BIG hardware prob with VGN-Z

I bought a VGN-Z series off someone from Gumtree.
Inspected the machine before buying it, working fine. I knew he had issues with the WiFi, which had stopped working. Was accepting that I might or might not get it to work with driver update/replacement of WiFi.
Took the machine home, replaced internal HDD with SSD.
All working fine for a couple of hours while away from mains power, until all of a sudden the machine shuts down all power and goes dead. Remains dead when connected to charger. Turn it around a couple of times and put the battery back in and out a couple of times as well and it comes alive again. But not for long: Lift it and it goes dead again. Now getting worse: not even after the turning around business it would come on until ages later.
WiFi was revived, but remains flaky, sometimes is there, sometimes gone (including in System Info). Ethernet port seems to have the same problem.
When I take out battery and connect it to mains only, the problem is the same.

I don't think I damaged anything when opening it. I've done that to that particular model many times before, but maybe there's something for me to look out for?

This one is probably one for the engineers, but as I only paid 400 pounds for it, it would not make sense to spend another 200 or 300 on a repair, so I'm a bit lost about what to do with it.

Any words of wisdom much appreciated!

 

Judging purely from the fact that the thing turns off whenever you move it, I would guess that the machine has suffered from a drop of some sort. Closer to the 'significant' drop category, in my opinion. Slight chance of water/liquid damage but since you didn't mention any corrosion... Hence the drop assumption.

As for WHY the machine flicks itself off. There could be a loose power connection, or worst-case scenario a PCB could be cracked causing bad electrical flows. The first thing I would try and check out would be the above. After that, the CPU. It may have damaged pins or the CPU socket may be damaged. Or maybe even the fan-heatsink assembly may have a bad power connection, considering the fan is the heaviest important piece in the machine (after the HDD and optics). Regardless; try re-seating the CPU and see how that goes.

For the WIFI. Again, might be a bad connection resulting from a drop. And again, try re-seating the wifi card (a mini PCI on the left side of the machine, by the modem) by taking it out and putting it back in securely into the PCI slot.

Not trying to get you hacked off, but the chances are the original owner knew about the said problem (ie a possible drop) and may have played dumb. But I guess you can't do too much about it since it was bought as a damaged machine.

The solution:
If the issue is related to a loose power connection, check the flex cables and wires to see whether they are secure and stationary.

If all that fails, I recommend sending it to Sony (no-one else) and ask for a DIAGNOSIS. That is, check what is wrong, a possible solution, and the costs that may be involved. Nothing else like the actual repair. Shouldn't be too expensive for just a check-up, and from there you should be able to decide where to go. A nice wee investment I'd say...

I would think the motherboard is bad. If it is, it will not be cheap to replace.

All that said, good luck.

EDIT. THE VERY FIRST THING YOU COULD TRY. Tried recovering and restoring to the factory OS installation? Or maybe a clean install? I mean, do the sudden turn-offs occur only in the current OS or at any time? Because you can try a BIOS update if not already done.

 

Thanks for the answer!

I think the damage is somewhere on the left hand side, where the WiFi board, LAN and power connector are. Given that the computer stays on when it's on and I don't touch it, I wonder if the CPU and its seating might not be at fault.
What is strange is that in the first hour when I got the laptop there was no power problem, but when I opened it up and closed it again to put the SSD in, the problem started (although only hours later, and it switched back on without problems). But now it's so bad, i only need to lift it one mm and it cuts out.
I'm inclined to believe the seller that he didn't have any problems other than the WiFi, though he might not have mentioned a drop. He also refunded my £60, bringing the price down to £340. So if (when) the laptop goes back up on eBay, I hope it won't get a lot less than that, given that screen, HDD, battery etc are all in good condition.

I'm a bit fearful to do more damage than good when opening up the machine again to look for a fault, but I guess it can't get that much worse, given that at best the WiFi cuts out, and it will need to remain stationary to stay switched on.

By the way, I did a clean install of Win 7 after the SSD went in.

 

Meanwhile I've done some more reading, and saw on some other posts that people had the same problem, without dropping the laptop.
Nobody posted a solution though!

 

Well... First, eliminate one variable at a time. You said the problem started after you 1) opened up the laptop and 2) replaced the HDD with the SSD. So, since you cant revert 1) (and you said you were very careful and have a lot of practice opening the VGN-Z's) why not try replacing the SSD with the HDD again and see if it works. I'm not sure why it would, but there's always the chance maybe the SSD was hooked up wrong or something of the sort.

Also, if you can get it running again, go and run some diagnostic tests from BIOS.

 

Things have taken a turn for the worse.
I replaced the WiFi card to see if that would make a difference, but now the computer won't come on at all any more.
More worrying is that when I put the battery in or connect it to the mains, the disk starts spinning up (I put he original disk drive back in), without me pressing the power button, but no power lights, screen or any other signs of life.
Guess it's Sony service now

 

I was going to say what Achusaysblessyou said, but seeing you have done this (or similar disassembly process at least) a few times, I assumed you have checked the machine and whatever parts you came into contact with during the SSD mod.

Sorry to hear the machine has completely (well, almost) gone belly-up on you.

But your new symptoms; when you say the disk starts spinning as soon as you connect to a power supply (regardless of battery or AC). So no power lights as in no lights WHATSOEVER (ie, the power button barrel on the right, wifi light at the front, LCD backlight etc etc)?

Have you left it as it is and checked to see / hear whether the FAN starts spinning at some point in time? (Don't leave the machine on in that state for longer than 5 minutes at the maximum mind you)

Also, I know this may sound a little far-fetched now but have you tried clearing the CMOS? So that would involve any one of the following:
- Remove the battery off the Z and disconnect the AC, and press the POWER button for a good 20 seconds or so.
- Try disconnecting and reconnecting the button-cell CMOS battery (which is just 'north' near the optics bay)

Your new symptoms sound alot like a bricking incident (minus the fact the disk spins on its own accord). And because the new issue has cropped up after you reconnected the WIFI card, that moreorless (to me) points towards something near the CPU. A gut feeling I know...

Anyways, try the CMOS-clear above. After that fails, I too would have to suggest taking it into service...

EDIT - what happens if you try CHARGING the battery (so connecting the battery and AC at once on the Z)?

 

The disk has now stopped spinning, even when connecting mains power, so now it's completely dead, except every now and then the DVD drive gives a little noise.
As for CMOS battery: I'm afraid that is a little buried too deep for me to do anything about it. I was just about able to get underneath the plastic to get to the WiFI card, and despite official repair schemes, I wasn't able to remove the plastic without exerting some force.
The guy who sold it to me refunded me £60, and I sold some the WiFi ExpressCard and 3G modem for £15. Today someone will come and buy the dead Vaio for £260, bringing down my loss over this to £70 pounds.
Not happy about it, but it could have been a lot worse.
On the plus side, I managed to get a new Z series (VPC) for just £600, and I can now sell the SSD for £120, so I'm happy with that.
Thanks for your help, guys!

 

Hi mate, been following your thread - where did you pick up the Vaio? eBay?

I've got a VGN-Z21MN/B - everything is running fine at present, but a few problems with the chassis - it's taken a few drops way back in the past - (well over a year ago) and there's a crack about 0.8mm on the right underside on the power button side.

The plastic surrounding the power button is a little fragile and basically one side of it can get pushed in which caused the power button to become stuck.

Also I broke the left shift key some months ago, I have the key but the small round bit of rubber came off and the key can't be refitted.

What do you think the machine will fetch if I were to sell it, or do you think it would prudent to try and repair the chassis somehow?

I'm reluctant to mess around inside due to the fragility of the Z, but have thought about keeping it and sticking an SSD in.

Any thoughts?

 

@shashu
I've had the power button barrel surround replaced once; it became wobbly after it was in for an unrelated warranty repair.

Although it was replaced for free, Sony at the time used to put down the cost of the parts on the 'what-was-fixed' list which repaired machines get returned with. The barrel alone was worth a good US$30. You read right, just that simple piece of plastic.

I can't comment too well on damaged keys; if the key piece itself is bad then your keyboard assembly itself should be fine. I believe you can source just individual keys off eBay (a seller called VAIOREFURBS from the UK may help). Mind you though, if the keyboard itself is bad it'll be expensive replacing just that (if you're after a new part that is; used shouldn't be as harsh on the wallet from places like ebay).

 

Thanks for the response.

The key cannot be reattached although it isn't damaged, I think this is because the small round rubber piece has come loose from the keyboard itself.

I have seen some used keyboards on eBay for around £35, but I'm not sure on the exact part number for my model. The keyboard itself looks the same but the item I've seen has a slightly darker shade of grey.

I'm reluctant to try and get the machine up to scratch because inside it looks so fragile. Couple that with tales such as the one in this thread makes me even more reluctant.

 

From my experience with the wifi issue it can be caused by the cable between the wifi daughter board the daughter board or the mainboard connector.
Shouldnt cause the machine to not power on though just randomly loose the wireless card (though you could try running the machine without the wifi daughter board completely removed and see if it powered on)

 

I would doubt that the daughter board (ie, the thing that holds the modem and wifi card with the VGN-Z) is bad. As said above, it wouldn't cause a machine to not start up; at the very worst it will show up with intermittent wireless connectivity.

Judging from the downhill nature of the problem, I would be forced to assume the mainboard; a bunch of blown capacitors from how it sounds (ie, no power-ups). But then, it could just be a case of the BIOS firmware going sour and requiring a reflash. So yeah... Alot of possibilities... Since the OP already sold it on, we can't really do too much about it anymore.

@shashu
The keyboard is one of the more easier parts to remove on the VGN-Z. The harder aspects with these machines is removing the mid-plate, which covers the CPU, wifi-card, and fan amoung other things. Though saying that, if you are not too experienced with taking things apart, I would strongly discourage you doing the same with a VGN-Z. It is quite tricky for first-timers, regardless of experience with other electronics.