Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

i have not understood what is advisable for a clean w7 install yet. UEFI or legacy? Which ones gives less problem?

 

Try this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...y-s-series-owners-thread-311.html#post8748196

It's in the OP by the way.

 

I read a lot for long time, ebooks, foruming, facebooking etc., so my questions is, will 13.3 size be bad for my eyes?

 

I had some problems recently. I was uninstalling some Android SDK drivers, but for some reason it also wiped some files in the my Programs Files folder so I've been trying to reinstall everything but I'm having some problems. I'm using the Sony Vaio Update application btw. Anyways, the issue that I have right now is that when I use onscreen buttons indicators that would come up when I use the fn+Vol/Brightness/etc aren't showing up on screen and the fn+brightness isn't working either. Anyone know what application or driver I need to reinstall to get this working again?

 

^I think you need the Sony Shared Library from the drivers page to get the on-screen indicators (not 100% sure). You'll also need the hotkeys driver, but if the keys still function, then you probably already have that.

So does no one else have a creaky lid/hinge? I still have a week to return/exchange with the Sony Store, but I'd rather not go through the trouble if this is normal behavior.

 

Thanks, that fixed it.

Yes, my S13P's hinge creaks as well.

 

Well I had a bad experience with the keyboard on my S13p. One of my keys broke off just after one week of use (incl. some light gaming). I sent it in and Sony replaced the entire palmrest just for one broken key(!) Thinking back it was probably the right thing to do in case I had a faulty keyboard. At first however they didnt want to swap it out, but then I went through one of their stores and they sent it in. Since then I have been paying attention to the keys and how they feel and to be honest it doesnt feel that great. Flex is def. there above the ODD and the keys themselves feel "wobbly". I own a Lenovo T61 (which was basically still an IBM) and the keyboard there is amazing. After 4 years of use it almost feels like its new. Doubt it will be the same with the Sony. Still a nice notebook though.

Greets

 

it is very different than any keyboard ive had before but you do get used to typing on it... the spacing or the placement of the keys and the shallow motion makes for a really awful typing experience at first... within a week i was typing fine. but if you like high travel mechanical style keyboards this is a polar opposite

 

That's an important point: IF you like high travel keyboards.

Personally, i'm quite satisfied because i like shallow keyboards.

 

The hinges on my S15 doesn't creak but an odd thing I noticed again today is that around the VAIO logo on the lid there is clearly visible square, like if the logo was placed on it, I mean it's black on black but the there is a visible outline around the logo which certainly isn't part of the design. Not a big thing, but looks kinda cheap.

 

I installed new SSD, installed Windows 7 from USB stick, installed all drivers in de correct order mentioned in this thread and it STILL keeps wining about the battery being not compatible! I installed Windows again (6 minutes!) followed the guide and AGAIN this battery incompatibility!!

Sony - Sony® Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver 8.0.2.3 (reboot)
Sony - Sony® Shared Library 5.10.0.12150
Sony - Hotkey Utilities 1.0 (reboot x 2)

What am i doing wrong?

Solved!

I noticed one hardware device with exclamationmark, i checked for drivers online and after 15 seconds it said drivers updated and before the exclamationmark i saw "Sony Extension Parcer Device" I did however install the SFEPDD,....strange!

 

I found these offers for a 4gb RAM stick on Amazon.it

Corsair Ddr3 1333Mhz 4Gb 204 Sodimm: Amazon.it: Elettronica
Kingston 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 SODIMM Memoria: Amazon.it: Elettronica
It's Corsair. And the other one is Kingston (is there any difference?).

Is it worth to spend extra money on another manufacturer? It would be at least 25$ more.

 

For those who are unsure how windows 8 is on the s13p, I upgraded from windows 7 pro to windows 8 enterprise last night and everything is running fine.
Trackpad feels the same and gestures are working good. I had a problem where it would take 10 seconds to load up the context menu but after reinstalling the intel graphics driver and reinstalling the registry fix to remove it from the context menu, right clicking loads instantly again.
If you have any questions feel free to ask..

 

Does the GPU BIOS mod still work on Windows 8?

 

Not strange! I had the same. The people of Sony put the wrong driver on their site. It took my a couple of days to figure this out. It is something you do not expect. Microsoft replaced the january 2012 driver with a driver from 2009 or something. It has the size of 24 kb!! that smal thing gave me lots of headake.....

 

yes. 10 letters..

 

I know this post is a bit old but I just wanted to chime in that while fiddling with webcam settings after being disappointed with the framerates I was seeing (under 10fps) I found something. Turning off the "low light compensation" (webcam settings, camera control tab, uncheck the box) I noticed a monster improvement in framerate.

 

It makes sense. That's because in low light mode webcam must gain more light per frame. It's like keeping the "shutter" opened for a longer time in photography.

My portable webcam has the same function.

 

@Petrov: maybe the installationguide in the first post can be updated with this information, it could prevent lot's of people having a bad headache

 

Maybe some of you remember i wrecked one of the flatcables while replacing ODD with HDD,........a desperate search on the internet learned me that this type of cable is impossible to get.

With a 1600 euro laptop that wouldn't boot there was only one thing left to do,........be honest to Sony about what happend,...the horror,...the horror,....

So i did and i got details how to ship the laptop. I put a form with details about my customization in the box and sent it in to Germany,...... 5 days later i got it back, repaired and fully operational again, apparently free of charge!

Kudo's to Sony :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

Honest? Which level of honesty? D:

"I was about to disassemble your sold-as-crappy notebook but I screwed up" omg

 

No, i told them everything,...SSD, ODD,.....

 

Is this laptop available in red or other colors? On the sony site it shows different colors but you can't choose them. Also does sony offer student discounts or any other discounts or promos like free ps3?

 

Not in red. The color options depend on the model, but for S15 there's black, silver and white. Discounts depend on where you live, and promos change every week or so. Check the Sony website for them. If there's no discounts mentioned in your country's website, call them up and ask, and they'll probably give a discount or explain how you'll get one.

 

Hi,
Can we switch off d back lite of keyboard?

 

Yes. In the settings.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

Hello everybody,

I am happy to join the forum. I got a sony vaio S today, and I have to say the red / color issue was a surprised. I expected an amazing display.
Is there any color profile that could fix this issue or I dont have any other way than returning the laptop and getting something else?
I am a designer, and I cannot accept a red like this.
I would be thankful for any information or links.

Thanks!

 

Thanks.........................

 

You can not fix this problem of red-orange issue. It a physical problem. I think Sony is irresponsible. I am angry on Sony.

 

has anyone fixed the black screen flash. i know we have talked about it. if i go into intel display panel and change the rate to 60p while in stamina and then switch to speed the flash is gone. but then as soon as i switch back... boom it does it again.

EDIT: FOUND IT! keeping post for prosperity.

solution:

go into the advanced power settings native to windows and then click the vaio power management tab.... its all right there. (note: be sure to flip the switch to power saver then open the menu and change it. then do the same with speed. this ensures you are altering the power plans you are using. alternatively you could just make the change on all of the power plans)

 

Go to devicemanager, there should be one device with questionmark, make sure you are connected to the internet, select update drivers online, problem should be solved after that. The name of the device changed to Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device.

 

Everyone - I've updated the OP with a few suggestions from you guys.

Key updates:
- improvement fix for webcam framerates
- battery device driver question mark issue fix
- general suggestion about creating a restore media point
- permanent suggested fix for screen black flash when switching from speed to stamina

Happy to take anything else under consideration, just PM me.

Petrov.

 

No, that did not work for me and after days of trying this is not a good advice. How strange it maybe sounds the solution is to install the bad driver and let windows update do its work. The other sollution is to post the driver and do it manually. The other thing is that in win 7 the standard setting is that win 7 will not update drivers. It can be changed, I did not try this, and maybe that is the reason why only updating the driver did not work.

 

So by now I have had my computer for long enough to have some thoughts gathered, and here they are.

S15 Black
Windows® 7 Professional
Intel®Core(TM)i7-3612QM,2.1GHz
12 GB 1333 MHz DDR3-SDRAM
39.5cm LCD, 1920x1080+webcam
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M LE 2 GB
320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
Blu-ray Disc(TM) writer


Unexpectedly, what I love about my S15 most is how it feels physically, and that means both handling it, touching it as well as working with it. The used materials just feel so good, I just love the painted magnesium lid (even though it looks like it might be prone to scratches). Likewise, the palm rest area is nice to touch, and retains comfortability during prolonged use. Generally I think the sturdiness of built, the weight distribution, and the form factor are all near perfect.

About the built though, there is one issue I have and I think it is probably defect rather than engineering fault is the backside cover (the one covering memory, battery, HDD etc). One of the edges of the cover is not level with the shell of the computer, and it also flexes a little making a "click". Can you confirm it is a manufacturing defect, please?

Keyboard is a dream, I am now a complete flat keyboard convert, coming from IBM Model M clicky camp. I don't need numeric pad but it's really not affecting the convenience of using the rest of the keyboard. I have read somewhere that the enter key is not full-sized on S15 -- well, on mine (with UK keyboard) it certainly is.

Touchpad is very usable even without further adjustments, and I had no problem switching to the new position on the left and adapting to the spacious area (my previous computer was a netbook haha).

Screen is great as well but I could notice the red/orange problem straight away. I think the colours of familiar sites looked noticeably different that I had been used to (and I'm not only referencing to my netbook). Still I think it is not something I can't live with, in fact the movies look great on this, and the blood is red enough.

I really can't comment on the performance much as I didn't re-install the Windows and appropriate software yet since I am considering sending the machine back for repair. It is not only the backside cover what bothers me but also the clicketly sounds my HDD is producing, I have heard enough of these back in the day to know it's not for good. Although I opted for the cheapest HDD (320GB 5400RPM) so I can replace it with SDD, I could still make use of it or give it to someone -- the computer cost me in excess of £1200, so I expect the goodies to be delivered in a flawless condition.

 

I dont know if anyone has posted a solution to this... but you need a system set to EFI mode to boot from a gpt disk.

EFI systems can't install from an NTFS flash drive, but microsofts utility for creating a bootable flash drive creates it in NTFS

If you're using a flash drive and you can get to the windows installer, it wont let you install because you're in legacy bios mode

If you can't get into the windows installer with a flash drive, you're in EFI mode but now you cant even boot the installer

Easiest solution is to just use a dvd, thats what i did. IF you cant use a dvd then try using some other 3rd party utility to create a bootable flash drive

 

Or just partition the flash drive as GPT and you're good to go.

 

I've got a custom S13 (640m+1600x1200) and,
sorry if this has been asked a milion times but:

1) Is it convenient for to install Windows 8 now?
2) Is there a tutorial of some sort between these pages?
3) Can I use the same x64 DreamkSpark student license key i'm using on the desktop installation of W8?
4) Do i install it in UEFI or legacy mode? Is it possible to make a UEFI usb drive for W8?

Thanks in advance, if someone is kind enough to answer all these questions

 

1) Not sure what you mean by "convenient", but it'll work just fine. Just remember to install the recommended drivers \ applications.
2) There's one in the Sony forum, use the search function.
3) Yep
4) You can install it with EFI without problems, just make sure the USB disk you're using is converted to GPT so it boots. The HDD \ SSD will have to be GPT as well (the one that comes from Sony is already in GPT format).

 

Hi, my sister recently surprised me with a new Vaio SVS 13 (model # SVS13116FGB) as a birthday gift. However, it comes with the lower res screen 1366x768. I was just wondering if it's possible to replace the screen with the higher res version by ordering the LCD panel online and switching it out? I believe the physical connector is the same as the premium models and my graphics card is the same 640M LE (except with 1gb ram). I've been using 1600x900 resolution for a while now, and just can't really do without the extra space on screen.

Thanks!

 

Thanks a lot.

About 4), what if I want to dual boot W8 and a Linux distro? Will I have to switch between Legacy and UEFI mode or the Linux partition will boot under UEFI?
About 2): can't find it, you mean the offical Sony forums or the section here at notebookreview?

 

Changing a screen is NOT easy even IF you can actually find the panel you need online. These lappy's are fairly new so parts are expensive....not too many people parting them out yet. The only practical way to change a screen unless you have some quite advanced skills is to change the entire cover as an assembly and swap it with the one you want from another machinne. Still not easy...a lot of tear down is required to get to the point where you can do the swap...but doable.

 

Hi and thanks for responding. I have found a couple sellers online and the prices aren't too bad (I don't think) - about $100 for the screen and an extra $50 for fedex it to Thailand. I'm not so worried about the changing process, as I do have some experience getting onto the insides of some laptops (swapping out certain pcbs, cleaning etc). I'm also not worried about warranty since the lappy was bought in Singapore and I am using it in Thailand.

I'm more concerned whether it can actually be done and have a properly functioning screen after the transplant. I've done a lot of searching and reading with no definitive answer for this model and that's more the reason I asked.

 

Visiting this thread after long time. Wanted to mention that i have received my 100$ visa rebate card from Sony today. This was from the promotion sony had in August 2012 for buying qualifying Sony Vaio T and S series laptops.

 

it should be doable. someone on this forum successfully switched the 1366x768 LCD screen of his 2011 SB model with a 1600x900 screen of the 2011 SA model. there are DIP switched on the motherboard that has to be rearranged for the new screen to be recognized by the BIOS. in that thread, i had posted pictures of the SA motherboard with the DIP switches. just do a search here, and you'll find that thread.

 

2 Questions:

1. Does anyone know of a way to just turn off the OD (S15)? I'm sick and tired of hearing that thing whir every time I turn on the laptop or wake it up from sleep. I do NOT want to open my laptop and remove it as I'm not very comfortable doing that.

2. How do I register my laptop for the warranty? Or is that done when I first turned on my S15 and filled in some Sony thing?

Thanks in advance.

 

Aw YEAH! The S13 is now avalible in Silver + 1600x900 panel + GT640m.

Punching my order through, now. ATi... goodbye!


EDIT: On the other hand, waiting on Windows 8, first. I've used it, and like it, overall.

 

Hi and thanks for posting. After a bit of searching, I found the thread with the pics you posted. I will have to open the S13 to see if it does have the dip switches on the MB, and then I'd need to figure out how they need to be switched in order to run a 1600x900 screen. Also, seeing as this is a straight and valid change/upgrade rather than a non-standard mod it seems more promising. Is there anything else worth noting when performing a transplant?

edit: I just did more digging and found the dip switch settings in a PDF file, but I'm not quite sure they would still keep the same settings in the new S13? and maybe I would have to change the LVDS cable?

 

^ i don't want to give you incomplete or false information, given that i haven't done this myself...in short, i don't know!
so it would be better if you contact the person who has successfully done the LCD transplant. good luck.

 

Link to said guide? (Windows 8 Installation on S13).

Please!

 

Hello everyone, my S13 takes like 5 minutes to load the network driver or whatever when I reboot, it used to work fine but now I can't connect to the internet until the driver "starts"... anyone got a fix for this for me?