Sony Vaio Fx Laptop Disassembly

Laptop Disassembly and Processor replacement steps. All this operation require all your attention and your knowledge If you are a little queasy about tearing apart your laptop and replacing the processor maybe this will help. You have to keep in mind that replacing the processor is a risky thing to do. You need:


1 Small Flat Bladed standard screw driver
1 Very Small Phillips head screw driver
Some Thermal compound to put on the new processor.
A mobile Duron processor or a mobile Athlon processor of the "25W Balanced" variety. The processor used in this example is a Mobile Athlon 4 1.2Ghz processor. The processor is probably of the 35W variety. However, the 35W processors do not work correctly in all laptops.

Step 1 Backup all your important things.

Step 2 Take out the batteries and unplug the laptop from the AC adapter.

Step 3 Chose a free area like an empty desktop place the laptop on it then open the laptop and tilt the display all the way back. Place a newspaper or something over the top of the display so you don't scratch or scuff it.

Step 4 You have first to remove the panel that has the speakers and power button on it. It is secured by 1 little screw on the left hand side of the panel. Remove the screw and then slide the panel to the right. With the panel slid to the right you can then carefully lay it on the display.

Step 5 Now you need to remove the keyboard. There is 1 little screw securing the keyboard. This screw is located above the F6 key. Remove the screw. Lift the keyboard by the top, where the Function keys are, and slide it out towards the top of the laptop. Lay the keyboard on top of the panel that is all ready on top of the display.

The Heat Sink/Fan combination is now accessible as well as the harddrive and DVD drive.

Step 6 You need to carefully remove some copper ground straps attached to the Heat Sink/Fan combo . These copper straps have adhesive on them and can be carefully peeled back out of the way. There is one copper strap at the top of the assembly, under the display panel support that is very difficult to remove. Left this strap in place until you actually began the removal of the Heat Sink/Fan combo.

Step 7 There is one small bracket on the Heat Sink/Fan combo by the screw on the upper left corner that is secured to the Heat Sink/Fan combo by another little screw. There is an arrow with the number 3 pointing to this bracket. Remove the screw for that bracket and rotate the bracket out of the way.

Step 8 There are 3 screws securing the Heat Sink/Fan combo to the motherboard. 1 screw (Labeled with an arrow and the Number 1) is at the upper right, the second screw (Labeled with an arrow and the Number 2) is at the lower left, and the third screw (Labeled with an arrow and the Number 3) is at the upper left. These screw are identified on the Heat Sink with the arrow and the numbers 1, 2, 3. Unscrew all 3 screws. The screws will not come out of the Heat Sink/Fan combo. Just unscrew them until the heat sink is free of the motherboard.

Step 9 This is not necessary, but you can unplug the fan power leads from the motherboard. The fan power connector unplugs, from the motherboard, by lifting straight up.

Step 10 You are now ready to remove the Heat Sink/Fan Combo. Remember there is still a copper ground strap stuck to it at the top under the display panel brackets. Carefully work the Heat Sink/Fan combo back and forth to unstick it from the processor and to begin unsticking the copper strap. You will be able to slip the Heat Sink/Fan combo toward the bottom of the laptop and rotate it too the left to get the copper strap off of Heat Sink/Fan combo.

With the Heat Sink/Fan combo out of the way you now have access to the processor and the special ZIF socket that the processor is in.

OK take a deep breath now because this is maybe the scariest part.

Step 11 It's time to remove the processor. You need a small flat bladed screw driver for this part.

The processor is going to slide to the right in the ZIF socket. Put the screw driver in the notch on the left side and begin to apply pressure to the right. The processor will slide about 1/8th of an inch to the right.

Step 12 Before removing the old processor note how it is oriented in the slot. The new processor will need to be oriented the same way. Peel off the plastic cover from the old processor and place it on the new processor. Remove the old processor and place the new processor in its place.

Step 13 With the new processor in place you now need to close the ZIF socket. Place the screw driver in the notch on the right and begin to apply pressure to the left. The processor will slide about 1/8th of an inch to the left. Now you just have to put everything back and you are done. Do not forget to put some Thermal Grease on the processor before you put the Heat Sink/Fan combo back on.

Step 14 Carefully position the Heat Sink/Fan combo back over the top of the processor. Tighten the 3 Heat Sink/Fan combo screws.

Step 15 Plug the cooling fan power leads back into the motherboard.

Step 16 Place the little bracket you removed in Step 7 back onto the Heat Sink/Fan combo

Step 17 Place all of the copper ground straps into their correct locations.