Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

Hello All

Once in a while, my one-month-old AW290 will emit a string of continuous chimes/beeps that lasts for about 15 seconds. At first I thought it was a computer Beep Code, telling me that the CPU is overheating; but when it happened again barely 1 minute after turning the laptop on, I am not sure any more.

Has anyone encountered this?

PS: I will also email Sony about this and hope to shed some light on it.

 

Hi Everyone,

I have an AW290 running Vista Ultimate 64. I bought it specifically for my work in video post production and motion graphics. The software I need to run on it, crashes constantly. The problems are solved with the latest nVidia drivers.

Sony hasn't upgraded their drivers since the computer shipped. The only driver available from them is the 6+ month old one that came with it. When I try to install a driver from nVidia, all it offers to do is install an audio driver, but no video driver.

Are there any "tricks" to get an nVidia graphics driver installed? And for curiosity sake, what is going on? Did Sony customize the 9600M GT chip so much that the nVidia drivers no longer see it as one? Or did Sony "tweak" Vista so much that the nVidia setup/driver doesn't see the chip?

Thanks,

Jeron

 

You might try the drivers I found (and have used for a month) and documented in this thread (post #2) a few days ago.

Also, the desktop nvidia drivers (from nvidia directly) will not install on a notebook unless you go through extra steps. I think you have to extract them and then use the 'update driver' method from device manager and point to the extracted directory.

 

Going to nvidia just now and running auto detect (option 2) provided the following information as well as confirming that 7676 mentioned in my previous post are the latest drivers at this time.

Product Current
Installed Driver Latest Driver
Update
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 176.76 The manufacturer of this system requires that you download the driver for your GPU from their support site.

The GeForce M series and GeForce Go series notebook GPUs use drivers that have been customized by the notebook manufacturers to support hot key functions, power management functions, lid close and suspend/resume behavior. NVIDIA has worked with some notebook manufacturers to provide notebook-specific driver updates, however, most notebook driver updates must come from the notebook manufacturer. Additionally, the desktop GeForce graphics drivers will not install on Geforce M series and Quadro M series notebook GPU's.​

​

 

hi to all.
I'd buy a vaio aw120 for abot 1650$.
is it bargain?
how many maximum hours work with battry?

 

Hi,
Could you tell me how to remove my SSD disk?
Step by step.
Which screws have I remove?

I attached a pic o my drive:

 

Thanks for the help. That is the 6 month old Sony driver for the 9600M GT chip that I am running (which shipped with the laptop). I need to run the latest nVidia driver for the 9600M GT chip, in order to solve the problem with my software crashing constantly.

On another non-Sony laptop with the same graphics chip, the latest nVidia driver (186.03) solves the problems. Actually 185.85 would work too...

I'll try to pursue your idea about extracting the files and "manually" installing it. Do you have a link that might describe that?

Has anyone installed a more current nVidia Vista 64 driver than the out-dated one Sony has to offer that they can refer me to?​

 

Unfortunately 176.76 is the latest official version that works on the AW.

You may try an altered version of the driver, at your own risk of course. Click: http://laptopvideo2go.com/drivers

Use the following hardware ID (this is for the 9600M in the AW):
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV 0649_&SUBSYS_ 9040104D

 

I have tried a recent nvidia mobile driver (two weeks ago or so) by just forcing the install - worked out in a black screen and I had to use system restore.

 

go download one of the DOX Custom Nvidia drivers @ laptopvideo2go.com

just google it. or find it at their site. either way, also be sure to download and run drivesweeper in safe mode to get rid of all the remnants of the drivers you currently have, then install Dox magic.

and never look back.

 

see the red circles.

after you take it out, you'll probably find 4 more screws holding the HDD to the metal cradle that you just removed the screws from. remove those and voila! nothing but the drive in your hands.

 

thx,

but when should I disconnect the drive? just after remove 3 screws in the red circles OR after remove all 7 screws? I have to pull the drive to the right OR up? any tricks?

 

How do you overclock the cpus on the AW series? Is it possible to get a copper heatsink also?

 

One more question

What VAIO's hardware can I upgrade?

Of course disks and RAM.

But how about CPU and graphic card?

 

Step 1: Remove the circled screws.

Step 2: push the drive to the RIGHT (based on the picture). It will slide without much effort. that will disconnect the drive from the connector in the center (both of your drives are connected to a common connector. the drive on the left side would be slid to the LEFT to disconnect it, were you to want to take that one off.

Step 3: pick the drive up. it's no longer being held in by anything. flip it over and remove the 4 screws on the bottom of the cradle to free the drive completely.

1.) CPU - This can be upgraded. Several here have upgraded to the T9900.

2.) Hard Drive - Up to 3 HDDs (additional internal components may be required).

3.) Memory - I believe the laptop holds up to 8GB (2 x 4GB sticks)

4.) Battery - Extended battery can get you maybe 3 hours.

5.) DVD Drive - Is upgradable to a Blu-ray writer


the GPU is *not* upgradable. at least, I've not heard of anyone doing it. the AW has just one air vent (left side) and I'd fear that a more powerful GPU would create a cooling problem.

 

What software was crashing?

 

Hey guys, what`s the difference between the AW190 and the AW290? They look the same specs-wise.
I was considering the new macbook pro 17, but this sony seems to have a better screen and color-accuracy is important to me, because I`m into photography.

 

the main difference is that the 290 has a slightly higher quality screen. better for photography...but either screen beats 95% of stock screens that come on laptops. and most desktop displays, to be honest. you can't go wrong with either...but if you're anal about having the best viewing experience, you'll probably want to 290.

other small differences include color (290 is black, 190 is grey), and palm rest (290 has a rubber mat looking thing, 190 is normal flat plastic).

 

I see, thanks for the info.
And what about a comparison to the new macbook pro 17? Is the Vaio AW color reproduction that much better then the macbook?
One more thing: any idea where I can find a AW290 with international shipping? Ebay would be ideal, but I seem to find only AW190s.

 

Confusion regarding sony models

AW11XUQ vs AW21XYQ vs AW31XY/Q

All have the same specs except for:

T9600 vs T9800 vs T9900

Other than that, in your experiences are there any other differences (updated chipsets, updated design etc)

There is almost a difference of £700 between the AW11 and the AW31

 

The AW31XY/Q has 8Gb Ram whereas the others have 4Gb.
Also the rpm of the 500GB drive is increased from 4200 to 5400.

 

in short, the answer is NO.

Sony is grossly overcharging for the additional specs. but if you want it without you doing any work, overpaying is your only option.

 

My other question seems to have been unnoticed.
Do you guys think that Sony AW`s color reproduction is that much better then the Macbook Pro`s and is the Sony worth it for its screen solely? I have a Dell 2407WFP NON-HC with about 72% of the Adobe color space and I like it pretty much.

 

plastic? the upside of my aw 11s/b is made of metal...

 

Ajreynol,

will your "stop random laptop wakeup" work for Sony Z series also?

 

It should.

 

define "the upside". and what the hell is an "11s/b"? is it the same as the 190, which he asked about? because the palmrest of the 190 is plastic. If someone told you differently, they lied to you. the closest thing the industry has to "metal" is found on Mac Book Pro's...and even then, that's not metal. it's aluminum.

I've never seen an AW that uses anything but plastic. My AW 290 exterior is 100% plastic except for the grille covering the speaker array. My mother's 190 is all plastic.

 

Aluminum is a metal

Sony laptops have always used metal parts inside the chassis for structural support, holding various components in place, the hinge, and so on. But yes pretty much all of the exterior is in fact plastic, just with fancy paint and coatings to hide the appearance of plastic. Quality of the exterior casings may vary depending on where your unit was assembled, as per some instances of paint chipping reported by other AW owners.

MBPs aren't the only laptops with an aluminum body; the TiBooks also had them (but that should bring up the infamous "denting" problem that Apple wouldn't resolve). The Dell Adamo also uses aluminum for its casing.

 

The Dell XPS 1530 has a sturdy metal "lid" (magnesium alloy I've read), a metal keyboard or key caps; looks like brushed aluminum & maybe it is tho I don't know for sure, same for its palrm/wristrest, & whatever the part's called where the keys/keyboard is set into (wow, that was clumsy;-) Easy to maintain (clean) & after a couple of yrs, still isn't showing signs of age.

Aside from the Sony AW Series & the 17" MBPro, the only other laptop I've been truly interested in has been HP's EliteBook 8730w w/the matte DreamColor display upgrade. Metal metal everywhere! Looks like brushed anodized aluminum. Extremely durable construction but w/out any of the bulk to be expected---it's thin, lightweight, well-endowed hardware, thoughtfully engineered. And very $$$ too! I'm not particularly a fan of HP Pavilions---yet the EliteBook is in a whole different league of professional series laptops.

As a matter of personal pref, to me the Sony AWs & FWs are the most aesthetically pleasing laptops I've seen to date. And, yes, I still wish they were more solidly constructed since, even as much as I enjoy this machine, I don't get the idea it's going to be looking new for long. In less than 3 mos, it's already showing signs of wear on certain keys + spacebar plus that flat solid-looking area all around the keyboard or the keys themselves (the name of which I've no idea!) --- Can anyone tell me the proper technical name of this laptop part?

 

Un-oh, in a hurry here so not enough time just now to track down the post I read 1-2 wks ago, so here goes anyway....

** TO: tbNB **

I'm down to my last 2 days of the 90-day return policy @ Costco.com & I could REALLY use your help as I must decide whether to

1) Return AW160 to retailer for refund then shop for replacement, or

2) Send unit in to Sony to repair/replace keyboard & screen.
There's a cluster of dark gray spots/dots of assorted sizes (don't know if dead pixels) smack in the middle of my screen, visible when the background is white or light-colored. My keyboard involves more than the spacebar which alone wdn't require a trip to the hospital;-) Both defects arrived as-is out of the box.

....How's your VISTA READY BOOST working out? Originally believed this model had 8 GBs max capacity RAM but that was Sony's error, instead it's 4 gigs max. So if you're benefiting from ReadyBoost, it would help me to learn...

....How much additional RAM does your system w/64-bit Vista accept?

....Is there a cap on how much ReadyBoost RAM can be allocated to system memory?

....Do you use an app to enable the additional ReadyBoost-derived RAM? (I only know of "Ultimate Vista Tweaker" which claims to 'force' system to use over 4gigs).

....Just for laughs;-) have you actually looked to see if both your memory slots are occupied? Or tried installing more RAM, even if just 1-2 gigs more to see if it takes? Spoke w/phone tech tonite who read from The Book of Sony & quoted it as reporting of the unit's 2 slots, only 1 slot contains a 4-gig stick of memory; the other's empty. Tech stated everywhere else online listed 4 GBs max.

Hoping you'll post real soon so I can find out!

Also, anyone else using ReadyBoost, too?

 

RE: Saving lowered resolution setting between reboots

Want to thank both "tbNB" & another forum member who posted @ their FW---both of your suggestions remedied my problem.

I located & removed VAIO WALLPAPER TOOL from my startups (I use "Autoruns" for this). Wallpaper Tool is handy little app that resets resolution back up to native 1920x1080 in just 1-click. I prefer to go with 1280x720 or 1360x760 for web-surfing & some office apps. Having to reset my preferred res at each startup was an annoyance I didn't know how to stop.

PROBLEM SOLVED, yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Oh boy, after a few wks away, I'm back for the 3rd time today;-)

 

The screen blobs in the middle of the screen would be a show-stopper for me. Its too bad you won't get an AW replacement for anywhere near what we paid via costco though.

Because of the sleep and hibernation issues I posted, I've removed using readyboost and I think I've had almost 100% success in hibernation and sleep since. In otherwords, not using readyboost may have cured the hibernation and sleep problem.

Anyway, can't say that having the 4gb SD card with readyboost really helped performance from what I could tell. So at this point I'm happy just using the main RAM. I'm also running 32bit because I have some older apps and drivers I need to run for probably another year so I won't benefit from > 3.x GB anyway.

I think 4GB compresses to 8GB for readyboost which is the max.

I've not looked. However I understand windows 7 is much more efficient on RAM and may eliminate ever really needing much more than 4GB but it would be nice to know that 8GB would work on the aw160 for sure.

 

re: aw290 vs aw390. I've been watching the aw290 for a while and now I see it has been replaced by the aw390. Does anybody know what the difference is?

 

Hello! I'm new on this forum, so please excuse my mistakes. I have some questions.

I have 2 Laptops:
1) Sony Vaio VGN-AW289JFQ ( http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665751059

2) Acer Aspire AS8930-6442 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115555)

Both of them have Chipset: Intel PM45

I want to keep sony for me and sell acer, because of better display on sony. I Want to change some of components from Acer to Sony. DO you thinks is a good ideea?
So, my questions are:

1) Will fit Video Card from ACER(NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
with Video Memory 1024MB) to Sony(NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT GPU with 512mb) ?

2) Will fit 4 DDR3 Ram from ACER(4GB DDR3-1066 RAM 2x2GB) to Sony( 800MHz DDR2 PC2-6400 2GBx2) ?

3) Change one HDD from Sony(Serial ATA Hard Disk 500GB 4200rpm) with ACER HDD ( 500GB 5,400RPM Serial ATA Hard ).

Let me know if is a good ideea to change this components to make sony laptop better, also, need that Acer also work after this changes.

I'm waiting for your replays!

 

1) No; while the 9600M chip may be removeable on some laptops, the memory is almost always soldered directly onto the PCB.
2) No. DDR3 and DDR2 memory are not inter-compatible. But in the AW, DDR2 memory is not a big performance limitation.
3) Yes, but you can also buy a 500GB 7200rpm SATA hard disk (Seagate) and install it yourself.

 

ajreynol;
what the hell is an 11s/b
u in usa do you ?
so study european versions too
don't have a buried head only in amerika
and yes my lid top is metal when you scratching with nails from begining you things is plastic but its not
try scratch it with teeth and you will see it's metal ...
it's black paint on it

 

sony producing best monitors so they implementing pcb boards and displays in to more expensive laptops same as big screen TV's (those new ones)
cheaper laptops have double lamp only

 

do some benchmark with that cpu
what ram u have?

 

but why ram and video can't be changed? both laptops have the same mainboard? no?
thhe video is almost the same, just ram of video cart is different? why it will not work?

 

so do it try it and u will se what happens (ddr2 200 pin ddr3 204 pin)

 

DDR3 is 204-pin modules. DDR2 is 200-pin modules. They will not fit in each others' slots, and the AW does not have DDR3 slots. But again don't let that bother you; although DDR3 has higher bandwidth, it also has higher latency. Most of the speed improvements with DDR3 are just in synthetic tests; for real world use, DDR2 will perform just as well.

Video cards on laptops are almost always soldered directly to the motherboard (except for a few specialty laptops), and cannot be removed, period. If you have a (de-)soldering gun you're welcome to try, but you will end up with two useless laptops.

Also, laptop motherboards are almost always custom built in order to fit inside the laptop design. The Sony AW mainboard is not the same as in any other laptop.

 

fhsieh speaks great truth.

 

So I went back and got these photos because I read on another forum that the person setup PC2-6400 8gb memory, but his BIOS only read 6.8 gigs of it.

So if the people with 8 gigs could let me know if their BIOS reads all their memory that would be great. Thanks

 

I got a sort of stupid question. What is the Vista SP you guys have? Mine is SP1 and I am wondering if there are any issues installing SP2?

Thanks in advance.

 

fhsieh thank you for great replay. everything i understand now. but is there any reason to change one hdd from sony with hdd from acer? why sony hdd`s are just 4200rmp? or there is almost no difference? thank you again for previous replay!

 

No Service Pack 2 installation problems that I've heard of w/my AW or other Vista-running PCs---YET (always leave room for "yet";-) I wonder whassup w/your Windows Updates since you didn't mention any error msg(s). Are the necessary Services enabled (Admin Tools > Services)? Aside from Windows Automatic Updates, there's BITS & WMI & likely other services, too. Hmmnnn.... Checked Microsoft's knowledgebase for known issues? Or do a clean install of SP2 so no s/ware conflicts---altho, now that I've said that, I can't imagine any s/ware being an obstacle.... unless your anti-virus/anti-malware apps need to be disabled 1st. Mine & my fam/friends' SP2 came thru easily via Windows Automatic Updates (was a sizable file as I recall).

I don't think your question's unwarranted. Not having Vista SP2 BY NOW is worth looking into. Good luck with that!

 

No SP2 issues here.

 

I can't answer your ? about switching HDDs between your Acer & Sony. But I too wondered (& was frustrated when laptop shopping) why Sony chose to use 4200rpm HDDs. My best guesses so far are that, at the time Sony was preparing the AW series, the 500 GB @ 7200rpm's weren't available or weren't cost efficient (meaning, cutting into profits;-). Also, that the slowness of the 4200rpm HDDs was (hypothetically) compensated for by RAID-0 performance boost (via data striping) or sold w/an SSD as the primary (C) drive. The only 4.2k's I found were in models preconfig'd w/either 2x500 GBs in RAID-0, or 1x500 GB plus an SSD. That's my 2-cents anyway;-) I see plenty of owners have upgraded to 7200rpm's as I would too. I was happy to say "adios!" to my old 4.2k drives from PC's past. But then, I haven't tried the above (Sony's combos) to know if I'd find it satisfactory. Not interested RAID-0 but am looking forward to my 1st SSD sometime soon.

***FHSIEH:
Appreciate the tech lesson; you answered some of my ?'s, too. Read @ MXM tech long ago but have come across it in exceedingly few models. If I remember correctly, MXM enables laptop owners to later upgrade gfx cards according to whichever of the I-IV designation. Who wouldn't want that?! But is there a good reason why this is still in such limited availability---& does it really work?

 

'Screen blobs" - is that what these spots are called, as a true technical term for it?! Don't yank my leash now, I'm kinda gullible;-) Yep, as you say a "show-stopper" ---& a dealbreaker, to boot. In this case, both! Doesn't look like stuck or dead pixels but like large specs of dirt just behind the screen's surface.

You're right, I've checked & checked & so far, nothing anywhere near the great deal we got unless I forget @ this RGBLED display (can't do that). Did find an exceptional private resale (170Y upgraded to the max) but as timing went, I missed out (ouch). BTW, Costco.com finally has a new AW (can't compare to this 160): an AW190NIH for 1200-bones, XBRITE-ECO. Well, never again would I want to look into another ECO screen. BTDT.

ReadyBoost proved to be a bad influence on your system, eh? Hopefully you've discovered the culprit & good riddens---esp since you don't need it anyway & it could've likely been the cause of your notebook's hibernation & insomnia problems.

Me too, looking forward to Windows 7! So I'm pleased you're saying it should be less resource-hungry than Vista, let alone 64-bit Vista. I keep reading & hearing good things about Windows 7---should I be concerned?;-)

Tell me, when you did try out ReadyBoost via media card, did AutoPlay offer you the choice to "Speed up PC performance?" (or similar wording; mine never listed "ReadyBoost"). That AutoPlay choice appeared on 2 other systems when inserting the ReadyBoost enabled flashdrive but not on this AW...just trying to figure out why that is. Admit I'm still curious to see if Vista Ultimate Tweaker or some other app w/force 4-plus GBs RAM in a system that, according to its BIOS, maxes out at 4. Curious...or just plain hardheaded, I dunno... If I do go that route, I'll be sure to post the result either way.


Bottom line for me....unless some miracle appears before Monday, looks like I'll be sending this baby into the shop, hope the Sony ppl do a great job & return it safe & quick. The issues this unit has are the same it came with, nothing new at all. Yesterday, the Costco tech said they'd arrange the repair w/Sony (Costco's support has been unbeatable for yrs) Will find out tomorrow if the process can be expedited by taking it into the Costa Mesa (CA) store. I never really wanted to part w/this machine anyway.

THANX a whole lot for all your help. Really, this has not been an easy decision for me (I take computer quality very seriously, gee can ya tell?;-)

 

Because people would try to upgrade from a 9600M to a GTX280M, which would completely break the power and heat dissipation envelope according to the design of the laptop. Remember, you can't simply plug in extra power connectors, add extra fans, and switch to water cooling inside a laptop the way you can with a desktop PC. The few laptops that use MXM modules or other removable GPU designs are very big (even compared to the AW), have 4 or more fans, and consume gobs of power just to be able to support a wide range of GPUs.