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    Figuring out the 2012/13 S13(15?) Port Replicator Pin-Out

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by twwyt, Nov 20, 2013.

  1. twwyt

    twwyt Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have always loved notebooks with the ability to dock and be used, effectively, as a desktop. That was a major selling point for me when I got my S13 in fact.

    Unfortunately, it seems Sony prices their notebook accessories depending on the actual selling price of their notebooks so the dock for the S13, while not prohibitively expensive(the cheapest currently avaialable to me is open box and $200 shipped), doesn't have the best value for money even with the 500GB backup drive.

    In the service guide that GuizmoPhil posted, It seems from the block diagram that the dock connector outputs ethernet + Display Port signal which is then converted to hdmi and VGA on the dock side + USB for USB hub/USB > SATA bridge >backup HDD on dock.

    In the nvidia driver program I can see a displayport output shown in one of the tabs so that would possibly confirm that the display port ouput is being used..

    The dock connector is a Hirose ex80-54p(01) which I received 2 of in the mail recently and confirm this it the exact connector needed to interface with the dock connector.

    After probing with a multi-meter I identified all the GND pins on the connector which appears to show a pin-out with similar physical arrangement to that of a display port connector ie ML-Lane pairs separated by GND.. It would make sense for SONY to adopt the same pin arrangement for the dock connector given the highly sensitive to interference signals transmitted by display port specification.

    Other than that I identified 3 pins with +3.3v on them. Displayport specification shows 3.3V power out (DP_PWR) on pin 20 however it is unclear whether this would be active if no device is detected by hot plug detect which apparently also measures 3.3v.

    Power in pin and GND pins are obvious as the connector makes accommodations for the higher current on 4 pins designated for power in the datasheet.

    As I make progress I will post here
     
    twwyt, Nov 20, 2013
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  2. Darkimmortal

    Darkimmortal Notebook Evangelist

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    So you're saying the dock connector could provide a native displayport connection with some tinkering? That is absolutely incredible news for people like me who need more hz or pixels than HDMI can provide
     
    Darkimmortal, Nov 27, 2013
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