Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

I had the sreen flicker and had the laptop replaced, the LED screen needs to calibrated to fix the oversaturated reds, if you use Firefox this allows for better colour management after calibration.

If you go back a couple of pages there are two calibrated files you could use to if there improve the reds and screen flicker.

Have you upadated the graphics drivers via the VIAO update??

 

I have just carried out a power down as you mentioned, the finger print reader is now working and I now have my Bluetooth devices back although my bluetooth mouse doesn't work but can be seen in the bluetooth devices list together with my mobile and other laptops.

Leidanav, thanks for your earler feedback

It looks like the complete power down fixes the problem with the USB hub etc

 

Thanks for your reply. Yes I did update the drivers to the latest ones. I will wait for their response and I will take it back for a replacement!

 

When I got the first laptop I updated everything including the grahics drivers it was only after that I noticed the flicker but didn't make the connection, I haven't installed the new driver on my latest laptop.

Have you tried rolling back the driver?

 

Yes I have thought of that, so I rolled back to the original drivers, the problem is there whenever the brightness goes to anything below 100%.. It looks like a driver problem. Yesterday I have tried to install the forceware 185 drivers (with the modified info file) and the flickering became almost unnoticeable but then I had problems like that Power DVD didn't work any more..

 

Hi all I picked up my aw11sb a couple of days ago and I'm really happy... I had to update loads of stuff before I could really play about with it (naturally Windows Vista had about 39 updates of its own) ...the blu-ray player software also needed updating (according to the Vaio update thing) and I think Vaio update wanted me to install a video driver that is actually older than the one the machine was shipped with...so I did...is this right? And can I delete the file downloaded (it gets stored in something like C:/updates) now that it's installed? Its 61.2Mb in size for a video driver...isn't that a little large? I installed it anyway the file is called EP0000162841... I haven't noticed any difference in the graphics or the options... but it now says switching modes between certain things eg media player.

I'm really happy with the it...I haven't noticed any issues with HD speed access times...but then I haven't filled the HD up yet.

I think I really need a decent wireless mouse (navigating a 18.4" screen with the touchpad is pretty taxing on the fingers for me!) So I was thinking Logitech MX Revolution...but I don't want to use up a usb port if possible I'd prefer bluetooth...any suggestions people I don't think it's possible to get the MX revolution mouse on it's own with bluetooth is it... but the MX5000 Keyboard & Mouse package is bluetooth compatible I think no?...any suggestions or reccomendations people? Thanks.

 

I don't think you will have a problem with any bluetooth mouse or keyboard. I have the Nuovo Edge bluetooth keyboard and the vaio bms77 bluetooth mouse. I am satisfied with both of them and no problems at all.

 

Being old fashion I perfer downloading anything new from the sony AW driver page.

As for graphic driver size, the (original) one on the sony driver page is 84 megs.

 

Thanks for this information

 

Ah yes that sounds like a good idea. Old is Gold!

 

I just bought an AW190 laptop from Newegg and they shipped it with Vista Home Premium. I use the laptop at work so I purchased Vista business. However, when I install vista business, the drivers from Sony's website don't seem to work (especially the network ones). I am unable to locate any network in the device settings.

I called Sony and they said they do not have an official drivers cd for the AW190 since it is a newer laptop. They can't even confirm if Vista Business is compatible with AW190! All they told me to do was re-install the drivers in a certain order but that did not work either.

Does anyone know what I can do? Is the AW190 Vista Business compatible? Has to be, right?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

 

Sony has drivers listed for Vista Business...

 

Yah I used the Vista Business drivers but still no luck. Nobody has this problem? Am I the only one?

 

You have followed Sony's order of driver installation and not missed out on any?
I think Vaios are picky on how you instal drivers...

 

Hi everyone.
Good Job and Thank you for all the valuable information.

It took me 5days to finish reading the whole thread....Some days I was laying in bed for hours reading it on my iPhone. I think my vision dropped as a result, as things look blurry now more than a week ago. Too bad I won't be enjoying the much talked about screen without the help of glasses now.

But thanks to that I'm getting my self together to pull the trigger on the purchase of the 190JAH on the newegg.com

As I took a peek on the Newegg page today, I noticed there's a combo deal which throws in the Sony Bluetooth Stereo Speakers SRS-BTM30 for free.
I hope this becomes an insentive for others to purchase this beautiful and powerful yet not perfect laptop.

I will be following the thread especially on topics related to connectors for 2nd HardDrives or SSDs. I'd love to configure the AW with a SSD in the future when inevitably the price goes down.

I will post reviews if reading this thread on the amazing screen doesn't blind me completely.

Thanks guys!!

 

rest assured your eyes are fine, you cannot damage your vision my staring at something really small or if you even sit too close to a tv. vision can only be damaged by physical forces, infection, disease, genetic inheritence, and of course a really bright light such as the sun.

 

Are you sure?

I woudln't be...

If you strain your eyes a lot/too much it isn't good...

I was told by a doctor (the kind that specialises in eyesight) that my eyesight won't drop any more - -2.0 left and -1.5 right - now about 2,5 years later I'm at least -1 worse on my eyes (know that from my DSLR) - maybe even more than 1

all I did was use a computer a lot...

 

Good to know! I sometimes worry

 

Interested to know if anyone has run Cod4 or Any Source games on the 190JAH and what your results were.

I know this lappy isnt really geared twords gaming, but i really like how this laptop looks and like sony products in general.

 

I'm still anxiously awaiting my new aw190... est. ship date is still 1/20, but I am hoping it gets here sooner.

Anybody tried streaming video to their PS3 with the vaio media software yet?
I am interested to see how this works out. I'm a photgrapher and I didn't buy this with the intent of using it as a media center pc, but if I can use my ps3 as an extender of sorts I might take advantage of it from time to time.

 

I was checking out Toshiba Threads:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=338291

This guy was able to find the HDD connector bracket for a 2nd HDD for his reativly new model laptop X305.

I checked sparepartswarehouse.com for the availability for a similar item for Vaio AW, and it wasn't listed yet.
I wonder if they'll ever have it available.

Does anyone know if Sony parts are made less available than Toshiba's??

I'll keep an eye on them to see when they make spare parts for the AW.

 

i'm still scared to buy one, after reading most of the things here, about driver problems, especially when reformatting it, which is something i would do.

Has anyone installed windows 7 on there AW? and then used vistas drivers... I wonder what problems that would give...

 

As an update to my previous thread about USB Ports dying on me, I've decided to RMA my AW190JAH because it's been a persistent thing.

I was working during the weekend, and about once every day, the USB ports would suddenly stop working entirely. First time, I was mid-typing, doing nothing else. Just had Firefox, Thunderbird, and Dreamweaver CS4 open. Fresh reformat with all Sony drivers installed.

Second time was when I took a short 5 minute break to get a drink, and I found the "unrecognized device" icon in the system tray when I got back, with dead USB ports.

Third time was just a repeat of #2 several hours later.

2/3 of this happened without any errors on the Event Viewer. Only one of them indicated a UserPnP error, followed by a Bluetooth driver error saying the device was disabled.

I disabled the Bluetooth device after error #1, and even disabled the USB controller that the bluetooth device in was connected to in Device Manager, to see if the error was something I could avoid by simply avoiding the device altogether, but I guess the electrical current still goes to the device even if it's disabled, or otherwise not related to Bluetooth, as it crashed twice after that.

So I sent it off for a replacement, so hopefully, I get a new one back without the issue, and hopefully with a better screen without dark spots from a bad backlight.

 

The Bluetooth transmitter is probably connected over USB, probably just went down when the whole USB subsystem went down.

Let us know how it goes!

 

I wanted to let everyone here know that it is indeed possible to extract the drivers and all software from the Recovery DVDs (made after purchase). I used a nifty tool found in this thread, and was able to get all the software and drivers straight from the DVDs, including WinDVD, Adobe software, and VAIO software. I did a fresh install and, of course, skipped installing the crapware.

 

I just put in my order on NewEgg last night. I'm so excited!!!!
My current laptop is a Toshiba Satellite from 2001. It was one sturdy laptop.

 

7 years - wow. Better than our first one.
Congratulations!

I hope you'll enjoy your AW.

 

DetlevCM

Thanks!
I thought 7 years was long, but you had one longer??

 

Better than our first one = less time for us.
Yours lasted longer.

Our first laptop was an Asus - lasted I think 4-5 years, then Windows went dodgy, double boor with Suse Linux worked a bit longer...
about 2,5-3 years ago I tried formatting it - no, wouldn't work, Windows ME kept crashing - even though I formatted it with an XP disc...

7 years is a lot, and computers rarely last this long today.

 

Hi booville, thanks for your reply. I have installed your color profile and still can not get firefox to recoginize the change. I downloaded firefox 3.05 and can not find anywhere I can config it to recognize the color profile. I tried both and some others too. I worked hours with a Tier 2 tech from sony in San Diego and they are still trying to figure it out. Have you used the new RGB screen with the AW-190? I also turned down the brightness as you suggested. Their regular high def screens 1920X1084 without the RGB are more color accurate. I have just a few more days before I have to return this. The techs didn't even have the exact laptop there for them to see what I was talking about. If you have anymore tips I would greatly appreciate.

Thanks, Kim

 

In FireFox 3 type
about:config
Scroll down to "gfx.color_management.enabled" and set to "true" . This should pick up the default ICM profile, but you can specify the profile in "gfx.color_management.display_profile"

I recently ordered Dell Studio 1737 with Wide gamut RGB LED screen but returned it and will re-order the same configuration but with regular CCFL WUXGA screen

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=334227

 

Why'd you return it? Personally I'd only get one with a white or RGB LED backlight

 

I have been using my AW for some time now, really worked with it, configured my system etc. - a few "impressions" have changed.

first of all, and this is major, the screen illumination has increased. at first I was quite un-satisfied as there were grey areas/spots - but each day those have become brighter, and I am absolutely loving the screen now. I really dont know how thats possible/works, but it's no imagination: when I started it for the first time, the start menu background was grey instead of white, now its not. maybe someone with technical insight has a clue why/how/if this is possible.
secondly, I have added a fast 4gb SDHC card for readyboost, which significantly makes hdd-accessing operations of often used programs (prime example is outlook 2k7) smoother. the pre-cached data also gets not deleted when I turn the computer off, because I use suspend to disk instead of shutting the system completely down.
also, I dont know how or if this is related to the added readyboost, the massive hdd accessing, which I didnt know why happened, stopped. I use the original, pre-installed configuration and didnt uninstall anything except the norton (or whatever company's it was) av software.
the computer is fast. really fast. I can do lots of demanding multi-tasking without it even getting slower.
and I think I'm somehow tied now to sony vaio, maybe apple (havent used one yet) is an option: I absolutely love the keyboard. I'm used to it now, and I type super-fast on it, prone-free, comfortable - even my external keyboard (logitech internet navigator se, no cheap crap) sucks compared to it.

all in all I can say that after about a month of heavy usage I'm really happy with it, and have no complaints - quite a different situation to when I first got it.

 

Hi Niemitz, thanks for your help. In the ABOUT menu there is no config in fact I can not find anywhere in firefox that has color management options. This is 3.0.5. Can you be more specific.

Thanks, Kim

 

Would this speed up loading files within a program as well? Say like loading a 90 meg file?

I use intense graphic progams and I find the laptop gets too hot to rest my hands on one side, therefore I only use an external keyboard now.

 

Hey, I just bought the VGN-AW190JAH from newegg. So far I am very satisfied but I have a question for other 190JAH owners out there. Blu-Ray sources look perfect, couldn't be better, but standard definition sources (xvid, divx) look highly pixelated and the coloring is sometimes too intense. Is this just a side effect from using a 1920x1080 resolution to watch standard def videos, or are there some tweaks anyone is aware of that I can make to improve quality.

PS - I use Zoom Player MAX to watch all video formats.

 

What is the resolution of the original video? The smaller the original resolution, the more crappy it's going to look like, especially if you zoom it to full screen. As for the coloring, you can tone it down from Nvidia Control Panel. Look for Video Color source option or something like that. The color of XBrite FullHD or XBrite HiColor is more intense than other screen and it will take sometime to get used to.

 

As for playing standard definition dvd's on this computer with the Full HD screen, it might have to do with the fact that this computer lacks the proper upconverting capabilities to make standard definition dvd's look sharper and clearer. For example, take real Blu ray players like the Sony BDS-350 or a Panasonic BD-35 and play a standard definition dvd on a Full HD television screen. It will look sharper and clearer due to the upconverting capabilities those Blu ray players possess and keep in mind the dvd's look great whether the television is a 26 inch LCD or a 52 inch LCD. The upconversion will look great but unfortunately it seems won't look as good on this computer due to what is seemingly a lack of good upconverting capabilities. If anyone has more insight regarding this, please post.

 

WinDVD 9 can upscale standard DVD to 1080p. I tried it and it looks OK. Not great but better than the original DVD. But if one wants true 1080p, a real Blu-ray disc is the way to go.

 

Has anyone managed to active RAID on the AW11Z/B. This is the european model that comes with two 320GB Hdds and I do not have any bios options to activate the raid function.

 

it does only speed up often used files, as it pre-caches them (only small ones, because a hdd is faster in terms of linear reading, but slower in terms of access time). so answer in short is no.

I use "intense graphic programs" too as I use it for 3D gaming (far cry 2, eg), and it doesnt even get really warm. do you have 2 hdds?

 

The flickering looks like a hardware problem. I have noticed that the flickering also happens on the BIOS screen .... I am sending it tomorrow back to Empiredirect for replacement...

 

Hello
Is somebody here who is owning AW laptop with CF slot and running vista64 ?
aand
somebody have upgraded on better hardware? (processor,ram,hdd, )
thnx

 

i think sony only supports the upgrade on the ram.

can't upgrade the hdd as there is only one sata connector. (if you laptop came with only one hard drive)

 

I'm thinking of the New Egg version too. Looking today or tomorrow...

 

Yes I have a RAID. Does far cry 2 get a good (like 30+) frame rate on the AW?

 

Someone here mentioned Sony graphics driver updates? (AW190 owner - no updates listed at sony site that I can find - at least for my model)

 

Hi all again I've been trying to read / search around this issue I'm having but I can't seem to bring myself to closure on this OVERSCAN issue...

Ok so I have a AW11S/B (the same as 'nons'...except I havn't put a 4gb sdhc in the slot...though I have one lying around funnily enough!). The problem I have is when I use the HDMI port to display on an LCD screen (its a 40" Samsung) I have what I believe to be an overscan issue and no combination or permutatation of setting tweaking with my current options on either device can solve this...the only way for me to get the full picture on the LCD is to use the monitor output...which gives a much more how do I put this... crap... picture. So I guess I have to go to laptopvideo2go.com and install some driver from there? But which one exactly? I don't understand that site. Also if I install this driver that eliminates this overscan issue what are all the catches? Will I not be able to play blu-rays on the laptop? I can't believe this nonsense I don't know who to be angry with, Samsung, Sony or NVidia or all of them...other than this...all is good. Many thanks all

 

andrei_oGu i need you to contact me on my email please ([email protected])
Si eu sunt tot din Iasi si am un AW. Lasa-mi adresa ta de messenger, sa mai schimbam impresii

 

I've seen Booville posted some color profiles for the Professional RGB Version monitor that goes with the black model.

Has anyone utilized Spyder or some other calibrator to create color profile for the cheaper LCD monitors utilizing the X-BRITE HD Technology?