HDD upgrade and warranty

[maddin]

Hi!

Will I lose the warranty of my PCG-V505CP when I upgrade the HDD?

I also have the warranty plus pack and so the warranty expires in march 2007.

I want to install linux beside windows and 40 GBs are to small for 2 OS and Data.

[itbroker]

Nop, starting from the point that you to maintain the initial configuration and to add her , one newer HD, you are not breaking the rules. But this is my initial interpretation. Contact the support to have an official answer.

[Invoker]

hi, if sony upgrades your HDD then there shoud be no problem with warranty...

[kee-lo_]

If you do the upgrade yourself then you void the warranty.

[maddin]

Hi!

I asked the vaio-link support and here is what he answered:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting us. You will not lose the warranty, but you will lose support. Any physical damage related to replacing the harddrive will also not be covered. 

Best regards,
Sony VAIO Link Support Team

But what does that mean now. Support?

And I think if there is any fault in the future, they will definitly say it's because changing the HDD.

[seb21__]

You will lose the support from VAIO-Link.
(for example the e-support)

If you would find any hardware failure. Then it could be that the e-support says, it's because you have changed the HDD. And you would have the same problem if you change the RAM or the OS.

[RyanNicon]

but they don't need to know you'v done it do they :smileygrin: unless the ask for it

[kee-lo_]

They will notice when they open it.

In a way you do loose the warranty, unless it's totally unrealated.

Cr4p really

[maddin]

I think I will remain with the 40 GB in the next time.

But upgrading the RAM shouldn't affect the warranty, because there is a how-to in the manual. So if they wouldn't support upgrading RAM, they wouldn't explain it?

Perhaps I will use an external HDD.

Does anybody know If the V505CP can boot form USB or firewire?

I've tried it with an USB-Stick (which was tested on many ohter PCs) and a external firewire-HDD, but without success.

[Stephanius]

Maddin,

The reason for the different treatment of the RAM extension and the HDD replacement is that the RAM is positioned so that you can get at it rather easily, but to get at the HDD you need to completely disassemble the unit.

When you do that you are bound to miss the one or the other clip that keeps the bottom and the top housing parts together, and if those are broken off you will not be able to close the housing in a gapless manner.

If your Vaio goes to repair and the housing is broken, they will charge you for the broken housing. Those housing parts are however not very expensive. Replacing the entire housing would cost about 250 euro. It is very unlikely that the repair center will decline warranty coverage for anything that you did not break, even if for sure you did break some things. So if you did break the housing but your mainboard stops working months later without any visible damage to it its likely to be handled in warranty.

It is defenitley possible to replace the HDD in your V505CP without damaging the unit, but its much harder than upgrading the memory. I upgraded the HDD of my C1XN years ago without anything broken, but then I am very patient and careful ;-]

The Vaio will boot from any Vaio branded optical drive and from the PCGA-UFD5 USB floppy drive - but I would recommend to keep the system partition on the internal harddrive, and just connect a USB harddrive with your data if needed so you can work without it if necessary, thats how I do it.