Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

Have anybody tried upgrading AW with 2x4 Gb of dd3 @ 1333 (or 1600) Mhz? Would it safely "downclock" to 800 Mhz?

 

Hi Yes I have ..
But there are no any higher than 800MHz unfortunately ..
Buy 2x4GB 800MHz but remember they are very expensive 2x more than DDR3 !

 

Hi,

I've just put Windows 8 on my good old AW. Found out how to disable the driver signing in the boot process and successfully installed the current WHQL nvidia drivers, which surprisingly work flawless (earlier trials of reference drivers often left me with black screen, BSODs, or other nonsense).

Also surprisingly, most hardware works out of the box. I have two unknown devices in the device manager though:

- Base system device
- Unknown device

From what I suspect, this might be the card reader, cause I only see and can use the SD card reader, not the other one. The second device I don't know.

Anyone know what this stuff is and how to update the drivers? I tried search the thread but didn't come up with something useful.

Also, I tried installing all the Sony Event Manager, Power Manager, Shared Library etc. but I don't get the hotkeys to work (FN keys, eject disc key). Since the volume keys work this doesnt really bother me that much, but it would anyway be nice to fix it. Any help also appreciated.

One more thing, last time I could use the windows (7) built-in fingerprint biometrics suite, now I was forced to install some AuthenTec thing. Any way to use the Windows 8 stock software?

Thanks alot for any help

edit: and how to enable the windows multi-touch gestures? I got the synaptics drivers, but I want the built-in windows gestures

 

Hi
So firstly DONT install nvidia 310.33 it will be running into problems every 5 minutes after restart..
Don't install 306.97 either .. the desktop performance will be low and low 306.23 is 5.8 score in windows index and should be same as gaming index..
try older nvidia .. I don't know which are best dont have time to check ..

Secondly those two things without drivers unknown is firmware extension phaser.. that is SONY only thing .. no one manuf usin it .. and yeah second is just ricoh memory stick again just sony's problem .. easy to install them..
No no it has nothing to do with sony software .. that is just for media panel that event manager shared library etc .. fn keys yeah i didn't install it yet .. not needed .. when installed it works but graphics wont appear for example when u increasing brightness it wont show that bar jus increasing.. or same with volume wont show win 8 has built in ..
Just install biometrics from sony site..
multi touch gestures JUST synaptics .. nothing more .. it wasn't designed for it .. previously ..
That's all i think

 

I'm using the 306.97 WHQL and they work fine. I'm quite happy that I found up to date drivers which don't give me problems finally. Older drivers won't work well with GPU accelerated SW such as Adobe CS6. And even the old one from Sony gave me crashes occassionally.

All the other driver issues I fixed. Actually Windows 8 found the Memory Stick Ricoh driver by itself and linked me to the direct download from a Sony website. The Firmware Extension Parser fixed the other device. Brightness still doesn't work, but I don't care, as I use max. brightness always anyways.

I'm hoping Synaptics will release a Win8-compatible driver to use the OS multitouch gestures in a while. Other than that, my system works well and the driver installation procedures were a lot easier and less troublesome than with Windows 7 64bit. I will probably shift my whole productive system to Windows 8 soon. I was a bit worried at first given the Sony lock-in weird-driver-and-dll stuff experience I had previously, but I can only recommend.

 

Those 306.97 ones shows less desktop performance you know

 

It does not fill me with confidence when I use Sony's Win8 update page and it says my model is not supported by the OS.

I guess WinDVD BD for vaio does not work?

 

yea, I was also sceptical at first (especially since I bought mine with Vista and had a hard time getting Win7 to work properly), that's why I went for dual-boot. But it went better than expected, and everything works as it should, stable.

No idea, I don't use BDs. If you link me to the SW I can try for you. Is it an HDMI/HDCP issue? The driver reports HDCP works.

 

Heh you mean picture? And sound only works?
Yeah becauce of unofficial drivers..
It is completely useless to install new drivers .. it WONT make any diff. For this laptop only degeneration of gpu..
New soft is designed for new machines.
BUT
I have never used BD since of purchase only test with test BD if it is working..

 

man are u sorry blind or something ? did u red post above yours????
jeezz people watch the thread properly really ..

 

Hi,

Is this your way to reply to my question?
I'm not blind at all, don't know if you are maybe...
If you are not comfortable with the question, then don't bother to reply.
Someone else will...
Thank you in advance.

B/R,

 

your question been answered before u wrote post ..

 

GalaxySII,

If you pay a little more attention to my post, I mentionned that WinDVD doesn't work with SOME DVD's NOT all DVD's. (all purchased in commerce).
So, IF you mean that upgrading to a newer driver version of Nvidia is the cause, sorry but it's irrelevant.
If the new drivers were the cause then I couldn't play any DVD at all.
Hope this helps,

 

so that means u needto check where non-working DVDs are from! it will be diff region then ..
check back of case ..
anyway best drivers for this Vaio AW series is here below !

 

Just uninstalled 306.97 crappy ones and installed 189.50
and desktop graphics performance went up from 5.3 or 5.7 (dont remember exactly) to 6.3 same as gaming as should be!
So new drivers crippling GPU quite a lot !
Do not install ! new drivers !

Here is result with 189.50 drivers!

 

I don't have Windows 8 on my AW190. I did want to reply though regarding the NVIDIA drivers part of this discussion. This is what I have. And the performance works extremely well. And regarding Corel Win DVD which is what plays my Blu ray discs, if Windows 8 breaks that functionality, then I will not be installing Windows 8. My AW190 with Windows 7 Ultimate works with zero issues.

 

Hello Galaxy SII,

Thank you for your reply.
Concerning the DVD's, they are all from same region, which I find strange.
Could you please provide a link on where this 189.50 drivers can be downloaded?
I checked the VAIO European website for my model and the only driver available for my model is still 186.56. see link: http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VGN-AW41ZF_B/downloads/Preinstalled_Drivers_4441
It was the only one available since I purchased my model and never updated!
However, I see no difference between 186.56 and 306.97, they both give me a rating of 6.5 both in graphics and graphics gaming.
The only difference, BUT very important to me is that the 306.97 drivers keep the color profile after cold start or restart, which the crappy 186.56 could not accomplish and I was forced to revert manually to the "use nvidia settings" each time.
I will check the 189.50 drivers and report back if you can provide a download link.
I suppose I won't need a modded file to install that one.
Thanks!

B/R,

 

ehosey2,

I do not have W8 I still have W7 HP 64-bit.
For some reason, after installing 306.97 WinDVD 8 stopped playing some DVD's.
Same issue with my VPCF13Z1e/b and WinDVD 10 for VAIO. That one updated directly from the Nvidia website as part of the Verde notebook program.

B/R,

 

No windows 8 HAS nothing to do with it BUT drivers ..
What drivers do you have installed on ?

 

So go back to previous drivers or those what I have installed .. u DO NOT NEED to change gpu drivers if u haven't encountering any problems ..
Same with bios if all runs well why change i t? the latest is NOT always the best !

 

It seems some are confused about my post. I was not reffering to ordinary dvd playback which many free software can do, including Windows Media Player but instead to Sony's WinDVD software that comes bundled with AW notebooks which is called WinDVD BD for Vaio.
It can play dvd but that does not make it special, it plays Blu-Ray discs which can be done otherwise only by either buying playback software or ripping a BD and was updated often, the last update came out in March. This software should either work when launched or not at it all if it thinks it is not on a Vaio computer. There were claims non-Sony nVidia drivers would break it and the one time I tried years ago, it did indeed fail to work.

 

Hi laptodd5,

Thank you for your post, it seems that installing a modded nvidia driver may cause this problem with WinDVD 8 on my AW41 VAIO.
However, on my second laptop, VPCF13Z1, I directly updated the drivers from Nvidia website without the need of a modded file, and WinDVD BD for VAIO version 10.5 has similar issues.
I guess, I will have to purchase a full version of WinDVD 11 from Corel or a similar software by ArcSoft.
Any recommendations about those 2?
Thanks,

 

I would recommend getting a standalone player, you only pay for it once and depending on the model can be cheaper. The PC playback software requires paying for the updated version which you will need because the DRM on the BD keeps changing. I have over the years used PowerDVD, Arcsoft & WinDVD and any of them will do, but it's the damn updating that's the only problem with them. You can stick with the bought version and do no updating, by using software that removes the DRM.

 

Hi, I have a Sony Vaio AW11XU and 'd like to replace RAID 0 SSD

I can't understand what i should put in as SSD (there are 2 similar SSD with different connectors...)

--- 1 Renice Micro SATA Solid State Drives | My Digital Discount
--- 2 http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/crucial-256gb-m4-internal-sata-iii-6g-mlc-msata-ssd/
What is the right SSD?

Thanks for help in advance

 

Hi
You have two mSATA (mini sata or micro sata they call it) connectors for 1.8'' SSDs and you have one (normal) SATA connector for 2,5'' SSD and if u want you can ged rid of crappy dvd/bd drive and put there SSD bay and instal another 2,5'' SSD!
So you will be able to create ''DUAL RAID 0''
This is what I had (sold old samsung SSDs ,buying new faster ones)
I have removed optical drive cos I never used it .. (optical drive will be dead soon..)
I have purchased 2x SSDs OCZ vertex 2 2,5'' one is in SSD bay where bd drive was ,second is on the left side where normally HDDs/ SSDs are installed and I will be buying two more 1,8'' SSDs for right side probably OCZ ones as well but they are expensive..
And then I will create Dual RAID 0 .. First RAID 0 will be created from those Vertex 2 SSDs and when I buy 1,8'' SSDs I will create second RAID 0 .. So I will have two RAIDS 0. PRETTY FAST!
Currently am running single SSD crucial m4 which is
SATA III and it is useless on this machine cos it downgrades to SATA II ..
So today I will be installing two vertex 2 they are SATA II , and crucial m4 will be installed in my new acer (see signature) but UNFORTUNATELY that acer doesnt support RAID even I have two bays for SSD in it.. pitty ..
It would be SUPERFAST cos two crucial m4 SATA III in RAID 0 gives enormous mega speed!!!

 

Thx indeed

 

I am hardly an expert but the only thing you probably need to worry about is, besides making sure it fits in the drive bays, is to make sure whatever SSD you buy does not have the problem plagued SandForce controller.

That's fine if a person has a sata II SSD laying about. But if anything, price wise the sata 3 SSD are cheaper (in my area at least) and more plenty full then the sata 2s and when 'retiring' a computer, the sata 3 could be used in a new computer and not be as sluggish as the older sata 2.

 

Sandforce SF-2200 controller is the bugged one

This one
OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II 1.8" SSD - OCZ
should be OK as it's based on a previous version: SF-1222

This one
Force Series
Uses SF-2281 controller but I'm already using it on another computer without any blu screen problem

Both will be soon in my computer AW11XU

I'll let you know is anything wrong will occur

:hi2:

 

HI
So !
I have purchased 2.5'' ocz vertex 2 2x 120GB and received it and FKIN OBVIOUSLY they are FAULTY ! or one 100% is faulty
One shows 115GB instead of 120GB !!
and please DONT TELL me tht 1.8'' this vertex 2 is not good one !!! I have it purchased as well and it is on its way to me !
I NEVER had experience with this WEIRD SSD manufacturer !! but now I see I MADE BIG MISTAKE !!

This should be good one 120GB but I don't know if speeds are OK




And this is BAD one shows only 115GB and write speeds are fkin horrible !!

 

It might be a vaio thing (among others), I have 2 Ocz vetex 3s in my mid-tower for over a year and they have been solid as a rock (and lightning fast), I have not run HDtune on them thou and I keep meaning too...

 

Have you tried returning the bad one?

 

I have a corsair ssd GT 120 gb (2,5') on the computer at home and it's pretty impressive as far as peeformances are concerned... the pro is that u can use it in nearly every desktop and laptop (they came with brackets) so althought it's SATA 3 i'll stay stick to the known

the problem was with 1,8' ssd... i'd have better ordered Renice but in Italy i could not find them, so import them from US or switching to OCZ... prices brought me to OCZ... The OS will be on Corsair fast SATA3 wich caps SATA2 bandw, no raid, lower system resorces used, TRIMM command enable on sata2 ocz bye bye and tyvm XD

 

I contacted seller but he is just claiming it is not his fault and he don't want do anything about it .. bas***d!
I have contacted OCZ on forum they again says it is normal that BIOS is reporting 115GB instead of 120GB ..
They will tell you test SSD in ATTO which is worst test all SSDs in world has best results in ATTO !
Completely different results has AS-SSD and Crystal disk mark they are REAL!
So I said NO it is NOT normal on package CLEARLY says 120GB I want 120GB!
I have created RMA so will see how I will progress on Monday ..

 

Corsair GT are very expensive!

 

I am kind of curious when someone says one SSD is faster then another. Are they talking about 0.2 ms vs 0.1 ms? Even when it's 0.3 ms vs 0.05 ms I have a hard time believing even an expert would notice when using the computer beyond benchmarking software. Compared to a magnetic disc HD's 18ms, sure you will noticed a difference but will a person notice a OS loading faster when it's 0.2 ms vs 0.1 ms?

Did you try HDtune? At least that gives a chart, 'health' and error scan.

 

Nohd tune is crappiest programit os NOT designed forSSDs
there are no health problems or errors it is new but loos like that crap version

 

HDtune puts out the same numbers as AS-SSD. Anyway I am done with this problem of yours since it's clear it's not actually defective.

 

You know I hate when I purchase item and it is NOT as stated on label CLEARLY says 120GB so I want120GB !! that is the of course !
and + crappy speeds ??? nothank you I won't be that who will be short of !
And look here below what I found on one forum some others experienced this !

OCZ Vertex 2 drives since some time in January have been shipped with a new lower performance version. Short story is they changed the die size from 34nm to 25nm and that meant they only needed half as many chips to get the same volume of space. The result is that these new drivers are inferior to the older ones in every way. Their performance is slower, their lifespan is shorter, and to compensate for the much shorter life spam they allowed more of the capacity to be allocated towards over-provisioning, which has the result of decreasing the capacity. Their 120GB drive is now technically 115GB, and that's before windows calculates the capacity in a different way so really it's 107GB compared to approx 112GB for the old version. This newer die shrink also means that it's much cheaper for OCZ to manufacture, but they did not pass any savings on to the customers. People reported paying the exact same amount of money for these new inferior drives as they did months before for the older version of the same size.

To make this worse, OCZ did not announce the change until weeks after they started selling the drives. Many people purchases OCZ Vertex 2 drives under the assumption that they were getting what they paid for, which was the advertised specs of the older superior drive, but instead they got a drive that's inferior in every way. They are still advertised with the specs and reviews of the better drives.

OCZ basically lied to all their customers by selling inferior drives under the guise of the older version and all the performance reviews that came with it, and they still advertised it as 120GB even though it's only 115GB to the user. How did they handle this fiasco? At first their attitude was just basically "sorry about your luck", but people on their forums kept hammering them, and rightfully so. They deceived their customers. In their next move they offered to have customers exchange their 25nm 64bit drives for a different version, a 25nm 32bit drive that has the same number of memory chips as the old version and also restores the 120GB size. However this was to come at a cost. They wanted customers to pay the difference between the two and they wouldn't disclose how much that would cost over their forums.

What does that mean? They charged customers full price for a stealth crappier version of their product, and then they had the gall to ask the customers to pay an additional fee to get a product that is closer to the specs of the original product they thought they had purchased. What kind of terrible business practice is this? On top of that, on their forums their reps appear to be pretty rude to the customers when discussing the topic.

I've heard that recently they changed their stance and are now offering the swap for free apparently, but I haven't seen any announcement of that and it's definitely not in their forums in the same thread where they announce that people can do the exchange. They didn't bother to update that post...

I have one of their crappy 115GB drives, and I vow to never buy an OCZ product again and to make sure other people know how this company treats their customers. On that note, Crucial has a very good drive out, their C300 which runs on SATA3 and is very fast, and I think Intel has release their next generation as well (510 series). Corsair has Performance Series 3 out, same deal. OCZ has the Vertex 3 coming out soon, but you know how I feel about them... If I were to buy another drive in the Vertex 2 generation I'd get a Corsair Force Series.

 

Just received Vertex 2 today installed and tested ..
Tank GOD it HAS 180GB and here are results..

 

Is it possible to install Windows 7 or windows 8 OS on Sony Vaio AW core 2 duo p8400?

 

ar u serious with this question!?!?!??!

 

Well, I have been using 2 Ocz vetex 4 in AW for 3 weeks now and zero problems, nice to have instant rebooting, no sluggish drive access and not to mention the lovely silence. I am pretty damn sure it's safe to use vertex 4s with the AW.

Win 7, definitely yes. You should be able to get almost everything running.
Win 8 is not supported by Sony for the AW but probably will install fine but some of the features may not work although I have not seen anybody give a detailed testing.

On that note, even though I find it hard to believe, there are claims that media remote controllers will not work with Win8, has anybody tried out the AW remote with Win8?

 

Yesterday I Installed Windows 8 64 Bit On My AW11Z (UK Version) And Almost Everything Work Fine . I Had Problem With The Video Card When I Installed The Driver Of Windows 7 (From Sony Site) Windows Show Me Error In The Reliability Monitor But I Managed To Get Resolution Of 1920*1080 , After That I Install The Pointing Device , Memory Driver Without Error , Did Not Try To Installed Application Utility Because I Did Not Like Windows 8 After One Hour Of Playing , I Had Problem With The Video Card When I Maximize A Windows Explorer Sometimes The Desktop Was Smeared .. I Try To Install Adobe Flash Without Success What Else Hmm The Operating System Was Fast On The AW11Z And I Did Not Upgrade The Computer . Sorry That I Did Not Test Windows 8 All The Way

If Someone Have More Details Than Me Please Tell Us Everything Because I'm Not The Person Who Can Check Operating System (LOL) My Knowledge In Computer Is Only Base

Thanks A Lot

 

u have to downl normally from nvidia latest then disable driver sig in win 8 and install it

 

Hi Rthebomb

I am having the same problem too you on my Fw11 . Can you tell me why did you need any replacement parts if you we're repairing with epoxy resin? Did you have a charging problem as well as I do ?

Any help greatly appreciated

Vin

 

Hi there, where did you get a non chrome version from?, Mine is all chipped in need of replacement + bubbly palm rest!

 

Hello
A few days ago I replaced the HDD in my VAIO to the new SDD drive.
I would like to connect the old HDD as an additional / second, but in place of the disc does not have input. What should I buy and install that could connect a second drive (SATA)?
So it now looks like: Screenshot by Lightshot
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Simple ebay
Sony Vaio VGN-AW palmrest | eBay
Check for new or in VERY GOOD condition cos people try ridding of very crappy ones and in HORRIBLE state !!

 

If u wnt u can buy double Sata for 1.8 SSDs here : sony vaio vgn-aw 2nd double SSD hdd cable m780 MP SSD FPC 1P-1086X00-2110 | eBay