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Vaio A type. A190

post #1 of 31
8/10/04 at 5:50am
Thread Starter 
Whoohoo i finally managed to swap out the 80gig 4200rpm drive for a 7200rpm 60gig drive. it was tough but i manage to do it finally! is there anyone out there who managed to add on a bluetooth card to the as??

when i broke the case open i see that it is very possible to do....anyone found out the part nos etcetc?
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post #2 of 31
8/10/04 at 1:07pm

How?

Hi there!

How did you swap out the hard drive on this lappy? I am very interested and heard it was a pain in the arse. Any way you can PM me or post a step by step guide as I know others are interested too. Any and all info is truly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
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post #3 of 31
8/10/04 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
well you have to take out all the screws from the bottom of the vaio. then life up the keybard first. disconnect the keyboard ribbon thenyou can lift up the rest of the plastic rest.

once that is done you see the hd down in the lower left corner just remove the screws & swap in your own all done!

just a word of warning though make sure you create the backup discs first before you attempt the swap.
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post #4 of 31
8/10/04 at 3:42pm
strepto8,

which CPU did you get and is it soldered? I'm inclined to think it is not. A while back, I found a site that had someone installing a bluetooth card into a Sony subnotebook. Try doing a search. Not the same laptop but at least you get to see what the module looks like and what the slot looks like, and don't forget you need the antenna lead (also documented on that site).
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post #5 of 31
8/10/04 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by strepto8
well you have to take out all the screws from the bottom of the vaio. then life up the keybard first. disconnect the keyboard ribbon thenyou can lift up the rest of the plastic rest.

once that is done you see the hd down in the lower left corner just remove the screws & swap in your own all done!

just a word of warning though make sure you create the backup discs first before you attempt the swap.
That does sound like a pain.
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post #6 of 31
8/10/04 at 6:39pm
I also have a sony a190.... what kind of hd do you guys recommend to swap with? any preferred brands or types? also I wanted to upgrade memory from 512 to 1 gig.... it this worth it? will it make a difference? and anyone know how to or have upgraded memory on one of these units before? thanks for the help.
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post #7 of 31
8/10/04 at 11:28pm
Thread Starter 
well no the cpu is not soldered you can get it out...but....there are some ribbon cables that cannot be removed which means that if you want to replace the cpu be prepared for some monkeying around with the fear of breaking some of the ribbon cables....

tghe heatsink used in the laptop is a monster & i think should work very well. i can even see the radeon gpu. everything looks well covered. a monster of a heatsink in a notebook imho.

well there is a slot i could see for the luetooth but i need the eact part no & hmmm where to plug it into the mobo....it seems there is also a physical switch to install for the bluetooth if we need it but where to get it?????

i managed to put in 1gig ram & a hitachi 60gig 7200 rpm drive. not the 24/7 model though since the battery life is already low enough. I get about 2.5 hours use with it. I managed to find an external batteryu though that will let the laptop run theoretically for another 5 hours minimum. it costs about 180 which i think is worth it.

btw does anyone want to buy a second sony a190 battery? i got it as part of a package but don;t think i would need it. i will let go at 160...bargain considering the shops sell it at 199..it is new as new as it can be
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post #8 of 31
8/11/04 at 2:58am
strepto8, you need to make sure that external power supply can work with your laptop. I suspect it would not since the A190 isn't a 'normal' laptop with a much larger power draw.

As for that BT site I was speaking about:
http://www.siliconpopculture.com/rev...ts/59_0_2_0_C/
Try extrapolating that data with your model, they should work the same way in principle.

Congrats on being the first on this site to crack open that Sony. BTW, which CPU did you get? I'm inclined to get the Celeron only if I can swap out the CPU at a later date. Hey, you can put some after market heat paste, should be an improvement.
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post #9 of 31
8/11/04 at 3:46am
Thread Starter 
i did check the psu. if i don;t use the av dock then the power requirements drop dramatically from 6.15amp to 4.1amp...same voltage though. so what i got was a 130wh battery which can get to the 19volts & supple up to 7 amps....i.e. if i don;t use the av dock it can do well with a 4 amp draw as well.

If anyone is looking at electrovaya, i did call them & it seems that they do not have any models that could copy with that kind of an amperage of 6.15..(i did not ask about the 4 amps) ...didn't borther to ask as i would a 130wh batt thats even higher than the electrovaya 160 at a lower price.

cpu wise i know we can swap out the dothian for a centrino processor...yes the specs indicate that it is cross compatible. I left the processor in as the 1.7....there is really no point in changing it since next year round there will be a new processor out anyway...i run word & stuff...not much processor power needed for those things doom runs pretty well anyway so why bother to upgrade hehheh

and....guys...i think i know where to put the bluetooth module after all....hmmmm looks like the procedure will be the same betw the tr & the a. Thanks exe)
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post #10 of 31
8/11/04 at 4:03am
Thread Starter 
well if you replace the cpu i guess you would have to use an aftermarket paste.....prob though is ho to clean the thermal guk off the heatsink....
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post #11 of 31
8/12/04 at 1:58am
Thread Starter 
well i got my external battery today & woohoo! i managed to get a total of 7 hours battery life on a single charge! not too bad i would say hehheh.
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post #12 of 31
8/12/04 at 4:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by strepto8
well i got my external battery today & woohoo! i managed to get a total of 7 hours battery life on a single charge! not too bad i would say hehheh.
have a link to the batt? The gunk on the heatsink, you peel it off and use a credit card to scrape off the rest. Rubbing alcohol is also effective for sticky stuff. And if all that does't work, then use sandpaper, but you'll have to finish your sanding with real fine sandpaper to get it to a shinning surface again (lot of work).
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post #13 of 31
8/12/04 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
i got it from www.batterygeek.net. he gives you a 5 dollar discount if you get it out of ebay tell him ian fok sent you & he will get you the right battery & the right cable as well. btw i got the bluetooth part today. i have problem getting the vcomm software but installation was easy & it seems to work fine within windows...! A sony a190 with bluetooth! whoohoo!!!!!!!!!!!
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post #14 of 31
8/12/04 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 
just got the sony bluetooth to work perfectly. all i needed was to get ride of bluespace & install the ibm software & client. btw i found out how you can easily connect an external antenna to the vaio a 190...you need to buy a cable from sony accessories that costs some 16 dollars its part no 1-827-266-21
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post #15 of 31
8/30/04 at 2:10pm
Can you guys please elaborate on the sony bluetooth for the A190? Where did you get the parts? What parts do you need? Where did you get the drivers?

I can't wait to do this. Please tell me!
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post #16 of 31
8/30/04 at 11:12pm
Hi,

Thanks for the info. I did not know the A series is so difficult to change HD or CPU. I got my a190 on the way now and I have already purchase the 7200RPM HD.

Can you post some pictures and process or replacing HD or CPU.

Thanks

PS. I preiously have the GRX570 and It isn't so difficult to change the HD (removable) and CPU.
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post #17 of 31
8/31/04 at 1:21am
I hope strepto8 comes back to this thread - I am dying to know what he did to upgrade the A190 to bluetooth.

I upgraded my memory to 1256mb. That part was easy. But now I want to add bluetooth.

PS - what are you guys using to carry around your laptop? I have been in the market for a back pack and I can't make up my mind.
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post #18 of 31
8/31/04 at 6:27pm
Hmm,

Just received the A190 today. The bluetooth is build in with A190. Why do you need to install one???

Mine has the bluetooth build in with system. Why need to add on again???
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post #19 of 31
8/31/04 at 7:29pm
my A190 did not come with blue tooth. If it did, I have no idea where it is.....

Nothing on the control panel and no bluetooth software that I can find. Also, I do not have any bluetooth symbol on the fron panel of my laptop - (where the Wireless lan LED is)

Am I missing something?
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post #20 of 31
9/1/04 at 3:53am
well you really ought to... since the a190 ships with bluetooth as standard....

switch on the wireless lan buttton, then a sqaure icon in the bottom right tray will turn green... double click on THIS, and it a box will appear asking if you want to enable either wireless lan or bluetooth... check the bluetooth box and it is enabled.... then a small blue bluetooth light will appear on the front!

krlock
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