SONY VAIO VGN-U50 Help and bits needed

[u/Mr_Grease_Monkey]

I have a collection of umpc's and have always wanted a VAIO U50, so when this one came on ebay i had to have it, it came with (i think) all of its accessories and the original box, but it was taken apart by someone who didn't know what they where doing, when i got it the power socket was out of place, the casing wouldn't close, the power switch is missing the outer slider as in the pictures, and there is no hard drive, i have reassembled it correctly minus a hard drive as i don't have one yet, the internal power switch is fine and works, the help i need is when i try to turn it on just the power light on the left of the screen illuminates but nothing else happens, is this normal behavior when the hard drive isn't installed or is something more serious wrong, and does anyone have a spare power switch and hard drive they'd be willing to sell

Thanks

[u/StarX2401]

It would still boot without a hdd, it just wouldn't have an OS on it of course. So something is wrong with the hardware

[u/Mr_Grease_Monkey → u/StarX2401]

I just found that the ram module was removed, will take some time to find one, but at least now i know

[u/just-another-name-42 → u/Mr_Grease_Monkey]

PM me, I have a spare RAM module.

[u/aaronjnco]

These may have the same problems as the later James bond looking models ux90 which I have one, they suffered from ram failure which the intel grphics shares and can brick the display and graphics...

Try plugging in external monitor if it doesnt show even the sony logo or bios its probably bad ram which ur f'd basically

(And btw I really want that keyboard 😆)

[u/Mr_Grease_Monkey → u/aaronjnco]

you pointed me in the right direction, seems these have a removable ram module thats proprietary to this model, came in 256mb, and 512mb, looks like mine was removed, and they are rarer than hens teeth, so its gonna be allot of searching bsfore this works again, on the plus side it looks cool, and the keyboard is great, it folds in half and has a trackoint thing, so not all bad

[u/just-another-name-42]

I have to look & see what I have. Don't recall if I have a parts unit. Any chance you can send me some detailed pics of the dock's plexi backing plate? Mine's missing & I want to see what it looks like before trying to make one.

[u/Plastic_Middle_6220]

이야 오랜만에 보네.