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    VPC-Z21 moving lid causes a reboot

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by pjvaanan, Apr 7, 2014.

  1. pjvaanan

    pjvaanan Newbie

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    Hi all,

    My Z21 (2011) fell down to the ground. No visible signs of anything broken, even if I detach the battery and the bottom revealing the SSD and stuff.
    Only symptom is that if the lid is moved even a little, the system boots. Sometimes it just boots up without anything on screen (even BIOS), and usually fans spinning like crazy. I can generate load on cpu and disk, that works, no problems whatsoever. But I need to be careful and not move the lid.

    Anyone knows what should I check?

    Cheers,

    Petri
     
    pjvaanan, Apr 7, 2014
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  2. anytimer

    anytimer Notebook Virtuoso

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    Sounds like the motherboard might be cracked - something like a hairline fracture - and a power trace on the PCB is broken, but still making a contact. If you can find the break (easier said than done), fixing it is a relatively simple matter.
     
    anytimer, Apr 8, 2014
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  3. pjvaanan

    pjvaanan Newbie

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    Thanks for the tip!
    I've now disassembled/assembled the components few times. Now I don't seem to find a positions for the lid to get Vaio running correctly, just blank screen and fans spinning hard after ~15s.
    Is there a chance I could iterate over the components and unplug them in order to find a one which is causing this trouble? Can other than the motherboard cause bios to not show up?
     
    pjvaanan, Apr 9, 2014
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  4. anytimer

    anytimer Notebook Virtuoso

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    Cease and desist. Power it off and keep it that way. Use a magnifying lens and try to spot the break. If you find the hairline fracture, look for breaks in the tracks that run across it, and try to fix by scraping off the green masking and putting a solder blob across the break. Not saying that you'll be able to fix it - multilayer boards are unforgiving - if a track on one of the inner layers is broken you're dead meat. Keep an open mind - it might be a dry solder joint that is not making a proper contact.

    You might be able to get a good deal on ebay, etc. for a motherboard. Keep your options open.
     
    anytimer, Apr 9, 2014
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  5. pjvaanan

    pjvaanan Newbie

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    Well, now it's working again! :)

    I've disassembled every single piece like 20 times during past days. It was always fans spinning after 30s.
    When I detached the memory modules and swapped them, I got blinking green light. Then I swapped them back again, assembled everything, and now it boots like nothing was ever wrong with it.

    It was really worth playing with it. Now I think I'm pretty fluent in disassembling Z21. Happy to help anyone...

    Cheers,

    -petri
     
    pjvaanan, Apr 12, 2014
    #5