Possible broken connection on m'board

[the Virtural Writer]

Hello,

I think I have a break between the firewire port and the mother board. My computer is a Sony Vaio PCG81114L. Does anyone know anything about this problem?

 

[BadPeteNo]

Is the firewire on the case or the back io panel? If it's on the case, it's easy enough to replace.

 

[Rob Unwin]

I had a similar problem with a Lacie external hard drive where the 6 pin firewire socket had got loose and the computer was not picking anything up. I was at my wits end - the drive, which belonged to my daughter, held loads of irreplaceable photos and music. I was looking at paying out a fortune in data recovery costs.

In the end, since it was well out of warranty I took the plunge and slid the drive case apart and re-soldered the two big pins that held the firewire socket in place on the motherboard (accessible from opposite side of board). I also re-soldered the 6 connector pins on a second socket where they'd come loose. I think just soldering the big pins on one of the sockets did the trick and that's what I'd recommend. (I had to grind and then sand the tip of my soldering iron to a fine point to do the 6 connector pins which was a fiddly job - the result looks a bit messy, though it seems to work.)

 

[BadPeteNo]

Or you could just take the hard drive out and connect it internally or buy a new enclosure.

Also, this thread has been dead for about 9 months, so you probably shouldn't post on it.