3y old Vaio SZ dies - suspected M/B? - is it worth fixing now or selling for spares?

My Vaio SZ75GN has finally given up on me after pretty much 3 years of solid use. I'd happily stay with it for another year or so to be honest.

It just froze so I powered it off and now when I power it on the LED lights come on but there is no life at all and a blank screen. I have swapped the HDD, CPU and RAM with another laptop and they are all fine.

I may have sat it on a small spillage of beer and turned it on so it may have gotten some beer inside it from the bottom!

I guess the M/B is the issue and the repairers say it will be about £120 if so.

Alternatively I reckon I could get at least that on ebay for the rest of the components and maybe put it towards a new one?

Thanks for any advice...

 

Did you try running your VAIO SZ notebook in STAMINA mode instead of SPEED mode?

 

Motherboard sounds like its dead. Happened to me twice on the SZ series MBX-170 motherboard (LED lights but nothing on screen on boot) figured one of the chips on the mobo probably carked it so no way to recover. Give it a go on Stamina mode first like SPEEDwithJJ said.

The amount they are asking for repair seems reasonable since the motherboard goes on ebay second hand for US$250+. Doing a DIY replacement is a pain, although i am glad i repaired mine to keep as a spare as the SZ still does a good job.

Otherwise recommend just purchase a new laptop.

 

you can make a good bit of money parting out

I've parted out many laptops in the past, sometimes I even made back the original purchase price

 

I actually always ran it in stamina mode as with win7 the speed mode caused me issues. It doesn't work for either anyway now.

Looking at it I could even get up to £200 on parts so maybe this will be my best bet.

I won't give up on it just yet though and will perhaps dismantle further to see if I can identify any damage to parts of the board or maybe some of the other components.

 

To be honest this was one of sonys problem childs i would suggest selling it for parts and getting a new computer. The Sony SZ's have issues with the Nvidia GPU that is why SPEEDwithJJ suggested the STAMINA mode

 

Would you prefer to put this purchase of? If you're looking for another premium laptop it will be an expensive purchase.
If the cost of a replacement is something you don't wish to pay for now may be look for a replacement motherboard.
This seller claims to sell a new motherboard for £200. You can also send them a best offer.
New Original SONY VGN-SZ56/66/67/76 Motherboard MBX-170 | eBay UK

My SZ7 is still going strong, i have always only used the integrated mode. I'll probably pass it on when i get a new laptop. If the motherboard died i would seriously consider replacing the mobo.

Do you have hoousehold insurance because with mine this would be covered under accidental damage and they would cover me for a new laptop.