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VGN-A397XP hard disk

post #1 of 6
4/11/06 at 11:00am
Thread Starter 
Hi,

My Vaio mobo has gone kaput and I need to salvage the hard disk before I send the laptop back to Sony for warranty repair (which will start with a zap of my disk contents I'm sure). It's not powering up, so I need to stick the hard disk into another machine to get the data off.

How do I remove the hard disk?

I've reached the point of removing all the screws, the keyboard and the memory chips, but I still can't get in!

I've reviewed 10 different photo walk-throughs for other (older) Vaio models - all brilliant, but none quite what I need...

My laptop is PCG-8S1M, VGN-A397XP

Tom
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post #2 of 6
4/11/06 at 7:05pm
Thread Starter 

found it

Here's a great description for anyone else in my position:

http://www.lborolinux.co.uk/sonyvaioa115b/

kudos to S. J. Hodgson.

I just had to be braver in twisting the upper keyboard casing against the monitor!

Label your screws if you're doing this

Ugh

Tom
p.s. I bought the service manual on Ebay, but while very detailed, it is better suited to ordering obscure parts than peeling the lid off.
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post #3 of 6
4/17/06 at 11:43am
Hey,

I have exacly the same problem my vaio was working fine upto the other day when I came to switch it on it was just dead no signs before hand of anything wrong the machine it couldn't have been treated any better but it has totally died.

Did you manage to get your data off the drive before you returned the machine ? did you have any problems with sony and opening it invalidating your warranty ? as I really need to backup my data before I send mine off too in hindsight backing up more often to DVD would have been an idea but the machine is only 6 month old.
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post #4 of 6
4/18/06 at 8:07am
Thread Starter 
> Did you manage to get your data off the drive before you returned the machine ?

yes - but peeling the Vaio apart was a heart-in-the-mouth operation

> did you have any problems with sony and opening it invalidating your warranty ?

no - they advised to use a data recovery company to retrieve any personal data before submitting for probable mobo replacement.

I figured there was only one way in (regardless of who did it) so I extracted the hard drive myself (cloned the data, reinstalled the hard drive, closed up the case with no screws left over).

There were no manufacturer seals at any stage, so no evidence of my entry.

I'm not Sony, so I can't give you a definitive answer on warranties - any actions you take are at your own risk, yada yada yada

Your mileage may vary

Tom
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post #5 of 6
4/18/06 at 2:24pm
Cheers for that ,

Just one more thing, did you contact Sony directly or via the retailer that sold you the machine ?
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post #6 of 6
9/23/06 at 7:15pm

Help in opening my VGNT140

I need to access the page for which a link was posted (4/11/06) as follows:

"Here's a great description for anyone else in my position:

http://www.lborolinux.co.uk/sonyvaioa115b/

kudos to S. J. Hodgson."

I opened it in April, the page was perfect for my needs (opening my VGNT140)

The problem is that the link is no longer usable.

(I should have had the precaution of saving the web page as pdf for later use.)
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