Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

New to this forum, just ordered my VPCF11PFX/H from TigerDirect.com last night and waiting to be verified by PayPal. Specs:
Intel Core i7 720QM 1.60GHz
4GB DDR3
500GB HDD 7200 RPM
16.4" WideScreen LCD 1600*900
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Pretty basic config, but a really good deal for $1049.99 IMO. Looking forward to having it delivered, hopefully it will be one of those with an OK screen and no dead pixels...

 

Hi Guys,

is there any way to control volume with buttons or some kind of hardware slider? fn+volume is not very convenient ...

Thx.

 

Picture pls..

1.Yes, recommended. However you might spend quite some time to install things you need. For me, I feel the computer response much snappier.

2.I would just leave it alone, unless you get like low frame rate on your games. Certainly doing so will make the fan running at faster RPM.

Mine have Hitachi drive.

Fn+F3 (decrease) Fn+F4 (Increase)

 

Yes there is: 3RVX

You can use the win key and your mousewheel.
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/on-screen-volume-control-indicator-for-windows/
http://matt.malensek.net/#/Software/

 

Hi
I just bought a Sony Vaio vpcf111fdb and when i turn it on the Fan runs at full speed all the time....please help. I new on this site

 

But you can already do that on the Vaio_F_Series by using only one hand: click on the speaker icon next to the clock & use mouse wheel.

Plus you are now just one click away from Muting, Mixer or by clicking on the bigger speaker icon > Speaker Properties: > enhancement (equalizer, etc) or > Dolby tab, etc.



Or click said icon & use Up/Down arrows.

One can also remap almost any keys our mouse buttons to become volume up or down.



Check: VAIO_F Backlit Keyboard, Spacebar, Mute Key Remap & Power Light and also Vaio_Special Keys Remapping.

I remapped the two side buttons on my old faithful 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 > Mouse.

 

Full speed in BIOS is normal if the lappy is hot. If it's while in the Win OS, call Sony_Support.

Did you install Linux or something? Do you use dual boot?

 

Check "MangoSango's extensive game testing post with youtubes" in the Unification Post #2. It's GT 330M BTW.

 

Umpire thanks for help.

 

HI. Must spread word of my experiance of new SONY F Series. Received mine just over two weeks ago. All was fine for three days, on day four it was dead. Off it went to Sony's repair centre to be returned one week later with new motherboard/BIOS. Worked for 3 more days then gave two blue screens and rebooted a couple of time.At that point I noticed the dreaded fan was full on ALL the time and it was very loud. Its back in the repair center again. If it comes back with a noisey fan again I will be requesting a full refund and make do with VAIO VGN-s5XP.
So the new SONY's appear to have very noisey fans which just defeats the media use of these Laptops, bit of an own goal and must be becoming obvious to SONY.
Anyone else have experianced similar problems?

 

The fan can be noisy at times, but that is to be expected considering this is a desktop replacement. It's got a core i7 chip and depending on the model a nice 330m graphics card. Which is extremely powerful and requires a lot of fan speed to keep this baby from exploding on you. I find mine only noisy when I am gaming which isn't very often. It's not silent but it's not noticeable unless I put my ear to the fan during normal use. As I understand it, The F is a less noisy than other laptops with the i7 processor. I hope your next one just has a noisy fan and nothing else. Good luck.

 

Just got off the phone to Sony. From what i understand, they are saying my screen is not defective (even though i am convinced it is) and consider the matter closed. Does anyone have any suggestions how i might approach this issue with them, and maybe escalate it higher up? Thanks.

 

Hello,

I have ideas how to solve the problem, some simple electronics, since I have a good suspicion that the sound is coming from the motor windings, which are being fed with improperly filtered voltage that is pulsing when the speed is being changed. Since you have already opened up your unit, would you be interested? It would involve cutting one or two fan wires and putting few components together in between. Possible to undo without permanent changes of course (except cut wires). Then we could make the solution public. We have a customer who is having the same problem, but we can't open up the laptop because of warranty void. How can we contact each other since it would be too much spamming here?

 

Just click on the poster's name & send a Private Message.

I see that you did not enabled that in your profile: Enable Private Messaging in your Profile > Edit Options > Messaging & Notification > Enable Private Messaging (via Notebookreview's system)

You can do that while keeping "Receive Email from Other Members" (via your private email) disabled.

Have you seen jacksjw's photos? Check "Pictures of internals" in the Unification Post #2

I'm also interested in the confirmation of your fan whistling fixing theory as he kept the fan that was replaced.

 

I am preparing to clean install Win 7 and dual boot it with openSUSE.

Has anybody tried to dual boot Win 7 with Linux retaining Recovery Partition?

Any other tips will be greatly appreciated, this is my first foray into the Linux world. I know there is no NVIDIA driver for Linux but it's expected to be released soon.

 

Well, it finally happened... after a week of owning and loving my new F11, the thing has just died. Powers on, blank screen, no processor activity... *sigh*. It gets picked up on Monday. I have to say, I absolutely adored this laptop, an I hope they get the damned thing fixed without wiping my drive. It's been the smoothest and fastest pc I have ever owned, and it was an awesome week

 

Check: Sony_Vaio_F Series on Linux.

And Search this Thread with: Linux and also the older F Owners Lounge: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=448894

 

Just curious, with a username like gamester... did you overclock the GPU? Did you try connecting an external monitor or shine a light on the black display to see if it did boot even if the backlight is off?

 

To gamester4520503: Do you have the F11PFX or F115FM model? Just curious since I am waiting on my PFX model and praying there won't be any problems with it.

 

I've enabled "Receive Email from Other Members" but I can't see any option named "Enable Private Messaging" :/
I did see photos,

 

Oh no! Your profile is broken.

Click on my user name on the left to see the option enabled.

 

Mine is always noisy I thought it was normal for i7.

Could someone tell what would be considered noisy for F? Is there a youtube video with recording of normal noise coming from F?

 

As an alternative to dual booting...

I have successfully installed openSUSE 11.1 and 11.2 (both 32 and 64 bit) as a virtual machine with VMWare Player (free unsupported download) running on Windows 7 on my F. Took a little tweaking of the network settings in the virtual machine options but I was able to access the Apache server from other hosts on my local network. My primary use is web site development before I publish to the production server.

I can take my development environment anywhere and not worry about having a network connection for testing. WAMP works just as well but I like having a real Linux system for testing.

I recently installed the Windows Virtual PC on my F11 after upgrading to Windows 7 Professional. Haven't tried creating a virtual machine for Linux so I do not know if Microsoft's virtualization software will work. It maybe too customized for the Window XP virtual environment.

I will add that to my to do list!

 

I think they do not allow it for new users

 

Try again once your rep power goes from 0 to 1- at either 5 or 10 posts.

 

Sony warns all customers NOT to count on that. They reserve the right to return the computer to you with the drive reimaged to its original factory state.

Just so you know.....

 

I am considering switching to Linux altogether hence I want to have it on dual boot.

 

I recently purchased a VAIO F series from Best Buy (Win7 64 bit, i7, 6 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, Blu Ray Playback, nvidia geforce gt 330m 1GB, etc.)

This is first Sony notebook. Any suggested remedy for a bluish color distortion on all video playback (blu ray or local mpegs, etc.). I tried paying with the display and nvidia settings. No luck. I even tried updating the nvidia driver from nvidia's site. I was unable to download the updated driver because nvidia stated my driver was customized to work with the VAIO's custom playback buttons. They directed me to Sony. After scanning for updates using the VAIO Update utility, nothing came up for the nvidia drivers. I'm close to returning it to Best Buy. Any suggestions? My pics / images look fine. The issue is only with playing videos (bluish color distortion).

Thanks,

 

No overclocking, tried the external monitor and nothing shows up...
Just died totally after the battery went flat - gaah.

 

I've got the F115E Mine was a CTO, maybe that's why.

 

Have you tried any of the two color profiles that were put here on this forum? Check the unification post for more info. See if any of those two solve the problem. The other best bet is to get a screen calibrator like Spyder 3.

Look for tweaks section:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5992644&postcount=554

 

Yeah, the rep said on the phone... but we live in hope. Anyone in the UK had their F repaired and had data come back? How quick was the turnaround?

 

I also have that BB F GT 330M, check: Monitor Profiles Roundup & US glossy vs. EU Premium Displays
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6017649#post6017649

Check also: Unification Post #2!

"The issue is only with playing videos (bluish color distortion)" - Which software are using to view videos? If WinDVD, have you seen the update on Sony_support for your model VPCF115FM: Corel WinDVD BD Software Update.

Please report back if your problem is fixed.

 

Why not pull the HDD (easy 4 screws) & use an external enclosure to backup the HDD?

If you would have created a system image while it was working, you would not have to do that. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6059462&posted=1#post6059462

 

Well dammit! I just shipped mine out to Toronto this morning after convincing Sony to get a second opinion (the Calgary depot considered the laptop to be fine). If Sony keeps this up, they are going to lose their reputation for quality - the very reason most of us bought our computers without hesitation. If the guys from Sony call next week and say it's acceptable after seeing it for themselves, then I can only say that their standards for quality control have been lowered to the point where I could never trust buying their products again.

 

Guys, I'm sure you don't want to read this opinion but maybe Sony_is right & your displays are within the expected specs for a laptop @ the price point as the F considering all the features (CPU, GPU, etc).

You can't buy a Toyota & expect a Mercedes.

 

At the end of the day, we are not all together in one room comparing each others screens. But again, I will say this- the screen is inferior to other comparable models out there. We do have the ability and past experiences of look at other laptop screens and know which looks better based on various usages.

 

You're the eight person in this thread to have posted about the power failing within a couple of days.

The bluescreen and active fan sounds exactly like the memory has gone bad; maybe the tech didn't click it in properly after changing the motherboard and the electrical contact failed on one or more contacts?

When you say the fan is "noisy" do you mean whining - making a whistling sound, or is it just running at full speed, as it normally wouldn't do?

 

I just bought a 2009 Toyota Matrix. I bought it expecting a solid, reliable vehicle for which the brand is known. They may have had a few recalls lately but THEY FIXED THE PROBLEMS! That is why I will always be a loyal Toyota customer.

I don't care what price Sony is selling the F for, they've taken advantage of customers and sold them faulty merchandise (then hide behind questionable return policies). I consider a screen that is unusable to be defective. My friend's four year old Dell Inspiron laptop doesn't have the bright spot on the bottom that runs as a gradient all the way to the top, nor does it invert the colors at the top of the screen. This screen is JUNK that I would never have expected from Sony - especially when they advertised it as a multimedia laptop with the "Premium Display". All I wanted was a solid, reliable computer with a good display. It sounds like some of you have better screens, but remember that ridiculously narrow viewing angles weren't a problem with even the lowest budget laptops four years ago.

 

Number Nine, Number nine.. Number Nina. Number Nina...

 

Live with it, brick walls are harder than heads...

 

This is a problem with desktop case fans also, depending upon the quality of the SCR circuitry and the fan itself. To quieten it the waveform is modified to be more of a sine wave, with some DC control returned, rather than being a hard square wave whose percentage of peak duration controls the power to the fan. I never thought that might be the issue with some (not all) of the F11s.

Thank You.

 

Not had the buzzing, but I did have a black screen crash whilst using youtube. My situation however is that I was playing three god of war full hd 1080 p movies at the same time and one was on full screen... everything was smooth and then suddenly a black screen. Your event viewer will probably have a critical error log with event id 41 and a no bugcode... which, after googling for hours, generally means it could be anything... drivers, software, hardware, powercable, powerloss/failure, et... that's a big help eh, I know

I think my problem though, is that my browser or something caused it to crash... with my full screen mode on, it just locked up and screen became black... I deduct this because I tried the same thing again (many youtube vids playback at once, but didn't enlarge any to full screen), and more often than not, firefox just crashes or vids would sometimes freeze up with a black screen. In hindsight, it does seem logical that your browser could become less stable by doing that.

So fingers crossed, but it seems software failure.

 

It's actually a Sharp screen, and from what I can find on LCD reseller sites it is EXACTLY the same model of display used in FW390s and later.

This model is still cheaper than anything else in this performance class (look at the Clevo http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5550&review=AVADirect+Clevo+W765CUH SAME price as the F11 but not very pretty, it has lower specs, but it has a somewhat better screen. )

I suspect that Sony has an untenable number of these lousy displays, if they had to change everybody's screen then it would turn into to a huge loss for this model. It's a bad run of screens, I'm sure Sony didn't plan to give us these.

Early on they told me my screen was bad (it was!) but now I'm seeing equally poor displays that sony says are "Ok." Obviously the number of these screens with shaded polarization is relatively huge. There simply isn't stock to replace them.

We can all live with the display, and do what I intend which is to upgrade later on my own Dime to a REALLY good display; or start a petition, which will have to be done outside the purview of this forum...

Otherwise the F11 is what it is, and at least it's ok for application graphics. BluRay is hard to watch though, and doing so on the road was to be one of my uses of this machine.

 

All of sudden, the machine won't sleep properly. If I close the lid or just click on Sleep, it does appear to go to sleep. The light turns amber. When I wake it up, it immediately says Windows did not shut down properly and asks for safe mode or boot normally. If I choose boot normally, the computer boots up as if I had just cold booted it. This happens on all power profiles. Any ideas?

 

Again, this is a non defective looking F US screen.

 

Oh Man!! I just ordered mine a couple of days ago. Please tell me if you are in the US?

 

Vaio_F11 Owners, please vote now!

Poll: Sony_F_Series Owners Display (LCD) Opinions

 

That's a great idea. The use of the words "average" and "passable" reminds me of the time when the UK's education minister said that schools achieving a "Satisfactory" rating was "not good enough"... but that's probably just nit picking

 

arrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

What the hell??? my fan is on full blast non-stop now??? I just did a full restore to factory settings and it is still blowing COLD air....
Searching thru posts....any miracle fix?