How to disassemble Acer TravelMate 2300

This post will help you to disassemble an Acer TravelMate 2300 laptop. One of my readers Richard Stutely found a lot of similarities between Acer TravelMate 2300 and Acer TravelMate 3620. He was fixing the failed power jack in his laptop.
Earlier I published a guide for taking apart an Acer TravelMate 3620.

HOW TO REPLACE YOUR DELL LATITUDE D820 KEYBOARD

Well, after my fight against Dell Israel and Omnitech, I decided to replace my keyboard my self. The keyboard was ordered via official Dell US website for only $13.99 (inc. P&P)

It took about a week to arrive and now I'm ready to start replacement process.

How to upgrade Dell laptop with internal Bluetooth

Your Dell laptop has no Bluetooth capability? Not a problem!
This tutorial will give you an idea how you can upgrade your Dell laptop with an internal Bluetooth. To be precise, this guide explains how to install an external USB 2.0 Bluetooth dongle inside your laptop and make it internal. Sounds like an interesting idea and most likely I’ll try it on my laptop too.
This guide was made for a Dell Inspiron 700m but will work for most other models.
All you need is some soldering experience and inexpensive USB 2.0 Bluetooth dongle. Laptop disassembly instructions could be found in the official service manual.

How to clear Toshiba laptop BIOS password

These instructions explain how you can clear the BIOS password from older Toshiba laptops.
The article is written in German so I’ll ad some comments in English.
In order to clear the BIOS password you’ll have to create a plug for the laptop parallel port. You can make the plug from a parallel port connector for printers, known as DB25. Find an old parallel port connector, take it apart and solder pins inside the connector as described below.

Toshiba Tecra 8000 series and 9000 series FRU documentation

Here are the links for Toshiba Tecra 8000 and Tecra 9000 FRU (Field Replaceable Unit Documentation). It’s very useful if you want to take your laptop apart. I’m not sure how long these links would be “alive”. These files are in PDF format. When you click on the link, the PDF file should open in a new window. If you have a slow Internet connection it might take some time to download the file.

Toshiba Tecra 8000 (size 2.7MB)

Toshiba Tecra 9000 (size 5.0MB)

Please let me know if these links are dead, I’ll delete the post.

Acer Laptop Service Manuals and FRU Documentation

If you are looking for Acer laptop service manuals, you can download them here. The site is in Russian but all links are in English.

You’ll find service manuals and FRU documentation for the following laptops:

1. Acer Aspire 1610 Series [ 4.5 Mb ]
2. Acer Aspire 3680 / 5570 / 5580 [ 4.6 Mb ]
3. Acer Aspire 4930 / 4930G Series [ 4.8 Mb ]
4. Acer Aspire 5050 / 3050 Series [ 11.7 Mb ]
5. Acer Aspire 5110 / 5100 / 3100 [ 7.0 Mb ]
6. Acer Aspire 5520 / 5220 Series [ 3.5 Mb ]
7. Acer Aspire 5530 / 5530G Series [ 7.4 Mb ]
8. Acer Aspire 5680 / 5630 / 3690 / Acer TravelMate 4280 / 4230 / 2490 [ 7.7 Mb ]
9. Acer Aspire 5710 / 5710G / 5310 / 5310G [ 3.2 Mb ]
10. Acer Aspire 5720 / 5720G [ 3.4 Mb ]
11. Acer Aspire 5920G [ 4.0 Mb ]
12. Acer Aspire 5930 / 5930Z / 5730Z Series [ 28.6 Mb ]
13. Acer Aspire 6920 [ 18.9 Mb ]
14. Acer Aspire 6930 / 6930G [ 8.8 Mb ]
15. Acer Aspire 6935 Series [ 23.2 Mb ]
16. Acer Aspire 7520 / 7220 Series [ 3.7 Mb ]
17. Acer Aspire 7720 / 7720G [ 3.4 Mb ]
18. Acer Aspire 7730 / 7730G [ 7.1 Mb ]
19. Acer Aspire 9420 / 9410 / 7110 / Acer TravelMate 5620 / 5610 / 5110 [ 9.1 Mb ]
20. Acer Aspire 9920 [ 6.6 Mb ]
21. Acer Ferrari 3000SG [ 3.4 Mb ]
22. Acer Ferrari 4000 [ 4.7 Mb ]
23. Acer TravelMate 2410 [ 2.7 Mb ]
24. Acer TravelMate 4070 / 4080 [ 3.9 Mb ]
25. Acer TravelMate 4210 / 4270 / 4670 / Acer Aspire 5620 / 5670 [ 6.2 Mb ]
26. Acer TravelMate 4220 / 2480 / Acer Aspire 5600 [ 20.7 Mb ]
27. Acer TravelMate 540 Series [ 7.0 Mb ]
28. Acer TravelMate 5720 / 5320 / Acer Extensa 5620 / 5220 [ 29.3 Mb ]
29. Acer TravelMate 5730 / Acer Extensa 5630 Series [ 23.4 Mb ]
30. Acer TravelMate 5710 / 5310 / Acer Extensa 5610 / 5210 [ 29.1 Mb ]
31. Acer TravelMate 7720 / 7320 [ 37.7 Mb ]
32. Acer Travelmate 7730 / 7730g [ 8.3 Mb ]
33. Acer TravelMate 8100 [ 4.5 Mb ]
34. Acer TravelMate 240 / 250 [ 5.1 Mb ]
35. Acer Aspire 4720 / 4720G / 4720Z / 4320 [ 3.1 Mb ]
36. Acer Aspire серии 4720Z / 4720 / 4320 Руководство Пользователя [ 3.4 Mb ]
37. Схема на ноутбук Acer Aspire 4720Z (Z01)-E3C [ 0.9 Mb ]
38. Acer Aspire 8935G [ 10.5 Mb ]
39. Acer Aspire 5110 / 5100 / 3100 / TravelMate 5510 / 5210 / Extens 5410 / 5010 [ 14.0 Mb ]
40. Acer Aspire 9300 / 7000 / Acer TravelMate 7510 [ 9.7 Mb ]
41. Acer Aspire 6530 [ 3.8 Mb ]
42. Acer Aspire 4520 / 4220 / 4520G / 4220G [ 9.1 Mb ]
43. Acer Aspire 5738G / 5738ZG / 5738Z / 5738 / 5338 / 5536 / 5536G / 5236 [ 19.4 Mb ]
44. Acer Aspire 2930 [ 10.4 Mb ]
45. Acer TravelMate 4
20 [ 8.9 Mb ]
46. Acer TravelMate 6492 [ 4.4 Mb ]
47. Acer TravelMate 3000 [ 4.7 Mb ]
48. Acer Aspire 4920 / 4920G [ 4.8 Mb ]
49. Acer TravelMate 4530 [ 6.8 Mb ]
50. Acer Aspire 4715z / 4315 [ 26 Mb ]
51. Acer TravelMate 2480 / 3260 / 3270 [ 4.7 Mb ]

Get them while you can. 

How to take apart and repair Toshiba laptops yourself

The following laptop step-by-step disassembly manuals I have created myself. You can use them if you have a Toshiba laptop and want to repair or upgrade it yourself. You shouldn’t disassemble your laptop if you have no experience with computers because you can easily damage it. Also, you shouldn’t open it if the laptop is still under warranty. I’m still developing new laptop teardown guides and my goal is to add new guides every week. If you do not see a manual for your model, most likely I will add it later. Stay tuned.

Toshiba Satellite disassembly guides and manuals:

• Toshiba Satellite 1200 instructions for laptop disassembly
• Toshiba Satellite 1415 complete laptop disassembly
• Toshiba Satellite 1415 removing laptop LCD screen
• Toshiba Satellite 1800 taking apart notebook
• Toshiba Satellite 1805 how to replace laptop CPU
• Toshiba Satellite 1905 replacing notebook memory
• Toshiba Satellite 2435 replacing laptop LCD screen
• Toshiba Satellite 5105 how to remove video board
• Toshiba Satellite 5205 removing and replacing DVD/CD-Rom drive
• Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 dismantling laptop
• Toshiba Satellite Pro M10 replacing notebook motherboard
• Toshiba Satellite Pro M15 remove laptop mainboard
• Toshiba Satellite A10 illustrated disassembly instructions
• Toshiba Satellite A15 how to take apart laptop
• Toshiba Satellite A20 how to remove and replace hinges
• Toshiba Satellite A25 replacing laptop memory
• Toshiba Satellite A35 how to remove CPU heatsink
• Toshiba Satellite A35 complete laptop disassembly
• Toshiba Satellite A45 replacing broken hinges
• Toshiba Satellite A55 how to remove keyboard
• Toshiba Satellite A55 laptop disassembly instructions
• Toshiba Satellite A60 laptop disassembly manual
• Toshiba Satellite A65 how to open laptop case
• Toshiba Satellite A65 removing laptop LCD screen
• Toshiba Satellite A70 how to dismantle notebook
• Toshiba Satellite A75 how to pull apart laptop
• Toshiba Satellite A75 disassemble display, remove LCD and inverter
• Toshiba Satellite A85 removing and replacing notebook memory
• Toshiba Satellite A105 replacing FL inverter and LCD screen
• Toshiba Satellite A105 how to remove laptop motherboard
• Toshiba Satellite A135 removing mainboard and other components
• Toshiba Satellite A205 laptop disassembly instructions
• Toshiba Satellite A215 how to remove wireless card
• Toshiba Satellite A215 taking apart laptop display panel
• Toshiba Satellite L25 taking apart display panel and removing LCD
• Toshiba Satellite L25 overclocking laptop CPU
• Toshiba Satellite L35 removing and replacing laptop screen
• Toshiba Satellite L35 laptop disassembly instructions
• Toshiba Satellite L45 removing and replacing laptop motherboard
• Toshiba Satellite M35 notebook disassembly guide
• Toshiba Satellite M35X take apart laptop yourself
• Toshiba Satellite M35X open display assembly
• Toshiba Satellite M45 remove and replace FL inverter
• Toshiba Satellite M45 opening laptop case
• Toshiba Satellite M55 removing LCD screen
• Toshiba Satellite M55 step-by-step disassembly
• Toshiba Satellite M65 notebook teardown guide
• Toshiba Satellite M65 replacing inverter and LCD screen
• Toshiba Satellite M105 taking apart notebook
• Toshiba Satellite M115 how to remove top cover assembly
• Toshiba Satellite P10 access and remove laptop hard drive
• Toshiba Satellite P15 repair laptop overheating problem
• Toshiba Satellite P15 how to remove laptop system board
• Toshiba Satellite P25 do-it-yourself laptop disassembly
• Toshiba Satellite P25 remove LCD screen and FL inverter
• Toshiba Satellite P30 teardown laptop manual
• Toshiba Satellite P35 step-by-step notebook disassembly
• Toshiba Satellite P35 how to replace LCD screen and inverter
• Toshiba Satellite P105 laptop disassembly instructions
• Toshiba Satellite P205 taking apart and removing motherboard
• Toshiba Satellite P205 replacing LCD screen and inverter board
• Toshiba Satellite R15 taking apart tablet PC
• Toshiba Satellite U305 removing and replacing keyboard
• Toshiba Satellite U305 removing and replacing sound board
• Toshiba Satellite X205 illustrated laptop disassembly guide

Toshiba Tecra series disassembly guides and manuals:

• Toshiba Tecra TE2100 illustrated laptop teardown
• Toshiba Tecra 8100 removing and replacing FL inverter board
• Toshiba Tecra 9100 removing system board
• Toshiba Tecra A1 complete notebook disassembly
• Toshiba Tecra A2 notebook disassembly guide
• Toshiba Tecra A3 LCD screen removal
• Toshiba Tecra A5 laptop tear down guide
• Toshiba Tecra A6 step-by-step disassembly instructions
• Toshiba Tecra M2 how to replace system board
• Toshiba Tecra M3 complete laptop disassembly guide
• Toshiba Tecra S1 DIY laptop disassembly manual
• Toshiba Tecra S2 how to pull apart notebook
• Toshiba Tecra S3 laptop disassembly steps

Toshiba Portege series disassembly guides and manuals:

• Toshiba Portege 3500 replacing laptop soundboard
• Toshiba Portege 4010 how to take apart laptop
• Toshiba Portege A100 replacing laptop CPU fan
• Toshiba Portege R100 removing motherboard
• Toshiba Portege M200 tablet PC digitizer replacement
• Toshiba Portege M205 tablet PC laptop disassembly
• Toshiba Portege M400 taking apart and removing motherboard

Toshiba Qosmio disassembly guides:

• Toshiba Qosmio F15 how to open up notebook
• Toshiba Qosmio G25 replacing laptop cooling fans
• Toshiba Qosmio G35 removing DVD drive and keyboard
• Toshiba Qosmio G35 replacing laptop motherboard

I’m still working on creating new disassembly guides. For more information please visit my Toshiba laptop disassembly site.

Repair service manuals for old Toshiba laptops

Here are some laptop repair service manuals for old Toshiba laptops. If you are interested in a specific service manual from the bellow listed models, follow the links:

Toshiba Satellite Series

Toshiba Satellite Pro Series

Toshiba Libretto Series

Toshiba Satellite Series

Toshiba Satellite 1555CDS Toshiba Satellite 1715XCDS Toshiba Satellite 2060CDS Toshiba Satellite 2065CDS Toshiba Satellite 2100CDS Toshiba Satellite 2100CDT Toshiba Satellite 2105CDS Toshiba Satellite 2140XCDS Toshiba Satellite 2180CDT Toshiba Satellite 220CDS Toshiba Satellite 2210CDT Toshiba Satellite 2210XCDS Toshiba Satellite 2250CDT Toshiba Satellite 2250XCDS Toshiba Satellite 225CDS Toshiba Satellite 2515CDS Toshiba Satellite 2530CDS Toshiba Satellite 2535CDS Toshiba Satellite 2540CDS Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS Toshiba Satellite 2545XCDT Toshiba Satellite 2590CDS Toshiba Satellite 2590CDT Toshiba Satellite 2595CDS Toshiba Satellite 2595CDT Toshiba Satellite 2595XDVD Toshiba Satellite 2615DVD Toshiba Satellite 2655XDVD Toshiba Satellite 2675DVD

Toshiba Satellite 2715XDVD Toshiba Satellite 2755DVD Toshiba Satellite 2775XDVD Toshiba Satellite 2800 Toshiba Satellite 305CDS Toshiba Satellite 310CDS Toshiba Satellite 310CDT Toshiba Satellite 315CDS Toshiba Satellite 315CDT Toshiba Satellite 320CDS Toshiba Satellite 320CDT Toshiba Satellite 325CDS Toshiba Satellite 330CDS Toshiba Satellite 330CDT Toshiba Satellite 4000CDS Toshiba Satellite 4000CDT Toshiba Satellite 4005CDS Toshiba Satellite 4005CDT Toshiba Satellite 4010CDS Toshiba Satellite 4010CDT Toshiba Satellite 4020CDT Toshiba Satellite 4025CDT Toshiba Satellite 4030CDT Toshiba Satellite 4060CDT Toshiba Satellite 4080XCDT Toshiba Satellite 4085XCDT Toshiba Satellite 4090XDVD Toshiba Satellite 4100XDVD

Toshiba Satellite Pro Series	Toshiba Libretto Series
Toshiba Satellite Pro 4260DVD Toshiba Satellite Pro 4280XDVD Toshiba Satellite Pro 4280ZDVD Toshiba Satellite Pro 440CDT Toshiba Satellite Pro 440CDX Toshiba Satellite Pro 445CDT Toshiba Satellite Pro 445CDX Toshiba Satellite Pro 460CDT Toshiba Satellite Pro 460CDX Toshiba Satellite Pro 470CDT Toshiba Satellite Pro 480CDT Toshiba Satellite Pro 490CDT Toshiba Satellite Pro 490XCDT	Toshiba Libretto 50CT Toshiba Libretto 70CT Toshiba Libretto 100CT Toshiba Libretto 110CT

I found another source with service manuals for older Toshiba laptops.

Toshiba Laptop Disassembly Guides for new models

IBM ThinkPad computer hardware maintenance manuals

HMM will provide you instructions for troubleshooting, diagnostics, removal and replacement laptop hardware. All IBM HMMs are publicly available. You can find HMM for your laptop on the IBM website or you can follow the link below. All HMMs are in pdf format, so you can download them and use at your convenience. For hardware replacement instructions find “Removing and replacing a FRU” chapter.

IBM ThinkPad Computer Hardware Maintenance Manuals Year 2001-2006
IBM ThinkPad A2*m, A2*p
IBM ThinkPad A2*e
IBM ThinkPad A21e
IBM ThinkPad A22* (Wireless models)
IBM ThinkPad A30, A30p, A31, A31p
IBM ThinkPad G40, G41
IBM ThinkPad R30, R31
IBM ThinkPad R32
IBM ThinkPad R40, R40e
IBM ThinkPad R50/p, R51
IBM ThinkPad R50e, R51e, R52
IBM ThinkPad R60, R60e
IBM ThinkPad T20, T21, T22, T23
IBM ThinkPad T30
IBM ThinkPad T40/p, T41/p, T42/p
IBM ThinkPad T43
IBM ThinkPad T43/p
IBM ThinkPad T60, T60p
IBM ThinkPad X20, X21, X22, X23, X24
IBM ThinkPad X30, X31, X32
IBM ThinkPad X40
IBM ThinkPad X41
IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet
IBM ThinkPad X60/s
IBM ThinkPad Z60m
IBM ThinkPad Z60t
IBM ThinkPad Z61e, Z61m
IBM ThinkPad Z61t

IBM ThinkPad Computer Hardware Maintenance Manuals Year 1997-2001
TransNote
i Series 1200, 1300, ThinkPad 130
i Series 1400, 1500
i Series 1400, 1500
IBM ThinkPad 240
IBM ThinkPad 240X
IBM ThinkPad 380, 385, 560, 760, 765
IBM ThinkPad 380XD/385XD
IBM ThinkPad 380Z
IBM ThinkPad 390
IBM ThinkPad 390E
IBM ThinkPad 390X
IBM ThinkPad 560X
IBM ThinkPad 560Z
IBM ThinkPad 570/E
IBM ThinkPad 600
IBM ThinkPad 600X
IBM ThinkPad 770

Get IBM laptop manuals here: IBM ThinkPad notebooks hardware maintenance manuals

Here’s how you can find inexpensive notebook parts.

HP Compaq laptop manuals with step-by-step disassembly instructions

Fixing a HP/Compaq laptop yourself? Need some help with taking the laptop apart? Here are links to manuals with step-by-step disassembly instructions. All these manuals are available from the HP website.

Here’s how to get the manual:
1. Follow the link
2. Select your model
3. Go to manuals
4. Find the maintenance and service guide and open it up (pdf file, some of them are huge)
5. Go to Removal and Replacement procedures chapter, you’ll find disassembly instructions in there

Manuals for the following Compaq Armada Notebook PC series.Get maintenance and service guide.

Compaq Armada 110, Compaq Armada 110s, Compaq Armada 1100, Compaq Armada 1500, Compaq Armada 1500c, Compaq Armada 1700, Compaq Armada 1750, Compaq Armada 3500, Compaq Armada 4100, Compaq Armada 4200, Compaq Armada 6500, Armada 7300, Compaq rmada 7400, Compaq Armada 7700, Compaq Armada 7800, Compaq Armada e500, Compaq Armada e500s, Compaq Armada E700, Compaq Armada m300, Compaq Armada m700, Compaq Armada SB, Compaq Armada V300

Manuals for the following Compaq Evo Notebook PC series. Get maintenance and service guide.

Compaq Evo n150, Compaq Evo n160, Compaq Evo n180, Compaq Evo n400c, Compaq Evo n410c, Compaq Evo n600c, Compaq Evo n610c, Compaq Evo n610v, Compaq Evo n620c, Compaq Evo n800c, Compaq Evo n800v, Compaq Evo n800w, Compaq Evo n1000c, Compaq Evo n1000v, Compaq Evo n1005v, Compaq Evo n1010v, Compaq Evo n1015v, Compaq Evo n1020v, Compaq Evo n1050v, Compaq Evo n200, Compaq Evo n110, Compaq vo n115

Manuals for the following HP Compaq Notebook PC series. Get maintenance and service guide.

HP Compaq 2400, HP Compaq 4400, HP Compaq 6100, HP Compaq 6200, HP Compaq 6300, HP Compaq 6305, HP Compaq 7400, HP Compaq 8200, HP Compaq 8400, HP Compaq 9400, HP Compaq nc4000, HP Compaq nc4010, HP Compaq nc4200, HP Compaq nc6000, HP Compaq nc6400, HP Compaq nc8000, HP Compaq nw8000, HP Compaq nw8240, HP Compaq nx4300, HP Compaq nx4800, HP Compaq nx4820, HP Compaq nx5000, HP Compaq nx6130, HP Compaq nx7000, HP Compaq nx7010, HP Compaq nx7100, HP Compaq nx7200, HP Compaq nx7220, HP Compaq nx7300, HP Compaq nx9000, HP Compaq nx9005, HP Compaq nx9008, HP Compaq nx9010, HP Compaq nx9020, HP Compaq nx9030, HP Compaq nx9040, HP Compaq nx9100, HP Compaq nx9105, HP Compaq nx9110, HP Compaq nx9500, HP Compaq nx9500A, HP Compaq nx9600

Manuals for the following HP Pavilion Notebook PC series. Get maintenance and service guide.

HP Pavilion de2000, HP Pavilion dv1000, HP Pavilion dv2000, HP Pavilion dv4000, HP Pavilion dv5000, HP Pavilion dv6000, HP Pavilion dv8000m, HP Pavilion dv9000, HP Pavilion n Notebook PC series, HP Pavilion tx1000, HP Pavilion xf Notebook PC series, HP Pavilion xh Notebook PC series, HP Pavilion xt Notebook PC series, HP Pavilion xu Notebook PC series, HP Pavilion xz Notebook PC series, HP Pavilion zd7000, HP Pavilion zd8000, HP Pavilion ze1000, HP Pavilion ze2000, HP Pavilion ze4000, HP Pavilion ze5000, HP Pavilion zt1000, HP Pavilion zt3000, HP Pavilion zu1000, HP Pavilion zv5000, HP Pavilion zv6000, HP Pavilion zx5000

Manuals for the following HP Presario Notebook PC series. Get maintenance and service guide.

Compaq Presario 300, Compaq Presario 700, Compaq Presario 800, Compaq Presario 900, Compaq Presario 1000, Compaq Presario 1100, Compaq Presario 1200, Compaq Presario 1400, Compaq Presario 1500, Compaq Presario 1600, Compaq Presario 1700, Compaq Presario 1800, Compaq Presario 1900, Compaq Presario 2100, Compaq Presario 2200, Compaq Presario 2500, Compaq Presario 2700, Compaq Presario 2800, Compaq Presario 3000, Compaq Presario B1000, Compaq Presario B2000, Compaq Presario B3000, Compaq Presario C300, Compaq Presario C500, Compaq Presario F500, Compaq Presario M2000, Compaq Presario R3000, Compaq Presario R4000, Compaq Presario V1000, Compaq Presario V2000, Compaq Presario V3000, Compaq Presario V4000, Compaq Presario V5000, Compaq Presario V6000, Compaq Presario X1000, Compaq Presario X1100, Compaq Presario X1200, Compaq Presario X1300, Compaq Presario X1400, Presario X1500, Compaq Presario X6000

Manuals for the following HP Special Edition Notebook PCs. Get maintenance and service guide.

Special Edition L2000 CTO Notebook PC, Special Edition L2005A3, Special Edition L2005A4, Special Edition L2005CL, Special Edition L2005CM, Special Edition L2005CO, Special Edition L2005CU, Special Edition L2005CX, Special Edition L2005US, Special Edition L2098XX, Special Edition L2099XX, Special Edition L2105CA, Special Edition L2105CL, Special Edition L2105NR, Special Edition L2205NR, Special Edition L2300 CTO Notebook PC, Special Edition L2310CU

OK, you downloaded the manual. Now you can start searching for thelaptop spare parts.

UPDATE:

Here’s how you can fix known “No Video” issue on some HP Pavilion and Compaq laptops.

Service manuals for Sony Vaio laptops and notebooks

Today I found a great source with service manuals for Sony Vaio VGN series laptops and notebooks. Links to the service manuals were posted on one of the Russian forums (comment 13). Not sure for how long these service manuals will be available for downloads but they are the time of wringing this post. Some files are large and it might take some time to download them, so be patient.

Need spare parts for a Sony laptop? Search here.

All service manuals are in PDF format and you can download them using below mentioned links.

Service manuals for Sony Vaio laptops and notebooks:

Sony VGN-A	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-FS	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-AR	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-N	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-AX	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-S	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-B	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-SZ	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-BX	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-T	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-C	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-TX	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-FE	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-U	>> Get it here
Sony VGN-FJ	>> Get it here	Sony VGN-UX	>> Get it here

Here’s another source for older Sony Vaio PCG series laptops and notebooks. Thank you to www.elhvb.com

PCG-R505AFE	>>Get it here	PCG-FX777, PCG-FX877	>>Get it here
PCGA-DSD5, PCGA-DSM5	>>Get it here	PCG-R505JE, PCG-R505JEK, PCG-R505JEP, PCG-R505JL, PCG-R505JLK, PCG-R505JLP, PCG-R505JS, PCG-R505JSK, PCG-R505JSP	>>Get it here
PCG-SR27, PCG-SR27K	>>Get it here	PCG-C1VP, PCG-C1VPK	>>Get it here
PCG-FX210	>>Get it here	PCG-GR150, PCG-GR150K, PCG-GR170, PCG-GR170K	>>Get it here
PCG-FX220, PCG-FX220K, PCG-FX240, PCG-FX240K, PCG-FX250 PCG-FX250K, PCG-FX270, PCG-FX270K	>>Get it here	PCG-GRS150, PCG-GRS170	>>Get it here
PCG-FX290, PCG-FX290K	>>Get it here	PCG-GRS175	>>Get it here
PCG-FXA32, PCG-FXA33, PCG-FXA35/D, PCG-FXA36	>>Get it here	PCG-GRV550	>>Get it here
PCG-FXA53, PCG-FXA59	>>Get it here	PCG-GRZ530	>>Get it here
PCG-GRX670, PCG-GRX690	>>Get it here	PCG-VX89, PCG-VX89K, PCG-VX89P	>>Get it here
PCG-NV290	>>Get it here

If you know other sources for Sony laptop manuals, please feel free to post links in comments.
Do you have a problem with your Sony Vaio laptop? Post it here, somebody can help you.

Notebook hardware control and monitoring software

Notebook hardware control and monitoring software is very neat utility for controlling hardware components on your notebook computers and it is free for personal use!

Using this utility you can:
- Monitor CPU clock, CPU load and CPU voltage
- Monitor CPU temperature and hard drive temperature
- Control CPU multiplier
- Control CPU warning and shutdown temperature
- Monitor hard drive SMART and temperature
- Monitor physical memory and virtual memory state
- Monitor battery status

I just found this software and still testing it. You can download notebook hardware control utility here. Make sure to read the beginner’s guide.

How to test LCD screen inverter in a laptop

In this post I explain how I test the LCD screen inverter board in a laptop computer.

The screen inverter failure is very similar to the backlight lamp failure. In both cases the screen gets very dark and the image on the screen becomes very faint, barely visible under a bright light.

If you suspect the inverter board failure, I know only one reliable way to test that. It’s either replacing the inverter board with a known good one and see if it works, or connecting a known good backlight lamp and see if your presumably bad inverter lights it up.

In most cases I go with the second method – testing the laptop with a known good backlight lamp. Why? Because backlight lamps are pretty much universal. The same backlight lamp will work with many different inverters as long as they have matching connectors. I’ll talk about these connectors later.

The inverter board is located inside the display panel under the LCD screen. In most laptops you can access the inverter board if you remove the LCD screen bezel. The inverter board has connectors on both ends. The left side of the inverter is connected to the LCD cable. The right side of the inverter is connected to the backlight lamp which is mounted inside the LCD screen. Check out this display diagram.

To make sure that inverter board is getting power from the motherboard (via the LCD cable), you can test it with a multimeter. In my case I connected the “+” lead of the multimeter to the pin 1 on the connector and the “-” lead to the ground trace around the screw hole. I got about 19.4V DC on that side of the inverter, so it’s getting power from the motherboard.

WARNING! If you accidentally short something on the inverter while testing it, you can damage the inverter or even the motherboard. Proceed on your own risk! Not sure? Don’t do that!

So, the inverter is getting power from the motherboard, but the screen is still dark. Apparently, it’s either bad inverter or failed backlight. Let’s test it with a known good backlight.

Here’s what I’m going to do:
1. I will unplug the LCD screen from the right side of the inverter. Basically, I’m unplugging the LCD backligth lamp which is located inside the screen.
2. I will plug in my known good backlight lamp which you can see on the picture below. Please notice that my test backlight lamp is shorter than the screen, but for the test purpose that’s OK.

Results I’m expecting:
1. If my test backlight lights up, the backlight lamp inside the screen is bad and there is nothing wrong with the inverter board. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the LCD screen or replace the backligth lamp (which is not easy at all).
2. If my known good backlight lamp stays dark after I turn on the laptop, most likely we have a faulty inverter board. If that’s the case, you’ll have toreplace the inverter board and it’s relatively easy.

There are two different types of backlight connectors, you can see them on the picture below. The top one (big) is not as common as the bottom one (small). I do most of my test with a backligth lamp which has a small connector.

IMPORTANT! If you decide to buy a new backlight lamp for test, you have to make sure that the connector on the lamp matches the connector on the inverter. Very often backligth lamps are sold without any wires attached. If you plan to use this backlight as a test equipment, you’ll have to find one with wires as I have on the picture 3.

You can buy a cheap backlight lamp with wires here.

Finally, when you ready to test the laptop, unplug the LCD screen from the right side of the inverter.

Plug in your test backlight lamp and turn on the laptop.

In my case, the backlight lamp lights up, so the inverter board works properly.

Also, you can read the following posts:

Troubleshooting laptops with backlight failure.
Laptop screen shows strange colors. What could be wrong?
How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems.