Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Is the video driver Sony released on the 19th of this month the 187 version?

 

The original was (8.16.11.8783) which must be the 187.
Update is (8.16.11.8867) which must be 188.

I think that's how the numbers work

 

It is the 188.67 version. The last 5 digits of the Sony version number is the NVIDIA designation.

 

The latest notebook driver available is

Released over 3 months ago, Sony have a lot of catching up to to do.

 

I didn't know about that update actually, I had a wild rush of hope. It is indeed 188.67, and still does not have CUDA. Now I'm even madder.

 

Did you put me on your ignore list? :cry:

VAIO_F_Series New Drivers: Nvidia & HDMI Size FIX!

 

I'm downloading driver 190.73 from laptopvideo2go right now, which is the latest driver they have which supports Device ID 0A29 (see GPU-Z below)

However, GPU-Z says the current Sony driver does support CUDA. In the picture below CUDA is checked. When I hover over the tick it says version 1.2 supported.

 

Please guys, run tests on your machines before linking to non-Sony_certified for F11_video drivers.

 

Drivers installed and as I feared the brightness keys now have to affect, I'm stuck at 100%. The slider in Windows Mobiliy Center also had no affect.



No change in the CUDA version and PhysX is is still unchecked. I'm sure in one on Mango's gaming video for Batman he said PhysX was enabled. Maybe GPU-Z isn't detecting it.

The Bus Interface has also changed, probably means nothing though. Haven't got time to try a game and see if there are any imporvements yet, it's nearly 6 AM here, I only woke up to get a drink at 3 AM .

I'm going to try a reinstall of the VAIO utils first to see if that fixes the brightness issue.

 

Reading through the update description, it seems like it only fixes some stuff for the sony software and hdmi... neither of which I use.

@Meody Have you tried seeing if updated drivers are available on omegadrivers.net? I think I used drivers from that site on my old Vaio Z1.

 

So nvcuda.dll in these drivers doesn't work in your application?

The drivers provided by NVIDIA don't come bundled with PhysX, the official NVIDIA drivers do come with PhysX. So you just have to download it from the NVIDIA website.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_9.09.1112.html

NOTE: Don't download the newest version of PhysX ( 9.10.0129), it requires drivers from 19X.XX up, so it won't work on SONY's ones.

The ones he linked ( 190.73) were release through Microsoft Windows Update.

 

I don't think it was me who did Batman, but I think you have to enable PhysX in the nvidia control panel? Weirdly, it was disabled by default on my machine.

 

Actually, gpu-z is reporting that I have CUDA and PhysX enabled??

 

Yep, same PhysX disabled by default on mine, thanks for the pointer!

 

I'm waiting for someone to respond to my question as to whether any none-Sony Nvidia drivers have been installed with NO problems, and as to how that was done. If you have successfully got recent drivers into the F11 then please tell me EXACTLY how you did it.

Thank you..

 

I'll say it again, it's SUPPORTED, but not ENABLED. Applications requiring CUDA do not run in Nvidia drivers lower than 191 (or 190.83) There WAS a hack where CUDA could be installed into 171 to 174, but I can't find that now.

I'm still waiting for someone to say (1) I have an Nvidia driver with working CUDA, and (2) brightness control works, there is no flicker, and the GPU doesn't run hot. and (3) If so, how was that accomplished?

 

Oh I guess I did see that, but I was expecting the VAIO update to take care of it, so I thought everything was up to date. Sorry.

 

No worries. I did not not install that video update yet for the same reasons as mangosango mentioned above nor any non-Sony video drivers because of all the problems you mentioned.

BTW, could you take an other pic for your avatar? I don't care about the F being in focus as I have one but the pretty cat could be more in focus, no?

Again, Zaza likes the mouse pad of My Vaio_F11:



************

Yes! 74 votes & counting in the Poll: Sony_F_Series Owners Display (LCD) Opinions.

 

188 is actually ok, SLIGHT flickering at the dimmest settings, which wasn't on 187, but that's all. That could be my screen in particular. All Non-VAIO drivers have been utter disasters.

Titch was in focus but the close front-on flash had her overexposed, gamma had to be dropped to increase range in her face. And that's my shortlived grey F11 by the way. IF I can get a decent picture of Titch admiring the black F11 I will immediately post it here...

Your cat is an Oriental? Reminds me of some sort of Rex.

 

That's the problem. I already read the text but with my limited english I can't extruded the steps from the text. So if somebody would be so nice to make it a little more clear. for example a step by step procedure.
Thx

 

No flickering here with 188.67 drives. I took a screenshot of the NVIDIA control panel. So the NVCUDA.dll doesn;t work in your application?

 

The problem:



The solution: Revised from the HP_Support How To Calibrate your Notebook Battery and customized for the Vaio_F11_Series:

A calibration cycle requires that the battery be completely charged and then completely discharged. During the calibration cycle, the power management properties must be disabled to allow the battery to completely discharge. Follow the steps below to calibrate the battery power meter readings.

1. Connect the AC adapter and allow the battery to charge to 99% - 100% of capacity.

2. Click Start , enter power options in the Search field, and then select Power Options from the list or press S1 on the Vaio_F.

3. Select Create a power plan from the left sidebar.

4. Click in the Plan name field and type Calibrator. Then, press Enter.

5. Select Never for all topics in the On battery column.

6. Click Create to accept the values and force the battery to consistently discharge.

- 6 a. Calibrator plan > Change advanced Power settings > critical battery: 1% > shutdown (instead of hibernate), and > Reserve Battery Level: 0%. To insure full battery drain.

- 6 b. Power Options > select Calibrator to activate that power plan.

7. Disconnect the AC adapter from the notebook PC.

8. Use your F notebook or not and allow the battery to discharge completely until the notebook PC automatically shuts down.

9. Remove the battery and press the Power button for at least 5 seconds to drain the residual power and reinstall the battery.

10. Connect the A/C adapter and restart your Vaio_F11 notebook or simply keep it turned off & let it recharge the battery fully.

11. After completing this battery calibration cycle don't forget to return to the Power Options dialog box (Step 2) and select your preferred default power plan setting.

12. Test: charge the battery to 100% > disconnect all devices > unplug the Vaio_F11 > run the powercfg diagnostic tool to make sure everything is OK on your F (you should not have more than the 9 standard errors for the F as shown in this Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report > plug again to recharge to 100% > turn off for the night > Turn on > check your battery charge state & it should show a 95~100% charge > report here to help other F owners!

If your battery still show power drainage after calibrating then please read: VAIO_F_Sleep & Hibernation Wake Up Problems Fix! as there may be a problem with your devices settings and one of them may be turning on your Vaio_F when you don't want to.

An example of improper device setting from that post:



Hope this helps!

----------------------------

In which language is your Windows 7? Can you read French or Spanish?

The idea is just to drain as much as possible your battery and charge it back fully. Your battery gauge should be now calibrated.

Press the S1 key and use these settings to drain the battery. Don't forget to reset them after the calibration cycle.

You will not find the "Calibrator" profile as I created it but you can use these settings in any power profile.

 

WHY do you have NVCUDA.DLL? It's not part of the 188.67 package. The existence of the dll doesn.t mean it will run. GPU-Z shows the CUDA radiobox ticked by the way.

 

Err... I have it too.

Start > search: NVCUDA.DLL



Man that Vaio_F11 is fast! Windows start button > search: NVCUDA.DLL, screen capture (Prt Sc), open Photoshop CS4 64-bit (or Paint) > open new document > paste capture (Ctrl + v) > crop > save in my web folder, open Expression Web & publish, then post image link here using my Firefox that has currently 64 tabs opened and all that in about 2 minutes.

 

I don't have NVCUDA.dll, just the compressed file stored in 197.13.

IF that is all that's needed for the application to run, not the full installed driver set, then that's my problem.

Could someone tell me WHICH folder it's in? it may be hidden from the search engine.

Ok, yes they were hidden, I have SEVEN NVCUDA.DLLS, so that's not the issue. As I say, as Nvida says, as Folding@home says, it needs to be driver 190.83 for Cuda applications to run.

Note that Just Cause 2 also is optimized for CUDA, and requires 191 or later to be at its best.

(BIGedit) much as I've monopolized the thread over the last couple of pages, I think the CUDA issue can be got around; the problem may be changes within win7, since I've found related programs also don't run now, but they did last week on this system.

 

Go to the NVIDIA Control Panel and check there:

 

Hello guys,

I received my F yesterday and i'm loving it so far. I played empire total war for an hour and the graphics are wonderfull. The system temepratures under load are good too. I'm still busy deleting all the unessary programs but so far it has been a very fast system. The EU screen is awesome too!

The only problem I have is the fact that the fan is always online. But I can live whith that when I open my device manager and show my classmates the eight freeking cores. Totally perfect systems do not exist. Beside this problem I don't have any other issues (like the morse code for example).

Joe

 

Download mine: http://www.monteverde.org/images/Sony_Vaio_F11/nvcuda.dll

Goes in: C:\Windows\System32 and restart. Does it show up as in MidtownHD's screen cap?

Search in C:\Windows & enable indexing for faster future searches.

 

Thanks this is very clear. My Windows is in Dutch. But I can read English, German and French (Live in Belguim, small country, so we have the need to speak a lot of languages). But I have one more small question.
Can I use the computer meanwhile or is it better to give it the time to charge down?
Thx

 

For sure you can use it while it is discharging. Just be careful not to loose some work when it nears zero. You can set the battery alarm to warn you.

 

Hello,

I now have a problem. Eve since I connected my lan cable to my laptop yesterday the wireless lan doesn't work. So when I disconnect the cable the connection is lost. The wireless lan switch is turned on, and all wireless devices are online. Windows is not able to find the problem.

Thank you in advance
Joe

 

All right! Discharging now, will report later.

Jef

 

Just thought I would say - I did this and my Vaio died from it Just to be warned. It's going back on Monday with a suspected motherboard fault.

 

Just maybe: Is the Wireless switch turned on? Located in front, under the touchpad.

ASSIST > Vaio_Care > Troubleshooting.





Try: Start > search: smartwihelper.

Please report back if you fixed your problem or not, it can help the next user with a similar problem.

 

Joe Bleau,

I just tested it again to get some screen shots. It wouldn't go above 930 MHz this time. I wasn't running a benchmark, just opening small utilities to activate turbo.

Don't know why I got 1.73 GHz before, on AC power it usually jumps to 2.4 or above when I open something. Maybe my reading glasses.

Oh well, 930 MHz makes more sense anyway.



John

 

Then just for fun:

 

It's because of that 1 to 4 cores as needed thing:

By roweraay ( more in his post):
i7-720QM:
Max Turbo Boost Frequency
4 Core: 1.73 GHz
3 Core: 1.73 GHz
2 Core: 2.40 GHz
1 Core: 2.80 GHz
Core Frequency: 1.60 GHz with DDR3-1333
LFM Frequency: 0.933 GHz <<<<<<<<<<<<<

 

Hi, I experienced the same with mine as it went out due to no battery available overnight. It helped to pull out the battery, re-insert it and connect to power again.

 

Hello,

My wireless lan switch is turned on, I installed al new drivers, used the windows problem solver, and still my laptop can't find any wireless networks.

According to the Intel proset/wireless program all internet devices are online, the drivers have been installed, the radio is on (i'm not yet sure what that's supposed to mean), but then at step 4 it says there aren't any connections avaible. Which is weird because my wireless router is on, and the switch wireless lan switch on my laptop is on too.

Weird......

 

I found the solution. The wireles network adapter was in 5ghz modus, when I turned It back to 2,4ghz it worked again.

 

And how did you find that? Just curious.

 

It probably sounds stupid but I thought the problem had something to do with vaio smart network (I don’t trust this kind of software from notebook manufacturers). I clicked on the pictogram in my taskbar on the right, and clicked settings. The only big setting you can change is in the wireless lan menu. In this menu u can change the frequency, you can choose for 2,4ghz , 5ghz, or both 2,4 and 5ghz. In my original settings it was 5ghz, changed it to 2,4ghz and then everything worked again.

I don't know what these frequency's mean and what they do. Could you explain it to me please?

 

So you did endup using SmartWiHelper. Frequency? Your laptop was talking French (5ghz) and your router English (2,4ghz).

 

I saw this system at Best Buy yesterday and I'm considering buying it. I've read through several pages of this thread, but I didn't come across how hot it gets. Would someone help me by telling me if this system runs hot normally or while gaming? Thanks.

 

That's because heat is not an issue with this computer. No heat issues.

 

Eliminate Volume Control Beep

Originally Posted by ajreynol View Post
go here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Event Service\

and rename "pi.wav" to something else. "pi-old.wav" will do.

it will no longer beep.

if on 32-bit windows, just go to "C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Event Service" and do the same thing.

enjoy your much quieter system.

I love this tip- thank you.

 

The laptop shutted down (luckely no dying) and I left it off while it was recharging now at start-up I get a reading of 95% witch rapidly dropped to 89%. This still isn't good but is't getting better.

 

Well, I have now read several forums and Google searches about what bloatware I safely can remove, and also did this (trial versions etc.) However, there are still a huge amount of VAIO programs in the Programs and Features dialog box, and there must be several of these that I can remove. I have already used PCPitStop and PCDecrapifier, but if someone can please share what bloatware I can remove and which ones are essential for my laptop, I would be extremely grateful as a new Vaio user.

 

I think there is a guide to what can be safely removed in the unification post link in my signature.

 

There isn't.