Sony VAIO Built in SODIMM

[Tedsville]

Hi all, interesting one for you...

I have sat under my desk at work a pretty decent VAIO ultra-portable, thats otherwise OK apart from one major problem - it has a stick of ram actually built in to the motherboard, and as far as i know there is no way of removing it or disabling it - and it has gone bad (at least according to memtest86). Does anyone know if there is any way of hacking it so that it does not use this particular DIMM and instead ONLY use the ram in the expansion slot? Its a pretty decent machine and it seems a shame to have to chuck it out because of a stupid design decision by Sony...

Any theorys or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Guys

Ted

 

[MindoverMaster]

If the SIDIMM is not on the bottom, it is located under the keyboard. What is the model number of your VAIO?

There should be guides online of how to get to this. I did it on my Dell Vostro 1500, to increase the RAM to 2GB. One was on the bottom, the other was under the keyboard.

 

[Tedsville]

If the SIDIMM is not on the bottom, it is located under the keyboard. What is the model number of your VAIO?

There should be guides online of how to get to this. I did it on my Dell Vostro 1500, to increase the RAM to 2GB. One was on the bottom, the other was under the keyboard.

Hey, no both the DIMMS are on the bottom, under a the usual flap - however one is sat in an expansion slot, and the one underneath that is just part of the motherboard, i.e not removable - checked under the keyboard and no there aren't any other DIMMS.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Can you atleast give us your laptop model number?

They make millions of VAIOS and if we are to be of any help, we need to know which one is yours.

 

[Tedsville]

Surre, its a VAIO VGN-G11VN. I just thought the model wouldnt really be particularly relevant in this case. Have checked all BIOS settings and there is no way to isolate ram modules from there.

Specific Model PCG-5E1M

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Interesting, there is indeed a 1GB stick built directly into the motherboard... I have never ever seen something so stupid...

After some googling, about the only thing you can even do is replace the entire motherboard, but, with the ram built in, there's no telling how long the ram could last...

 

[Tedsville]

Thanks man, only other option my colleagues have suggested is physically damaging the on board ram and hoping it defaults to using only the expansion RAM - but that is a MASSIVE longshot. But **** its worth a try since theres pretty much no other options. no way i'm sending that thing back to sony and paying a shedload to replace the mobo...

 

[MindoverMaster]

Be sure to fry the chip while the laptop is off GL!