Seeking opinions....dump a laptop or get it fixed?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

I have a 3-4 year old Sony Vaio laptop. Paid about $800 for it.

For the last six months, the power keeps failing and I thought it was just the cord. But, found out that the jack inside is the problem and needs to be replaced. It has gotten to the point that you have to position it "just right" for the connection to be made and it gets really hot.

I researched a bit and to fix someone would have to buy the part (new jack) - no biggie....but the labor could be a couple hundred because you have to open it up and solder a new jack in.

Geez...hate to just dump the PC - it's really a good one...but is spending $200 plus parts worth it? (estimate I saw on line from other Vaio owners with the same problem) The pc will be totaled if you can't power it up.

[ChromeFoundry]

1. Why not...

buy the $5 part from http://www.laptopjacks.com

Then you have the option of purchasing a soldering iron and solder sucker from Radio Shack (or ebay) and learn a new skill... It's really not very hard and the jack only has about 5 soldered connections to the mother board. I'm sure there are even tutorials on YouTube.

or

Call your local high school, vocational school or community college and see if they offer a basic electronics course where a student could perform the soldering task for you.

or

take it to any place that services stereos, record players, or televisions.. and I'm sure they would do it for cheap.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. wow thanks ! great option ideas !

[Denzil_DC]

6. The bulk of the work,

and what a pro repair person would charge you for, is cracking open the laptop case and stripping it down far enough to get at the connector that needs replaced. I've done similar things with laptops, and it's a bit nervewracking and you need to take antistatic precautions and be well organized, but it's feasible for an amateur if you can't find somebody local who could do it, maybe even as a favor.

If you search online, it's quite possible the manufacturer has a service guide that will take you (or whoever) through it step by step (I use Dells, and they have great online documentation for this).

As ChromeFoundry said, the spare connector you need is insignificant in cost. Once you or whoever have access to the main board (a.k.a. motherboard), the first task would be to remove the old connector. This is the trickiest stage, as you need to apply enough heat to disengage the solder holding the connector to the main board, but not so much that you damage the tracks on the PCB. It would require a solder sucker or some desoldering braid, well-aimed heat from the iron, and some gentle, persuasive leverage with a small screwdriver or suchlike to encourage the connector to part company with the PCB. That done, soldering the new connector in should be easy.

Then you put the laptop back together and pray there aren't too many screws left over.

I mainly post this to point out it's not brain science if you feel encouraged to try it yourself, or if you know somebody who's a bit handy with a screwdriver and soldering iron but maybe hasn't done exactly this sort of thing before. (If you haven't soldered before, you probably have some old electronic hardware around you could practice on first.)

For the outlay on parts compared to a replacement laptop, there's not that much to lose if it doesn't work out except some time and possible exasperation.

[sir pball]

16. Or do the disassembly yourself, then bring the MB in

Get an antistatic bag from NewEgg or Amazon, take the laptop apart yourself, and bring the motherboard and new connector to one of the aforementioned repair shops or tech schools.

[Denzil_DC]

17. For this laptop, that doesn't really apply,

as amerikat's comment #9 below revealed that the Vaio doesn't have a soldered power connector, so once somebody's dismantled the laptop to that extent, the job's almost finished (apart from reassembly, of course ....).

[dballance]

3. I think this is a budget issue.

Normally, I'd be opposed to spending 25% of the original cost of a 3-4 year old laptop on repairing it. It depends on your budget situation though. If you have the $200 plus whatever it takes to buy a new one and it won't put you in a bind financially I'd do that.

But first, if there are any local repair shops (not many of those around anymore) I'd check with them for a repair estimate. $200 to replace a jack seems steep to me. I know Staples where I live has a repair division as does Best Buy with its Geek Squad. I'm sure both of those places ship the computer to some central repair facility so you'll lose the use of it for a while. And if you go that route, make sure you remove any personal information from the system like credit card numbers or bank account numbers before you turn it over to a repair service. Also remove any naughty pics you may have made for your significant other. You don't want to find these online later. If you use a password on your laptop and it's the password you also use for online accounts either change it or remove it before giving your laptop to a repair service. Do not give them your actual password.

Good luck.

[Fumesucker]

4. It might be worthwhile to try some electrically conductive glue

You wouldn't be able to pull the cord out of the computer after that but there's a good chance it would fix your problem. I would glue the conductive parts with that and then glue all around with regular epoxy. You're going to need to be careful where you put the conductive stuff and not short out the power supply connections.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/b70c/?rkgid=275668648&cpg=ogpla&source=google_pla&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CIGI7bGAh7cCFYyi4Aod9igACg

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. Hmm

I've gone through this with 2 laptops. I've made the repairs. They generally, in my experience, don't last as long as OEM replacement parts would. That would mean paying for a new main board and the install. My guess is the price of that would nearly equal the price of a new but cheaper pc. (maybe $300 - 400)

If the pc is docking station compatible that would be another option. Docking stations generally connect through a long narrow connector on the bottom of laptop.

Hope this helps...

[CountAllVotes]

7. google the laptop and the part #

and google "instructions install (list part #) laptop (list type and model #) and it should pop up you you can print it out.

I got a real cheap part I need for an A21m ThinkPad made in 1998 that still works believe it or not! It needed a new internal battery (cost ~$5.00 -- got it from nextag.com (cheapest price/free shipping too!).

They wanted $75 to replace it and it took me all of five minutes to do it!

Best of luck!

[CK_John]

8. 2 points to consider. Are you ready for Win8 and clone your Hard Drive before

you do anything.

Cloning kit for both Win PC and Mac machines.

http://www.apricorn.com/sata-wire-3.html

Also any new Laptop will be coming with Win8. Which has it's own issues.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

11. Sometimes but not always

Here's a batch of new HP, Lenovo, Toshiba... laptops that all have Windows 7:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600004970&IsNodeId=1

[amerikat]

9. Seems that Sony Vaio power jack isn't soldered to the motherboard.

Watch this video. It may take some time. If you aren't mechanically inclined I wouldn't try it but if you are so inclined it doesn't look too tough.

I just replaced the keyboard on my laptop. Took about 20 minutes.

If you decide to replace if yourself I could give you some very important pointers about how to organize the task.

The advice on seeking out a local school or computer club is a great idea.

Seems you don't have much to lose. A part that costs less than ten bucks and a little work could save you hundreds. I'd do this job for free for a Du'er.

[Denzil_DC]

10. Good find!

It always amazes me, some of the instructional videos on Youtube. The only criticism I'd make of this one is that it might be more reassuring if he talked through what he was doing, with any pointers about things to watch out for ("don't pull too hard on this connector," "this is the so-and-so," etc.) rather than having the music over.

That doesn't look too bad a repair job at all, now we know there's no soldering involved. Just a lot of screwdriving, as usual.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

13. Apparently this Sony has...

Last edited Sat May 11, 2013, 06:17 PM - Edit history (1)

...a design superior to most of the HPs and DELLs that I've seen in the past. I've always thought that having the power connector where it was, (at a stress point) and that having it soldered directly to the MB was really stupid.

That's a great find.

[Denzil_DC]

14. Yes, it does, and yes it is!

With the Dells I've worked on, you have to go in through the keyboard, not the back. I'll bear this in mind next time somebody asks about working on a laptop (and maybe even check out Youtube before replying!). It doesn't make that much difference to the whole process in the end (though taking the screen off is a bit of a bore), but given the failure rate, soldered power connectors are a definite design fault.

I don't have this problem because my laptop's effectively a workstation. I unplug the adaptor from the mains when I want it disconnected, and leave the plug in the laptop, which saves wear and tear.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

15. I have similar habits

I work from home most of the time and have a docking station at home and work.

Most manufacturers probably do it to save less than a dollar.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

18. Wow thanks so much. Been camping and need to re-read all this and absorb it. nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. holy cow..just watched it. yes, think I will try and do it. Looks like

90% of the effort involved unscrewing and screwing back screws. what's weird is when he finally gets to the part with the jack, he moves his hands out of the screen shot. Maybe if I go to the site, I can expand the view.

I am close to absolute zero on the mechanically inclined scale as one can get. But, doesn't see like there would be too many things I could do wrong.

[Denzil_DC]

21. "when he finally gets to the part with the jack, he moves his hands out of the screen"

Yeah, he fumbles a bit at a couple of points there. Speed isn't everything!

But the vid does at least give you an overview of what it may involve, and as you can see, it's not horribly daunting as long as you keep organized and don't mislay screws etc.

You need to take basic antistatic precautions any time you're working inside a computer. You'll at least need some decent precision screwdrivers, but they're not expensive, and can be handy for other things. It can be a good idea to keep a camera handy and take photos as you go along so that you can see how things originally fit together. You also need to be gentle with any connectors that you need to disengage, as sometimes they're quite fragile (you'll maybe notice that he has trouble re-connecting the power line to the motherboard - ends up he had it upside down!).

I'd prefer to have a proper service manual to hand for a task like this, and it would no doubt help you (though apparently Sony doesn't publicly release these manuals, unlike Dell, for instance).

Without knowing exactly what model your VAIO is, there's only so much I can chase up on Google, but there's peer support forums out there. Here's a thread on one (which I found in just a couple of minutes) all about disassembling VAIOs, where a helpful professional tech has made a number of his own guides available, including "Sony Vaio VGN-S360P. Replacing broken power jack."

The thread's here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/317635-sony-vaio-disassembly-guides-instructions.html

Direct link to the guide: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/take-apart-sony-vaio-vgn-s360p-replace-broken-power-jack/

However, note that this VAIO is a different model to the one in the video above - like Dells, for this one you have to go in through the keyboard rather than from underneath, so disassembly is a bit different, and also note that this one does have a soldered power connector. Let's hope yours is a different model and doesn't need soldering, but if it does, the tech describes how to do it.

His range of other guides for Sonys (if he doesn't tell you specifically how to replace the power connector for yours, you may at least get instructions on disassembly) is here: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/category/7-sony-laptops/

If that's not your model, it's worth reading through that whole thread in case yours is posted later. (There's a chance that the guide for one model will be OK for others, but I've no idea about that.) As you'll see, folks who're doing it are asking questions as they go along, and some of those may be of help to you, too.

[whistler162]

12. If you live in the Syracuse NY area the company

I work part time for does that type of repair. For far less than $200. Mostly a corporate support firm but we do a little retail/walk in business. It is also owned and operated by a Liberal.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. 1604 miles, just looked it up. But thanks anyway - how cool to find local businesses

owned and operated by liberals !!