How to take apart Sony Vaio VGN-S360P and replace broken power jack

In the following guide I explain how to take apart a Sony Vaio VGN-S360P laptop and replace broken power jack (aka power connector or DC jack). I’m not sure if this guide will work for the entire Vaio VGN-S line or laptops but I think it will be pretty close. If you have a different Sony Vaio laptop and these instructions work for you, I would really appreciate if you mention your laptop model in the comments for benefit of other readers.

My reason for taking it apart is replacing the broken power jack but I will remove all major components so you know how to do that.

First of all, turn off the laptop, unplug the power adapter and remove the battery.

You can search for spare parts for your Sony Vaio VGN-S360P laptop here.

Remove two screws securing the cover on the bottom. Under these cover you’ll find laptop memory and wireless card.

This model has two memory slots accessible from the bottom but unfortunately you cannot use regular notebook RAM modules. You’ll have to use PC2700 DDR333 microDIMM. I believe you can install 1GB total. Up to 512MB module into each slot.

If you are replacing the keyboard, remove only two green screws and proceed to the next step. These two screws secure the keyboard.

If you are taking the whole thing apart, remove all screws – red and green.

There are two spring loaded latches above F4 and F12 keys.

Carefully release these latches with a small flathead screwdriver.

After the latches has been released, you can lift up the keyboard as it shown on the picture below.

Turn the keyboard upside down and place it on the palm rest. In order to remove the keyboard you’ll have to unlock the connector first.

Remove the keyboard.

Remove four five screws securing the top cover assembly. (I forgot to circle one screw which is located on the right side from the touch pad cable).

Unplug two speaker cables (green), the touch pad cable (red) and the power button board cable (yellow).

Here’s a closer shot on the speaker connector.

Now you can lift up and remove the top cover assembly.

The top cover assembly has been removed.

Remove two screws securing the hard drive assembly. Unplug the hard drive cable from the motherboard.

Remove the hard drive assembly. If you are replacing the hard drive, you’ll have to remove the mounting bracket with the cable and transfer it to a new drive.

Before you can remove the CD/DVD drive, you’ll have to remove the PC card slot.

Remove one screw securing the slot and unplug it from the motherboard.

Remove the PC card slot assembly.

Remove four screws securing the CD/DVD drive assembly to the laptop base. Unplug the cable.

Remove the CD/DVD drive assembly. If you are replacing the drive, you’ll have to transfer the face plate with the cable and mounting bracket to a new drive.

Remove three screws securing the CPU heat sink.

Remove the CPU heat sink.

If the heat sink is clogged with dust blow it off with compressed air.

Remove two screws securing the DC power jack. Remove the mounting bracket and release the jack.

As you see on the picture below the power jack in my laptop is broken in two pieces. I’m going to replace it with a new power jack. I will unsolder the broken jack and solder a new one.

Before you install the heat sink back in place, you’ll have to apply new thermal grease on the top of the CPU.

 

 

Static electricity can kill your laptop. I recommend wearing an anti-static wrist strap while working with internal parts of your laptop.

 

If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!

 

 

39 Responses to “How to take apart Sony Vaio VGN-S360P and replace broken power jack”

1. 1
   Faraz Ahmed Says:
   November 5th, 2008 at 5:15 am

   I bought my laptop a month back, and no it is not new, i bought it used so there is no warranty.

   The problem is that it does not charge the battery. When I insert a fully charged battery it works fine, but when i insert the ac adapter it does not charge.

   The local repair shops cant find the fault and they have returned it to me.

   please suggest something……

2. 2
   JimmyD Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

   Your DC power port is broken.

3. 3
   Laptop Repair Tech Says:
   November 7th, 2008 at 10:31 am

   Thanks JimmiD, I have noticed that.

   Your DC power port is broken.

   That’s exactly why I took it apart. I’m replacing the jack.

4. 4
   kevin Says:
   December 4th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

   is the power jack and the dc power board the same thing?

5. 5
   Laptop Tech Says:
   December 4th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

   Kevin,

   is the power jack and the dc power board the same thing?

   I think you are talking about two different things. The power jack is the socket itself – the connector in which you plug in the AC adapter.

6. 6
   ctam Says:
   December 11th, 2008 at 1:01 am

   Hey, great reference site. I’m also need to replace the power jack but can’t you replace the jack as well as the wires and the connector all the way to the motherboard? If you can do that, then it would eliminate the soldering step. I don’t have a replacement jack yet so I don’t know exactly what’s included with this part.

   Thanks much.

7. 7
   Laptop Tech Says:
   December 11th, 2008 at 8:52 am

   ctam,

   I’m also need to replace the power jack but can’t you replace the jack as well as the wires and the connector all the way to the motherboard? If you can do that, then it would eliminate the soldering step.

   Absolutely! You can replace the whole harness (power jack and cable) without soldering if you can find the harness. It make the repair process much easier. Simply unplug the old damaged harness from the motherboard and replace it with a new one.

8. 8
   donski Says:
   December 31st, 2008 at 8:58 am

   Hi,

   This is a nice guide, indeed! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an answer for my problem & the pictures didn’t show the part i’m interested in…

   I have a question about the wireless switch located in the bottom right corner of the s-series. Something went wrong with mine and now it slides in either direction without the usual click & of course to no effect whatsoever… My guess is that it’s a physical issue – it might have somehow popped out of place, though the laptop was sitting on a flat surface & I hadn’t moved it for several hours when the failure happened. I tried to switch it with the screen down by sticking my finger in the little gap that remains when the laptop is closed – maybe that wasn’t a good idea. Would anyone have some info on what the little plastic slider looks from below & should I try disassembling the laptop to try fixing it myself?

   thanks in advance

9. 9
   Henry Truong Says:
   February 26th, 2009 at 9:32 pm

   Thanks so much for this how to it help a lot.

10. 10
    Marty Hankins Says:
    March 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Thanks so much it helped a lot

11. 11
    ken Says:
    March 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    i just need to swap out my broken cd rw/dvd drive and install a new dvd r/rw drive; i also want to add memore and ram. do i need to go through all the preceeding steps to remove the optical drive?

    thanks

12. 12
    Laptop Tech Says:
    March 3rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    ken,

    i just need to swap out my broken cd rw/dvd drive and install a new dvd r/rw drive; i also want to add memore and ram. do i need to go through all the preceeding steps to remove the optical drive

    Unfortunately, yes. The optical drive is mounted inside the laptop case, so it’s necessary to remove the top cover assembly. You’ll have to disassemble the laptop because there is no easier way to replace the drive.

13. 13
    Pete Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 11:08 am

    how do you unlock the connector on the leyboard cable?

    thanks

14. 14
    Randy Sun Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    Hi,

    I took apart my Sony VGN-S360P to replace a fan. I did it successfully. In an unrelated incident about 2 months later I had many horizontal lines appear on my screen in 5 columns of different widths. Thinking it was a loose video cable I took the laptop apart again and looked at the video connector. It was intact and fine. To reinsure it was plugged in fully I pushed on it and it remained secure. I put the laptop back together and it does not turn on anymore. All screws and connectors are where they are supposed to be. However while I was inside the laptop examining all the components, I notice a tiny little spring (about 2 mm in length and about 1 mm wide with one leg of the spring bent out in a 90 degree angle with a loop on the end and the other end looks like a stepped wire shape) lying on the corner of the laptop located just back of the fan. Does anyone know what this goes to? Does it have anything to do with the laptop not powering up?

    Any help would be appreciated. You may email me at sigma AT mchsi DOT com.

    Thanks!

15. 15
    Randy Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    Pete,

    The keyboard cable is “pinched” in place with a clamp type connector. If you would place your finger along the side of the brown colored connector and with a slight amount of pressure applied, pull up and push simultaneously. This will cause the hinge to rotate towards the cable hence releasing it.

16. 16
    Erin Says:
    March 24th, 2009 at 5:55 am

    I am wondering if the instructions for replacing a Sony Vaio VGN-S360P broken power jack will work for a Sony Vaio PCG-GRT250? If not can anyone direct me to where I can get the instructions to do so? Thank you!

17. 17
    Gerry Says:
    March 26th, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    My S360 has a couple of buttons with weak springs that will soon fail altogether. The power/hibe/standby button above the keyboard and the left click button below the keyboard are sagging and floppy. A parts dealer tells me I need to replace the entire palm rest in order to fix the left click problem….. for $130!!!! The other button is apparently available seperately and costs about $15. Do I really need to replace the entire palm rest?

18. 18
    Laptop Tech Says:
    March 29th, 2009 at 10:40 am

    Gerry,

    A parts dealer tells me I need to replace the entire palm rest in order to fix the left click problem….. for $130!!!! The other button is apparently available seperately and costs about $15. Do I really need to replace the entire palm rest?

    On some laptops the touchpad button is a part of the top cover assembly. If one of the touchpad buttons is not working properly, it’s necessary to replace the whole top cover assembly.

19. 19
    Gerry Says:
    March 31st, 2009 at 6:46 pm

    Thank you for your reply Laptop Tech and thank you for this excellent resource website!!

20. 20
    thanks Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    Thanks for the guide and pictures.
    I have a few minor corrections to the instructions for new readers: when removing the keyboard, turn the keyboard over and place it on the palm rest, not “Turn the laptop upside down and place it on the palm rest”. Also, there are 5 screws for the top assembly, not 4.
    Someone has already commented about the keyboard connector, but don’t be worried when you first flip the latch. I thought I ripped the cable off of a connector, but there isn’t a plastic connector on the keyboard itself–it’s just the ribbon cable with some exposed pins. To reconnect the keyboard, put the connector back in the slot with the latch flipped up, and then hold the connector in place a flip down the latch.

21. 21
    Laptop Tech Says:
    May 7th, 2009 at 8:08 am

    thanks,

    I have a few minor corrections to the instructions for new readers: when removing the keyboard, turn the keyboard over and place it on the palm rest, not “Turn the laptop upside down and place it on the palm rest”. Also, there are 5 screws for the top assembly, not 4.

    Thank you for letting me know. I corrected the instructions.

22. 22
    JOSE F. Says:
    May 13th, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    hi,i have vgn-360P and i have a problem, i want to reinstall my windows xp SP2 but when i restart de pc and press any key to start the instalation it begins to install till it aks if i want to install windows i press “Enter” and the pc turns off, it seems like it’s blocked to not let me install the windows, can anybody help me?

    sorry for my bad english

23. 23
    george Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 2:04 am

    i was given a VGN-S150, and the problem is it does not power on and the original owner doesn’t know what happened, how do i diagnose the problem pls help

24. 24
    Laptop Tech Says:
    July 19th, 2009 at 12:36 am

    george,

    i was given a VGN-S150, and the problem is it does not power on and the original owner doesn’t know what happened, how do i diagnose the problem

    First of all, test the AC adapter. Maybe it’s bad.

25. 25
    Paul Says:
    August 18th, 2009 at 9:39 am

    I’ve got a vgn-s360. I recently replaced my hard drive and re-installed windows and associated programs. When I put everything back together and turned it on, it all seemed to be working except for the touch pad and R/L click buttons, wifi switch and light panel near switch. After taking it all apart again and reconnecting speaker cables, touch pad cables, and power button cable, the computer wouldn’t even turn on. I’m confident that I didn’t damage any of the cable plugs, but I guess I can’t be sure.

    Any suggestions to troubleshoot and/or of a place to get a whole new replacement keyboard panel including the cables, etc. ?

26. 26
    Laptop Tech Says:
    August 18th, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Paul,

    I recently replaced my hard drive and re-installed windows and associated programs. When I put everything back together and turned it on, it all seemed to be working except for the touch pad and R/L click buttons, wifi switch and light panel near switch.

    Make sure all cables are properly connected to the motherboard. Sounds like a connection related issue.

    After taking it all apart again and reconnecting speaker cables, touch pad cables, and power button cable, the computer wouldn’t even turn on.

    Again, check the connections and make sure memory is seated correctly.

27. 27
    joe Says:
    August 20th, 2009 at 11:17 pm

    My daughters laptop keyboard was not working as keys started to drop out (not work) intermittently.

    I called Sony Canada about the situation. I went through 6 operators without any solution.

    I was offered to have it fixed for 300- 500 dollars. Then I found MTC in Ontario and ordered a keyboard cheaper than Sony. Yes it is original parts.

    So I get the keyboard from MTC. I ask Sony for a service manual. Seems Sony thinks these manuals are some kind of top secret document.

    I find the right manual on a Russian web site and download it from Rapidshare.

    Heres where it gets good. I dismantle the laptop and the quick connector for the keyboard is not locked in place.

    That’s right NOT LOCKED DOWN. The keyboard connector cable just jell out of the non locked Jack.

    No wonder the keyboard was having intermittent problems. How was it suppose to work (wireless or something, sarcasm).

    So I’m out 70.00 bucks for your manufactures defect.

    You owe me 70.00 dollars Sony plus my time.

    Not impressed at all. I will be dam sure to tell all how Sony Canada treats there customers.

28. 28
    Paul Says:
    August 21st, 2009 at 8:17 am

    First of all, thanks for the response.

    I made sure everything is connected correctly. I’m thinking it must be a damaged cable. What do you mean by “make sure the memory is seated correctly”?

    If all else fails, can you recommend an online or retail shop that sells new top covers? Sony sells replacements, but they’re like $90. I was hoping to find something cheaper

    Thanks again!

29. 29
    kumar Says:
    October 13th, 2009 at 6:02 am

    Hi,

    I also have a broken power jack on my VAIO VGN-FS830/W. I went online and tried to buy a power jack. But all the pics show a jack with center hole. Pretty much like the one you showed here. But the jack on my laptop looks like it has 2 pins sticking out in stead of center hole. Online sellers refer to my model number and show the one with center hole. I would appreciate your help in this.

    Thanks

30. 30
    oitsweetheart Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 9:59 am

    Seems like the DC power jack connection is the weakest link in my Sony laptops. I have a VCN-NR123E Sony Vaio laptop model and am having the oddest experience in getting the keyboard off. Insteand of seeing two clips above F4 and F12 there are 4 clips at the top and something in the middle of the keyboard. So getting the keyboard off is where I need some advice. In terms of the remark kumar made the 2 pins sticking up is what is left of the original jack. Kumar needs to replace the DC power jack connection…ebay has some of the cheapest replacements for this solution. (Usually $10 or less) However, you still need to take apart your computer to get to the power jack and do some soldering. As it is a SONY you may hear at repair shops that they won’t work on them because of the name. Thus this website is a great place to learn and see how to fix it yourself.

31. 31
    kumar Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 6:31 am

    oitsweetheart,

    Thanks for the response. You r correct. The repair shop seams hesitant to work on my laptop. I don’t understand why they dont like to work on sony though. Anyways this is a great website.

32. 32
    Allan Says:
    November 7th, 2009 at 4:58 am

    Hi,

    Great article, I was able to use it to take the cover off on my vgn-s580 to try and replace my broken fan, but not quite sure how to remove the two screws that are diagonal to each other, they just have have a tiny hole in them. From the last picture, you can probably see the screws I’m talking about, they are left of the fan.

    Any help is appreciated,

    Allan

33. 33
    kumar Says:
    November 16th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    Hi,

    I replaced my power jack. everything went well. But when I tried to start the system back. I got the message OS couldn’t be found. IN BIOS the Hard drive,Floppy drive, optical drive are not detected.I am worried that I might have lost the data. How do i fix it.

    Thanks
    Vinod

34. 34
    Laptop Tech Says:
    November 16th, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    kumar,

    I replaced my power jack. everything went well. But when I tried to start the system back. I got the message OS couldn’t be found. IN BIOS the Hard drive,Floppy drive, optical drive are not detected.

    Not sure why you are getting this problem.
    Access the BIOS setup menu and try loading default settings. Safe settings and restart the laptop. Can you access your hard drive now?

35. 35
    kumar Says:
    November 17th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    Tried to put the default settings in BIOS. Didn’t change anything. Still shows the error.

    Thanks
    Vinod

36. 36
    Kumar Says:
    November 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Problem Solved. removed the harddrive and put that back in. works great. I am going to make a donation

    Thanks a lot for the help.

37. 37
    gareth Says:
    January 9th, 2010 at 8:47 am

    hi,
    i have a sony vaio PCG-9J1M laptop and need to replace the power jack but unable to find specs or s/n for the replacement part to buy from a electrical retailer, can anyone help with what type and where i could buy one of these?
    thanks gareth

38. 38
    alfred Says:
    January 28th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FW235J i accidentally ripped off the red cable. So i order a new part of the sony company and i open it up and plug out the old DC Power Jack and replaced it with a brand new one. Now my laptop doesn’t charge. Everything works find except it doesn’t charge at all and for sure its not the battery or the power adapter. Help anyone?

39. 39
    Kristin K Says:
    March 7th, 2010 at 10:51 pm

    check out this comprehensive guide for repairing a Sony Vaio issued by Comcast: http://home.comcast.net/~nw_systems/vgnT.pdf

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