Official Sony S11/S12/S13 (2010) Owners Thread

In case anyone has a similar question: as of now, the Signature models are not being sold in the sony store, only available online.

When ordering from the 'educational' store, it wasn't an option to add the extended service plan, however when I called, they were able to add it to my cart for me so that I could continue the order online.

For those ordering online, there is an extra 4% cashback if you order through ebates!

 

The speakers are really really soft, even at 100%. Is there something wrong with the speakers or are they really soft?

 

Define "soft" ?

They do lack the low freq., yes, but other than that - they produce reasonable 3D sound (for a notebook).

 

Rubbish...

 

Soft as in i have to put my head to the speaker to hear proper voice. Will go to Sony and ask for a new one.

 

No, haven't noticed anything like that, although my previous notebook did have better/louder speakers. But have a look whether Loudness Equalization is enabled in the audio properties... Disabling it boots the volume.

 

Does anybody have any experience of the docking station? I'm having a problem - I usually use my laptop wireless network connection around the house and then Hibernate and drop the laptop onto the dock to charge it overnight. The dock has a wired gigabit network cable plugged in which I use occasionally for large file transfers.

Now, the problem is that when I use the laptop the next day, I take it off the dock, turn it on (from Hibernate) but the wireless lan won't work. I switch off and on using the switch on the fron and use VAIO Smart Network to turn it on, but in never actually turns on - I have to fully reboot to make it work.

 

I have question about dock station to, but does anybody use dock station and two display.?

 

I have/had a similar problem, although I don't have and never used a docking station - My WLAN would strangely turn itself off, mainly during computer being in idle! I say strangely, because the front LED goes off, the switch does not help at all, BUT the Intel WLAN card is listed as enabled and working properly in device manager! What usually helps is disabling it from Device manager and enabling it again - then the LED goes on and it starts working!

This happens to me once every couple of months - there was a period of 2-3 days when it was happening once or twice each day, but that was half an year ago. It last happened 2-3 weeks ago and what I did was update the WLAN module's drivers! I found there are 13.4.0.0 drivers available, whereas the original were 13.0.0 if I am not mistaken.

Try doing that - I haven't had the problem since, but that was just 2-3 weeks ago so I can't say anything yet.

Also try to disable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" in the properties of the adapter (Power Management tab) - I don't know if it makes any difference, but worth a try.

 

Or you know, you could always just shut down the laptop when you're done with it or use Sleep instead of Hibernate.

 

if you have full control of your power options, which meand dont install the sony bloatware

you have wireless adapter settings and usb selective control

 

This problem also occurs without docking it. Just have to hibernate, then switch back on and the wlan turns off. i updated the drivers and this has helped a little - it allows me to switch wlan on bu turning the switch off then on, then turning on using vaio network switch. better but not perfect. i wonder why it just started happening recently - it's never been a problem before...

the power tick box made no difference, but thanks for your suggestions.

 

How can you control your wireless without vaio smart network. this little app allows me to turn wan, wlan and bluetooth on and off.

 

Back to the problem - it seems that it is more serious, which actually isn't that bad - if it is reproducible you can always call sony. It is bad when it is not-reproducible and spontaneous - how would you explain...

But before that you should try reinstalling windows I guess....

By the way - Which version of Vaio Smart Network do you use??? It is a great handy little app, but I found that the last version is a bit buggy - it just came to my mind that it was switching my WLAN off automatically every time I put it to sleep or something like that - it was long time ago when I decided to downgrade one version because of such bugs!
So I don't use the latest version, but the previous - 3.1.0.11250
Check yours please!?

 

I'm using 3.3.1.08110. So how do I downgrade.....? Many thanks for all your help with this Gorgeous Gracy.

 

Yep, you are using the most up to date version, which I found to be less convenient and even buggy! You need to uninstall it first and then install 3.1 instead. I had 3.3 for a week but couldn't stand those problems, while at the same time saw no advantages at all, so I just downgraded - 3.1 works perfectly fine.

 

Hi there, I purchased my VPCS131FDS from BestBuy a month ago. I made the decision based on its performance and portability mainly. I was really happy and satisfied with this purchase until recently, I noticed the outershell, and even the trackpad button, are really easily scratched.

I'm a master student and I carry my laptop to campus everyday. It's just really really frustrating to me that I have to place this laptop so carefully so it won't get in contact with any material that can scratch its surface. I'm very upset about the built of this laptop.. I know it's lightweight, but the paint is almost coming off already after 1 month of use.

Any of the VPCS131FDS owners - do you guys have the same problem? Would the 1 year warranty cover such wear and tear?

Prior to this laptop, I've used an Apple Macbook. The rim of of bezel and part where I rest my wrist had come off. It is like a design flaw that they admit to have - and when I go back to the Apple store 4 years later, they would still replace these parts for free, attributing the problem to wear and tear. They offered amazing product support! I wish Sony would do something like this ..

 

Someone post a photo of the paint off. Is yours like that? Can take a pict of it? Yah, I have know about this problem.

 

you let windows control it.

its ok having full control is better than not

 

Thanks Gracious Gracy. I have uninstalled and installed version 3.10.11250. I'll let you know how I get on....

 

the keyboard squeak is easy fixed with a credit card, a pin and a dab of grease - lever the key off with the credit card edge, remove the metal bars, use the pin to put a tiny bit of grease in the joint, replace & hey presto, silent keyboard.
momentus xt is sposed to be a good drive

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd

 

Blinder? what brand RAM U use in your vaio? 500gb its a momentus xt?

 

I'm using my Vaio S with a Momentus XT, no problems so far.
The only thing is that the Sony's HDD Protection for this drive is not working.

 

That's odd, considering the fact that it works on other drives... should be drive-independent.

 

Hi,

Has anyone tried installing the latest nvidia graphics drivers with a modded inf file and then outputting to a DLP 120Hz using 3D Vision? I'm just waiting for my glasses kit to arrive next week to try this out, but wondered if anyone had tried it so far?

 

The RAM is G.Skill.

No my drive is just a standard Seagate 7200rpm 500Gb. I've been toying with the idea of a Momentus XT for a while now, but reading 25 page long threads like this puts me right off it:

If you have problems with Momentus XT, please come... - Seagate Community Forums

I use the machine for work all day, and at home as well, the last thing I need is for that sort of stuff to start happening.

I think im going to get a fenvi CD HDD bay, and swap out the main hdd for a small SSD, and stick the 500Gb in the CD slot instead.

One of the best things I bought for it was one of these:

48GB FileMate SolidGO ExpressCard 34 mini USB Ultra Solid State Disk

I installed visual studio 2010 on it and it makes a hell of a difference with build times and general useability.

I won't change this machine until an S with full USB3 comes out - I think it's fantastic.

 

If i am on WLAN and access a shared folder on the network, it works fine. Then if I switch off the WLAN and dock the laptop so it's on a wired LAN, then I can see the server, but when accessing the shared folder, I get "Windows cannot access \\SERVER".

If I reboot while on the wired LAN, I can access the shared folder, and then when I turn on the WLAN, I get the same error again. As you can imagine, this is a major butt pain.

I need to connect to the wired LAN to transfer big files.

I have tried ipconfig /renew and /release but still get the error. Any help would be much appreciated.

EDit - After much googling, I have found a workaround - access the server by typing in \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ie the IP address, instead of browsing through windows

 

It should be, but there is something in the latest firmware of the XT that disables this function

 

Ok, in the complete absence of anyone else doing it, I've bought one of these:

SATA 2ND HDD caddy/adapter replace AD-7930H DVD Drive - eBay (item 400144416851 end time Feb-11-11 06:15:26 PST)

I didn't buy the notched newmodeus thing because I figured I could just swap the plate or dremel the existing one....rather not have a large notch with a hole in the laptop.

I'll make a video of the fitting and lob it on youtube when it's done.

To remove the existing bay I just need to remove the keyboard with the 3 screws right? Can someone who has removed the keyboard gimme a heads up before it arrives - thanks.

 

What?? To remove the DVD bay remove the keyboard??? No, no, no. no

You need to remove 2 screws - one is pretty obvious - marked with 3 dots right under it, the other is hidden under the HDD cover - small one on the left side, also marked with 3 dots! Don't touch the keyboard

But how do you plan on fitting this? This has been discussed! Look at the front tray cover!! I don't think this was the best choice... I would have read a bit more if I were you... there is a whole long thread about these things plus some info in this thread!

 

Cheers for the removal tip, I've been looking at the Z series disassembly for info since there aren't any S disassembly videos or blogs around.

But i'll correct you on the fitting as i've been reading about doing this for weeks actually, and i've looked at both threads....so go easy with your exclamation marks eh

I'll be removing the existing bezel, and swapping it with the original bezel ideally.

If that doesn't work then i'll be using a dremel and a bit of time and patience to reshape the supplied bezel to fit.

This is the same approach as anyone else has taken so I don't see why you're implying it won't work.....

 

Z is totally differently built! Everything there is accessible in a more different and difficult way! Forget about those instructions and leave the keyboard where it is All you can find under it is access to the FAN

There are other ways... there are perfectly shaped caddies that you don't need to drill! I've seen those somewhere, even the one from this thread looked much better and easier adaptable than the one you have purchased.

But anyway - go ahead and please post the results
I hope you succeed good, I've been thinking about doing that for a long time, but a few things stop me, one of which is the lack of a good looking and easily adaptable caddy. I wouldn't be happy to have a DIY bezel sticking on the side. I'd only accept the original one and it has to fit there without breaking clips or sticking it so that it is reusable if I decide to go to DVD again.

 

Yeah I do too - if it goes badly, i'll try and find a better fitting one. The same reasons you have stopped me doing it as well until now, you think Sony would release a decently priced one really wouldnt you... I'm not going to be happy with a DIY bezel either, thats why im first going to try and swap the original one over without breaking it. I'll let you know what happens...

 

No, never imagined sony would (neither release, nor with decent price).

But the bezel is only one of the reasons... I'm not quite sure I'd like buying SSD just now... I think I'm gonna wait some more. I have the feeling I will feel really stupid just a few months from now, knowing the quality of the SSD offered nowadays and the price I would have paid for it I still have the feeling that the SSDs are still in their (hopefully late) experimental and development phase. Not willing to be a laboratory rat and additionally pay a ridiculous price for that.

Just like the first laptops ever - trashy, unstable, almost unusable ... but VERY EXPENSIVE.

 

OMG!!! OMG!!!! This is just awesome!

Here's what I did -

1 - Install the latest nvidia drivers and modded .inf file from laptopvideo2go.com
2 - connected the laptop to my Optoma DLP projector using a standard HDMI cable
3 - connected the nvidia IR emitter
4 - ran the nvidia 3d vision wizard
5 - put on the 3d glasses...and BAM!! A full 3D picture the size of my wall!
6 - Played Modern Warfare 2 in 3D which was just like playing a whole brand new game.

Considering I already owned the laptop and projector, I was willing to risk the £80 for the used glasses kit off ebay and boy was it worth it! I'm off to download some 3D movie clips now! ;-)

If anyone wants to try this and needs any advice, drop me a line!

 

last person who bragged about a drive bay hd was just trolling and selling his hardware. never did follow up with his promises

 

Hello, I'm trying to implement all (or at least some of) the extra stuff available on the lastest S, Z and F series under linux, such as the keyboard backlit, FreeFall sensor, screen autodimming. Currently I'm working on my Vaio S and a few things will be supported soon, but I'm a bit stuck with the Ambient Light Sensor. You can help providing your DSDT table (and if you can, some dumps of the Embedded Controller registers). So, please, attach such file here or send it to me via PM specifying your exact model. Retrieving the table is easy with every linux distribution (live included), just type:
cat /proc/acpi/dsdt > dsdt.aml
About the Embedded Controller, which is that little piece of hardware that control all this functions, you can use RW-Everything under any Windows OS to dump its registers, which contain information about your hardware and settings.

Thank you for paying attention, don't forget to reply to this post if you need further instructions.

 

haha what a fantastic comment, I think I might do the same just to wind you up now you've said that Thanks for the awesome sentiments

 

Hey,

Just got my second S-series in the mail as the first had dead pixels. Now I notice a gap on the right side of the CD drive and the case. Does anyone else have this?

I might just be super-picky but it doesn't look like any of the press photos and I can see it becoming an issue later. I feel that Sony's quality had taken a dive lately, I also ordered another larger Sony laptop and it too had dead pixels.

Pic 1
Pic 2

 

No, that's not normal. Have you configured the S yourself or was it pre-configured model?

Try to fix it yourself - remove the DVD drive and see what's wrong - could be just a loose screw.

 

I removed the drive and did not notice anything out of the ordinary. This was a custom-build direct from Sony. I really would like to own a Sony again after the superb VGN-S360 I once had but 2 duds in a row...

 

I wish you read the thread earlier.... Custom built Vaio laptops (CTO) seem to have serious quality problems! Seems that 3 out of 4 come with manufacturing defects! Most of the complains in this thread are about quality issues with custom built Vaio S. I don't know what the reason for that is, whether they are assembled in a different facility/country and by a far less professional team - but it seems that pre-configured Vaios are far less likely to have manufacturing defects... This is my personal observation based on this Thread.

If you see no way to fix the problem yourself I guess you will have to return it once again Are you sure it is not the DVD drive that is positioned wrong? The 2 metal elements that are on the sides that you screw? I can't imagine the magnesium base would be faulty and it seems it is not the bezel either. It has to be the DVD drive itself!?

 

Gracy,

I'm not sure where the issue is. Something just doesn't line up properly. The DVD drive cage looks straight from what I can see but the Magnesium case almost looks slightly curved. I tried pushing parts around and fitting them differently with no luck. I was up reading last night and probably got through 150 pages of the thread but I guess it wasn't far enough.

I think I will give Sony one more chance. I am very picky about laptops and have a hard time finding anything that's 13.3-14" with discrete graphics that isn't a cheap piece of plastic. I have already tried Lenovo (didn't know they use a BIOS whitelist and you can't use certain non-Lenovo replacement parts) and Dell has nothing nice. Every HP I have ever encountered has serious heat issues.

 

Those are exactly part of the reasons why I chose the S! It is a solid machine (once you get a proper unit, which CTOs often aren't). Unfortunately though there are always small issues about it. Nothing major compared to most other brands, but quite a few small ones - loose battery, loose DVD tray bezel, not very well attached and fitted screen frame which might start creaking after some time or vibrating depending on the surface/table the laptop is put on, squeaky space bar and/or enter/backspace/tab/shift keys, small gap between the keyboard and the palm-rest...

You might have one or all of the above small issues... chances are you will have at least 1-2 of them. The good news is that those are minor issues and most of them are easily solvable in a minute. I can only advise you to read the whole thread - it is long, I know... but you will learn a lot, trust me!
You will also learn how the way you look at your machine is highly individual. There are 2 persons that were quite active in the thread - one of them was/is always dissatisfied, there was always something wrong, something uneven, something too big or too small or missing, he changed like 4 or 5 Vaio S laptops and he always remained unsatisfied with one or the other thing! On the other hand, there is the second user - satisfied with everything he has and always looking for a reason, no matter how absurd, to call each defect or disadvantage - a "feature" that no one else understands! To him everything is top and can not be better!
As long as you aren't any of those extremes, you will realize that the S in by far not perfect, but an excellent laptop compared to the majority out there!

But your current issue is a typical CTO models defect, so make sure you get a proper laptop first!

 

Has anybody managed to drive two external monitors? (using NVidia graphics version)

The ports are too close together to get a regular HDMI and VGA cable in there but I was thinking of taking a hacksaw to a cable to give it a try?

Any ideas?

Maybe they put the ports too close together on purpose... kind of annoying though as I'm used to having two (equal sized) monitors. Not sure how easy this will be.

Thanks!
Gus

 

I tried it but I couldnt make the cables fit either, so I bought one of these:

Winstar USB 2.0 to DVI , VGA or HDMI Adapter up to: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Works a treat - I watch movies on it, and use it for development (visual studio e.t.c)

 

Thank you so much! I was considering something like that but wasn't sure it would work.

So can you have three screens now? My colleagues will be drooling...!

Shame they are out of stock on Amazon.

Guess I'll need a USB hub for external keyboard, mouse and external HD..

 

Yeah - 3 screens - here's what it looks like:


Imageshack - imag0132u.jpg

I've gotten used to the small one in the middle - ideally I'd like a sony docking station but im not paying 200 quid for one. Apparently if you get a powered USB Hub and six of these adapters, you can have up to 6 extra screens...great for flight sim I would imagine

 

Great! Thanks!

Shame they're out of stock

Was considering this which looks uncannily like the one you have, but states "Does NOT support XP 64bit and Windows Server"... Am running 2008 R2, so Win7 drivers should work but don't want to risk £50

ClimaxDigital USB 2.0 to DVI,VGA or HDMI Adaptor (supports up to 2048 X 1152)*1080p Full HD ready * External Videocard * Multi Display Adapter/splitter/converter ** Includes DVI to HDMI adaptor and DVI to VGA adaptor**supports XP/Vista/Windows 7/Mac

+1 on the docking station - ridiculous price for what it is!!

 

here, vpcs11f7e