The hard drive on my aging Sony vaio laptop crashed the other day. At
least I assume it's the hard drive as I get a disc read error when
trying to boot and this is accompanied by clicking sounds which I
assume is the heads on the hard drive.

I've been unable to recover the machine and so I thought I would
confirm that the hard drive is definately the problem by plugging it
into my desktop. To do this I need to remove the drive from my laptop
and so I tried undoing all the screws on the bottom of the laptop but
this still doesn't give me access to the internals. I've searched
high and low for instructions on how to open the case and remove the
drive but found nothing. I get the impression this isn't meant to be
done on this machine as Sony have made it as difficult as possible!

Can anyone offer any advise on how to remove the hard drive from my
sony Vaio VGN-A117S? If I ever get the drive out (without wrecking
the machine) and confirm it is faulty then I plan to replace the
drive. I've found plenty of online stores that sell replacement
drives but not one of them gives instructions on how to go about doing
this!

Thanks in advance.

Paul.

"Milleniumaire" <milleniumaire********.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1182242628.715162.147510@n60g2000hse.googlegr oups.com...
> The hard drive on my aging Sony vaio laptop crashed the other day. At
> least I assume it's the hard drive as I get a disc read error when
> trying to boot and this is accompanied by clicking sounds which I
> assume is the heads on the hard drive.
>
> I've been unable to recover the machine and so I thought I would
> confirm that the hard drive is definately the problem by plugging it
> into my desktop. To do this I need to remove the drive from my laptop
> and so I tried undoing all the screws on the bottom of the laptop but
> this still doesn't give me access to the internals. I've searched
> high and low for instructions on how to open the case and remove the
> drive but found nothing. I get the impression this isn't meant to be
> done on this machine as Sony have made it as difficult as possible!
>
> Can anyone offer any advise on how to remove the hard drive from my
> sony Vaio VGN-A117S? If I ever get the drive out (without wrecking
> the machine) and confirm it is faulty then I plan to replace the
> drive. I've found plenty of online stores that sell replacement
> drives but not one of them gives instructions on how to go about doing
> this!
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Paul.
>
>


Well here's one.....(google is your friend)...don't know ehether it's the
same as yours...
http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jpc/vaio/

>
> Well here's one.....(google is your friend)...don't know ehether it's the
> same as yours...http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jpc/vaio/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks, but I've already seen this one, and no, it's nothing like my
machine!

Milleniumaire wrote:
>> Well here's one.....(google is your friend)...don't know ehether it's the
>> same as yours...http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jpc/vaio/- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> Thanks, but I've already seen this one, and no, it's nothing like my
> machine!
>
Manuals etc. found here.
http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/manua...e=VGN-A&m=1543

On 19 Jun, 13:12, Pen <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
> Milleniumaire wrote:
> >> Well here's one.....(google is your friend)...don't know ehether it's the
> >> same as yours...http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jpc/vaio/-Hide quoted text -
>
> >> - Show quoted text -
>
> > Thanks, but I've already seen this one, and no, it's nothing like my
> > machine!
>
> Manuals etc. found here.http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/manua...=voe_en_GB_con...

Unfortunately the user manuals on the Sony site only describe how to
change the memory in my machine, and to do this it isn't necessary to
take the machine apart. I get the impression Sony don't want users to
access the disk drive and so have made it as difficult as possible to
do this. I've managed to "almost" get the cover off the notepad, but
it appears to be held on my something I can't see and I don't want to
force it and break it. I'm sure I've undone all the relevant screws
so I don't know what is stopping it from being released. Any advice
would be helpful.

Paul.

Milleniumaire wrote:
> The hard drive on my aging Sony vaio laptop crashed the other day. At
> least I assume it's the hard drive as I get a disc read error when
> trying to boot and this is accompanied by clicking sounds which I
> assume is the heads on the hard drive.
>
> I've been unable to recover the machine and so I thought I would
> confirm that the hard drive is definately the problem by plugging it
> into my desktop. To do this I need to remove the drive from my laptop
> and so I tried undoing all the screws on the bottom of the laptop but
> this still doesn't give me access to the internals. I've searched
> high and low for instructions on how to open the case and remove the
> drive but found nothing. I get the impression this isn't meant to be
> done on this machine as Sony have made it as difficult as possible!
>
> Can anyone offer any advise on how to remove the hard drive from my
> sony Vaio VGN-A117S? If I ever get the drive out (without wrecking
> the machine) and confirm it is faulty then I plan to replace the
> drive. I've found plenty of online stores that sell replacement
> drives but not one of them gives instructions on how to go about doing
> this!
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Paul.
>

I have only a photo of the top of this notebook, but...

Take a look at the strip just above the keyboard. On many Vaio
notebooks, this strip is the entry point - it slides to the left about
3/8 inch (9 cm), lifts up, and exposes the keyboard screw(s). This
strip has formerly been fixed by a screw on the left margin, sometimes
hidden by a flap over a USB port, etc. If there is no screw, then it
might just be removed by a leftward pressure on the strip.

Q

On 21 Jun, 03:34, Quaoar <qua...@marcabfleet.com> wrote:
> Milleniumaire wrote:
> > The hard drive on my aging Sony vaio laptop crashed the other day. At
> > least I assume it's the hard drive as I get a disc read error when
> > trying to boot and this is accompanied by clicking sounds which I
> > assume is the heads on the hard drive.
>
> > I've been unable to recover the machine and so I thought I would
> > confirm that the hard drive is definately the problem by plugging it
> > into my desktop. To do this I need to remove the drive from my laptop
> > and so I tried undoing all the screws on the bottom of the laptop but
> > this still doesn't give me access to the internals. I've searched
> > high and low for instructions on how to open the case and remove the
> > drive but found nothing. I get the impression this isn't meant to be
> > done on this machine as Sony have made it as difficult as possible!
>
> > Can anyone offer any advise on how to remove the hard drive from my
> > sony Vaio VGN-A117S? If I ever get the drive out (without wrecking
> > the machine) and confirm it is faulty then I plan to replace the
> > drive. I've found plenty of online stores that sell replacement
> > drives but not one of them gives instructions on how to go about doing
> > this!
>
> > Thanks in advance.
>
> > Paul.
>
> I have only a photo of the top of this notebook, but...
>
> Take a look at the strip just above the keyboard. On many Vaio
> notebooks, this strip is the entry point - it slides to the left about
> 3/8 inch (9 cm), lifts up, and exposes the keyboard screw(s). This
> strip has formerly been fixed by a screw on the left margin, sometimes
> hidden by a flap over a USB port, etc. If there is no screw, then it
> might just be removed by a leftward pressure on the strip.
>
> Q- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks Q. The strip above the keyboard (at the screen hinge end) is a
black plastic strip but it is firmly attached to the silver case top
in which the keyboard sits i.e. this is all one piece. I have removed
the keyboard and the whole top piece pivots slightly around the point
at which the screen is hinged, but I can't lift it high enough to see
what is stopping it from being removed. I suspect there are some
clips (rather than screws) but I just can't see them and don't want to
force it and break them.

Paul.