Opening a Vaio VGN-TX

Please could anyone offer any advice on how to open a Sony Vaio VGN-TX17C/B? I agreed to have a look at a non-booting laptop (NTLDR not found, press CTRL, ALT-DEL) belonging to a friend, and, having had no success with getting the machine to read USB sticks (due to BIOS limitations) or CD-ROMs, I'm trying to get the hard drive out to try and recover the owner's data for her. I downloaded the instructions here which advise removing 8 screws from the bottom, and removing the (silver) keyboard by "disengaging 4 detents", but I can barely see anything in the locations indicated, and when (as advised by a posting elsewhere) I've pressed down in the locations indicated, there has been only limited effect. The keyboard still remains in place and I'm afraid of dislodging the keys.

The machine was running XP, has a processor running at 1.2 GHz and has 512 MB of RAM. I'd like to give you more details, but the labels are in Chinese, and I can't read them.

 

May be you'll find this helpful
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Thanks for the link to the article - it was very helpful, even though the automatic translation was sometimes a little too stilted to understand (unfortunately, I can't read the original Japanese). I've since managed to get the keyboard off now with a friend's help, although I've decided I definitely need a few bamboo splints for future occasions. I have a MicroDIMM adapter on order now, so that I can fit the drive into a 2.5" external drive, and hopefully access the data.

I'm still a little confused as to why the machine had been unable to boot from CD (I'm told the CD had been working perfectly, and the BIOS seemed to be OK and the CD boot option seemed to be selected). The laptop owner has since bought a replacement machine though, so it's only the old hard drive that is a priority for the moment.

 

Well, I numerously removed and replaced the keyboard on my ovn TX, and it is actually sort of tricky to do. The tiny, virtually invisible stoppers are situated opposite the F5 key and the F12 key. There are two more, even tinier ones, situated between Esc - F1 key and Insert - Delete keys.

Those could be pressed downward/outward with reasonable effort, using a hard, flat and very very thin appliance (micro screwdriver is not recommended, since its round body will most probably damage the edges of the opposite keys). I do not know of any easier way to remove the keyboard, and the two aftermarket replacement keyboards I owned had the characteristic notches connected with forceful removal.

Actually, I guess that some cosmetic damage to the keys is the worst that you can do if you are that careless. Normally, you won't be able to dislodge a key without a very significant effort. Moreover, if the keys bother you, I can advise you to carefully remove the top row off the base (it is easy to do it, using a pair of small tweezers, be careful though).

Do not forget to remove the somewhat longer screw situated close to the middle of the bottom - it is the one which actually holds the keyboard in place.

Be advised, that removing the keyboard won't solve your problem the very moment you've finished, since there is almost no direct access to parts under the keyboard anyway

Good luck, and be careful with the TX - it is a totally wonderful notebook all around.

PS: Sorry, just noticed that while I wrote this, you already managed to take it off