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Replacing a broken UX case


Cracked Case

Not a pretty site for UX owners to see :(

The VGN-UX180P was dropped by it's previous owner and has the severe crack in the bottom left corner shown here.

Be careful guys :) A dropped UX can crack easily this one also had additional damage, the case was cracked around the mouse buttons and the top right case mounting screw point(near the Duo Memory Stick) was also broken and loose inside the computer

Inside the case the SIM card face plate had a slightly bent steel screw mount and the plastic mounting tab was also broken.

Surprisingly the UX worked almost perfectly just a sticky "left click" mouse button and the sharp edges for the crack to deal with.

I should mention the seller was upfront about the cracks and honest to deal with he said that's why he was selling it and I got a GREAT deal too, everyone should be so great to deal with.
New Case! .




Here's the new case fresh from ebay! Another great seller to deal with (laptopaid) it's from an oddball model of UX that was made in limited quantities the (I think after the 180) it's called the VGN-UX230P ... for interest here's the specs

The UX180 has 1.2 GHz U1400 CPU, 512MB of memory w/ 30GB HDD
The UX230 has 1.06GHz U1300 CPU, 512MB of memory w/ 30GB HDD

At any rate the cases are identical and that's all I needed :)

All we have to do it swap the cases!

Scew Pack
.


The seller obviously came across a few of the computers and disassembled them for parts (he repairs ALL types of laptops)

He wisely kept the all the screws to sell and I thought for an extra few bucks that was a GREAT investment ... as it happened I stripped the Phillips head out of one of the Harddrive screws and was glad to have a fresh one for reassembly,

I also dropped a few screws of course ... I found them easily but it was less stressful knowing I didn't have to sweat it if gremlins got a couple of the ones I dropped.

Virtually ALL the screws are in there pretty tight ... if you plan on taking your apart get the RIGHT screw driver (I suggest a good computer store) and push in fairly hard while backing them out.
Starting TearDown .

OK now we are starting to tear this baby down!

I would not likely have tried this without the handy factory Confidential tear down instructions I found (of course) at MicroPCTalk.com just have a look at the site, it's the first sticky in "Hardware" a couple guys have it archived as Sony changes her links all the time.

In this shot we have 6 screws out, The black ones are all the same size and come from the 4 corners .. the silver one is under the STYLUS under the secret trap door.

The short one is under the battery, Note the Stylus, mouse pointer pad,and battery are all out at this point too, I just left the WWAN antenna on.
Antenna Tape
.

Sorry this image is fuzzy :( .. but I wanted to add a caution and this is the best picture I have.
In the tear down manual it says to just lift off the case... but the manual is written for international models that have a CF Card reader rather than a WWAN and SIM card.
Before lifting off the case you have to reach in with something not-too-sharp and carefully work the sticky tape off the antenna wire.
It's not as easy as it sounds, don't force anything and it will go fine though.

With that worked off you can now lift the case ... I just left the antenna wire on as it's not obvious how to remove it and it does not get in the way much ... but the case will be dangling by thew wire so don't pick it up without supporting it
Case Off
.




Here's what it looks like with the case off ... that's the harddrive with the "Caution" label on it , lots of parts have sticky tape on them for attaching and insulation, remove it carefully as it will have to be put back on.
Be VERY careful WHERE you put screws down... I had a narrow escape where I almost put the UX down on top of a screw ... remember that's the LCD screen there you do NOT want it rolling around on sharp screw heads.

Pull off the tape as it says in the manual, watch that thin ribbon cable on the harddrive it's fragile.
Getting Deeper!
.


Next takeout the harddrive screws and the metal frame that holds it in, the cushions that hold it are kind of sticky and you have to wiggle and pry it a bit .. as always be careful!
There's one screw in the WLAN (wifi) card it plugs into a standard PCI Express Mini Card slot.

Tale out the SIM card if you haven't already and the wifi antenna cover and the tiny microphone.
I won't repeat all the stuff from the manual as you really need to read it, but there are some tiny coaxial plug to come off the WLAN and the ones up to the wifi antennas.

AND more tape to save!
Motherboard is Out
.


Now the Motherboard can be removed.
Again not as easy as it seems in the instructions, the connector is difficult to see as it looks just like a plain ribbon cable or curcut board.
The trick is first it to tilt up the wifi end of the board, then move it forward a bit THEN lift up the yellow power connector end so it clears the case ... DON'T pry the case as it is fragile especially when not attached to the heavier bottom half
Once it's free tilt it up like in the instructions and disconnect the while plug that's UP under the ribbon cable ..

... see the next picture for a bit better shot of the connector.
The Hidden Connector
.




.
It's not really hidden but it's difficult to identify, in the foreground I'm holding the ribbon cable and the white connector in the blurry background would be above it.
Just gently work it off.
All Apart
.
Here's an overall shot with the old and new cases at the bottom of the picture. The Motherboard is still attached to the back case by the WWAN coaxial cable.

The Motherboard would not normally need to be disassembled any further for this procedure but I have a picture of some of the inner damage in the next shot and further disassembly to repair it.
Bent WWAN Module Screwmount
.






Circled in Red here is a little hard to see but that screw mount for the WWAN is bent about 20° to the right in this shot, luckily the circut board it self was not broken.
I took the WWAN card out and set it aside ... and then bent the steel screw mount back into position with pliers.
Circled in Blue is the broken WWAN module / SIMM card face plate tab .. I glued it back together with crazy glue.
Reverse Angle of bent Screwmount
.
.


Here's a Reverse Angle of the Screw mount with the WWAN Modual removed .. thats an alignment pin in front of it that also goes in to a hole in the circuit board.
RAM Chips
.




Here's a shot of it all straightened up and more importantly a close up look at the UX's RAM Chips we would not normally get to see ...8 chips = 1 GIG of RAM
This should settle the question of "Is it possible to upgrade the RAM in a UX" questions :)
I can't see risking de-soldering eight, (like what, 1 million leg) RAM chips for a ram upgrade! the heat would probably fry a dozen other components too.
If you've ever seen a 30 foot long 10 ton wave soldering machine working you'd know why they get the connections so neat.
Copper Plumbing? :)
.
Here's a shot of the other side of the motherboard ... check out that HUGE copper plumbing!!
You KNOW it's got to be for the heatsinc ... but I couldn't see (or take enough time to learn) how exactly it hooks up to the processor ... the end we see on the left is rigged up to the fan's heatsinc. Here on the Wiki you can see this part in action in the UX Componetn pictures section.
The fan needed a good blow out too it was pretty dusty ... if your UX is overheating it might need the fan cleaned out!

Reassembly is much easier and just the reverse of disassembly ... I rushed through it without taking any more pictures ... just remember to put all the tape back in place, it's there for a reason!
Comparison
.
Circled in blue are three of the top mounting screw points of the old case in the red circle is where the fourth one broke off and fell in the case
I saved the old case just incase, you never know! ... the Duo chip reader is fine and the mouse buttons etc.
The mouse pointer controller itself is part of the motherboard ...
As I mentioned on the Forum I was all done about midnight or 1 pm and I did NOT even put the battery back in.. I went to bed and tried it the next morning so I would not stay up all night if it was messed up :) as we get old do we we also grow wise??? :)
In this comparison shot the only thing left is to change the model number (in the green rectangles) ... I might leave it as a faux VGN-UX230P as they are more rare ... what do you think? :)
BTW, the next morning? .... it worked GREAT the first try!!





Latest page update: made by Yeggster , Mar 22 2008, 2:51 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Yeggster Corrected my spelling and grammar a bit :) - Yeggster

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Anonymous CPU soldered down ? 1 May 9 2008, 8:38 PM EDT by Anonymous
Thread started: Mar 18 2008, 5:03 AM EDT  Watch
Hi.

I had mine open to upgrade the HD to a 60gb. But didn't strip the mobo out completely, so don't know... is the CPU soldered in ?

I'm wondering about the possibility of swapping in a U2500 duo.
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