Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

You'd think that the switch that makes the machine sleep could also make it wake the machine up.

I'm annoyed now. My Power brick actually acted ok today, until it was too late to go to best buy. Now it's flickering so much I don't even want to use it in fear of it breaking. ><

In a way I can't say I don't feel a little ripped off. Yea, it's a $1350 I7 machine (more like $1500 via most methods, including mine if you count tax). Either way, things like the hinge, lack of any 'external' battery meter, cheap power brick, cheap-ish case (even compared to $500 dells), disturbs me a little. Not much, just a tiny bit.

One of my friends was drooling profusely over the Z series. After seeing how I felt about the F's quality he wasn't really drooling anymore xD

I mean it's a great machine, just. wow. lol. Stuff like the hinge thing? Come on. I thought Sony was the Apple of the PC world?

 

Hi mate,
Can you please do a benchmark of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at 1920x1080 ?
I would love to see how this game run on this laptop, because i played MW2 at 1080p medium settings and the game runned very smooth.

Thanks in advance

 

No, will they work with the demo? The frames definitely weren't as high as I expected - I guess it was b/c I didn't have the patches for them. If they do, I'll definitely get a new video up. If they don't then I *might* go and buy the game. lol I've spent way too much this month already, but w/e. It's only like $10.

 

I've done one already. Click the 2nd link in my signature and have fun

 

I think the patches will work with the demo. The demo had such poor performance that even the world's best card couldn't get it to run at a decent rate.

I hope that you do try installing the patches and see if it will give you better performance Perhaps take off from a NYC airport and that will really test out the card.

Thank you so much for your work, I am sure everyone appreciates your dedication to this thread!!!

By the way, chance of testing out NBA 2K10?

 

Didnt see that before. Thanks so much for all your games benchamrk.

 

The FW had the hinge problem, the F-series is fine, what's wrong with it?.. The power brick is a generic (though fairly powerful) 19 volt supply. I find that a Toshiba supply works well on my F11, so I have a travel spare. The connector for the Sony is only used by a couple of brands however. The constuction of the Z-series IS droolworthy, but there's nothing wrong wth the F-series in that regard.

 

So now try the helicopters. Even with the Logitech joystick flying an eggbeater is - interesting.

 

I would agree with you, but I just want to offer another opinion for those who are visiting this forum and worried sick about the "major problems" with this laptop. Personally, I think it's a bit overly subjectified to say that one lemon charger out of the millions of these things sold as well as the idiosyncrasies you suggest are manufacturing and design "faults" with the laptop (such as the computer not coming out of sleep when the lid is opened, or the lack of an external battery meter). This is not indicative of the laptop's general quality, especially when the laptop wasn't advertised to do/have these things. But in an ideal world, these problems wouldn't exist, and they certainly should be fixed by sony under warranty at the very least. For me, it works as advertised, and that's what I expected. No complaints, especially in this day and age.

On another level, I have to agree with you though - I certainly wouldn't be a happy camper if I dropped 1.5k on a new computer and found it to be malfunctioning. Let us know if you get the problem fixed - it'll be nice to know if sony/best buy's support is good or not.

In a more specific response to your comment about the "wake up on lid open" - as far as I can tell all sony computers actually don't wake up when the lid is opened. This is probably not a fault with the laptop, but a general mechanism that applies to all Sony laptops. So for any potential buyers - know that all sony laptops do not have this feature (wake up when lid is open). You must interact with the computer's physical keys in order for it to power on.

It's interesting that you make the comparison with apple, because although I have to say that macs are well-built (the macbook pro is really solid), I find the little changes that come with macs are far more jarring than the ones with this sony. The trackpad, for instance, takes some time to get used to (among other things).

But back to the F11. I have actually had the opposite experience with the F11's casing. Mine has been really quite solid, and considering the heft of the F11 compared to my old Z1 (which had magnesium casing), it holds up pretty well when held from one corner. The only flex I notice occurs when I apply pressure at a point near the middle of the screen close to the battery. As far as I can tell, there aren't any gaping holes in the case, and there are no rattles. The matte plastic also looks pretty nice, compared to the glossy Dell and HP casing that is so common these days (if only this extended onto the US screen as well!).

Finally ( god, I'm starting to sound like a sony rep - I swear I'm not), I wouldn't put your friend off from the Z. It's an executive laptop (business model), which means that it'll be outstandingly well-built, portable, and powerful. If I could've waited/had the money, I would've purchased a new Z in a heartbeat (my old Z1 was amazingly resilient). It really is in a different league from the F11.

That said, I'm happy with my F, and I think it was worth the ~1.2k I spent on it.

So there you go. 2 sides of the coin. To those who are considering getting this: take note of these problems with the laptop, but realize that these sorts of manufacturing lemons and issues exist everywhere. I wouldn't recommend completely putting off this computer as a desktop replacement because of these issues, unless sony doesn't respond/address these problems (though it sounds like they are at least taking back laptops that have the whistling noise for repair).

 

It's an intelligent brick.

The different blinking codes mean something, other F owners can confirm that but when booting, Restart or going in/out of Hibernate, there is LED activity/dimming/flickering. It may indicate power demand fluctuations from the F.

It's also a diagnostic tool. From this Sony_Support page: "While following this procedure, note the LED status at each step. This will provide additional information for the technician if repair becomes necessary".

I wrote to Sony_Support about the LED behavior & asked for blinking codes & will report after receiving an answer.

Some people reported clicking, if the brick acts like a UPS, on some windy days, my two UPS can click every minute or so as in Costa Rica, the power grid is affected by the lush vegetation hitting the cables & the current can fluctuate all day long.

But yes, it's possible you got the oddball defective brick, sh@t happens, that's why there is a return period & a warranty.

Nobody bit but I posted some laptop failure rates in here.

Can you see a brand with zero failures?

 

I was actually looking for NYC, but the demo only had locations in the Caribbean . Maybe I will go and get the full version (or get it from a friend). Anyhow I'll do another run when I get those installed (and I'll try to pilot a heli as well melodymaster )

I can't find a demo for 2k10, but there is one for 2k9. I read on a forum that the two should perform similarly. I'll get a 2k9 video up first if I can't get 2k10 in a timely manner.

 

Actually there is no alternative one for me ... Besides, Sony Repair Center says there is not any problem about F series... But I'll return it. I hope they will import the faulty parts...That is why I asked which parts have problem.

I am from Turkey. Maybe my problem will solve within 30 days! ... Importing takes 30 days even more than 1 month...

 

The brick's light was flickering bright/dark, not flashing. I had considered that it may be normal switching compensating for the machine switching in/out of turbo boost/power management, but the first 2 days it did no such thing at all.

I don't want to give the impression that I hate the sony, I actually really like it. I started out skeptical enough (if you've seen me post ahead of buying the Vaio, you know this, my friends were killing me over it XD).. when I noticed my power supply was having issues I was actually fairly sad about it because I had finally started to really like the machine.

In that sense, it's a great machine. I enjoy using it, and yea I agree you can pick it up by a far corner of the palm rest and not hear any flex whatsoever. That's pretty good build quality, but not really amazing (I guess because the machine is GIGANTIC it is )

In the sense of little design quirks, as a guy that's purchased many, many apple machines I can say that they themselves have plenty of issues (at times) too lol.

I can think of a few exceptions though, like the powerbook I just replaced? It's almost 5 years old and never had an issue (though the screen is slightly offset to the right, just like the my Vaio is XD)

So meh I'm happy, and want another F.

 

Oh yeah - a good friend of mine has a powerbook g4. I swear those things are indestructible. And the ~800mhz that his has is surprisingly capable today.

I hope you get your problems fixed

 

If it's blinking on/off then you may have a problem:

http://www.articlesbase.com/laptops...n-light-on-the-laptop-ac-adapter-1642444.html

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-196757-power-supply-led-light-on-laptop-is-blinking
"remove the battery then press

power button to drain all the current

then resit battery and plug to adaptor"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...n+led+blinking&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

 

anyone else getting shocked when handling the laptop. when i'm transferring my laptop from my desk to my bag and i touch the vents on the bottom i get a small shock. any else experiencing this?

 

You've discovered static electricity


congratulations

 

-----------

 

LOL

 

"a) love the backlit keyboard, and wondering why there's no light under the space bar" - it's a special key with some parts under it. I just unsnapped my spacebar for you to take this photo:



Besides, it really big & hard to miss, even if not backlit.

"and here's what I don't like...
a) backlit keyboard, or more specifically the screen. The screen is very reflective and the backlit keyboard reflect right off the screen, making it really hard to read the bottom part of the screen." - Err... change the angle of the display maybe?

b) 16:9 screen. It's terrible if I try to do some word processing work. - yep, it's annoying, all manufacturers are jumping in the 1080p bandwagon. If you find an other model with similar features @ that price point, please post it! There is a few threads about it: 16:9 display vs 4:3

"c) the noise, the strange noise, I've been trying to find words to explain what it is, and I just can't" - then it's hard to comment. See the Unification Post #2. I posted a short video about fixing the F mic whining/Morse code here.

"d) There's sooooooooooo many VAIO apps on there, but was too busy so didn't bother with a fresh install" - try them, a few are quite useful (Care, Update & assist & S1). The Media Gallery is a resource hog with a few Services & scans the drives like Media Player, will try a few times before uninstalling. I did not find a way yet to remap that nice Vaio_silvery button.

Edit: thanks to sheebp for this useful info:

"e) you'll probably think I'm crazy, but the touchpad is not the best. It's not sensitive, but that's not the most annoying about it. The most annoying thing is that it's placed a bit to the left, and I'm still trying to get used to the positioning of it." - I too found the position weird but for about 10 minutes. You can adjust some stuff in the Control Panel (or via S1) & add a shortcut to the task bar. I like it.

"f) a volume control on the side of the notebook is nice, but there isn't 1. Kinda annoying for me to press 2 buttons to mute the notebook." - that's easy if Fn + F2 is too much work: remap a key that you don't use to Mute. Just did it for the accent key under Esc with the free & small KeyTweak:



Note: if you don't use the Play/Pause, Stop & FF/RW buttons, you can also remap them to some useful functions or program shortcuts with that utility:



I also remapped the two side buttons on my Mx500 mouse to Volume up/down. I used the free & tiny app X-Mouse Button Control but depending on your mouse model & driver, the remapping feature may be already enabled in Control Panel.





How about two clicks to mute? Click Speakers Icon near clock > click blue icon above mixer > Mute!



And check this out: you can use S1 to remap said S1 to a one click mute!





"a) Is there a way to make the backlit keyboard stay on all the time? I know covering the sensor is a way to go but I'm hoping for a software solution." - Put tape on sensor (small dot just above F9) to have always on or hit key S1 (top right) > Vaio Control Center > Keyboard > Backlit KB "Do Not Turn OFF when dark & no tape. I use the famous BD sticker.

"b) Another light question, the power light is bothering the hell outta me when I try to sleep. Is there some way to turn it off?" Err... turn the computer off & save the planet maybe? Check the huge amount of energy wasted by standby power here (18 power plants in USA just for standby!). I unplug my brick at night.

"c) the annoying sound is there, and I have turned off the microphone. Is there some other newly discovered fix?" - no need to mute the mic, which I do anyway as Skype & other programs turn it on automatically. In the video above, I applied the fix suggested here.

 

to save vertical space, I moved the taskbar from the bottom to the left of the screen.

 

Hi guys,
After lurking around here for some time I finally bought a VAIO F11 last week
Model name here in Europe is S, meaning i7 cpu and premium display

Suddenly yesterday it started to behave strangely
- first indication, no wifi signal strength indication at bottom right
(but wifi works great)
- then no luck opening the Network and Sharing window (empty frame)
- the Snippet tool doesn't start at all
- tried to use VAIO H/W Diagnostics but didn't start
All s/w installed work as expected though

After scan with MS SE we were suddenly back to normal, F11 and I, but att next start-up we were back to the same situation again (sigh)

Any of you experienced guys have any ideas as to what I should do to remedy this for good?
Any help will be most appreciated - I've kind of grown attached to this model, great display etc

/Tommy

 

thanks for replying my post Joe Bleau and everyone.
I think I'll stick with hitting Fn + F2 to mute for now. Just a little bit annoyed with the lack of a external volume control.
I think I'll have to contact Sony sometime, my noise is definitely not what's on Joe Bleau's video. It could be something with the fan that someone a few pages ago mentioned. I'll try to test it again in a few days and see if I can figure out what exactly it is.
Also is anyone having problem with the direction buttons. I'm talking about specific the 4 direction buttons beside right right ctrl. The computer does not register 2 button press (diagonal move) and I"m wondering if anyone is experiencing that with their gaming with this device. The screen is beautiful but I wish i can play games on it from time to time.

 

What is "VAIO H/W", Vaio_Care? If not then try it. Have you tried to Restore to your last good working state? It's reversible & a way to rule out hardware if it then works fine.

Check your Vaio_& Windows update history, maybe one messed up your stuff?

 

VAIO H/W - I'm referring to VAIO Recovery/Hardware Diagnostics option
Wanted to try that to check for memory or HDD failures etc
Restore was on my list but after shutting down it went into Windows Update/Configuration processing and seems to be stuck at "62% complete" for an hour now
Tricky situation

/T

 

Well checking a 500gb HDD takes time if you did not select the quick test.

Did you select "Hard Disk verify & repair? It says: "...Testing may take over an hour, depending on the disk size".

FYI: the VAIO_Recovery Center > Hardware Diagnostics is accessed by hitting F10 on reboot or with the recovery disc #1. Includes also a Rescue Data tool if Windows does not start at all so you can try to save to an external HDD or removable media.

 

:laugh: :laugh: That was really funny !

 

My SonyStyle UK-purchased CTO F11 was picked up for repair yesterday re the whining/whistling sound.

The outsourced company is called Teleplan based in Colchester, UK. They seem to do work for a lot of these multinationals. I could not contact an engineer there directly.

Today I emailed SonyStyle customer support with my repair reference number and attached the sound clip audio file to help them focus on the problem. The email address is [email protected] . (Obviously panEurope support, I presume the 'en' is specific to England).

Within a couple of hours I received the following response:

"Thank you for the information you have sent us and for the attached audio file. We have passed this on to the engineer, as requested.

Yours sincerely

Camilla"

MelodyMaster, you sound very sure as to what is causing this problem. I hope they sort it out for me. I know that Bruneski is sending his UK f11 in too. Poohkie, you are sending your F11 back for good ? I can't say i blame you having sent it twice already.

 

After uninstalling the vaio media centre thingy, the "silvery" VAIO special key remaps itself to a dedicated mute button.

 

I might be doing the same thing, once I can get support to reply to my email (complete with mp3 recording of the whistling...)

 

You'd think that a silver button that stands out with the word "Vaio" on it would do something with some grandeur.

 

I'll just finish this up by saying that Sony never called me back, so I called them and they said the new smaller adapter would be fine..... If it catches fire I'll let you know.

 

hi...can you send me the audio file so I can figure out if that's the same sound as mine?

 

Here's my recording that I sent to Sony. Sorry, it's very quiet so you'll have to turn the volume up. I hope it's the same as other people's...

 

Mine is here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5949963#post5949963

 

You're having a giggle aren't you??!!! Have you not looked at MangoSango's gaming videos?... http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5986590&postcount=449

matt

 

Exactly the same whine sound as my F11 audio clip file.

 

Have you tried rolling it back a couple of days using the last good Windows Restore point?

matt

 

I don't want to return it, but yes it's been sent in twice now and Sony said they would call me, but they haven't yet. I am tired of waiting around for a phone call. Might be easier to just send it back and then re-order in June (IF there is a refresh). Do you know how long your repair will take? If only a couple days...maybe I can wait it out to hear back from you.

Yes it is quite quiet, I would recommend you tell whoever you send it to, to CRANK up the volume, or listen to it with headphones (I could definitely hear it with headphones.) It's the EXACT same sound that I have and it's the same as tausif's. When I sent tausif's clip to Sony, the guy was like...I just hear air sound. And I said to him again, YOU HAVE TO CRANK THE VOLUME UP TO HEAR IT! Some people just don't listen!

Sorry to be yelling, but sometimes you really need to spell it out for people.

 

Well I received a call from the contracted Sony repair service. They have received the parts (no, they didn't open the box yet) and have scheduled an onsite visit for tomorrow afternoon. As stated, I will take pictures of the fan replacement process and gather as much intel as possible regarding this problem.

The second issue they are supposed to repair is the distorted speaker problem.

Look for results posting around 18:00 (EST).

 

thanx for making me feel like a noob. haven't experienced it with any other laptop before.

anyone else having a hard time adjusting to the track pad. i tend to hit it while typing all time.

 

Just went and ordered the european premium model F, can't wait for delivery

Here in europe we only have the 720QM as a cpu option, which was a slight letdown, but only slightly.

720QM, 8gb ram, 500gb HDD, 330M and the premium screen/finish.

Decided to take the plunge after rewading this thread, and its earlier version. Hopefully I don't run into any of the issues that have been reported though.

 

Turning off 'tapping' in the mouse control panel can help with typing/trackpad issues...

 

I don't see an option to turn off "tapping" in the mouse control panel for my Y-series, shouldn't it and the F-series be using the same mousepad drivers?

 

Just got off the phone with Sony. They want to replace the motherboard now.

1st repair - Thermal Pad Installed - DONE
2nd repair - Fan & Keyboard replaced (as recommended by Sony Japan) - DONE
3rd repair - Motherboard replaced - ?

So, now I just need to decide if I want to try for the third repair or just return for full refund...

Any suggestions?

Please do not feel discouraged if you have the whistle sound and getting fan replaced, it's possible that fix WILL work for you. I am very eager now to hear if yours can be fixed

 

I enabled VT under BIOS on my Sony Vaio VPCF1190X (US model). I installed Windows XP on my Vmware. I also installed vmware tools for Windows Xp Guest OS but can't get my webcam to work on my guest OS (XP). I cannot install the webcam software since it's meant for Vista and above OS.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

I hear same whine ...So there are two hardware problems apart.One is the FAN other one is the microphone or something related to the microphone…

 

no my dad bought a Vaio last year and his laptop uses a Synaptic driver mine uses an Alps driver.

 

Might be a bit cheeky, but i would be interested if the engineer has a service manual in electronic form you can post up.

 

Finally, a great reply about that *&#$?!@ Vaio_silvery key! +1 for your Rep power.



Trying to remap that key was driving me nuts. Zero info on Sony_support, could not find anything about it on the web. Scolding_Sony for not simply including their Vaio_and ASSIST keys to the simple Vaio_Control Center Special Buttons tab.



I guess they want to promote their Media Center as all users will try that key @ one point but why not make it easy to remap?

Since you say "remaps itself to a dedicated mute button" then is should become key #133 in KeyTweak & should be easy to remap to something more useful like "Media Select" which opens Media Player's library, for example. Have you tried it? I updated that post with your info.



I tried remapping w/o uninstalling Media Center and it does not work but now my Fn + Mute (blue symbol on F2) opens Media Player's library.