Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

I have the AW190JAH. It's the non-premium model. It has a compact flash slot. It's on the left side on the lowest portion of the base of the notebook. It resides under the express card slot and beside the S400 firewire input.

 

aleicgrant -

so how'd it go with the upgrade to the T9800 - I'm thinking of doing the same.

 

Hi
All AW series in europe has got CF slot
But am runing 64bit so there is no controler driver..
I cant get it !
There are drivers on usa sony website
Latest AW series have them but those bas****s sony locked the installer
I Can't install it! window will pop-up : this installation isn not designed for this model of laptop
How nice of them huh..? .. buggers..

 

I think there are ways to make this happend though

Post a separate thread in the Sony section - give details off your model and OS, someone should be able to help.

 

Thanks! I'm sold and I'll probably get this one tomorrow -- VGN-AW290JFQ.

The next runner up was the new 17 inch MBP, but getting 1080p playback on it was going to be too difficult and tedious. iTunes only servers 720p, so what's the point of a HD MBP with no Blu-Ray!

 

Hi! I'm pointing to an AW290JFQ, but i'm a little concern about the RAID0 in terms of reliability, and data recovery on heavy system crashes (you know, it happens...). Does anybody knows if it's possible to go without the RAID0 config, using the two HDD as individual units (maybe in a little time, with an added faster SSD drive for the OS).
Thank you everyone for the info in the forum, it has been very usefull to me to make my decision about this sony series!

 

I believe it would be possible to disable it in the BIOS.

 

Sony has released a BIOS update for the flicker problem:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNAW190JAH&upd_id=4462&os_id=34

(I haven't tried it since my machine doesn't flicker.)

 

Have anyone installed windows XP by removing the preinstalled Windows Vista?

When i try a clean install (after formating the HDD) with windows XP, i get a blue screen error saying the HDD i corrupt. But it installs fine with Vista. I dont get what the problem is?

Anyone who has already installed XP by removing Vista, can you please give us detailed instructions? Pls....

Also what are the Boot commands for Sony Vaio computers? So far i have managed to find that F2 get into BIOS setting, F10 does something (i forgot wot). Are there any other functions like this?

BTW: I own a AW11S/B French edition

 

You need to Slipstream SATA drivers - or provide them on a floppy/flash drive.

 

Iam sorry, but iam not so good with computers. How do i exactly 'slipstream' the SATA Drivers?

 

Does anybody replaced the Intel WIFI card with another (Atheros chip maybe), with the three antenna sockets for full N band? Added the third antenna too? Results?

 

There are nLite and vLite - one is for Vista one for XP.

Do a bit of forum searching/googling, there are plenty of guides - I think I saw a couple on here...

I have never required it, thus no idea how to do it exactly. Sorry.

 

Hi dellbert
We have this BIOS update 2 months and
I didn't noticed any difference after update ..

 

Hi ecodelosandes
Yes u can normally use two separate HDD's without any RAID etc..
u don't need that it;s not good
I had FS Amilo there was RAID but I turned it off

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111960

 

I have that, and yes, it can be set to not use the raid setup in the bios.

that being said, I love it on mine. I'm in the process of upgrading to a pair of 7200rpm 500GB HDDs.

do recommend, so long as you back your important stuff up at some regular basis.

yea, it still blinks for me too.

 

what is blinking? I dont understand ...?
display never blinks on my 11S/B...

 

ecodelsandes -

Could you explan a little more about your idea of replacing the intel wifi board. Did you have a specific replacement in mind? What kind of gains are you looking for?

 

I've used an Intel Mini Pci (not express), for long time in my PGC-GRT160, and it didn't do nothing but make me in troubles, low signal, unreliable-unstable link, etc. Some day (a year ago), i've replaced it by a new one based on the Atheros 5006XS chip, it's a beast of a wifi card. Rock solid link, and amazing range. I have a 3com router with the same family Atheros chip on the other end, with 108 mbps link, and i can get stable conections between two buildings where i work (near the Aconcagua mount, in the Argentinian frontier with Chile). I think that's is a good reason to stick with the Atheros range for wireless. Now, the card i'm pointing for the replacement is a Gigabit one with the 5008 chip, and it have (as all the others i've seen designed to work with the N band, except, of course the Intel), three sockets for as many antennas, to work on fully potential of the N standard. Our loved machines had only two antennas wich is OK with G bands, but not so good on N. Finally, if you wish to compare within the intel's range of cards itself, please take a look on the Intel's page about the 5000 series card ( http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/adapters/5000/index.htm ), you could see that the top of the line is the 5300 one, disigned to use full potential of the N standard, now can you see how much antenna's sockets it have?

 

BTW, thank you all to the ones who responded me on the RAID0 question! Now i know something the Sony's tech support can't (or wish not), tell me
Thank you!

 

Ok, so tell me if there is any option to disable RAID0 without reinstalling the system? Or it can be done before system installation only? If so, can I reinstall the system using hidden partition after disabling RAID? I'm not too familiar with those RAID setups...
And another question: does your AW wake up from sleep mode by itself? I usually don't turn it off, just put into a sleep mode and often find it awaken (green light instead of orange and warm) with just a screen turned off after a couple of hours. I have no idea what causes that, but it would not be nice to find your laptop turned on in a bag with the battery drained... I remember I had a similar problem with my old Acer TM8200 in the beginning, but they came out with a registry update to fix that shortly...

 

Hi
try when u turn on nobo press tab maybe not
actulay that raid config could be in that advanced menu in bios but it's hidden
again bas***ds sony
service technicians in sony have pass combination on keyboard - never tell noo body..

and that waking up is causing your mouse i suppose do u have optical mouse do you?

 

Yes, I've seen it buried somewhere in BIOS settings (don't remember if I was able to change anything there, though), but my main question was if it could be done without reinstalling the system? I understand with RAID0 setup I would have highly fragmented files then, moreover splitted into two drives, so I don't imagine how to defragment them...
And yes, I have optical mouse, but I turn it off to save the battery when I put my computer into a sleep mode, so I don't think it's possible...

 

I Want To Download Acompatible Nvidia Driver winvista 64 bit To My Aw290 9600m gt
From www.laptopvideo2go.com

But The Problem That I dont No Wich One To Download ? And I need To Download the inf file also or not ?

i need the direct link to the driver

also what is the defrents between sonystyle nvidia driver and laptopvideo2go drivers ?

 

SonyStyle drivers = driver Sony says will work etc.

Laptopvideo2Go = modified tweaked) drivers, sometimes desktop drivers adapted for mobile use

for example your graphics card could get quite warm...

 

You can just force Nvidia's desktop drivers (or possibly mobile drivers) to install though. That's already been confirmed in this thread. Works just like on other laptops with Nvidia GPUs (other than Sony won't allow the mobile drivers to work officially).

 

I am thinking of get this model of the AW VGN-AW110JAH or the 190 which I have found refurbished. And was wondering what people had to say about it. I Can get ether one for abot 1,300. Alan

 

Hello all,

I am glad to find this thread with such excellent information. I just yesterday got my new AW290 and so far I love,love,love it.

[email protected], 6GB, Vista 64 Ultimate, 320 GB 7200 RPM, and I should have an SSD installed by next week.

This is a wowie-zowie machine, I am in performance heaven. Of course it will take me the next few days just to get it all set up the way I want it.

The screen is breathtaking on high-res photographs, which is the main reason I chose it.

So far, so good!

 

anyone else having issues with the laptop waking up from sleep on its own?

mine seems to stay asleep for about 30 minutes, then wake up and go into hibernation. I don't know how to stop it, but my Event Viewer says it is the RTC (real time clock).

Because it's not happening totally randomly, I'm inclined to believe it's some built-in program causing it. but I have no idea which it could be. if anyone has insight, please pass it along.

 

I was pleased to find that Briggs & Riley's large laptop briefcase, the BB148-4, fits my new AW-290 beautifully. They spec it for 17-inchers, but it fits the giant Sony perfectly with the side spacers removed.

B & R's stuff is superb, my family's been using it exclusively for years for all our luggage and we've had great results with it. It's ballistic nylon, nearly bulletproof, extremely well-designed, and best of all there's a mfr's lifetime warranty, which I've used.

This bag is great and ebags has it for much less than I paid:

http://www.ebags.com/briggs_riley/w...oseout/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=59986

 

Under Vista there are a multitude of things that could be waking the notebook, like Media Center trying to download a EPG guide & Windows Update trying to connect to internet and other programs/settings trying to do similar things.

For more info check out:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/63567-power-options-sleep-mode-problems.html

Have you checked the settings under Contol Panel->Power Options and it's advance settings?

I turned off a ton of things and for some reason my AW still wakes up at 3:00AM.

 

How To Install AW290 Drivers Imean wich driver must be to instaled before before another driver ? beacouse i have problem with sony drivers and i think there is an order of installing these drivers

 

I found a work-around in the registry. not a fix, but it keeps the laptop from randomly waking up. I tried disabling everything I could think of that could be waking up the laptop...to no avail. the registry edit was my last option.

 

please i need this drivers

i have VGN-AW290 with home premuim vista i made aclean install for
WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMAE

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO INSTALL Drivers TO AVOID YELLOW Triangle In Device Manger

Please This Matter Had Confuse Me

Ihave Format Laptop For Three Times


Note : Im also Using The Universal Extrator so no need to remember me

 

Are you reffering to the "Wake on Timer" registry setting? I tried that, rebooted and it still woke up at 3:00AM.

 

Wow! I'm overwhelmed with all the discussion here! Two days ago I received from Amazon a new AW230 with two 250 GB 5400rpm drives. My three year old Gateway notebook finally died. The Sony is slick, but I am going crazy with this Vista and other 50GB of bloatware installed on the machine. I am very disappointed that this new computer seems to run no faster than the Gateway, the Sony takes at least as much time to boot with all this baggage) and its performance is much slower on my wireless computer. I'd like to do a format and install a fresh windows, but it came with no disks. Takes forever to load a webpage and can't access the printer on my desktop (and of course there's no vista drivers for my HP1215 printer). The hard drive is constantly running (evan after loading and installing 46 vista updates). Two days later the hard drive is constantly blinking on and off. I have been tempted to scrap vista and dump an XP ghost clone of the Gateway system on this new machine but tremble at the prospect of driver issues that I'd have. Does anyone know if a constantly running hard drive is typical for this computer? I tried to do a search, but with 174 pages of discussion here on AW's I couldn't wade through it all.

 

It's not Vista. Vista's great on a clean install. Probably does take longer to boot than XP on the same hardware, but once it's up it should feel faster, if anything, on modern hardware. (Same as XP compared to earlier OSes in its day.)

 

this is what I did:

In regedit, navigate to...

HKLM--> System--> ControlSet001--> Control--> Power--> PowerSettings--> 238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20--> BD3B718A-0680-4D9D-8AB2-E1D2B4AC806D

(easiest way to get there is probably to just search for "BD3B718A-0680-4D9D-8AB2-E1D2B4AC806D")

in that main folder, I set Attributes to 0

opening the tree for that main folder, you'll find the subfolders "0", "1", and "DefaultPowerSchemeValues". this folder also has subfolders. open the tree to reveal them. there will be 3 additional folders. maybe more, depending on how many power schemes you have set up on your machine.

In each subfolder, you'll find "ACSettingIndex" and "DCSettingIndex". for no wake when on battery power, change the value for DCSettingIndex to 0 in each folder.

setting it to 0 in each folder ensures that no matter what power profile you're using the machine RTC will be disabled.

If you want to also apply this to AC power (plugged into wall), just reset ACSettingIndex to 0 in all the same folders you changed the DC values in.

 

Thanks, looks like it is working. Now I dont have to keep changing the time in power settings so it would put the notebook back to sleep in 5 minutes at 3:00AM.

 

Does someone have an AW running on Win Seven's Beta? Results? How easily the OS recognize the components to set the proper drivers?

 

hi no problems but insall rather RC build 7057 all working
in beta sony utilities not working

 

Alright, so I ordered off a new notebook off Sony Style.

How long does it take for the website to update that my order is being processed? I ordered it on Thursday, yet nothing shows on the "Order Tracking" link. It just tells me to contact customer service for further information.

 

I was pleased by the very fast turnaround on my order last week.

I ordered my AW-290 (customized) on Thursday the 12th, got a confirmation that night.

When I placed the order it was estimated to ship on the 20th but it was shipped on Monday the 16th and I received it on Wednesday the 18th.

 

Hi all -- new (well, in the last two weeks) AW290J owner and couldn't be happier.

A quick question about bags. I purchased the (perfectly hideous, IMHO) bag from Sony, but it's not at all what I want. I've seen a couple of other notes in this forum mentioning good (and less expensive) travel bags, but nothing in leather -- any suggestions?

Left to myself, I'd get the Johnston & Murphy leather overnighter ( http://www.ebags.com/johnston_murphy/legal_overnighter/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=49568) but there are none in stock around here to go test out, and $470+ is too much to spend without being sure it'll fit.

Suggestions? Many thanks!

 

there are several suggestions over the last 4 or 5 pages of this thread. read through it.

 

Alas, no luck -- there are several suggestions (not just in the last 4-5 pages, but throughout all 175 pages of this thread). But none seem to be leather executive-style bags.

 

I have the official beta version installed (7000), and everything works (including the VAIO settings) except for the brightness controls. For me, the brightness works until the screen is closed or the laptop is put to sleep. After that, it cannot be adjusted. Win 7 RC1 should be released within a month or so, so I'm looking forward to seeing if that solves the problem. Aside from that, Windows 7 is great on this notebook.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4629273&postcount=1665

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4629595&postcount=1666

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4589060&postcount=1598

 

I've been looking for the HP Executive Leather/Nylon Case, it's (like the targus models suggested previously in the forum), fit to 17" NB, but i think it could take the AW inside. It seems to be very well built and to have plenty of storage, but still can't confirm if it's sufficient width. Does anybody try it?