[rodneythesavior]

QUOTE (marmoo @ Wednesday, Apr 11 2012, 23:51)

QUOTE (rodneythesavior @ Thursday, Apr 12 2012, 04:16) Well, my VAIO just died... Out of the blue, just won't turn on anymore. Checked the AC, removed the battery all that jazz, nothing. I knew I hated Sony, and that I shouldn't trust anything created by them. Don't know why I went ahead and got it anyway. I feel for ya man Could see that you were well looking forward to it arriving and when something like this happens it just F***'s you right off As it is only 5 days, you considering cancelling the contract of sale and getting a different make? Know you were keen on the Sony but if it was me, I would have little confidence that the thing will not go wrong again, and possibly outside of warranty

I got a phone call earlier from somebody called Elizabeth? (It was a voicemail, and Verizon sucks lately so I only heard bits and pieces.)
She said that they've been having complaints about what I experienced, and it may have something to do with they processor that I chose. They're going to send me a new 'stock' laptop and refund the difference. (about $700)

[Slamman]

I have Verizon wireless too, new phone, not perfect, BUT, I can hear a convo on it, just always breaks up a bit, should file a Class Action Suit. Typically when one settles, and you do see a reward check, it's a few cents in actual monies! Getting a free laptop is a better deal, in most cases?!
I can only say dependent on my own experience, the amount was not worth jumping thru hoops for.

The dude who I had fun convos at The Box Shop, he's the guy who I consider a professional working on computers all the time, told me Sony just built low quality parts, for the laptops he'd come across, and reported them as the most problematic, there's no doubt they tried to make them look good to consumers, and they certainly look appealing, but it's those inside details that prove the worth in the long run.

Any idea if that processor repair is lowering the clock speed for better cooling??? haha That's what I did, and kept an eye on how it heats, so avoiding a premature shut down!

This post has been edited by Slamman on Friday, Apr 13 2012, 04:27

[rodneythesavior]

I'm shipping my VAIO out later today, I hope it was just that the hard drive got disconnected. I found out earlier today that my fiance deleted every single one of my song/project files from her computer (and emptied the recycle bin.) If they reformat the hard drive I'm going to have to rerecord everything. Which wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I had roughly 40 projects going.

[Stinky12]

Sony 99.999999% of the time will wipe out the drive.

This post has been edited by Stinky12 on Wednesday, Apr 18 2012, 01:28

[Slamman]

Damn, man, if you have a HDD issue, handle it yourself, I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of a nickel or penny if you can fix the thing yourself!!

[rodneythesavior]

QUOTE (Stinky12 @ Tuesday, Apr 17 2012, 17:24)

Sony 99.999999% of the time will wipe out the drive.

That sucks oh well, I guess I'll just have to redo everything.

QUOTE (Slamman @ Tuesday, Apr 17 2012, 19:56)

Damn, man, if you have a HDD issue, handle it yourself, I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of a nickel or penny if you can fix the thing yourself!!

I didn't want to take it apart, just incase it was something a little more serious. (no sense voiding the warranty, if it can be avoided) It's going to be free to repair it, for the next 5 months. So, I'll just take advantage of that, and not risk screwing anything up by doing it myself. I'll spend this time studying the hardware and all that jazz.



This post has been edited by rodneythesavior on Wednesday, Apr 18 2012, 04:47

[Slamman]

It depends, for my Acer they patched the whole removable lid with VOID stickers, but I bought mine used, in many cases, this is not practiced and any screw removable compartments won't void your warranty, anything you can actually access is fair game, without worry over the warranty, since HDD and memory upgrades are most common in laptops, and then CPU and possible graphics cards, which require perhaps an opening of the palmrest and bottom casing, known as the "base".

Sony has SOME PDF guides I found tracking them down online, won't cost you a thing if you can locate them
I know my older gen K series had easily accessible panels for RAM, battery, and HDD. What you'd want to do is check how the HDD is mounted, typically 4 screws to a caddy, the caddy is then mounted to the base with 4 screws so it would normally not come off it's mount

This post has been edited by Slamman on Wednesday, Apr 18 2012, 07:08

[Wolf68k]

I've wanted to stay out of this because I didn't see a need to step in.

@Slamman
True, usually doing an upgrade to the RAM and HDD is fair game and usually do not void the warranty. However in this case just replacing the HDD isn't as easy as all that. Since Windows XP and for sure Vista and 7 most builders do not include a factory restore CD. The instead rely on a locked protected partition and usually a 1-time-use program that allows the sure to do the first time set up and install whatever then use said program to create a set of backup/recovery discs which will only recover the primary partition to the point those disc were made but will not include the factory restore partition. Granted it is usually possible to order a disc from the maker to make the HDD back to it's factory state.
So in his case would lose all of that if he replaced the drive.
He'll also not only be shelling out around $100USD (around about starting price for a 320GB 2.5in drive) for a replacement drive but also for copy of the OS being it a factory store disc or a direct Windows.
Lastly it's under warranty, so why shouldn't he just let Sony fix it. That's what warranties are for. They screw it up, let them spend the money to fix their screw up.

@rodneythesavior
I seriously doubt that the HDD came lose. It's a pretty tight fit. Plus the HDD itself is usually has a mounting bracket it's screwed to and possibly an adapter of sorts to convert the SATA connection to something that will go to what the laptop's interface is for the drive, this is instead of using cables like you would have in a desktop. Then to top that off the bracket is either screwed down to the housing for the HDD or the screws that hold the back plate in place are doing double duty but also going through the HDD mounting bracket to secure it to the housing.

Side note: It really sucks you lost all of those projects. Maybe what you might want to think about doing while waiting for your laptop to come back is to find an external drive of some kind, be it a portable drive or a full size drive so that you can use for backups. This is what I recently got too bad the price went up $20 from when I got it. Just an example of something to look at is all. Yes, I know it might be over kill to have a 1TB drive to use primarily as backup for a 160GB (in my case) or a 320GB (yours) but then I've never really seen here too much drive space was a bad thing either.

[Slamman]

Mainly I'm suggesting if he thinks it's loose, you can certainly check visually, always first task in troubleshooting is look for obvious signs and indicators of trouble.

I'm not sure what drive interface you're suggesting that SATA for a laptop needs to adapt to, granted a proprietary interconnect might be used for ODD, but not HDD.

This post has been edited by Slamman on Wednesday, Apr 18 2012, 19:52

[rodneythesavior]

QUOTE (Wolf68k @ Wednesday, Apr 18 2012, 08:45)

@rodneythesavior I seriously doubt that the HDD came lose. It's a pretty tight fit. Plus the HDD itself is usually has a mounting bracket it's screwed to and possibly an adapter of sorts to convert the SATA connection to something that will go to what the laptop's interface is for the drive, this is instead of using cables like you would have in a desktop. Then to top that off the bracket is either screwed down to the housing for the HDD or the screws that hold the back plate in place are doing double duty but also going through the HDD mounting bracket to secure it to the housing. Side note: It really sucks you lost all of those projects. Maybe what you might want to think about doing while waiting for your laptop to come back is to find an external drive of some kind, be it a portable drive or a full size drive so that you can use for backups. This is what I recently got too bad the price went up $20 from when I got it. Just an example of something to look at is all. Yes, I know it might be over kill to have a 1TB drive to use primarily as backup for a 160GB (in my case) or a 320GB (yours) but then I've never really seen here too much drive space was a bad thing either.

That's just the first thing that came to mind when the HDD wouldn't boot. I don't necessarily think it came loose, but it definitely wasn't put together correctly. But I guess I'll find out in a few days when they tell me exactly what happened.

I've been thinking about getting an External for a while, but there was always something 'more important' to spend money on. But now that I've lost all that data, I'm going to get one as soon as possible. Walmart has a 2TB for $129.99 so I'll just get that. (my projects took up 86GB) So I could use all that extra space without worrying about filling up my laptop's hard drive .

[finn4life]

QUOTE (rodneythesavior @ Thursday, Apr 19 2012, 07:14)

QUOTE (Wolf68k @ Wednesday, Apr 18 2012, 08:45) @rodneythesavior I seriously doubt that the HDD came lose. It's a pretty tight fit. Plus the HDD itself is usually has a mounting bracket it's screwed to and possibly an adapter of sorts to convert the SATA connection to something that will go to what the laptop's interface is for the drive, this is instead of using cables like you would have in a desktop. Then to top that off the bracket is either screwed down to the housing for the HDD or the screws that hold the back plate in place are doing double duty but also going through the HDD mounting bracket to secure it to the housing. Side note: It really sucks you lost all of those projects. Maybe what you might want to think about doing while waiting for your laptop to come back is to find an external drive of some kind, be it a portable drive or a full size drive so that you can use for backups. This is what I recently got too bad the price went up $20 from when I got it. Just an example of something to look at is all. Yes, I know it might be over kill to have a 1TB drive to use primarily as backup for a 160GB (in my case) or a 320GB (yours) but then I've never really seen here too much drive space was a bad thing either. That's just the first thing that came to mind when the HDD wouldn't boot. I don't necessarily think it came loose, but it definitely wasn't put together correctly. But I guess I'll find out in a few days when they tell me exactly what happened. I've been thinking about getting an External for a while, but there was always something 'more important' to spend money on. But now that I've lost all that data, I'm going to get one as soon as possible. Walmart has a 2TB for $129.99 so I'll just get that. (my projects took up 86GB) So I could use all that extra space without worrying about filling up my laptop's hard drive .

Just thought i would let you know, it's much better to save things outside your PC, things like music and photos and your projects because it slows your pc down.

[Slamman]

As I'd been saying all along, I dislike people blaming Sony for someone else's HDD, as most know, Sony DID make some DELL batteries, not all of them, but the batch that wound up exploding! They also don't make Hard Disk Drives, but they do make optical ones, aka ODD

If it's a warranty issue that you don't have to sweat as much, they'll cover all components, but Sony isn't held in direct fault for a HDD made by someone else, just that it should be expected to perform via Quality Control, you know

The other thing you can do, even with the caddy attached to the laptop drive, tether it to your desktop, boot the desktop and see if it adds the drive so you can move files you need onto your desktop, it works the same as an external drive without the casing costs

This post has been edited by Slamman on Thursday, Apr 19 2012, 02:56

[rodneythesavior]

Just got off the phone with Sony Repair Services in Laredo, TX.
They didn't tell me what was wrong, but they told me that the repair has been completed and they'll be shipping it out either later today or Monday. (I'm not getting my hopes up that they'll ship it out today) Hopefully everything's working now.

[Slamman]

If you get a chance, ask, I would, since it's better when it's not a mystery. I'd like to know if I sent a formatted drive WITH the system I can get it back intact, also it's fair to ask about safeguarding the HDD outside the system, like shipping it back without the battery or AC, assuming they have those components that are required
Anyway, I also can see if they want a full return, it's warranted if you switch entire units, same brand or not

[rodneythesavior]

I just got my laptop back, and on the report sheet, it said that the Hard-Drive connection was loose. The tightened it,and it works now.
Editing from my VAIO: They didn't format the harddrive or delete anything! Praise the lord!

This post has been edited by rodneythesavior on Monday, Apr 23 2012, 21:04

[Slamman]

Yes, Amen for that. I never filed in a report to the BBB about my Sony since the mobo was easily replaced, but mine was a straight to Pin out of the PATA connector, newer laptops do the same for SATA so that's a bit odd I believe