Laptop Woes

So my wife Holly owns a pink Sony vaio. This laptop has been a problem from day one (or at least it seems that way).

The major problem that we (I say "we" because I have to fix it) have first is the cooling fan. It sounded like some one was inside the laptop grinding away all the little bits and pieces. After a lot of research on my end I get an online Sony rep to tell me that there is a known problem with that model vaio and that it is covered under the waranty. At first Im thinking, "Great!", but that was only until we got it back from best buy. I bring the thing home from best buy after they held it hostage for a month and the grinding noise inside (which turned out to be a wire that was too close to the fan) has turned into a massive whirring noise. Now, Holly is telling me that it sounds like it could take off in flight at any moment or it might catch on fire.

So now that the waranty has run out and I refuse to pay to let best buy take it hostage again, what do I do? Well, I got out my screwdrivers. That's what I did. After finding a systematic way to not loose every screw that I took out and then finding a way to implement that system, I began diligently taking apart my wife's laptop, with her gentle coaxing along the way of course.

45 minutes later I've got it all ripped apart, insides shining and waiting for me to get electrocuted. I took out the fan and inspected it. I see a very small problem. The wire that they were supposed to fix is poking it's little head out right where it's not supposed to. I poked it back in there and then got the most wonderful idea. Why put it all back together to test it when I can just hold the battery on for a few minutes to see if it is going to work better? Bad idea. Fifteen minutes later it finally tells me that the reason it can not start is because of a hardware issue and that if I have installed any new hardware to uninstall it and restart the computer.

As I was putting things back together I notice that the DVD rom drive wasn't quite pushed all the way in and I felt like an idiot. It was then that I decided to finish putting it all back together and call it quits. If Holly can't deal with it maybe we can sell it and get her a net book or something.

After I got it all reassembled I ask her to come listen to the fan and of course no change. It still sounds like an industrial fan on the inside of a laptop. Oh well, I guess. Any one know of a good net book?