Hi every one,

I’ve reciently purchased a Sony TR3A notebook, I simply fell in love with it years ago, but forgot it for a long time and finally it’s in my hands!

Back to the main topic, I must add one thing:
-The laptop has no HDD, it is running Ubuntu from a live CD (Ordered caddy and ribbon cable already :D)

I was noticing the laptop getting VERY, specially the bottom part in general, so I decided to have a look at the heatsink, maybe it was disconnected for some reason, or the fan was blocked, or what ever.

When I took it appart, every thing looked fine, how ever, when I boot the laptop up there’s no sign of life in the fan. It doesn’t spin no matter how warm it gets. I thought it could’ve been a problem with the heatsink its self, I tried replacing it with a spare one I had, but nothing changed, the fan was still not spinning. I’ve read the fan is usually idle (not moving) unleast you enable it to do so, how ever I’ve looked all over the BIOS and found nothing.

I’ve made several conclusions:
-The motherboard is not transfering any power to the fan at all
-The second heatsink was faulty
-Software related problem, BIOS update maybe?

Anyway… I really hope some one can help me, because it just gets too warm, and it’s rather scary to see the fan not spinning at all despite the fact the laptop could be burning down… (I’m aware the system would auto-shut down when it hits a peak temperature )

I’ve also come accross another problem, but this one is quite hard to explain… Basically the area between the power input in the notebook and the charger output (The yellow plug in the notebook) makes strange noises when charged and the LCD is on. It looks like it’s short-circuiting, or there’s a problem transfering the power, because at the same time it makes the noises, the screen brightness fades out, and then back to normal, in about a second. The noises stop when I close the notebook; sounds like an inverter problem maybe? A note on this is the LCD was under VERY HEAVY pressure when it was shipped from the UK to Spain (where I live), the LCD panel was semi-damaged and the keys were marked on the LCD, creating white ‘‘pixel shadows’’ and what look like cracks (Yes cracks) but the LCD is still functioning.

Oh and a note I’d like to add, is the hinges can reach a 90º angle, it cracks and very roughly sets to a 90º angle after opening the notebook excessively, how ever, behind the hinges, there are 2 holes in each hinge, where it looks like a wire or some sort of protection is meant to be, but I don’t have a clue where or how to get this solved; it’s still a minor issue anyway… a bit irrating though.

I apologize for making this so long, but I’m trying to describe things the best I can; I understand I might not get any replies too, but it’s worth giving this a shot…

P.S: I’m unfortunately very perfectionist and exigent with my electronic devices unfortunately, as you can see

Thanks for reading, if you did ,
Marc.

Hi Marc,

Been a while since I have been on here but thought I’d give you what help I can…

The Fan: one thing I have noticed is that the fan is very, VERY quiet, so much so that sometimes I start to think it isn’t on either, especially when the left side of the bottom panel is heating up alarmingly. I have the same thing with a Vaio SZ I have as well, and even when the fan is whirring there doesn’t seem to be much airflow through the vents, at least compared to other machines I have. Whether or not this is a Vaio thing I do not know, but I make sure the vents are blasted clear by compressed air from a can regulary and dismantle the whole thing to clean properly every few months. Beyond that I am not sure what else I can suggest I’m afraid!

The Power: sounds dodgy to me! That’s a cluttered part of the chassis for sure, but one thing I do remember is that there is a small metallic loop that is an offshoot of the cable from the screen to the mobo, and this loop goes over one of the screws, possibly to ground it. It’s the screw almost directly “inwards” from the yellow jack, not the one near the edge of the chassis beside the battery housing, but towards the middle of the machine a little. The yellow jack plugs into the daughter board on its underside so make sure it is seated correctly.

The Chassis bits: the holes are simple plastic decorative bits that are just cosmetic wedges. Sorry to hear about your screen issues as I dropped mine and cracked the LCD and it took over a year to find a broken machine on ebay to cannabalise. I got it for £80 but I think I was lucky as it wouldn’t boot due to the RAM slot the single stick was in being damaged and the seller probably thinking the machine was completely busted. I have no advice about that apart from giving it a good clean to enhance the look of the bits that still work! I’ve found what look like key imprints are just the dirt and dust of the keys being transferred to screen through the pressure…

Hope something in that helps out! Good luck in restoring your little baby!

Hi irishumo!

In first place, thank you very much for your reply, I have found it very helpful and informative.

About the fan, I’ve also noticed the left side of the bottom pannel to get the hottest, but aparently, this time it got so hot, I heard a ‘click’, I noticed the notebook getting a bit cooler slowly, the fan was spinning this time, since I pulled the notebook towards me, placed the ear next to the cooling vent, and I heard the fan spinning, and I felt the air too, something good.

Moving on to the power, it seemed to be the charger causing the noise, somehow. I read a thread about someone who had this problem too, which was fixed replacing the AC Brick.

Finally, about the LCD, I’m slowly getting used to it, but when there is a dark background or similar, the pixel shadows (which are pressure marks) show up the most, which is very irritating. I really can’t explain the cracks though… Which freak the hell out of me when there is a bright background, the more you look, the more you find… These key imprints aren’t dirt and dust, unfortunately, I can’t get rid of them, and trust me, I’ve tried hard, but they are a sign of the heavy pressure the notebook was under, plus they are very out standing, it’s like some one tried to cut the LCD in straight lines because they look white when the notebook is turned off.
I hope I’ll be lucky and get a new LCD soon, but the TR series are becoming rarer and rarer on the UK ebay and basically unexistant on the spansih ebay.

I just have one more problem, and it is that I need a 1.8 Hitachi HDD or a Toshiba 1.8 HDD. I unfortunately have the Toshiba HDD and its ribbon, but it is not recognised on the BIOS and the HDD led is always on, when I try to install Windows, it will give an error saying the installation has no access to the Drive, too bad I guess.

Thank you very much for your reply,
Marc.

Hmmm… I can’t think of once when I heard the fan.. ever! And I know I’ve pushed the machine hard with a full blown Oracle installation on it before…

The LCD sounds like it has been damaged - unfortunately not my area of knowledge. I know that the screen itself is the “SHARP LQ106K1LA01B” and that it is the same as the one in the Vaio T series, apparently! I will warn you that dismantling the lid is complicated and it is far easier to replace the entire lid itself if possible (I just posted instructions for this in the Hardware forum).

For the HDD, check the BIOS settings for the IDE connections - make sure it is set to recognise the HDD…

Good luck finding a new screen in Espanol!