Sony Vaio Laptop Fan Defect - In Home Free Service

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Sony Vaio Laptop Fan Defect

Any Sony Laptop Owner may want to do this while it is still in the warranty window. Even if your fan sounds okay, insist on the free upgrade fan, don't wait until it is too later.

My Sony Vaio VGN-CS290 Laptop has been making random scraping noises in the Fan lately. It almost sounds like a C64 1541 knock, yes it is that bad! Blowing it out with compressed air did not help. I really didn't want to risk damaging the keyboard in removal to clean and troubleshoot it.

Four Year Warranty Free Fan Replacement
Looking online found me a FREE Extended Warranty Service to be done right at my house!

Does anyone actually send in their warranty card or register the nag screen online? I regretted not doing this, but lucky there is a sticker right on the bottom of the Laptop showing the manufacture date. Thankfully the laptop is covered and in the repair window. I'm now waiting for a local Sony rep to call me and make the arrangements. This is SOOO much better then shipping a PS3 YLOD off to thru UPS. I'll post updates as this progresses.

Anyone who has a Sony Laptop might want to give Sony eSupport a call.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-i ... ews_id=299



The computer cooling fan makes a continuously loud noise while running
Posted: 4/20/2010

While it is normal for a cooling fan to spin faster and produce more noise upon startup, the cooling fan in the below listed VAIO notebooks may exhibit a continuous scraping, whirring, chriping and/or clicking noise while running.

Applicable Models
This issue only applies to these VAIO® computer series models:

* VGN-CS1xx, VGN-CS2xx, VGN-CS3xx
* VGN-BZ5xx

Resolution
As a part of our commitment to quality, for any customer who requires replacement of the cooling fan due to this issue, Sony will provide a free repair for an additional 36 months beyond the standard limited 12 month warranty (48 months total) for fan replacement.

* If you are currently experiencing this issue, Sony strongly recommends that you repair your computer as soon as possible. Please contact us at 1-888-476-6972 to set up a repair service at our Sony repair facility.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may cause and are dedicated to constantly improving the quality of our products.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

[isiolia]

Cool. My experience with Sony laptop support at work has been terrible. Among the worst I've ever dealt with. Four year sounds like there was a recall or class action on it. Did you buy directly from Sony or through a third party? Part of our issue seems to be that Best Buy brokered the sale ( yeah yeah, I know...wasn't our choice).

[CRTGAMER]

Cool. My experience with Sony laptop support at work has been terrible. Among the worst I've ever dealt with. Four year sounds like there was a recall or class action on it. Did you buy directly from Sony or through a third party? Part of our issue seems to be that Best Buy brokered the sale ( yeah yeah, I know...wasn't our choice).

This has to be a recall of sorts. My Laptop is a direct buy from Sony, so if had come down to it, the transaction showing purchase date could have been found. Any Sony Laptop model number listed in the service no matter where purchased is covered.

Other model numbers might also be an issue, any Sony Laptop owner should call the number in the OP Quote. I'm just glad I found this information and my Laptop is still in the repair date window.

I'll keep this Thread updated with the Repair status.

[CRTGAMER]

ANY SONY LAPTOP OWNER - CALL THE NUMBER IN THE OP - FOUR YEAR EXPIRATION
I bought my Laptop direct from Sony, never received a notice about this hidden recall.

Its Fixed!

The repair is free, lucky I still had a year left on the warranty repair. There was a delay due to the holidays and the part being back ordered. The repair is done right at home, the Service Rep showed up yesterday. You know a good Tech when he arrives unshaven and with a miniature power screwdriver.

The technician was very knowledgeable and went right to work dissassmbling the bottom of the Laptop. He knew every screw location and which ones would not take the power screwdriver head. I was surprised that the keyboard did not have to be removed, everything is tackled from the bottom. The tech removed the hard and disc drives, worked meticulous and fast. By the time I got my camera ready, the new fan was already installed. Yeah, I think he has plenty of practice in Vaio laptop fan replacements, a sign that the fan is a common problem.

RIGHT CLICK and open to see the Images larger.

Sony Vaio Laptop Fan Recall 01.jpg (254 KiB) Viewed 1808 times

Good news is the replacement fan is a different part number.

Old Fan: AVCAM305J02036 / 26GD2CAN030 3A
New Fan: AVCAM102K01503 / 26GD2CAN010 3A

Sony Vaio Laptop Fan Recall 02.jpg (229.16 KiB) Viewed 1808 times

The defective fan is in really bad shape. The bearings were shot causing the fan to wobble and the blades scraping on the copper housing. I am having doubts about Sony products. YLOD PS3s, my Sony camera killing Mem Stick Pro cards, Sony TV WEGAs that need a revised power detection chip and now the Laptop. Well, at least the electric grinder sound is gone.