Official Sony NW Series Owners Thread

Well, the "flattened" screens are all 16x9 aspect ratio, which is the HD TV standard, so there's your explanation. I agree that 768 pixels high feels a bit cramped. I do wish I'd been able to get a 1600x900 screen on my NW.

 

Thanks astrovaio...I'll give that a shot. I appreciate it!

 

Just picked up a white 275 NW for $650 shipped from overstock. Its loaded with the ati 4570 and the blu ray

 

Hi everyone,

Hope someone can help me with this. I bought the Best Buy's Black Friday special VGN-NW265F/B for my younger brother. He did not like Windows 7 and tried to install XP on it but ended up having a hard time finding the right drivers. Of course, he thought I had recovery discs. Long story short, does anyone have recovery discs made for this model? I can compensate for discs and shipping. Thanks so much!

 

When you get the laptop, it has a hidden partition with Windows Vista (maybe 7 if you got it recently) installer on it.

By the way guys. A new update on Sony esupport for our laptop. Sony Event Service Update. Fixes an issue where HDMI out would not completely fill a HDTV.

This fixes an issue where it was near impossible to get 1080p to fill your 1080p TV.

 

Does anyone know or have a link about how to clean out the dust from the fan and heatsink exchanger on the VGN-NW250F? I don't feel comfortable allowing dust to accumulate over several months without cleaning it out. I worry about overheating.

On other laptops I have owned this was easily done by removing four or five screws. I can't figure out how to do this on this one.

Thanks

 

I currently own a Sony Vaio VGN-NW21SF that works with Windows 7. I have a problem with the Wi-Fi.
I bought it 5 months ago and it has always worked properly. Until yesterday. I turned it on, but when i wanted to visit a website, it turned out it was't connected to the network. It was strange because it has always connected to it automatically. Then, when i pressed troubleshoot, it said that wi-fi wasn't turned on. The light about the Wi-Fi wasn't glowing, so i tried to turn it on with Windows Mobility Center. When i opened it and tried to press the button for turning on/off the Wi-Fi, it didn't work. I restarted the computer - nothing. Today i reinstalled the Windows and again - the same thing. I open the Windows Mobility Center and the button doesn't work. Since it'd stopped working the button turned gray and can't be pressed.
What should i do?

 

sounds like you flicked the wireless on/off button to off, its near the sd slot?

 

Hey guys. I just opened up my Sony Vaio NW (cleaned out some dust and tightened the screws).
If anyone wants internal pictures without having to open up you can ask.

One thing I found strange. There's a part of the motherboard that is labelled 'BuleTooth' (obviously a misspelling of bluetooth). Instead of a chip being there, there is some black foam stuff. Obviously, because our laptop doesn't have bluetooth.
Behind where the chip is meant to be there is a connector, similar to the WiFi one but smaller. I wonder if it is possible to install a chip on it.
Any ideas?

 

Please do post pictures!! I've been meaning to open my VAIO up for the longest time but was a little scared of all the screws and stuff because I've never opened up a computer before. I also wanted to look for a bluetooth slot - looks like you seem to have found it. Show us!!! haha thanks.

EDIT: I tried opening up my NW today and I just couldn't get the back cover to completely come off. The majority of it came off after the latches came off, but the side of the optical drive wouldn't budge, no matter what kind of tugging or wiggling I did. I eventually realized that there is a hidden screw underneath the optical drive (which requires that the drive be open in order to see) and removing that screw helped, but the part above the USB drives right below the optical drive still wouldn't come off. I spent about an hour and all I got out of it was a small hairline crack next to my USB drive. I don't know how you managed to remove the whole thing - care to help us?

 

There was a tonne of screws and that hidden optical drive one but other than that it was pretty straight forward. Just remember to remove ALL the screws you can see from the back including hard drive and underneath battery bay.

I have uploaded the 13 images I took to here:
ImageShack Album - 13 images

Note: I suck at taking photos and I just have some Pentax shooter so you can't see the board in any great detail. There is definitely a bluetooth ('buletooth') slot there though.

Half way through I had the smart idea of using flash on the camera. You can see a bit more detail on those.

The laptop specs are:
Sony Vaio NW130J (US Model)
2.8GHz Core2 Duo P9700
2x2GB DDR2
ATI Radeon 4570 Mobility
Intel WiFi 5100
No bluetooth

 

Just installed W7 clean on my NW:

Problem is I can't use the Fn keys. Brightness, Monitor Output and Zoom Function don't work.

The drivers are installed, but I don't know the proper order. I tried the guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...s-7-final-release-x64-install-mini-guide.html

but the steps still don't allow my Fn keys to function.

Can someone help me out here?

 

How were you able to install updated ATI drivers? The official AMD/ATI notebook package does a check and fails on my Sony VGN-NW160J - I even wrote Sony support asking they participate in the AMD driver program so we can just download the latest updates right from AMD.

Thanks.

 

After doing a clean install of Win7 upgrade on my NW160J, the three Sony drivers I needed to get the basic things working (FN keys, OSD...) were:

VAIO Event Service
VAIO Control Center
Setting Utility Series

 

Hi, has anybody tried to install a 1tb HD? Threy're higher then the default 9.5mm. I've looked on my laptop, and I have my doubts and I don't want to risk buying and not being able to use it (I don`t need an external HD)

Thanks

 

I wouldn't risk it if I were you. There's very little room in the hard drive bay for an extra couple of millimeters. I would stick with the 640GB ones, and they might even have 750GB 2.5" HDDs, for now.

On another note: I have successfully installed an internal bluetooth chip into my NW!!! It works perfectly, shows up in windows, and I also downloaded Sony's bluetooth drivers (made by broadcom) and installed those as well, which add a whole bunch of additional bluetooth profiles. The module fits into the slot marked as "BuleTooth", and I have a picture of the module in my laptop as proof if anyone wants it.

Here is the thread that I started. Start reading from post #8, since that would be the first relevant one.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/net...ing-bluetooth-newly-installed-combo-chip.html

Finally: I purchased a lot of 3 of these bluetooth chips from ebay since it was the best deal for me, but I only need one of course. If anyone is interested in purchasing one of the other 2 just shoot me a PM.

 

I see no PM option, but I'll take one!

 

I tried to send you a PM but it said that you have chosen not to receive them. Can you change that or send me one?

 

I see no way to PM you but I enabled email in my forum settings. Hope that works.

 

Ahh still can't PM you. You don't know how to PM? Go to the top of the page and click on the "private messages" link. Then scroll down the left hand side column and click on "Send new message".

If that doesn't work, just send me an email at [email protected].

 

I have an NW350F which had been plugged into a Radio Shack AC/AC adapter by mistake. It still works fine. but the battery doesn't charge with the normal adapter. I'm trying to figure out what piece of hardware has to be fixed. Motherboard functions normally. Any ideas?

 

Hi guys - I have a hardware issue with the webcam in my VGN-NW180J (PCG-7171L). For a while now the webcam has been intermittently disconnecting. Now at this point it is totally disconnected. I do not mean software disconnecting, but rather a hardware disconnection somewhere.

Quick background: From time to time I would be hear the USB unplug sound (dah-doon) and notice the camera would stop working. I then discovered that I could force this disconnection to happen by pressing down near the top of the laptop case, about an inch above the function keys (like above F5, F6 ish in that area).

Because of the interminably nature of the issue I am pretty sure it may be a loose connection somewhere which has since come apart completely. I did have the inverter plug come detached from the inverter at one point so it wouldn't surprise me if the webcam connections are loose.

Anyway - I know how to remove the border from the laptop case on the lid so you have access to the panel and the webcam. I removed that and checked the connection at the top of the lid where the webcam was. That looked fine. Didn't see any issue there.

However I wasn't sure where the other end of the webcam connected to. I am assuming it is connecting somewhere inside the case near where the Function keys are, because that's the area where I could press to get the issue to occur.

Can anyone tell me how to go about taking apart the laptop (I know the screen/lid top part, but not the main part) and where to look for the connection from the webcam. Any other troubleshooting tips would be appreciated. And if I need to replace the webcam itself, does anyone know of a viable replacement part?

Thanks!

 

Hey Guys- I have a sony vgn-nw235f laptop computer. Recently its fan have been really loud. Today however, it started making really loud sounds and beeping noises. These noises were constant and kept going till the laptop was powered off. I also live in a very dusty environment. Does the fan just need a dusting and replication of thermal paste? Or does it need to be completely replaced. Also, i have searched all over a net for a guide on how to correctly open this laptop. If anyone has a link to a guide of some sort id appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

 

Hey Guys,

My sister has this old Vaio NW and now the laptop becomes so slow after installing many things. I am wondering to buy a SSD for her. Do you think I can replace Sony Vaio NW's HDD with Sandisk Extreme SSD ?

 

This laptop died a few years ago, not too long after I bought it (maybe 1.5 years) and I had no warranty.

It had the problem where if you move it, it freezes. A few other people mentioned getting the same thing. I tried to track the problem after opening it up but wasn't able to see anything loose. The freezes always happened when applying pressure around the touchpad/bottom of keyboard or movement but I couldn't see anything critical in that area.

So now, over 4 years after buying it and sad that it is collecting dust, I have decided to give it some new life.
I've ripped the laptop apart and taken just the motherboard by itself (will repurpose the hard drive and bluray drive).
I've stuck it in a little box and cut out holes for the ports.
Going to be a media computer.

By the way, it still freezes when I move it so something dodgy with the motherboard. I'm running Linux off a USB drive.

What's everyone else doing with their NW these days?