Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

So in other words you agree with me.

 

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

check this link, i'm about to do another update, and I'll try to find one more comprehensive review on the unification. I've been gone the last week, and this thread is 100 pages longer.... good grief. CALM DOWN PEOPLE!

Thanks for the PMs from thread users for suggested updates, I see Joe Bleau has been at it again, and he's put together some more useful posts (over informative, long winded, but otherwise perfect).

 

1- air space in the big box vs. confined quad core, memory, PM55 & audio chips, etc. in the Vaio_F11.

2- but it's not by the clumsy users.

3- then people would be whining about throttling when plugged in this thread. :confused2:

4- and mess up they do as some reported freezing, crashing & BSOD due to over-overclocking or video driver tampering.

 

I often do but in this case, I'm not sure.

I meant that for the US 1080p in the owners poll, more people are happy than the unhappy bunch.

I'm very satisfied about my F considering features/blazing performance vs. the excellent price point.

I don't mind spending in the future for even better SSD vs. my 7200 HDD , 8GB memory & matte display swap.

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BTW, I love you post title :tongue: . What the heck, I won't change it for this reply.

Re: Official Sony_VAIO_F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Re: Official Sony_VAIO_F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Re: Official Sony_VAIO_F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Re: Official Sony_VAIO_F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Re: Official Sony_VAIO_F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Re: Official Sony_VAIO_F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

 

I do think it's a little silly that a laptop made in 2010 can't shut off cores or slow the machine down dynamically when on battery.

 

uh oh, i guess i was wrong. The problem didn't fix itself. Happen again when watching a m2ts video. Watched the first five minutes and BAM!!!!!!! RIGHT IN THE KISSER! the screen just went black and accompanied with a drone kind of sound.

checked the event viewer as suggested by Joe. Dont know if it means anything to anyone




+ System

- Provider

[ Name] .NET Runtime Optimization Service

- EventID 1111

[ Qualifiers] 0

Level 2

Task 0

Keywords 0x80000000000000

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2010-03-29T01:58:06.000000000Z

EventRecordID 20469

Channel Application

Computer Marks-VAIO

Security


- EventData

.NET Runtime Optimization Service (clr_optimization_v2.0.50727_32) - Service reached limit of transient errors. Will shut down. Last error returned from Service Manager: 0x80029c4a.

 

I keep trying to figure this out.

First of all, remember that Sony and Sharp own a factory together since last year for the production of screens -- but primarily, if not exclusively, for televisions.

Secondly, there must be fewer people who will put up with the hassle of a repair or a return for the screen and more people who simply accept it, so that, in the end, Sony isn't spending more on the problem than its profit margin allows.

Thirdly, the deal with Sharp must mean that Sony paid less for that screen than before (for the FW series), so the profit margin must be higher -- higher certainly than for the Adobe RGbish screen of the European market.

Fourthly, North Americans want LEDs just as much as Europeans do, but no one has proven that the European matte screen is LED.

Lastly, I can't wait until the refresh to see what the North American market gets in comparison with the European market.

I'm convinced that the supplier sites are different and that's what's dictating the differences -- and the defects. Note the issue of the backlit keyboard's presence in the North American market and absence elsewhere. That requires changes in the system that are more extensive than the simple difference of a screen type.

I've always wondered whether that "innovation" hasn't been linked (or at least associated) with the issues with the screen in the North American market -- the North American F is a completely different unit from the European unit, it would seem, after all.

 

What video player? Where did the mts file came from? On line or on your computer or external HDD?

Is that the only error or warning reported around the time of the crash?

BTW, it's because of our posts exchange in the F owners display poll thread that I made this version of my avatar.

 

And I'm saying that in my own experience there is variabliity in the quality of the same model of display. The degree of "badness" is not a fixed figure, shading can be moderate or it can be severe, as it was in my first unit. Some buyers may very well indeed have displays with even polarization and the proper single viewing angle, but those could still be the same display model number, NOT a different brand, or model within the brand.

I'm guessing that you and Mangosango do NOT have one of the bad displays, and therefore don't really know what we, who are NOT happy with the display, are complaining about. Both yours and Mangosango's screenshots do not show the shading or "Flashlight" effect that my display still has. That's why you are both happy with the screen.

Your poll mostly reflects the number of actual good versus bad screens (versus in-betweens) installed in the US F11, rather than being the personal opinions of users who are all looking at exactly the same thing.

 

Sure - this is after a fresh reboot.

 

And this is mine after the computer has been on a couple of days (with periods of sleep.) Several IE Windows are open, as are two chat clients. Memory is NOT a problem with Win7..

Oops it says 6 hours, hmm, can't recall a reboot....

 

I see it more like our F11_poll.

I would like to wait a little bit for more votes before commenting but when calculating % within a given type of display, it's interesting: Awesome + average + passable + subpar = 100%.

For example with the votes @ the present for the US 1080p (F keyboard comes handy ):

Awesome / (Awesome + average + passable + subpar) * 100 =
20 / (20 + 10 + 9 + 9) * 100 = 41.6%

Awesome + average = 62.5%

passable + subpar = 37.5%

average = 18.7%

subpar = 18.7%
-------

EU 1080p Premium matte:

Awesome = 78.6%

average = 17.8%

Awesome + average = 96.4%

passable 0

subpar = 3.5%

--------

It's interesting to click any blue number to see who voted for what.

I'm thinking of doing an other one for commenting about initial quality, features, speed, repairs, returns, etc.

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

Vaio_F11 Owners, please vote now!

Poll: Sony_F_Series Owners Display (LCD) Opinions

 

This is not true, my GF mini 311 cost about $375 and have LED, all netbooks using LED actually. LED light is cheap enough these days, $200 and you might get the EU matte LCD.

 

It's much more than just a question of backlight type.

 

Hopefully the EU screen is a straight swap for the US screen, thats my plan too. Anyone brave enought to crack open their EU matte screen and let us know what the model number is...

 

Probably not, we North Americans paid less for the F11 than Europeans. I double dare any European owner to take the risk..

Having the European Matte Display model number would be SO extremely useful.. And a picture of he invertor and connection to the motherboard would be invaluable.

 

The LCD quality is subjective. I wish I had a camera to give you a good comparison but I just thought of a great one I could do.

My 23" desktop LCD is an S-IPS display I paid $600 for last year. There's NO laptops currently on the market with IPS displays (not since around the time IBM sold the Thinkpad line to Lenovo).

Those were amazing laptop LCDs. If you've ever seen an x61t with one swapped in, awesome. Frreaking awesome. No comparison XD None.

Compared to laptop LCDs, the Sony LCD is pretty decent (and by that, I mean the US one).

 

Has anyone done the HDD on optical bay (+ using the BD drive externally) setup yet? I saw Joe's "VAIO F 2nd Hard Drive Caddy in Optical Bay" post, but couldn't find any posts about actually having done it.

Between, I still haven't found the solution to the SSD problem I mentioned before . I still think it's hardware related (motherboard/chipset/bios). Several users have reported slow random speeds at the Intel boards, causes seem to vary... I'll post again if I eventually figure it out.

EDIT: Between, has anyone tried changing the SATA mode to IDE? The BIOS we have has almost no options, and the SATA mode is not one of them.

 

the mic "listen to this device" fix would cause the system not going to sleep mode (after 30min idle). I know several others have the same issue, just wanted to know if EVERYONE have this issue. Please report back.

 

Yes, I'm the proud owner of a F with 2 HDD's running @ the present.

The internal HDD's temp is 38c while it's 31 for the one in the ODD bay @ the present. My ODD is now external. I'm preparing a long winding post for tomorrow or the day after w/ a how-to including steps like drilling, hammering, kicking, slapping forehead, crying, etc.

Here is a teaser:

 

You have to allow the computer to disable on sleep: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6049869&highlight=listen+to+this+device#post6049869

And run powercfg -energy after that to see if the error is fixed.

You could also try using mic Fix #2 instead of "listen to this device" and set to Digital Output/Optical. Run powercfg -energy after that to see if the error is fixed. You have to also allow the computer to disable on sleep.
-------------

 

Hi GUys,

do you know if I can add SILENT mode to the Vaio control center? I have only balanced and performance. IS there any upgrade available? From what version is this included?

I ran VAio update recently, so my Control center is up to date ... but dont have that feature.

MAny thanks.

 

I have a random question of curiosity, well 2..

Guys who bought directly from Sony: I recall seeing pictures with a weird black thing at the top of the screen. What is that? I got mine from Best Buy and it had a stupid Best Buy software installer, but nothing weird like that.

Also: YIKES!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MYePij3yw&feature=related

My Vaio did NOT come in a box like that! SUcks to be us! lol

 

Hi,

I just purchased a pre-configured model F series. I've done a clean install and installed all the required drivers. When I mute my speakers or set the speaker volume to zero, I get a crackling sound coming from the speakers. It goes away when I unmute the speakers. I tried the microphone tweeting fix but it didn't make a difference. I already read the posts about speaker distortion, but those posts were about distortion at high volumes. Can anyone help? Thanks!

 

Can you be more specific? What weird black thing at the top of the screen? Surely you don't mean the motion eye webcam since we all have that right? If you run across that image again then definintely post it

Edit: do you mean an app instead?

I bought a CTO from Sony Style USA. Nothing out of the ordinary that we see here in posts. It also came in a pretty good box with the hard plastic tray organizer.

 

You can create your own custom profile and in the advanced settings set max CPU on battery and plugged in to 50%. Maybe also change the min value to 50%. That way the fan won't constantly speed up and slow down with when the CPU changes speed. I haven't tried it myself so don't know if it will work.

 

Yer, mine does that too. Usually on ramdom occasions though when i put it out of sleep, the speakers crackle for about 10 seconds then i just goes away. Dont know if its a problem with the flux capacitors or anything!

 

RAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here are you picatures(well mine). I think i've really messed up my computer. Crashes way too much, and since this morning, it doesn't like hibernating. If i try to hibernate it, it just goes black and just, just, just blank screen.... Did i mention it likes to crash alot and i'm not liking the BSD i've gotten around 5 times

Btw, Australia isn't upside down, we dont ride kangaroos and DINGO's dont steal our babies I would make a Costa Rica avatar but hmm, dunno. Maybe my mind isn't as creative as yours





[img=http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5025/error32.th.jpg]
[img=http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/5516/error64.th.jpg]

 

@makmegs

Why don't you try and restore it to the factory state. Make sure you've done the recovery discs beforehand. I don't even know if you should even reload any backup image of your current setup except for your personal files because it may be a software issue after all.

I had the black screen and high buzzing occuring infrequently when viewing online video streams. (twice only to be exact) Once I restored it to the factory state and watched about 10 streams in youtube etc. in the past few days, it has been performing solidly.

EDIT: I've also had the 'display driver has stopped working and has recovered successfuly' error message a number of times as well running Mass Effect 2 and AutoCAD 2010. Reloading the original Nvidia drivers from the Sony Site as recommended by Sony tech support did solve the issue. I have installed their updated drivers form the Sony site and to date, no problems.

 

I've given up overclocking the GT330M. I'm not knowledgeable enough about it yet and I believe that in trying out different options in a non-methodical way with Nvidia tools I somehow screwed up my video driver which gave me the 'the display driver has stopped working and has recovered successfully' error message. As I mentioned before, reverting back to the stock driver and the updated driver has fixed this issue...so far....hopefully

Besides, I've completed ME2 and only really need this now for occassional 3ds Max renderings. Stock clocks give impressive rendering output for a consumer laptop. Definitely workable when i'm offsite though I don't do much of the architectural renderings anyway for the office.

I might try Splinter Cell Convictions though. That's another title i'm curious about that's not coming to my PS3 console.

 

My F auto updated via Vaio_Update_5 the Event Service & the Fn + any functions works fine.

The updates so far for the BB US VPC115FM:

 

Thank you for the heads up. I ran VAIO Update 5 to get these manually, except for "Sony Home Network Library" which appears to be something I don't have installed.

 

"Btw, Australia isn't upside down" - yes you are as everything is relative.



Can you see the red type from down there?



If your F is crashing so much, you may want to consider restoring it to factory state after backing up your data naturally.

 

No worries if you don't need it: "This utility updates the Sony Home Network Library to resolve an issue where VAIO® Media Plus and Media Gallery applications are unable to view certain pictures imported from 3rd party cameras" http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=5573&template_id=1&SMB=YES

 

Constant crashing is hardware, always. Youtube crashing probably is hardware since it always comes round to that, if you follow the threads on Youtube crashing. Laptop crashing on Youtube is always bad memory or just plain being an Nvidia motherboard chipset, which Youtube doesn't like. I'm a heavy user of Youtube and have never had a crash or freeze, not once.

I'm not clear, HAS Makmegs run a hardware diagnostic on his F11 as I recommended he do so?

You put your computer on an uncovered BRICK Joe? (Shudder..)

 

I don't have "Media Plus" or "Media Gallery," Obviously that's "Bloatware" that isn't included with Fresh Start, though it is an optional post-registration download.

(edit) Win7 Pro has its own library and file gallery which seems to do the same thing.

 

You say that... but running prime95 (what settings did you run it at btw?) and memtest have done nothing for me... although for me it crashed just that one time. Couldn't recreate the problem even by opening multiple youtube vids.

 

Yes, I believe it is possible

 

YOU!!! From the land of maple syrup, what is this "hardware diagnostic" you talk about

 

He probably confused you with me. I posted about a crash as well, he advised to run prime95, memtest and do the vaio hardware test thing that's pre-installed in your laptop... all have come out clean for me, so I'm still wondering where that one black screen crash came from when I was playing three youtube vids at once.

 

Hmm, dotnet too? You have a hardware problem, I'd bet my career on it. It could be the hard drive, or a power supply glitch. There have been quite a few out and out power failures in this thing, maybe a marginal voltage somewhere? Run Prime 95 for Win64, version 25.11 build 2 until you're really sure. Also try taking out each memory stick (if you have two) one at a time and see if errors go away.


(edit) Kayron is right, I was thinking of his case. If you haven't run hardware diagnostic at ALL then waste no more time, do so now. Memtest, Prime95, and VAIO diagnostics.

 

I agree on that one.

I disabled the folders scanning services of Media Gallery so it's not bloating anything. Just want to play with it before deciding to remove or not.

I just got 1 feedback from my Autoruns posts but it's one fast & powerful tool compared to the old msconfig. Just made that grab with the compare function from out of the box snapshot vs. my current F state with the Mediaplus services disabled:

 

Is the Search this Thread tool on top right of this page broken in Australia?

I disagree with Melody, it's not the plane. The problem is in the cockpit.

page

 

HEY!


And i've run all the tests you asked me and they all came up clean

 

Nope, I asked you some important troubleshooting questions to which you did not reply to.

Search thread: hardware diagnostics.

 

you're confusing me


I'm going to bed now. You've made my brain hurt. And like all things i'll just wish it was a dream and the whole problem will go away when i wake up to a nightmare 9 hour uni day...




Edit: I've done all you've said, what more do you want from this poor old boy?!?!?! Hardware test all came up with no errors(except dvd drive, didn't have a cd near me)

 

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

 

All,
I placed my order for a CTO a couple of weeks back. Due to ordering the premium screen they changed the ship date from 3/30 to 4/13! I checked on the order and it is STILL saying Processing!
Can someone who did a CTO tell me if they ever change to something like Build in Progress etc??? or does it just go to Shipped?

Thanks!

Ordered CTO
-Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor (1.60GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.80GHz
-Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
-Black
-320GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
-4GB (4GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
-Blu-ray
-16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080) with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
-Fresh Start
-Standard Capacity Battery
-Keyboard Backlight

 

- M2TS File is a "BACKUP" of the blu-ray movie "Stargate Continuum"
- Player is "Media player Classic Home Cinema x64"
- File location is on Hard Drive
- Yes those 2 errors where the only ones at the time of the crash




I bid good day to you sir!

 

I also did the troubleshooting measures in VAIO Care including and extended Memtest and came up with zero errors.

Also, I never saw anything reported in the event viewer...