A/C Power Connection

[philsteeler]

I have had a Vaio FW laptop for about 6 weeks and have a problem with the connection on the left hand hinge where the A/C power cord plugs in. It was slightly loose from new and never properly lined up flush with the rest of the hinge. It is now so loose it looks like it's going to fall off, I don't move the laptop around that much so it's not like I'm constantly pluging and unplugging the cord or putting any tension on the cable and stressing the connection. I was in a shop yesterday where they had 3 FW's on display and 2 out of 3 had what appeared to me to be suspect connections being very wobbly. It looks very much like a design flaw that needs sorting out. Does anybody out there have a similar experience?

[nio_7]

Please, could you attach a clear photo of the specific part, so we can see more clearly what you mean?

[skykit84]

Pictures will help - there was a recall on the TZ series last year because of this and the wire potentially causing a fire as the worst case scenario but not heard/seen anything for your series

[Thalamus.]

Hi philsteeler,

welcome to Club VAIO..

I suggest you contact Sony Vaio support, you can do this either by phone Monday-Friday 08:00-18:00 (local time) or via E-mail, use the following link to find the contact details: Sony Vaio Support

[philsteeler]

I have attached a pic, hope this makes it a bit clearer. Spoke to sony today and they're going to take it away for repair. As I said on my previous post that having seen the same problem on 2 display models it does look like a design fault.

[nio_7]

Hmm.. you have an issue there for sure...

I'm pretty sure that you WILL have it repaired or replaced by Sony.
If i were you, I would demand to have it replaced with a brand new but a checked one.
Just because it's pretty new, I wouldn't compromise with a repair, but if you are going to ask for a new one you must somehow ensure that it won't have the same or any other problems.

[philsteeler]

What worries me the most is that I genuinely think it's a design problem having seen the other laptops with a similarly loose connection.I travel a lot with my work otherwise I would have taken it straight back after buying it but I haven't been back in the UK since I got it. Mine had a slight wobble from new but has just got progressively worse despite taking great care when inserting or removing the power cord. Any feedback from other FW owners would be appreciated

[summer25]

I purchased my FW series Vaio in January and have just experienced the exact same problem. I phoned Sony customer service and they are picking it up to repair but wont tell me if it's covered under the warranty until they see it. This is clearly a design fault so make sure they cover under your warranty. I'll keep you updated on how I get on.

[philsteeler]

Thanks for your feedback Summer, I think there'll be a lot of FW's with this problem. I hope Sony have the long term fix in mind and not just stick a replacement identical part on.

[summer25]

Sony repaired the fault without charge within the warranty so it must be considered a known fault.