I'm a no0b in the forums here and not the most knowledgeable about laptop hardware. I've read on numerous sites that pretty much everyone has the same problems with the PCG-K23 that I've had since August 2004.

The fan sounds like a small aircraft. The underside of my machine gets so hot that it will physically burn me if I put it on bare skin (no joke). I'm well aware of how incredibly bad this is for the guts of my machine but haven't had any money to fork over to a repair-man to get a different, new, or better fan. I'm almost 100% that the heat factor is also directly related to a reoccurring problem I've been having with the blue screen of death. It tends to happen when I'm doing little to nothing on here. Earlier it happened and I was only running firefox with just 1 tab open, and litestep which is my shell of choice. My instinct when I see that screen is to just ABORT and hit the off button, then turn it on a minute or two later, once it's cooled off a bit.

I wouldn't doubt that the mb has been adversely affected by years of this. I'm going to be taking apart my machine tonite to clean out dust and cat fur, which I'm sure has accumulated over the years (see: my cat likes to sleep on it because it's warm xD).

Besides purchasing one of the "cooling rack" things to help disperse the heat away from it, does anyone know of any ways to help remedy these issues? I REALLY love my machine and want to upgrade it rather than buying a new one. I've become very attached, as it was the first computer I ever bought with my own money (see: 2k at Circuit City in 2004).

Please help!
xx
themollusk

What you are describing are the classic symptoms of overheating. When you take it apart to clean it use a can of inert air to blow it out. If you place a pencil through the blade of the fan before you blow it out it will more effective.
This site doesn't have your model, but it does have instruction for disassembling others of the same Vaio line.

Yeah making sure you clear out all the dust and fur would be starting step. Also if you do not wish to spend on a cooling station then you just have to take precaution like when you want to work on it on your lap or in bed make sure the laptop is placed on a hard cover magazine or book where the heat vents wont be stuffed with the bedding or clothes, that does help.

Raj

PS: i d keep cat away or at least cover the laptop with some thin polythene sheet when it acts as cat's sleeping bed..lol.

I actually went to best buy and invested in an inexpensive cooling station (RocketFish - http://www.futureshop.ca/multimedia/.../10096000.gif). I was skeptical of the quality of it at first, but I've been using it since I got it and have noticed an INCREDIBLE difference already. I can finally watch videos again, omg! It had gotten to the point where even 30 second youtube vids wouldn't play without skipping horribly...

Thanks for the link to the guide for taking apart my Vaio. I'm sure it won't be much trouble at all, as even though I'm not very knowledgeable in taking apart laptops I'm not necessarily DUMB, lol.

I'll let you guys know how it goes!
Thanks so much for your help! I'm going to be using this forum as my constant source of help with my machine