coudn’t switch it on.
I took it to a computer repair shop, who called Sony, which said that the memory is bad. That it will cost $600 to replace. The memory number is HYMP112S64CP6-Y5 PC2-4200 DDR2 SD-RAM 533MHZ SO-DIMM. I have checked with Amazon Japan and the price is below $20.
Can I change this myself? Please can you guide me? Thank you! I don’t mind paying for the consultation! Have a beautiful day!
September 4th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
hi,
i have a sony vgn-fe770g and would like to change the palmrest/touchpad. i just got the part today. please can you guide me ? thank you so much
September 5th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I have a Sony VGN-FE790G and need to replace the LCD screen. I have removed the four hidden screws at the corners but the frame (bezel) still locked by something else. Can anyone help? Thanks!
September 5th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I did it.
Beside the 4 screws, the bezel is held by several plastic latches (4 on each side and 2 extras on the bottom side) snapped into the frame. The bottom end, on my laptop, the bezel was also taped to the screen frame in the middle. I’ve forced the latches out and broke 3 of them on the top end. But, I think this is no big deal. The latches just to hold the bezel close to the screen. I can fix it by taping (double side tape) the bezel to the new screen’s frame as it did at the bottom side before.
There is helpful documentation I’ve found HERE and download the service manual for VGN-FExxx model. The documentation lists how to disassemble the whole laptop. To disassemble the LCD screen, I just removed the KB cover (Step 11 and 12). Then, jumped to step 16 to disassemble the screen. Dismount the monitor and base of laptop is important. If I’ve read this document and dismount the monitor part from base first, I might save all the latches.
Now I am going to remove the LCD screen from the cover.
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:08 am
Please, Can you said me where is the CMOS battery.
I have this model and is imposible find it…
Thanks.
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
You forgotten that there is a screw in the bottom of the laptop that fixes the keyboard and it is necesary to remove it if you want ti remove it. I almost break my keyboard. My model is a FE41Z
But apart from this, it is a great guide, congratulations
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:56 am
Javier,
Thank you for your comment. I fixed the image and instruction. I did forget one screw securing the keyboard on the bottom. I mentioned that in the step 1.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Alberto,
I don’t know off the top of my head. It’s possible that CMOS battery is soldered directly to the motherboard, like in many other newer laptops.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Good lord thank you. . . may i ask if you can make a “how to disassemble vgn-fe lcd” my display is kinda garbled so i hope i can check my lcd connector through opening the lcd and check the display
October 29th, 2009 at 5:13 am
Hey this looks great. I need to replace my CD/DVD drive on my FE31Z and i think i can do it myself now with these instructions. Thank you!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Helen,
Shouldn’t be very difficult.
Find a new DVD drive and follow step 4.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Hi, I have an incorectly sized memory card stuck in my memory card reader. Could you advise of how i could go about talking this out as i cant use my memory card at the moment.
Thanks
November 7th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Steve,
I guess you installed a Sony card into the SD slot?
I usually use a dental pick to get them out.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Thanks, for the help. I actually did use a dental pick and was able to get it out.
Appreciate the swift reply.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Hi there. What a great page! I have had a problem with the keyboard on my FE31Z since udpating the BIOS (to version R0172J3) ahead of a Vista installation (in line with Sony instructions). It is possible that the timing is a coincidence and I’m trying to figure that out. The problem with the keyboard is that the k, b, a, s, . and down cursor keys do not work. I have tried all sorts of solutions without success. What I’d really like to do is restore the original BIOS – though I don’t know the version number, before trying a replacement keyboard (or at least checking whether anything funny has happened to the connection etc.) Given that I have done a system recover and am back to XP with a wiped-clean hard drive, I think it can only be the BIOS or a hardware problem. Any advice? (I’m currently using a USB keyboard without a single problem. The inbuilt keyboard does not seem to work in the BIOS environment.) I’m feeling very stupid right now, not knowing what to try next.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:45 am
GBHFish,
Did these keys fail right after the BIOS upgrade?
Man, to me that sounds like the keyboard failure but I’m not sure 100%. If it happened right after upgrading the BIOS, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
Unfortunately, the only way to find out what is causing the problem is testing the laptop with another known good keyboard.
By they way, maybe you should try reconnecting the keyboard cable on the motherboard. Could be poor connection. Be very careful with the connector if you decide to try that!!!
Do they have a few different versions available? Can you go one step down?
November 10th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Thanks for your really rapid reply. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure when the keyboard keys failed. It could have been after reflashing the BIOS or it could have been a bit later. I’ve spent hours installing and reinstalling various OSs so I’ve rather forgotten when I first noticed the problem! One thing I’ve noticed is that the keyboard does not work properly in the BIOS environment, so perhaps that also points to hardware failure rather than anything else. I’d like to go one step down with the BIOS but I don’t know what version number that would mean, nor where I would be able to find the BIOS. The Sony support website is not very good – and they don’t seem to provide an e-mail address for enquiries!
Is reconnecting the keyboard to the motherboard a very risky maneouvre? You have given strong warnings – and I really don’t want to end up with no hope of having a functioning keyboard!
Thanks again!
November 10th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
GBHFish,
Not really, I’ve been doing it a few times a day for 5 years.
Just be careful with the locking clip, do not separate it from the base. If you are careful, everything should be fine.
Most likely it’s either bad keyboard or there is a problem with the keyboard controller on the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
It feels like a hardware related problem. I don’t think that a new BIOS version (recommended by Sony) would cause that problem.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:11 am
Again, thanks. In fact, I’ve kind of decided it must be a hardware problem because the malfunction is not always present. In other words, sometimes the k, a, s etc. keys work properly. Presumably, they would never work if the problem was the BIOS. So I’ll take the keyboard off and give it a good clean and check the connection. If that doesn’t work, I’ll get a new one and try that. Meantime, the USB keyboard is working fine. I suppose I could just get a docking station and monitor and work off that – we don’t actually wander round the house very often with the laptop in any event!
November 16th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Update: keyboard now working fine! I took all the keys off the keyboard and cleaned underneath – it was pretty filthy. I then took the keyboard out of the laptop and reconnected it – more for the sake of completeness really because I think the connection was fine. Put the computer back together and it has worked fine since. So the problem was completely unrelated to the Windows 7 installation or BIOS update that I initially blamed. I’m now working on a laptop that has had its hard drive wiped clean and that is fresh as a daisy. Just the long re-installation of software etc. to go! So I think the malfunction did me a favour. Thanks for giving me the courage to play around – and the confirmation that the software changes were probably irrelevant.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:29 am
GBHfish,
I’m glad you got it working. It must have been very very dirty keyboard.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
How do you replace the Nic card in my Sony VGN-FE55QG. It’s either the Card or the switch and don’t tell me it’s an on board NIC would be just my luck.
Thanks L55
November 19th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Lester55,
In most laptops the NIC card is soldered to the motherboard. There is no switch for the NIC card. Maybe you are confusing it with the internal wireless card?
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 8th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hi I need to replace my optical drive. I found this page really helpful. I have exactly the same Laptop VGN-FE855E. Can you tell me how to remove the faceplate from my old dvd drive?
January 10th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Hi, I have a VGN-FE660G laptop and the face of the laptop is cracked all the way to the inside corner, the screen works well (not damaged) but i would like to replace the entire part (frame) were can i find the part? can you guide me?
January 10th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
hello, also the cd/dvd drive does not work it scratches my cds…is there any way that it could be replaced with a blu ray one?
January 19th, 2010 at 3:42 am
Hi,
what a great page and how helpful !!!
The power jack of my VGN-FE 41M is broken and needs to be replaced. I already opened the laptop according to your instructions, but it was unclear if it is possible to change the jack without detaching the keyboard as well as the motherboard temporarily. So I closed the laptop again and decided to ask you for some good advice / comment.
Thank you / kind regards
January 20th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
lansie,
The power jack is mounted inside the laptop. You cannot access the power jack without removing the keyboard and top cover assembly. You’ll have to disassemble the entire laptop.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Hi
laptop Tech,
Thanks for the fine disassembly guide, used it to completely pull apart, a FE41M trying to find out why it will not start. Changed the on / off switch with another (not sure if known good) but the symptoms remain the same. Detected +19.5 vdc at power jack (at the point where jack enters the motherboard) but still no lights, no fan, no action. Is there a series of troubleshooting steps that i can use to determine where i have lost power? Thanks again for a fine tutorial.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:37 am
Thank you so much for your guide. I managed to change the keyboard of my european FE11M. It’s difficult to unlock the connector and move the black clip ! But now it works fine.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:05 am
I have an FE31H which prooved to have a faulty Wireless LAN on/off Switch. I always had to try hard to turn it on. I mean, it was moving to On position but the switch itself wouldn’t make the “contact”.
So i removed the back cover (first remover the dvd drive, hard disk and covers), i slightly lifted the motherboard at the WLAN switch point, located the switch and dropped 2 micro drops of pure alcohol. Then i switched it to on/off many times for the alcohol to do its job, left it a couple of minutes, put it all back together and the switch is finaly working perfectly now!!!
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:07 am
Hi,
wonderful guide! You saved my day! My daughter threw a cup of hot chocolate in my laptop… Most the keys didn’t worked anymore since then… but today I’ve replaced the keyboard using your guide.
Thanks a lot again.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:28 am
I’ve just removed the keyboard, thanks to your photos. Someone who shall be nameless, spilt a spoonfull of Meusli in it, (bound up the cursor keys beautifully! I’m dunking it in distilled water overnight, to see if I can soak it off – followed by a very long and gentle dry-out phase. We’ll see if it works, and if not, thanks to your links, I can buy a new keyboard.
You’re warnings about removing the speaker cover carefully, (and gently,) are invaluable. Without the photographs I would have assumed I was going to break it and given up early on. A thin polythene spatula helped unfasten the many ’snaps’ under the cover. Also be carefull you don’t get anywhere near the speakers when probing underneath to unship the latches and ease the ’shoulders off the body patiently. It’s easy to rush this stage and break them ‘cos you think you’re nearly there. They have a forward facing hook which has to be released with a lifting rotating motion. It was also very nice to know which screw fastened the centre of the keyboard. As you say, if you force it you break it! THANK YOU.
May 25th, 2010 at 6:06 am
Hi, thanks for the instructions, they are really useful. I have a question though. I want to clean the cooling fan, do I have to unscrew everything that is on the back to take out the case? I don’t want to mess up anything. Thanks again.
July 16th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
My FE has a battery problem. Basically Windows XP (SP3) shows the “plugged in” icon only, even though the battery is safely in. When I click on this icon, it tells me that i have “#1 battery 99%” present. If I then click on that blue-battery icon, I get the details of the battery. So it would seem that XP knows that I have a battery but shows the “AC plugged-in” icon only?! And get ready for this, if I remove the AC adapter, the laptop switches off.
Have you come across this problem? This is my 2nd battery within my 4 years of operating that laptop. Some suggest that there’s a faulty component on the motherboard. Others say that the BIOS or ’something’ runs a count-down before disabling the battery. I have updated my bios to R0200J3 but the problem is still here. Is Sony f*cking with us?
July 17th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Natasha26,
Yes, I’ve come across this problem but… you cannot tell what is causing the problem until you test the laptop with a known good battery. It’s either bad battery or motherboard failure. Probably bad battery.
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I have a friends VGN-FE790 who set the bios password and doesn’t remember what it is, I’ve followed your instructions looking for the cmos battery to try disconnecting to clear it. Any ideas where that battery could be and/or how to reset the bios maybe with a jumper or ??? Any help is greatly appreciated!
August 8th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I have a Vaio VGN-FE550G. I bought it new and it came with a 100GB HDD. The HDD died and I am trying to upgrade it to a WD 500GB. The PC does not do anything when I power it on. The caps lock, print screen, number lock buttons are lite up as is the power button. The power indicator light on the front edge of the laptop is also lite. The HDD indicator light shines for about 2-3 seconds and goes out. I am not certain the drive is spinning at all. When I put the old 100GB drive in it at least “ticks” and the indicator light is on so I know the laptop itself should be ok. What am I overlooking? I thought I researched this pretty well in advance but am stumped. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
August 26th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Hello,fuller9box i have same problem with sony vaio vgn-fe31h,where i cann find complete new motherboard for this laptop