Laptop Operation
My web developer class is a BYOD (bring your own device) class so I needed to dig out my 4 year old Sony laptop. They don’t make them anymore so I guess it can be considered a collectible antique.
I’m glad it was able to be powered on after not using it for about a year. It was being super slow though so I decided time for the dreaded wipe out and reinstall Windows. Thankfully after the move I was able to find the restoration DVDs for it and it worked. After much progress bar action it eventually came back up looking like when I got it back in 2012. Then came updates to get it to a 2016 software version. That took even longer. However after all that it was still being slow with the fan making a ton of noise 🙁
I felt to throw it out but it’s a nice laptop. So I took it into Office Depot for one of their PC maintenance service they now provide. They scanned it and came to the same conclusion as me…hardware issues. Not related to software. Ugh! After all the stupid installations.
Thankfully JT was able to diagnose it to a potential fan overheating issue and with my permission decided to operate on the laptop.
I was an observer/assistant during the whole operation. The back was unscrewed. I observed it even had blue 4GB RAM installed inside it. I watched JT carefully extract the processor which was attached to the fan. He had to pry the copper heat sync off with a screwdriver. Apparently it’s supposed to be attached with some mushy thermal paste but the paste on mine was hardened and probably not working to cool the processor which explained the overheating poor performance.
It got cleaned off with some weird smelling thermal paste cleaner. Then JT used his thermal paste tool (old corporate credit card) to apply a new thin layer of thermal paste (which looked like white bird-poop) to the processor and reattach the heat sync and swap out the fan with a new one we got for it.
Post-op: Laptop is alive!
After the back was attached back on the fan was so much quieter than the old once and much cooler. The CPU wasn’t maxing out and the laptop seems to be working like normal again 🙂
I still don’t trust it completely though for class. I plan to install some more RAM to it to see if it makes it any faster and experiment with it at home to see if it’s stable. I want to use my Surface 3 for class instead. It works more stable than the laptop but it’s still a tablet so it doesn’t have a ton of processing power.
I eventually want to get a MacBook Pro but I’m waiting to see if Apple will release a newer model in October. If they do, I’ll either get the new model or the current model at a lower price. Macs are pretty common in the design world and I want to become more familiar with its operating system in case I get a job in the future where all they have are Macs at the office. Wish Apple would hurry up with its release and it’s not as disappointing as the iphone7 😛
First of all… LOVE the action shot of the laptop being dissected. That guy must have nerves of steel.
It’s amazing how mobile processors have evolved to be so much cooler and lower power than their predecessors only four years ago! As an engineer, it’s awesome to watch that kind of advancement happen, and be part of it… however it does add the new issue: what do you do with your slightly old computer hardware?!?
If I know Sony laptops, it will have relatively stable and reliable hardware, even if they’re a little sluggish by today’s standards. (Even with its solidified thermal paste and broken cooling fan, it still didn’t freeze or crash due to overheating!) That said, I won’t blame you if you want to get a Mac, especially given your upcoming coursework.
Good luck in your class!
Thanks for the feedback! 🙂 I would probably send it to Trinidad if I replace it with a new Mac book. There’s a lot of people who would still want to use it.