Taking apart and cleaning Sony Vaio laptop

These instructions will guide you through taking apart your Sony Vaio laptop.

UPDATE: the page I was linking to is gone. Here’s another source for Sony Vaio manuals and here’s one more source.

You can use these instructions for:

1. Removing and replacing the laptop keyboard
You can find brand new Sony keyboards at SparePartsWarehouse. I purchased a few Sony keyboards from them and was very pleased with the provided service.
2. Removing, replacing or just cleaning the cooling module – heatsing and fans
If you laptop runs hot and overheats, it might be not necessary taking it apart. You can clean the cooling module with compressed air without taking it apart. Buy a can of compressed air in any local computer store and spray it inside the cooling module through the holes on the bottom of the laptop. It should take care of the overheating problem.
3. Removing and replacing the CPU
Be very careful with the CPU pins, they are fragile. After you replace the processor, do not forget to lock the socket or your laptop will not start up after you assemble it back.

I’m not sure 100% but I think the above mentioned disassembly guide will work for the following Sony laptops:

PCG-K12FP, PCG-K12P, PCG-K13, PCG-K13F, PCG-K13Q, PCG-K14, PCG-K15, PCG-K15F, PCG-K17, PCG-K20P, PCG-K23, PCG-K23F, PCG-K23Q, PCG-K24FP, PCG-K25, PCG-K25F, PCG-K27, VGN-K20P