I got a 17" Sony Vaio AR630 laptop a few years back (2007_-2008) - supposedly highend at the time - Core 2 Duo, Nvida GeForce 8400MT 256MB, 2GB RAM, 32HDD, Blu Ray etc I named it the Kracken ("release the kracken" ;-)). After about 1 year of light usage, I was playing NFS and my system froze. I later learnt it was a graphic card issue.

I contacted Sony Nigeria (Dove Limited) at the time and they said they were not yet able to support or service sony vaio laptops (besides I imported from US). I then had to go to computer village were some guys opened up the laptop, did some abrakadabra and it started working. Problem relapsed affter about a week of light use (no more gaming). I had the guy take it back and he returned it again, same thing. 3 days and problem returned.


Now I have gone to Sony Nigeria again (2010-11), this time they can service vaio products but won't accept mine cos it had been tampered with. They offered to order a mother board replacement which costs about 120K but I will have to go and install myself since the system had been tampered with. I thought the quote was outrageous considering that I can get a new laptop in that range. I got this for about 210 - 220K back then. It was meant to be high end spec for graphics design and gaming. So I jjust dumped this and its been gathering dust since then. Comes on sometimes but some oteher times it doesn't get past the Windows laoding screen. I can start it in Safemode to copy files I need but that's it. Can't attempt to load full services on it


Wondering what options I have now.
Can I sell it in its condition? For how much? Is it worth anything?
What other repair options that does not involve total motherboard purchase?
Should I chop it up and sell the parts?
Keep it as an artifact... My first laptop purchase?
What other options should I consider?

Please assist. I am tired of watching it go to waste year by year...