One would assume an overworked technician was talking about ANOTHER computer, perhaps mislabelled or misplaced in the workshop?

It's kind of nice to see customers freak out so much though. Nice job, cool hand Rosemary.

Also, what kind of customer service can't send you a new battery when you ask for a new battery? That's pretty retarded.

Have the computer looked at by an Independent. Liquid damage will cause the type of problems referred to in the post. Good Luck!

Having once been a computer repair person, I can say with certainty that they might not have even pressed the power button. If it came in with the problem already diagnosed, the first step might have been to open the computer up and look at it. And it very possibly might have a pink liquid all over the inside if some internal component exploded. And it might keep working for a while even in such a condition.

You need to get the laptop replaced with a known good one. You spilled nothing on it, and Sony says something is inside it, and it's likely capacitor juice. Pursue a warranty replacement. They owe you a fully working laptop. You owe them either nothing or a lawsuit depending on how receptive they are to acknowledging their responsibilities and fixing their broken computers.

@calvinneal: I'd recommend against having an independent person look at it as that is usually a violation of the warranty when dealing with a laptop computer.

(Geek Warning) Could sticky resin from a dried, sugary liquid create a large, low-resistance power-to-ground connection, resulting in the laptop consuming so much power while on, that the battery doesn't have enough power to keep it on long?

If you have a Kill-a-Watt, you could check the power usage while the laptop is plugged in. Or if you have a trusty, computer-literate friend, on most laptops, it's not difficult to get the keyboard out and get a cursory view at the motherboard/innards.

Computer repair depots usually run stress tests to mimic the issue that was being caused in the first place. [i can speak first hand, as i've worked in a depot] they usually inspect the machine physically, do some basic diagnostics, then run a stress test to see if they can mimic the issue if it is not being replicated at first.

let me just say, people would bring in their computers ALL the time claiming radical behavior, and AT TIMES would be damn hard to replicate, hence thew stress tests. i would say the computer failed one or more of the tests, leading him to open the computer and notice the sludge. BELIEVE ME, people would claim all the time "THERE IS NO WAY THERE IS ANY LIQUID DAMAGE"

one time i had a laptop that smelt like maple syrup. anyways, he was probably going with preventive measures [costs], as the stress tests could have prevented a reboot from happening. as for your computer not charging, it sounds like a software issue or you DC jack has become loose from the motherboard, or your adapter all together.

DO NOT GET IT CHECKED OUT BY A THIRD PARTY, because if they open it up, it violates warranty, [opening it up means, checking out the mobo and not just removing the RAM cover]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to claim Sony is out to screw the customer here. Perhaps that in order to get it to charge again, all of those parts must be replaced. I like how people who are not computer technicians jump to conclusions and claim to know more about what's wrong with their machine than a technician who works with them every day.

@noquarter:

she can only persue a warranty replacement after ANOTHER diagnosis, or otherwise sony will obviously claim it's user damage and close the account. they'd have to be diagnosed again, and have it fully documented by sony, but knowing sony they will be underhanded.

what i would suggest is taking it to a SONY licensed repair shop [i know compusa use to be, i dont know about best buy] and have them do inhouse depot work, AND HAVE THEM TAKE PICTURES. if they say their is no goo, or it's capacitor goo, send it off to sony wit hthe pictures and the tech's notes.

The tech may not have done anything other than open it up and see that the liquid sensor strips (small pieces of chemically treated paper) were showing that they had gotten wet.

They can sometimes break circuits as well, so that if it gets wet, the product doesn't work anymore.

It also makes an excellent cop-out for denying warranty coverage.

Been to any high-humidity places lately?

This is what you get for buying a Vaio - some of the worst machines out there.

Next time, consider Lenovo or even Dell.

@pylon83: You're flat out undeniably wrong. Why do you always speak up in favor of the corporations on these forums even when you have no idea what you're talking about and nothing to say?

CPUs and keyboards have nothing to do with the recharging process.

To the posters who advise against having a third party look at the machine... Maybe I'm missing something, but why worry about voiding the warranty when the original poster has already been told that Sony won't do any further work on the laptop?

@MameDennis: she can take it to in house depot [such as compusa or bestbuy] and have them look at it, because they are licesened. if she gets mom and dad shop to open it, sony will claim immediately it violates the warranty, and thus will not be considered for warranty replacement [replacing the unit without repairing it, a brand new one]

so if in house opens it, under warranty, and says "it's not the goo's fault" or "it's sony's goo that's your issue" and takes pictures and such, she can have it warranty replaced.

@MameDennis: Because, so far, she has done nothing wrong and Sony is legally liable for whatever's wrong with it. They claim they aren't, but they are. Having someone who's not Sony-certified open the computer would make the legal issues much more complicated and give Sony an easy way out of repairing it.

From a former service tech: What you can do is get a ESTIMATE from an indie bench on repairs on the unit, then send it in to get serviced. If they try to stiff you, now at least KNOW what to dispute if they try.

If you do send it in to be serviced and the tech calls you, ask for confirmation of the unit's serial number and what the original complaint was on it. This will help weed out faulty or lazy techs.

The unit is young and still under warranty, I'd pursue the warranty replacement route and let them know about the screwup by their techs.

Lost me at Vaio

@Mamedennis:

Yeah! the warranty's out the window at this point; if you try to send it back in for anything else, they'll just see the previous entry of "liquid damage" and void any further work.

I'd have somebody who knows what they're doing take it apart carefully and examine it, to make sure there really isn't a blown capacitor, or any signs that some liquid damage really did occur. Maybe some "Gremlin" spilled liquid on it without telling you. (Children, drunk friends, actual gremlins, etc.)

I'm absolutely not surprised. I once had Sony ship my laptop back unrepaired, claiming that I had opened it and voided my warranty.

I shot back that the laptop had indeed been opened, and if they would bother to check the records they would know that THEY were the ones who did it, on a different repair. My laptop was gone for something like four months, and it was an utter nightmare. The only thing that made it tolerable was the fact that I had bought Fry's warranty, which entitled me to a loaner.

@phospholipid:
OK, that makes sense. Thanks!

I think with this issue and the dust issue on the PS3 it is now certain that Sony repair "Techs" are a bunch of pansies who look for any way to screw customers out of their money.

After those two articles I have lost enough faith in Sony that I won't be considering their products for new purchases.

i work in sales and anytime theirs an opportunity for a commission, you'll have weak sales people that use strong arm, or dishonest tactics to make up for their lack of ability.

So did the computer come back with the pink liquid on it? Doesn't mention. Seems to me to just be a mix up in computers.

@noquarter: Actually you are wrong. you need to give pylon83 some more credit in this case.

factory computer techs aren't allowed to return your computer half-fixed. If they notice something that is malfunctioning or incorrect they pretty much have to replace it.

What if when the computer is returned now they keyboard doesn't work? Then what does the customer do?

Typically the charging circuitry for the batter resides on the same board as the CPU, it did on macs. So yes the CPU can be directly related to charging.

For the original post-
Get all this documented and written down. You should still try and get a remedy from Sony on this. If they don't budge bring in your states AG. They should fix this for you. You have the advantage that your computer is working for now.

Heck try writing up Howard Stringer. Maybe he has Jobs like powers at Sony.

Also under no circumstances have 3rd party a tech open this.

If he proves it's a blown capacitor you've voided your Sony warranty. Since your computer is working just make good backups often. Your warranty can still be restored.

@noquarter:
Do you fix laptops for a living? Do you know ANYTHING about computers? In a laptop, lots of things are tied together in order to make it smaller. Perhaps you should get your facts straight, or have even a slight clue as to what you are talking about before you start attacking those who are competent.

My first thought was that the liquid could have come from a leaking capacitor, but a vaio laptop is unlikely to contain one large enough to coat the interior, and the problem wouldn't resolve itself. Still, there are many things it could be that are totally unrelated to Rosemary's closet fetish for dunking consumer electronics in pink shampoo (/humor) such as adhesives, thermal pastes, lubricants, etc. used in the assembly process.

Regardless, one would think that she has the right, at the very least, to have someone she trusts verify its presence, especially if she plans to press the issue.

I would do the old email to everyone you can find at Sony and then send it again. I can't really think of too many "pink liquids" that can be found in the usual house that you wouldn't know you spilled.

@pylon83: "I like how people who are not computer technicians jump to conclusions and claim to know more about what's wrong with their machine than a technician who works with them every day."

In which case the tech needs to explain to her why and how he has come to this conclusion, and not treat her like a liar if she contends she has never spilled anything on it.

If Sony sent it back saying that there was a pink liquid, request pictures as proof or demand they repair it under warranty. The service depot always take pictures to cover themselves against liability.

I currently work as a factory authorized computer repair technician and work on a fair share of laptops. I see many come in with spill damage and I would say 50% of the time the customer denies that liquid has been spilled on the unit. Sometimes they will call back and apologize because they asked around and it turns out that their kid or a friend spilled liquid on it and didn't tell them. But regardless if a unit smells like beer or wine I know that it's not the manufacturers fault.
On modern portable computers almost every component is soldered to the mother board and manufacturers don't do component repair they just do board replacements. If this unit has the processor soldered to the board then I can easily see how it would be that much to replace the board. Out of warranty manufacturer specific parts are expensive. Also, if the warranty is void because of a liquid spill they will charge labor on top of the part.

Maybe they ran out of batteries and this was their lame attempt to get you to trade up to a newer model. And since I'm sure liquid voids a warranty, sounds like this was their lame attempt to screw you out of money to trade up to a newer model.

Seriously, what is the point of a warranty? It's to protect against what could happen, right?

Since CompUSA is out of business, she wouldn't be able to take it there...they were a ripoff anyway. When I took my laptop there, they were going to charge me $164 for a diagnosis without any guarantee they would be able to fix it.

As a computer technician, I see this all the time. More than half of the customers with liquid damage in their computers have no idea where it came from -- but it is there. Maybe from a kid or another person that handled the computer, or maybe from a customer that simply doesn't want to admit to that mistake (not saying the customer in this story is of that variety).

Aside from the possibility of sheer incompetence (on Sony's part), it may be that they want to replace every part which has come into contact with the liquid. This would be normal in service as any of these parts could still cause issues (and a legal liability). An independent repair company may be able to provide a much more economical solution.

If it truly is the battery (good chance it may not be) a replacement can simply be ordered from Sony (or over the internet) for about $100.

Agreed that the quote given is quite excessive.

Ok first off if it charges the battery when the system is off but will not run from the ac adapter(as it is draining the battery when it is on) then the first thing to check is the ac adapter, not the battery. Sounds like either the dc jack is damaged on the back of the unit.

If sony sees damage on a unit that was caused by a spill they will quote everything that could have been effected by it as they will have to warranty the system after they fix it. Yes if you have a third party fix the system they may quote a system board or resolder the bad link if that is it. They will not be warrantiing the full system though.

As a computer tech who has seen his fair share of Liquid Spills on laptops I can say that there are people who try and hide the fact that something happened to the system. Heck I have even aided in decontaminating laptops so that the owner could get it repaired. But I also know when to trust people that nothing happened to the laptop. That said there is fluid in most computers now that has been known to leek. The heat sink on most laptops uses a heat pipe system. The heat pipe is a fluid filled tube that moves the heat away from the CPU block to the radiator fins on the edge of the laptop. I've seen a few that cracked and leaked in the laptop. Of those I recall two that had pink fluid in them. If this is what happened then Sony failed to correctly diagnose the issue.

@noquarter: It's not hard to find an independent shop who is an authorized repair center for most major brands... dunno about Sony, though.

Using an authorized repair center usually will keep your warranty intact. When tech support tells you to ship it to them, ask if you can use your friendly neighborhood repair center. Most companies I've dealt with (Toshiba, HP/Compaq, Dell) will allow you to do so.

Also, every repair place I've worked with will do a repair estimate for free, and every one I've contacted has let me sit and watch the diagnosis. You could see this pink liquid for yourself.

And, just in case you're the culprit of the pink liquid, make sure to have a personal property rider on your home/renter's insurance. It's cheap (my two laptops and all my AV gear is covered for $5000 at $100 a year with no deductible) and the warranty status of your lappy is irrelevant. My laptop was knocked off a table during finals and I had a replacement the next day.

Just before Christmas, my Sony Vaio seemed to be having problems charging. I had run the battery down completely the day before, having forgotten my a/c adapter. After suddenly coming out of hibernation in the middle of the night and powering down, it wouldn't stay on for more than 5 minutes before suddenly shutting completely off (eventually it wouldn't stay on for more than 15 seconds). After technical support failed to diagnose the problem over the phone, they suggested I send it to San Diego to be serviced.

This may be a good time to tell your readers that with Li-Ion batteries, it is a BAD IDEA to drain your battery. Lithium Ion batteries should be charged early and often.
* Li-Ion batteries, unlike Ni-Cd batteries, should not be frequently fully discharged and recharged. People that wait until their cell phones or iPods are nearly dead before charging will decrease the lifetime of their batteries.
* Do not store fully charged Li-Ion batteries. They should be ideally stored at partially charged.
* Do not store Li-Ion batteries for too long without charge. If they drain below a critical level, it is dead forever.

Wiki: Lithium Ion Battery

@JD: A warranty is a repair/replacement guarantee against manufacturers defects that may already be present. They are included with the product, free of charge. Anything you pay for is insurance and protects you against various forms of what 'could' happen.

With a warranty, the company is saying "we're confident enough in our manufacturing process and QA testing that we'll fix anything for free that is our fault within the the specified time period." A warranty protects you per the guidelines of the policy which may or may not include pink liquid.

@techguy1138: factory computer techs aren't allowed to return your computer half-fixed.
Understood. And the list of parts that Sony gave her were consistent with replacing everything that touches the motherboard. Presumably, Sony's techs think they saw pink liquid on everything that touched the top of the MB. However, under no circumstances is a working CPU or keyboard required to get a laptop to charge, as Pylon83 suggested. Neither is there any indication that this pink liquid was spilled into the computer and not the result of something inside it breaking.

@pylon83: Do you fix laptops for a living? Do you know ANYTHING about computers?
Yes, I do. Do you read anything at all before posting here? Maybe in the future you should read my posts before replying to them.
In a laptop, lots of things are tied together in order to make it smaller.
Wow. Then I guess anything is possible inside the magical compruter. Maybe the Energy Gnome vomited pink liquid but is better now. Your complete ignorance on this issue continues to show. Please keep it to yourself.

@pylon83: I'm with NoQuarter. You're clearly anti-consumer, and yet you feel the need to constantly comment on Consumerist posts, claiming the the OP is a liar, is unintelligent, or hopelessly misinformed. I must assume you work for an organization consistantly defamed on this site, otherwise I cannot imagine spending so much personal time posting irrelevant yet offensive commentary.

I'm wondering what happens if you try to use the computer with the battery removed? Does it still exhibit the same behavior?

Maybe Sony tech tried this also, I can't tell from "failed to diagnose over the phone."

previous poster was right, some components can leak if defective. I wonder how much 'liquid' was in there. Could you open the laptop and take a pic for us?

@Rosemary: My sympathies. I, too, am a Sony-hater. I started out a HUGE Sony fanboy--my home theater ssytem, including television, was complete Sony, save for the Bose speakers. So, when I saw the Vaio PSC-LX-900, complete with a tablet screen, I bought one in 2001 for our family. Unfortunately, I had nothing but troubles with the monitor/tablet screen and I got nowhere with Sony's customer service,a s they would not honor their stated warranty. They told me that my unit was factory refurbished, but the documents I was provided said it was new. In speaking to the company that sold it to me, the insisted it was a new unit. I then tried to elevate it by writing a letter to the CEO. I did receive a call back from Sony's executive department and was politiely and firmly that Sony would not honor the warranty, but that I could pay for the repairs on my own. I was furious.

I've done two things since then. First, I'll NEVER buy another Sony product again. As much as I love Sony's camcorder technology, I purchased a Panasonic video camera last year, and I won't even look at Sony for audio or video equipment.

Second, after the initial warranty ran out, Sony sent me an offer for an extended warranty for the Vaio. I purchased this warranty for about $250 for a three year plan, and proceeded to send in the unit for three separate repairs to the monitor. I believe the bills came to over $1K each time, so I received $3K for about $250. Yes, I know that actual costs to Sony were closer to $1K to $1.5K, but I did get a decent return on my investment. And, after the final repair, my Vaio screen has worked brilliantly.

Screw Sony!

Another thought I just had for the OP: If there's liquid inside the laptop but the top of the keyboard, fan ports, and other holes leading into and out of the computer are clean and un-sticky, that lends credence to the argument that the liquid came from something inside the computer.

Of course, to really investigate that you'll have to have someone take the thing apart. So, as several people have suggested, taking it to a local Sony-certified technician and bringing your camera along continues to sound like the best option.

What if you turn the computer on while plugged into AC without a battery in? Does it work?

/sorry if you mentioned it, i didn't see it in the post

@noquarter: Addendum: unless you want to try the Executive Email Bomb, as Meg suggested. That might be the quickest and least hassle-filled way to a solution for you.

@glitterati: Try spending some time on the front lines of a support desk sometime.

While most people are honest you'll encounter enough people trying to game the system that it's hard to take anyone's story at face value. I used to do freelance computer repair and you wouldn't believe the stuff people thought they could get away with.

I once built a computer for a friend of a parent's friend. He brought it back a month later when it stopped working. It turns out that his kid replaced the processor heatsink with a "gaming" version. In doing so he managed to gouge the motherboard with a screwdriver and crack the processor. Only when I pointed out the damage and the flamboyant heatsink did the dad admit that he _may_ have seen his son tinkering around inside.

While my human nature wants to believe every word of the OP, experience would require me to trust the evidence. It's unfortunate but the business really requires you to cover your butt.

Sony is horrible with repairs of any kind. I'm willing to bet there was never any liquid in the first place. My suggestion would be not to buy Sony products.

@glitterati:
Yes, let's get rid of all of the commenters who don't always agree with the editors.