# Sony Vaio Repair Manual



## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Hello Everyone,

I have just acquired a Sony Vaio PCG-FX240 laptop for free. Problem is I need to fix it for it to be of any use to me. 

The jack where the power cord plugs into the laptop has come loose from the MB and I need to get it out and try to re-attach the jack. I have found many guides through Google on repairing / taking laptops apart, but I can't find one on this model #. Can someone point me in the right direction, or does anyone know which other models are close enough to this one that a guide for one of them would be useful? 

I do realize this laptop is fairly old, but all I really want it for is so that I can play games online and my wife will still be able to access the internet as well (bonus for me, I was also given the wireless card with the laptop  )

I know there are companies that will do this repair however I am not willing to spend the $100.00 to $150.00 plus shipping that it would cost. If I manage to get it running again on my own fine, if not, that's fine as well.......

Any insight to doing the actual repair to the power socket would also be appreciated :up: 

Thanks in advance.....


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Did you find any for Sony? If so just use one that looks similar as the procedure will be very similar. I usually don't spend too much time looking for manuals when I do this sort of thing, sometimes it just has to be done without any manuals or guides. Just make sure to keep track of where all the screws came from, I usually have containers with a note of the location or number of the screw(if you look at the screws they are of different sizes and have a unique number assigned to each size/location, ie. P3). Then give yourself a lot of time with no interruptions. You'll end up stripping the entire laptop apart to get the mainboard out and resolder the jack.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

I found a guide for a FX210. It looks very similar, so I plan on starting there. I have no problem just tearing into it myself, but I figured if I could find a guide I would have at least an educated start  

As far as the jack goes, Can I remove it just by taking the old connections off and reconnecting it? This is what I plan on trying....anyone have any experience doing MB repair?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

In most cases it has just broken off and needs to be resoldered. If its borken then you'll need to get a replacement from an electronics store.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Thanks Triple6, thats what I figured........The hardest part is gonna be getting it apart, never did one before so it will be a learning experience ........Anything in particular I should watch out for taking this thing apart?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Make sure you know which screws go where, nothing worse then using a longer screw and shorting something on the mainboard. Also be carefully of the ribbon cables and wires when disassembling parts.

Remove the battery first then the CD, floppy and hard drives. The keyboard will also need to come off before the base will come apart. And its likely the LCD panel will need to be removed too, if not for need then for ease of working on the base.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Thats basically the same order that the manual I found says.

On the cables....some of them look awful flimsy (thin)....do they break easily...they certainly look like they do...........

As far as the screws go I have an old multi compartment screw bin I was going to use to keep track of them...that shouldn't be a problem...


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

They don't break easily, but the clips that hold them in can and its easy enough to drive a screw into them too if not being careful.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Thanks again. I am going to open it up tonight after the kids are in bed (nothing better than trying to work on something that small with a 9 year old and a 6 year old hanging over your shoulders  )

I will post back with results.....or questions  tomorrow or maybe even later tonight.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

OK, I have removed the MB from the laptop. Now the power connector....Can I just melt the solder off the leads and pull the jack out of the MB? It looks like they are broken inside the connector itself, as far as a can see anyway, they look intact where I can see them. I won't know more until I get it off the board. I have some pics.

Can I just melt the solder off those pins and pull it off the board? ( top right corner of 2nd pic)

Oh, and if I can, would somewhere like radio shack be able to get me a replacement? If not where can I get one?


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Well, I think I made some progress. To start with, this isn't what I expected when I started this little project but when do you really get what you expect? In researching the fix for a broken power jack I had found jacks that were soldered to leads right on the bottom of the MB and jacks that had wires out the back and then the wires were soldered to points on the bottom of the MB.

In this case there are 3 leads (metal tabs?) that come out of the bottom of the jack and go into holes in the MB and are soldered in place on the bottom. (2nd pic). I started by trying to melt the solder and remove the jack so I could inspect the tabs (metal pins) for cracks ( the jack would wobble on the board). I had assumed that one of the pins had broken.

During the process of trying to melt the solder and remove the jack (which never happened, all 3 pins need to be removed at the same time and I guess I don't have the right equipment to do this) I had melted the existing solder and it had rehardened. I now notice that the jack is no longer loose on the board. Could the solder have cracked bad enough that it would have affected the connection between the jack and the board and all it needed was for the solder to be reset to fix the connection? 

The original problem was that the jack seemed loose and the laptop would only get power if the power plug was held to one side and eventually this stopped working as well.

Please bear with me as I have never attempted a MB level repair or ever even worked on any kind of circuit board of any kind. If anything above doesn't make sense please let me know and I will try to clarify. I do not want to put this all back together for nothing. Like I said the jack is no longer loose but if there is something else I should try before putting everything back please let me know.

EDIT: And I only burned myself once the whole time . Got over anxious about removing the jack and got my finger. 

EDIT: Update....OK so I put everything back together and it isn't fixed...I made some progress (very little), it is back to working if I push and hold the plug in pretty hard. What would be the best way to get the old solder off of the connectiions so I can see where they need to be connected to and fix them? Being I know I didn't break it taking it apart I want to try again.  

thanks


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

This is the right way way to do it: http://www.abra-electronics.com/catalog/solder/desp.html

The wrong and cheap way is to heat it up and blow it away(to the edge) with compressed air if you don't have one of those and can't get one..

Its possible that one of the traces is broken near the jack. Or the center pin of the plug is broken.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Thanks Triple6. I knew there had to be a tool like that but I didn't know what it was called. I am going to order that and try again once I get it.

Can you tell me where I would be able to find a replacement jack? I have no idea what to look for or where to look. If I can buy a replacement jack I want to just put the new one in rather than trying to re-seat the original one.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If there's a local electronics store they may have one. Best thing to do is take it with you. Or you could see if a local computer store can order one for you.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Cool, Next question.....Does the replacement have to specify that it can be used as a replacement for the Sony part, or is it ok if it meets the same requirements (voltage etc.) and plug size?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Plug size and pins have to match, but it doesn't have to be a Sony specified replacement part.


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

thats good to know, I hope that someone around here can get it for me.


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## tkim6599 (Apr 21, 2006)

acameron said:


> thats good to know, I hope that someone around here can get it for me.


http://cgi.ebay.com/DC-Power-Jack-f...796688258QQcategoryZ31534QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I would be *very* interested if you could post how you got to the mobo, as I have the same Vaio and am contemplating the same repair. I bought that part and cannot seem to open the laptop case. Any help would be appreciated!


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Thanks for the link......:up: Did you receive the part yet?

It is fairly easy if you take your time and don't mind working on small stuff. I started with this guide here, http://myplc.com/sony/ once you get the keyboard, DVD Drive, and HDD. you need to take the LCD Screen off (this is not part of the guide), You need to take the four screws out of the back of the laptop and then there is one long screw in through the bottom of the laptop at the corner. Once you have those out there are 2 screws inside the laptop, one at each corner of the screen, that hold the metal supports of the screen into the base of the laptop. Once you have those out the screen and hinge assembly will lift out of the base, there is a ground wire and the connector that connects the screen to the MB make sure you disconnect those before lifting the screen off.

You have to remove the screen to get the cooling fan assembly off the MB and processor. And yes the fan assembly has to come off as part off it covers the top of the power jack, and there are screws that hold the MB down to the base under there as well. The screen had to come off 1st because the 1 screw at the back of the assembly is under the bottom edge of the screens hinge assembly and can't be removed with the screen still connected. Be careful lifting the Cooling assembly off the MB, it has a thermal pad between it and the processor and on mine it was like they were glued together. It took some gentle pulling to get it off the processor.

after all of that you just have to remove the rest of the screws from the MB and it will lift out. Like Triple6 told me earlier, it is very important to keep track of where all of the different screws go, it can get very confusing if you don't sort and mark the different screws and their correct placement.

To put it all back together you just do everything in reverse. I may have missed a screw or so in this description, as I am writing this from memory I don't have the laptop in front of me, but it isn't very hard as long as you take your time, you are not going to get it apart in 15 minutes, it took me 1 - 1.5 hours to get it apart and then another 45 min to put it back together.

I am looking at this jack, says it fits the FX240 and the seller has good reviews. http://cgi.ebay.com/Laptop-DC-Power...ryZ31534QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Although I have never bought off EBay (I have never trusted it) I guess this will be my first purchase from them as I can't find a PC shop around here that will even try to find the part for me, or an electronics parts store either. (All of the PC shops told me they would replace the MB though  for way too much $$ and that it is the only way to fix the problem, yeah right, this is why I build my own PC's now).


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## tkim6599 (Apr 21, 2006)

Well, I went ahead with the repair. And I definitely see why they charge $100+ for the repair - taking the laptop apart is a pain!

In order to do it, I used the PCG-FX 210 service manual, which I got from http://www.myplc.com/sony/docs/service_manual_fx210.pdf and I used the pages one by one, taking out screws and pushing them into the pages of the manual so I would know where each screw was. The manual also describes the color of each screw - gold, black, silver, etc., so this helps a bit. This didn't work perfectly, as I have a few screws left over, but it helped mostly.

Two things:

1) When you take the fan/heatsink off the processor, it would be good to scrape off the adhesive and apply either heat sink paste when you replace the heat sink. Arctic silver would be overkill, and there's quite a bit of space between the sink and the CPU, so it probably wouldn't work anyway.

2) Be VERY VERY CAREFUL when taking out the LCD cable from the MB. One of those very thin wires broke while I was taking it out, and had to delicately tweeze the two ends together and then apply a bit of solder. Absolute kludge, but it worked.

The part that I bought from ebay was an absolute perfect fit. The solder joints on the motherboard looked fine on the old power jack, so I'm guessing that the jack itself was broken.

It took about 2 hours from start to finish. It would have gone faster had I not had to tweeze those two wires together. But I'm happy that it works fine, and appreciate your info!


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Cool, that gives me hope for mine as well.....I have a feeling that my problem is with the jack as well, not the MB.

And, yeah good call on the thermal paste replacement, I have removed the thermal pad on mine as well and added paste, I forgot to mention that in my post  

As far as screws being left over I didn't have any...hopefully6 they were not very important  

I have ordered the jack off Ebay and the De-Solder pump from earlier in the post....once I get them I will be taking mine apart again and hoping for good results


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## moorken (Mar 3, 2007)

the link below links to a website where you can find some detailed information about some vaio manuals, maybe you find where you are looking for there...

Vaio Service Manuals


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