My Sony Laptop Refurbishing Project - Help needed

Hello all!

I have recently recieved a laptop free from my sister who got it free from a friend (the original owner). It's a Sony Vaio PCG-933A that is pretty old. It worked well enough with some hardware problems here and there. I figured it would be a fun project to refurbish the laptop and see where I could go with it as I've always been a desktop and PocketPC user and never really been inside of a laptop before or really used one much. However, I am having some major problems halfway through and could use some help!

I am going to describe my whole process and everything I have done so far so if you want to skip that and just read the problem scroll down to the big "BATTERY PROBLEM" text.

Here's what the system looked like when I got it:

Sony Vaio PCG-933A
Windows Millenium Edition
600mhz Intel Pentium III mobile
64mb of RAM
15gb Hard Drive
ATI Rage mobile integrated crap graphics
DVD Rom drive
3.5" Floppy drive
Some crappy Belkin cardslot wireless networking card that didn't work
1 extra cardslot open
A battery that wouldn't charge

So the first thing I did was to upgrade the OS and reinstall the drivers. I went with Windows 2000 Professional SP4 because I had alot of knowledge working with it and that I know it uses alot less resources than XP or even most Linux distros that have fancy guis (the only kind I like). Plus I know a few fancy hacks to make it look pretty nice while still being low on resources. It loaded up fine but the original user didn't have any of the driver discs or recovery cd's. So I had to do ALOT of searching and I found the PCG-933A is the exact same model as the PCG-F650 but just a different name. I found the drivers here: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=PCGF650 even though only two of the extra programs that were on that site worked (Vaio Setup and the touchpad extra function program) all the drivers did work!

So my next step was to buy more memory as, let's face it, 64 mb sucks for anything not built in 1996. I did some searching on MemoryUp.com and found it used a special type of memory and my best hope (that I know of unless there's another type of memory that can fit) was 256mb of RAM so I went ahead and bought the two sticks of 128 and installed it. Worked perfectly and only cost me $16 shipped for some old memory.

The next thing I did was to get a new wireless network cardslot card to replace the Belkin one that the system would recognize but failed to power on or use correctly even with the proper drivers installed. So I went and got an Orinoco Gold cardslot one. It works extremely well and gets much better reception than my strategically positioned desktop no matter where in my apt I am! This one was about $20.

So everything was working great. I had only spent ~$36 for an old laptop (and for this I figured was fair). I was figuring I'd have a fun little (and it's not that bad) toy to lug around and watch DVD's and surf the web on trips or something. But then the next upgrade was a disaster!

BATTERY PROBLEM

I could never get the battery to charge. So I figured I'd go ahead and get a new one. I went ahead and ordered a new battery that was "tested to charge and hold charge" of the exact same model that had come from the original owner. Big problem though once it arrived! The "new" battery wouldn't charge either. The thing is, the system recognizes that there is a battery in there. Under Power options it shows "battery 1" is connected and charging but always displays 0% charge. Also under Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager it shows that a Sony Li-Ion battery is plugged in. It is the exact same thing for either battery. Once I unplug the ac to dc adapter the notebook shuts off without even trying to use the batteries. Figuring that if I kept trying to buy new batteries (about $40 was the cheapest I could find them verified to work) I'd be out of cash on a junk laptop... project or no project. So I had a verified battery that wouldn't work. So I tested out some of my google-fu skills and came across tons of forum posts about how Sony has major problems with its old laptops and batteries that wouldn't charge or do funky things.

The only Sony-sponsored answers were to take it in to Sony (not for something this old though) and have it looked at and to Flash the motherboard BIOS. I went ahead and flashed the BIOS and I still have the same problem... recognized batteries that are always "charging" but always at 0% charge.

So the only other things I can think of are:

1) The internal powerboard has failed and won't charge the batteries. It took alot of digging but I found this replacement for it: http://www.impactcomputers.com/a-8056-488-a.html# but that's dropping another $24 minus shipping.

or

2) Somehow the battery sensor spring connectors got unaligned from someone (the original owner?) shoving a battery in way too hard. I have absolutely no idea about this one. I only got it from this older post I found:

or

3) The "tested to charge and hold charge" battery I bought from that site was a load of crock and I should ask for a replacement or my money back.

However, after reading so many threads like this one: http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/16087/ I am inclined to believe that it's more than likely one of the hardware failings.

I am pretty new to all this so if someone would take the time who has some experience with this issue that would be awesome!

If I eventually get everything working 100% or as near as that I can get I will start doing some other mods as well. Maybe I can find some cardslot memory or something but I really don't want to invest any more into this until I get the battery problem fixed as its specs are too weak at this point of time to just be a small desktop.

So here's what I have now:

Sony Vaio PCG-933A - F650
Windows 2000 Professional SP4
600mhz Intel Pentium III mobile
256mb of RAM
15gb Hard Drive
ATI Rage mobile integrated crap graphics
DVD Rom drive
3.5" Floppy drive
Orinoco Cardslot Wireless Networking
1 Extra Cardslot open
BATTERY PROBLEMS

 

It's most likely a failed charging circuit. I have seen this on many laptops and since this, per your findings, was common on these laptops, I would not be surprised in the least. Unfortunately for you, you would need a new motherboard. The powerboard you have linked, listed on Impact Computers is the daughter board with the power buttons and power LEDs - nothing more. It will not affect charging in any way. I am not sure if you will be able to scrounge up another motherboard for a laptop that old, but even if you could - the price (I would estimate a minimum of $50 dollars) would make it unjustified in my opinion.

I would use the system as a "plugged in only" system for bed or the living room or whatever is your fancy, but I wouldn't put any more money into fixing it. For $150 bucks you can get a much newer and better used laptop that actually works.

 

Hmm thanks Hep!

I got the thing for free with a nice carrying case and accessories and I've dropped ~$76 on it at the moment ($16 for memory, $20 for network card, $40 for another battery). I really enjoyed tinkering with a laptop for my first time and for such little cost that was a steal for me. Usually I play around with desktops which end up being much more expensive or when I'm on a budget (ever since I started college full time) I mess around with gaming consoles. This is really just a hobby for me and I do this kind of stuff whenever I have spare cash.

I'll look for a replacement motherboard. I've found a few on Ebay but am currently asking the sellers if the Laptops they were pulled from were able to charge batteries. Sometimes people who part out hardware do it just because nobody wants the whole thing. But other times something tragic happened and they are shady about it. I went to Sony's site and they wanted $500 to repair this particular model!?!?! LOL NO! So Ebay

If worse comes to worst I can always send it to some guys I know are good at fixing motherboards and replacing circuitry for cheap. I just don't want to pay the shipping fees to send my laptop to them and back ha!

Right now it's my "kitchen machine" and I don't really use it for anything. I wanted to use it for playing DVD's, listening to music, and surfing the net on my downtime between classes. The only other thing I use PC's for is graphics (art major) and honestly it doesn't take that much processing power to run an older version of Photoshop, heh.

If I got a mobo for $50-$60 I'll just be happy in knowing I saved a piece of equipment that except for one problem works fine. That's what bothers me the most really.

That makes it $136 total for refurbishing... if I can find a motherboard replacement in that range. That's really not that bad in my opinion.

 

My Compaq Evo N610C (Pentium 4-M 2.0GHz, 512MB DDR 266, 40GB, Radeon Mobility 7500 - battery holds almost 4 hours in XP - about 2 and a half in Xubuntu) cost me under 100 dollars. Just saying.
All I had to do to get it up to meeting my standards was remove the Mini-PCI modem, remove the modem wire, put in a mini-PCI modem, and run some wireless antennas removed from a broken Inspiron E1505 display assembly through the chassis and I was set. Of course had I been lazy I could have just installed a PCMCIA card or bought the card designed for the laptop.

Then my Dell Inspiron 4100... it's a combination of two 100% trashed Inspiron 4100s. One had had water spilled on it and did not POST, the other had a broken power jack and serial port, broken screen, and trashed cosmetics. For $25 I got both these systems, and built a single working computer. I used the cosmetics from the one that had water spilled on it(and even desoldered the powerjack) and used these parts on the physically damaged one, which still had a fairly decent motherboard. Ended with Pentium 3-M 1GHz, 1GB PC-133, 40GB IDE, Radeon Mobility 16MB.

I explain all this because I too enjoy tinkering, refurbishing, and retrofitting old hardware to meet my needs. But one of the main reasons I love it is because it's so cheap. Spending $136 on the laptop you have now, even in a 100% brand new and working condition, would not be worth it. And after you put in all this money, you're still given no guarantees. Check out local craigslist listings, find two different people selling the same laptop with different problems. Combine parts, come out ahead! Or, find a nice system with a serious issue (like a nice laptop with a dead motherboard - people will sell that for cheap!). Replace the board yourself for ~$150, and save a ton of money.
I've done it many times before.

 

Well...

I figured since I got the thing for free I might as well crack it open and find out what makes it tick and see if there was anything I can do. My only expertise with fine electronics is soldering some wires together to a power supply to attach some LEDs for console mods. But I figured I'd give it a crack anyways. If I was ever going to repair it or sell the parts for scrap (it's not worth anything by itself really) I'd need to open it.

I DID find a daughter board that the battery plugs into that has several wires going into the motherboard. I can't remove it yet because apparently SONY uses butter for their screws and I stripped the main one holding it down. If I can find my digicam I'll give it an upload of what it looks like. The AC to DC jack is on the other side of the board.

I"m betting either some of the wiring has gone bad that connects the two or the board itself has.

The battery reads as a SONY brand LI-ION in Power Management of Win2K. But it won't charge the battery. The AC to DC power works fine. So obviously it has to do with that daughter board or the wiring. Looking at the daughter board itself I can definitely see some really shoddy soldering going on. While the other boards seem to be ok the battery board seems to have several "trails" of solder crossing circuits amongst other things. I know because I've done it myself as a beggining solderist and ruined many a Dreamcast board doing that same thing (had one literally explode due to a short because of it).

I've been looking for an excuse to get one of those screw removers for stripped screws anyways. So if I can get that daughterboard out I can probably find a replacement. It seems I could find everything but the motherboards anyways so perhaps this is a blessing in disguise!

I found a few "whole" laptops of this model for sale at different sites for $75-$100 and a few on Ebay with bids on them in that range still depending on what all upgrades they had so I don't feel I've wasted any money yet

Once I get everything working 100% I'll see if I can't mod this little beastie any further. That's what I really want to start doing


EDIT:::

Lookie there I found one 8D

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-678-559-11-So...mZ140272072968QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting