Not broken after all

[sesquipedality]

After my usual false start involving removing all the screws on the item in question and then it still not coming apart I scoured the Net for instructions (what I probably should have done in the first place) and gained access to the fan area on my laptop. Nothing obvious revealed itself, but I gave the whole area a good blast with my compressed air can, and that seems to have got the air going again. Entire cost of repair - 50 pence worth of compressed air.

You can bet Sony would've charged me 50 - 100 quid. Of course, they might not have had the traditional screw left over afterwards.