Where to buy Vaio Z (VPZ11C5E) replacement fan?

As subject - my fan is starting to sound unwell.

I'm out of warrenty (changed the HD to an SSD).

Is it possible to replace just the fan itself, or is the whole fan assembly something which cannot be disassembled?

If the fan itself can be replaced, is it a standard 40mm fan?

 

You'd have to replace the fan specifically for your model. The fans tend to be non-standard sizes and vary from model to model, even within a specific maker.

 

I don't know where you live but if you live in the US you can purchase the fan direct from Sony.
https://servicesales.sel.sony.com/e...ctSearch.do?sessionId=zKS2Yq_S8ZANHdq_tjlJAkx
If you live outside of the US you might be able to import it from sparepartswarehouse.
There is a disassembly guide for the VPC-Z1 and i suggest you look through that to confirm part numbers.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/114814-sony-models-specs-support-dissassembly-links.html

Make sure it is your fan that needs replacing though. May be cleaning the fan might help.

 

In the VPCZ model the fan part # is 178794311(from the Z parts manual), it's actually the fan unit... the entire fan thingy there. And... it's $124... fun stuff...

 

Thankyou everyone! your help is -very- appreciated. I'm going to open the unit up tonight and see what I can do about cleaning the fan. If that doesn't help, I'll order the replacement from sparepartswarehouse.

 

@BlankXavier, if you buy the fan from sparepartswarehouse, please report how it works out. I just bought my Z13 last thursday and since yesterday (sunday) the fan sounds louder then the first 2 days. And I will not part with the laptop for 2-3 weeks for sony to fix it...

 

The Z does get quite loud if you're pushing it at max capabilities, that's probably why they bundled it with the Sony Noise Canceling Earbuds . In any case, i do notice a significant difference in the noise level of the fan with the Turboboost on as opposed to it being off (you turn it off by setting maximum processor state to anything less than 100% in the advanced power plans). Otherwise, the Z is fairly silent for surfing, word processing, etc on stamina.

 

Any news on the fan? Mine just started to sound pretty bad, it's not just the sound of moving air, but a mechanical sound from the fan rumbling about, or something getting stuck inside it. It's worse at lower speeds.

Did it help opening it and cleaning it?

 

Cleaning won't help much, you have to spray some silicone oil into the bearings. My 5 years old SZ is working 24/7, I do it every few months when it starts getting noisy and it still doesn't need replacing

 

The best what you can get for de-noising and conserving your stuff. I use it for years, last on my noisy dvd drive in another laptop. Absolutely sounds like out of the box now.

ballistol - The World's Most Use-ful & Environmentally Friendly Lubricant

 

So...

The fan becamse very bad - incredibly loud, intense vibration - so I called Sony and arranged servicing.

Sony UK in email said they don't sell parts directly to customers. I'd opened the machine up to look at the fan; it wasn't obviously damaged, but getting it out looked --complicated--. I think at the very least you'd need some glues to put various already-glued things which you'd need to unglue back in place. Moreover, it wasn't obvious to me how to get to the fan, anyway, even after I'd taken out all the relevant screws I could find.

One or two people here have suggested adding oil to the fan bearings. Those bearings, as far as I could see, were sealed and inaccessable. Perhaps if you could get the fan out of the unit you could oil it - but I couldn't see how to get it out.

So, I called Sony on Thursday, UPS picked the unit up from work Monday and returned it Friday - five days; and that was with me in Amsterdam and the unit being repaired in the UK (or so Sony said, anyway; you can't know what really happens).

I received an SMS when the unit arrived at Sony repair and another when it was dispatched.

Very impressive.

Unfortunately, it's all gone a bit pear shaped.

Before sending the unit off, I took my SSD out. It wasn't needed; you just powered the unit up and you could hear the fan doing its best to sound like a jet turbine.

So - the unit is going to Sony for a -new fan-. I'm thinking I take the SSD out before it goes, put it back in when it returns, we're all good.

-Did not happen-.

I get the unit back, I put the SSD in, I boot.

1. screen res has dropped to 800x600; Windows doesn't recognize the display
2. unit now has no sound
3. unit now thinks it has an optical drive

On the second boot, Windows correctly recognized the display; but it still has completely lost touch with the realtek sound chip set and the power configuration still thinks there's an optical drive (I don't have a drive letter or anything in hardware manager - just I have a new icon in my taskbar, curtsey Sony Power, which tells me the optical drive is currently powered).

Now, I think one of two things (or maybe both) have caused this problem.

Firstly, looking at the internal design of the fan and motherboard, I wonder if the two are not integral and in fact my 'fan replacement' was actually a fan+motherboard replacement. Could this have confused the hell out of Windows? certainly possible, IME.

Secondly, Sony repair indicated they had performed a BIOS update. Perhaps that contributed?

I wonder if it was a fan+motherboard replacement, have I been given a refurbished board, which in fact turns out to have defect - to whit, broken audio hardware?

Either way, I now have a couple of issues;

1. I can't trust my Windows install as I used to, because something strange has happened to it and I don't know what
2. I have no sound hardware
3. I know something somewhere is screwed, because the unit's power management thinks there's an optical drive and it's powered

I'd appreciate any suggestions on solving these problems...

 

I've tried reinstalling the Realtek driver. It seemed to install okay, but it did nothing for Windows.

 

BTW, I've gotta get this out of my system - trying to FIND the Sony Vaio support site is IMPOSSIBLE. I've always ended up using Google. Trying to DO anything on the Sony site is an exercise in bloody repetition.

I'm now at a point where I'm trying to log in to email Sony support. I can log into the site, then follow the links to email - but that requires me to log in again - and then if I enter the first part of the model type, I can select the second part, but then hitting submit... blanks the first part. So I can't log in, so I can't email.

*rolls eyes in pure frustration*