Vaio Z26 wireless issue

Hi all,

My wife's Z26 has recently stopped connecting to wifi networks. We're pretty sure it started happening after she had a fall along with her laptop bag (it wasn't such a big bump mind you).

Uninstalling and reinstalling the intel pro drivers hasn't helped, and I can't see the wireless card in the device manage (neither, I think, using ipconfig). However, the bluetooth device is present and apparently healthy. I suspect that wifi and bluetooth use the same device, so perhaps the antenna was dislodged when my wife fell, which effected wifi reception??

From what I can tell, the Z26 has an integrated wireless device, so I assume I can't replace the card. I've yet to open it up, but I've found the service manual for Z's on the sticky, so if it comes down to it, i'll whip it open.

I think I'll try a portal ubuntu disk tonight, and see if it connects running that. Although I don't know if ubuntu will have the drivers.

I'd love some advice and suggestions.

Great forum,

Cheers

 

9 times out of 10, if you can't see it in the device manager after a shut-down and restart, then something other than the antenna has become dislodged. The WiFi and the Bluetooth are 2 separate radios on 2 separate connections. The WiFi is going to be on a half-mini PCI Express connection, and the bluetooth is USUALLY connected via internal USB2 headers. But if you can get the bottom off of it, then you can easily replace the WiFi card with any Half-MiniPCIe WiFi card. Sony doesn't blacklist certain wireless cards like HP does, so no worries there. You sure it was as gentle a fall as you say? mPCIe cards are screwed into place, and if its become dislodged thats serious damage internally. Also, if it's intel, Ubuntu should provide the drivers, and at least you'll be able to do an LSPCI on it even if it doesn't. Intel is linux friendly.

 

Well, I wasn't there at the fall, so it's possible (given my reaction) she underplayed it

So something like this would be fine? I'll buy one, open it up and give it a whirl. I haven't noticed any other problems, so hopefully it's just a freaky accident.

Thanks for your help.

 

Yes, that card should be just fine, and even an upgrade. But before you buy, you might want to survey what's happening on the inside. You may be able to salvage the one that's in it... if there's nothing wrong with the mPCIe connector. What I would do is take the bottom plate off, and survey the internals and look for visible damage. If you don't see any, find the WiFi card, unscrew it, remove it, and inspect the board connections. Maybe clean it, put it back in, and boot and see if Windows recognizes the card again.

Do you have another notebook that has easy access removable bottom panels, like an Acer or Dell or something? If so you could try the card in another notebook to see if it's faulty.

 

Yeh, good idea. I'm sure I could impose on a friend. Thanks XGX.

 

OK, so she's now spilt coffee all over the keyboard, and it's now entirely non-functional. Can anyone suggest a source for a replacement keyboard?

Cheers

 

That comes down to HOW much coffee was spilt. About a fifth of a cup will seep through into the internals past the keyboard (which is what I think happened with you saying it's now non-functional).

A new keyboard, from Sony and most OEM direct suppliers, is about US$250. Yeah, darn expensive as I was looking for a fully-laden Japanese VGN-Z Japanese keyboard (which costs more mind you; I merely stumbled across the English keyboard a few months back). If you want to keep your expenses down, try ebay and search there; you can get nice, though used working keyboards there.

If not, sparepartswarehouse.com is your destination; the search there is straightforward.