Help, Vaio TZ17GN just melted!

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty much new to this forum, and realised I already had an account here.

Anyway, going back to the main topic, I plugged in the charger for my TZ and let it charge for a few minutes. I moved the laptop to my desktop as I could smell burnt plastic, which was indeed coming from the Vaio. Upon further inspection, I found the left corner on the back cover of the screen, near the hinge, had melted, which I initially touched by mistake while it was melting, ouch.. And also some plastic has melted near the area (on the laptop) to the left of the battery. Of course, as soon as I realised what was happening, I unplugged the charger and removed the battery. It hasn't melted badly, and the notebook is still functional, but this was quite scary.

I do not know what to do right now. The TZ17GN is an Asian model, yet I live in Spain currently. I know I am a few years late, but would Sony still repair this for free? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long thread.

 

This is a known issue by Sony. Apparently caused by bad (I recall someone saying exposed) wiring near the hinges which can generate high temperatures, hence resulting in the melting.

Problem according to Sony exists on 'some' TZs, irrespective of generation (TZ1, TZ2, TZ3). But we all know that's corporate lingo for 'it exists on all TZ models'...

Sony does repair this fault for free. But that was back in 2008. Unsure whether they will do so today.

Either way, phone them up. You will have to leave the machine with them. Usually a week, but unsure how long it'll take these days as the TZ is considered an old machine.

And I'd strongly advise that you stop using your machine. I would get it fixed ASAP as the issue has been classified a fire hazard in some countries (again, if memory serves correct). I remember reading about fires in an extreme case in either the United Kingdom or the United States...

EDIT - Sony's official announcement
http://www.sony-asia.com/support/announcement/271417/product/vgn-tz17gn

To think, I would've bought the TZ38 (the 48GB SSD model) if weren't for that issue. Though I've had my fair share of adventures with the Z26 that I bought in the TZ's place...

 

I used to own a TZ and Sony sent me a notice of a recall. They sent a tech to my residence and he fixed the problem in about 1/2 hour. I didn't have to send it in. This was about 2-3 years ago. And since I had bought mine new and was registered, they automatically contacted me.

Mine never melted or had any issues. But I took them up on their offer of sending a tech to fix this recall for free. The OP should contact Sony ASAP. Not sure if they're still honoring this or not. I have since sold the TZ and bought a Z2.