So, I have a Sony Vaio VGN-C240E (AKA PCG-6R3L) and I accidentally dropped it. It fell on the right rear corner where the power cord plugs in while the cord was plugged in. Of course I freaked out but it turned out the laptop was ok. A couple days later, however, I noticed that my power cord wasn’t going in. It turns out the plastic pieces holding together the jack on the inside broke and the jack wasn’t staying flush with the case any more.

With the help of various other tutorials on similar laptops, I was able to disassemble my Vaio with relative ease and fix the problem. I will go over these instructions in hopes that this maybe useful to someone else in the future. Opening up a Vaio is kind of an intricate process. With a laptop, you never want to tug and pull too hard as pieces are generally very small and hard to replace.

Last but not least, keep in mind, I’m not an “expert.” These directions are not from the manufacturer and should not be considered as such. Do this at your own risk.

1. Rule number one, be gentle, ground yourself, and don’t be a Neanderthal. This is a laptop, not a piece of meat. If you’re not careful, your attempt to fix your laptop will become a $1100 science project because explaining how three plastic pieces, which have no business being tampered with, broke to your manufacturer will not be fun; that is if, indeed, you’re still under warranty.

2. Remove your battery. You don’t want any potential problems and aside from your own body (which you should’ve grounded) the battery is the only energy source in your system.

3. Flip your Vaio over and remove all the screws. Remove your DVD ROM drive and Hard drive.

4. Once you’ve done all that, flip the laptop back over and remove the keyboard by pressing on the little clamps at the top as shown in the pictures. I used a screw driver. I also included a picture of the clamps after the keyboard was removed so you can see it more clearly. Mine had four clamps.

5. Remove the keyboard ribbon and all other ribbons that you see there. For the keyboard ribbon, I had to push the little black plastic back a little and pull on the blue tab. It should come out fairly easily. For the smaller ribbons, the black latch flipped upward and the blue ribbons came out easily. There was only one more connection and it was your typical 3 wire jack. Slowly remove it, as well. I used my flathead screwdriver to pry it out gently. Again, the key here is not to be a Neanderthal. Everything has a purpose and if you tug like a savage you will break something. Take some time and figure it out. It’s not worth breaking something. There are a couple more case screws you’ll want to remove. There should only be two or three.

The big ribbon is the keyboard ribbon. Notice the black plastic piece and how it sits against the beige connector.

Notice in this picture the black piece of plastic is moved back freeing the ribbon.

Now that the keyboard ribbon is removed, notice the two other small ribbons. Notice how the plastic piece is down over them and flush with the beige.

You have to flip up the black piece as shown here and then pull on the blue ribbon.

This one comes out easily.

6. Now, flip you Vaio onto its side so that you can see the underside of the DVD ROM drive bay. Inside the bay, there are three small screws. You’ll need to unscrew those.

7. Now you’re ready to take off the cover. Slowly lift off the cover that hides all your hardware. If you do this fast, you’ll likely break something. Also, if it does not come off relatively easily, you may have missed a screw. Check that you’ve removed all the screws if it sticks. Also be careful because you are removing your mouse pad and working around some sensitive areas. Take extreme precautions. Move away any liquids from your desk. Don’t be stupid is my main advise. You don’t want to ruin your laptop. If you do, there are easier ways.

8. The plastic pieces that held the DC plug flush with the outside of my case broke and left only the metal piece that held it down, which itself is badly bent.

Here I’ve removed the DC input module so you can see the broken plastic underneath.

I’ve removed the screws from the metal piece and lifted it up so you can see it better

9. Here is the metal piece which I’ve bent back into place as well as possible.

10. Finally, to keep the DC input module in place, I used Titebond Wood glue. Use your strong adhesive of choice. Just give it plenty of time to dry. I placed two screwdriver tips under the DC input module so that it would lift up and stay pressed against the metal piece on which I placed the glue. I used a dictionary to keep the screwdrivers tensed up and went to bed.

11. Now trace your steps backwards and put it back together and you’re done.

I hope this will have been helpful to someone. If it was, let me know. Take care.

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