Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

I too doubt that mcafee causes this problem, but if I google mcafee+restorepoints I get some hits.
Maybe it is time to uninstall it and go for something else for protection? I have absolutely no other idea

 

Thank you!

 

What? You did not see the screen captures above? You call a compact 1.46GB recovery partition for the Windows 7 Recovery Environment bloatware? Yeah, it is until the day you need it to fix your F and you don't have your system repair disc or Win 7 disc handy.

Is not just running the recovery discs normally, there are some tricks & installation order but instead of making 20 partial posts, I want to make a reference one & it takes time. Also doing some testing like booting from HDD in ODD bay, reinstalling from shrunk recovery partition (9GB to 1.46GB), etc.

I added only the most useful Vaio_software, all the special buttons works, I'm using a Bluetooth mouse & headset @ the present. These extras are using almost no resources compaired to the clean install state: using only an additional 2% of the memory.

It added 11 services but instead of focusing on that insignificant number, check the resources used. A service can be a hog or barely using resources. Clean install bare minimum vs. with Vaio_useful & esentials:





*****

Battery Discharge & Calibration

There is about 75 posts on that subject! Search this Thread with: Battery Discharge or simply go to page 1, post #1: Unification Post & search for battery.

Because I'm using a UPS, I can safely use the F w/o battery which I'm doing @ the present to check if it needs calibration again after reinstalling the OS. Report in 25 hours about discharge or not.

 

Hi everyone,

Just received my Vaio F today. So far, I love this machine!

Some things I especially like:

1) the screen -- looks great!

2) the sound volume/quality was more than I had expected after reading through this thread

3) how easy and comfortable it is to type on the keyboard!

4) how quiet the fans are compared to my old laptop (an HP dv6000)!

Some things that I wish were different:

1) The optical drive feels pretty loose with how much it moves in when you push on it. It moves as much as you'd expect the drive's eject button to move when you push it and at first I thought that pushing anywhere on the drive's caddy was the eject function just because of how much it moves. Makes it seem cheap.

2) The fact that when the laptop is turned off and plugged in on AC power there is no status light showing that the battery is charging. When the unit is off, there's no lights on whatsoever. Not really a big deal but something I had just gotten used to with previous laptops I've owned.

3) the amount of bloatware that comes on the machine. (although now that Joe Bleau has figured out a way to do a fresh Sony restore without it, I am waiting until he posts a How-To guide before really setting up my system)

Well those are my original thoughts on it, hope they're somewhat helpful

My machine:
i7-720QM, 6GB RAM, US 1080p GT 330M, Blu-ray Player, Seagate 500GB Momentus 7200, Backlit Keyboard

 

Some things I especially like:

1) the screen -- looks great! ----- did you have any lightbleed? Tried to watch hulu.com and make it full screen, usually you can see it on dark background.

2) the sound volume/quality was more than I had expected after reading through this thread - Tried to do the mute fix, see if it makes your laptop sounds quitter. Some people who have morse code issue doesn't even realize it.

3) how easy and comfortable it is to type on the keyboard! - Yes,I love the keyboards too.

4) how quiet the fans are compared to my old laptop (an HP dv6000)! - I never have issue with the fan as well.

 

i noticed i have tinyyy bit of light bleed but you really won't notice it unless you're actually looking for it. not enough to bother me at all.

or don't apply the fix... it theres nothing broken. don't mess with it. if it IS broken and you don't notice, it's the same as not broken.

and i know what you mean about the fans. i upgraded to the F from a HP too. heating and fan noise is horrible on those things...

 

Congrats & welcome to the club!

I have exactly the same machine including the Seagate Momentus.

"...no status light showing that the battery is charging" - Actually there is. It's in front below the touchpad on the extreme left next to the HDD LED & Wireless switch & LED. If the orange battery LED is off then it simply means that it's fully charged.

To make the F leaner & faster there are 2 methods besides optimizing services & startup:

- Try the OEM OS software & trials & uninstall the ones you don't want. I really don't think that Vaio_Care & Control Center are bloatware. That's the easiest & fastest way. Check this post with screen captures from new_vaio_F (DIY clean install), MelodyMaster (CTO Fresh Start option) & I (normal OEM state+ cleaned up) for a road map: F11_Series: Installed Vaio_Software Comparison & Bloatware? The caveat: some argue that it leaves garbage behind but it's possible to minimize that with the proper utilities.

- The other way is the "clean install": wipe the HDD completely & reinstall almost everything. That takes a couple of hours & search this thread with: clean install or clean install fun to find many questions by people that had some stuff missing or not working or that had to do it twice like Bill who had problems with Battery Checker.

Doing it with the recovery discs could possibly be easier & faster vs. an off the shelf OS. Report in 24 hours or so. What's cool is that I have two identical Seagate HDD's, one with each optimizing methods so I can compare score cards as it's in the same F so that eliminates hardware variables.

"Fresh install" is cute but does not mean anything as one may be talking about reinstalling the factory state or doing a DIY clean install or reinstalling the OS from a custom system image, etc.

Either way you should first:

1- Register with_Sony to get the International Warranty

2- Create recovery discs (to preserve factory state, DL not too good, 2 or more DVD's depending on factory installed software)

3- Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc (one CD)

4- - After customizing & adding software, create a System Image, which contains a copy of Windows and copies of your programs, custom system settings and personal files with Windows Backup (select the option "Let Windows Choose" for a full backup including hidden partitions) or an other backup utility. Depending on how much work & new stuff you create on the F, you should do regular backups: daily, weekly or monthly if you don't mind loosing a month's worth of updates, tweaking & personal files.

And most importantly: play with the thing.

*****

fatpandas: "...if it IS broken and you don't notice, it's the same as not broken" - +1!

 

Man I think I'm going to sell my F and try to get an Envy 17 >>

Such a sexy laptop. Guhh *drool*

 

Hi Guys,

I need a little help for my F11M1E (European model). It has now 4GB memory with 2 slots and I would like to change 1 slot to 4GB one, so at the end I have 6GB in total.

Attached is my Memory specs by CPUZ.

Question:
- can I swap with other Manufacturer's 1066MHz model (like Kingston or other)? I can buy Elpida here locally.
- any suggestion what model to buy? I dont want to spend fancy amounts, just what is necessary for an ordinary user.
- will I feel any boosts after the additional 2GB?

Many thanks,
V.

 

looks pretty nice and the possible specs are higher too. only problem I have with HP laptops is that they heat up so much and with the higher specs, i don't expect it to be cooling down any. and then theres the price bit... just tried a configuration with the envy 15 and tried to get it as close to my F as possible, almost $1000 more. the envy 17 is gonna be more expensive than the envy 15 so i think i'll pass.

 

The envy 17 starts at 1399

I'd go with the base anyway, especially if it ran at full speed on battery. This 931mhz thing is a crock of sh1t

However the Sony RDF kicked in, lol. I'm not wanting an Envy anymore. They're kinda fugly when it comes down to the brown stuff

 

This subject has been extensively discussed, search for "Memory." It's DDR3-1333, so far The F-series has used Samsung, Fujitsu, Hyundai, Kingston, and Renesas ram. Open the cover and LOOK at what you have..While it is best to match brands, laptop DDR3- 1333 seems to be pretty interchangeable across brands. One user bought https://www.ewiz.com/query.php?categry=0&s=D3-13S4GS&x=9&y=17

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony-owners-lounge-forum/464372-official-sony-vaio-f-series-owners-lounge-part-2-a-394.html (Halfway down.)

 

Hi, I just bought a F11. I am hearing the annoying whine sound...I applied the microphone fix, but the sound is still there.

I believe the whining sound is related to the fan?

Does anyone have a solution? The noise is driving me crazy..

Thanks in advance.

 

Yeah, ignore it. Its all you can do!

I've gotten used to it and I start worrying when I can't hear it!

Seriously tho, some guys on here have had parts replaced by sony but its made not a blind bit of difference!

I've just excepted it as part of the F's character and if (as in my case) thats the ONLY problem with yours, I'd just get on and enjoy it. It's a great machine after all.

 

Thanks. Just one question, my model VPCF11M1E/H has this memory specification:

Memory Size (GB) 4

Memory Specification PC3-8500

Memory Speed (MHz) 1066

Memory Type DDR3 SDRAM

So, should I go for a 1066 model or and 1333 one?
One 2GB 1066 will stay in, just need to add another 4GB module.

Thanks a lot.

 

If you have an i7 720, 820, or 920 you should be using only DDR 1333. If you're using an i5, or i7 620 it really doesn't matter since they can only take advantage of DDR 1066 anyway.

Hope that helps!

Man being a mac user so long makes me feel like a spoiled brat now. I just realized how bad that was! LOL. Was talking about how I like how despite the i7 and being pushed on heavy loads, the machine stays a fair bit cooler than my brother's last gen core 2 duo MacBook.

XD

 

It is an i5 520, so then 1066 should be all right.

 

Information that would have been useful to begin with; it's hard to track down specs with just a model number, especially with CTOs which can be anything..

 

there would be no problems. when mixing ram, it will run at the lower speed so if you mix 1333 and 1066 then all of it will run at 1066. but if i5 really doesn't utilize 1333 anyways, then 1066 is all you need.

 

I have the same exact configuration. I ordered a GRAY edition on May 03 and ETS (est. time of shipping) is May 10. Currently the status shows "Your VAIO is being built"

What color did you pick? Black? Gray?

EDIT: Yours must be a GRAY edition since you have 1080p which is NOT available on the BLACK edition.

Another Q:
Is the GRAY color a polished finish or a matte finish?
Do you see fingerprints on the panels besides the touch pad where we rest our palms?


Chimaera

 

The gray version is actually a silvery finish. A bit duller than satin but definitely not matte.
The lid is a slightly polished matte grey.

No you won't see fingerprints since it is not glossy.

1080p with GT300M and US CTO was available in black and grey versions. Guess they ran out of stock.

 

Hi Guys,

I am in the UK and looking to pick up one of the Sony Vaio F series, the model I am looking at is the VPCF11S1E/B. Link Below

VPCF11S1E/B (VPCF11S1E/B) : Technical Specifications : VAIO and Computing : Sony

The laptop comes with 6GB of ram which consists of 1 x 4GB and 1 x 2GB. I always thought that the memory needed to be in matched sized pairs to get the best speed from the machine, ie 2 x 2GB or 2 x 4GB. Does having different sized memory chips cause bottlenecks?

I would appreciate any advice you can offer

Thank you

PUD

 

Somehow I bet dual channel memory is disabled in the hidden EFI settings. XD

 

But why mix brands & specs? If one does not have a free, small & portable utility like SIW 2010 (System Information for Windows) which gives you brand, model, part # and even the serial # then you can unplug the F, remove the battery and remove the screw securing the memory access door which right in the center of the underside of the F to see what is your current memory.



Why not buy an identical one (2 or 4GB version) to guarantee the best & trouble free performance?

Do you use mix brands of tire & type of treads on your car?

For the F: different capacity size does not matter but different specs does: the slowest stick runs the show. Sony_ships the F with different brands & size but always with matching specs so no worries, the F is blazingly fast as all owners report in this Lounge.

*****

Battery Overnight Discharge and Power Plans Battery Life

Well after removing the VPCF11 battery for 25 hours, with the F uplugged, I pressed the power button for 5 seconds to drain residual power, installed the battery and plugged the F to boot it w/o draining the battery.

The battery charging activity LED stayed turned off & I immediately checked the battery charge level with the Windows battery meter & the more detailed SIW > Hardware > Battery Tab.

Glad to report absolutly no battery drainage. Note that I previously did the battery calibration cycle as described in the post linked in the Unification Post found on page 1, post #1.



While I had SIW running, I decided to check the battery discharge rate & battery life with the recovery disc clean install + Vaio_essentials. Bluetooth & wifi disabled in 3 clicks via the neat SmartWi utility on the taskbar next to the clock, no anti virus running in the background, HDD in ODD bay (or ODD) disabled via Device Manager, connected to the web via ethernet & LAN & corded laser mouse.

Compairing the default Vaio_Balanced power plan to the default Power Saver plan, one can see that you gain 37 minutes of battery life with the latter. Also of note: the discharge rate is quite low w/o cr@pware running in the background. Maybe you could check yours with SIW & report here?

 

Hi I actually have the Black version but I purchased it off of eBay rather than directly from Sony.
Paid $1400 shipped and bought a SquareTrade warranty for 3 years for an extra $130. IMHO Sony can't do better than buying from a top-rated seller on eBay who has access to volume pricing.

 

Hey guys, does anyone know how to restore the computer to an earlier date (before the first VAIO update)?

I believe the fan whining sound problem started after I activated the VAIO update...

Basically, I want to undo the update.

Appreciate if someone can explained to me how to undo the changes made by the VAIO update.

Thanks!

 

You should wait for the F refresh that coming out in about 1 month or so.

Its hard to enjoy something that bugs you at the first place, I tried...cant do it. The fan issue seems to be happen mostly on CTO, the retail version seems to be okay.

NVIDIA GTX 480M will bring Fermi to laptops this June, crazy power requirements and all
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/02/nvidia-gtx-480m-will-bring-fermi-to-laptops-this-june-crazy-pow/

 

Hey folks,
I just ordered a F1190X and was wondering what brands/types of DDR3 1333 people have upgraded with and any performance related issues that may have been encountered. I just can't stomach paying the kind of RAM prices most manufacturers charge to upgrade but after browsing Newegg I saw some conflicting reviews so I figured I better come here and ask the pros.

Thanks in advance.

 

Could somebody who did a clean install & deleted the recovery partition answer these questions please:

1- If you reboot your Vaio_F11 & hit F8, do you have the "Repair your computer" option in the list?

If you don't have it & want to see what I mean, boot with your system repair disc or recovery disc #1 or standalone Windows 7 OS DVD. Check this page for more info: What are the system recovery options in Windows 7?


2- If you boot & hit F10, do you get the Vaio_Recovery Center? If so, what are the options you see on the left panel?

*****

How-To Restore To Earlier Time?

Start > search: restore > click: System Restore. Et Voila!

 

Joe I'm glad I can answer your questions

The recovery software is partition specific. What I mean, is from the factory (and from a format & factory restore from the DVDs), the restore partition is present and you can run that the way you described (F8, F10? Whatever).

Nothing changes if you do a clean install in the same Windows partition your machine came factory setup with. You can still do a factory restore from that extra partition.

If you however, repartition/wipe the entire hard drive, then you'll have a completely naked Windows 7 install without that functionality.

But if you do a factory reinstall from the DVDs you burned (please do this when you get your computer!), then you'll get that functionality back.

Make sense?

The factory partition table has 3 partitions, well described:
* Small partition
* Bigger (recovery) partition
* Huge Windows 7 partition

If you wipe/reinstall on the Win7 partition, you can still do a factory restore straight from the hard drive as far as I can tell.

To be honest, unless you're starving for HD space or want to experiment with GUID partitions and your own tables (for different OSes), I'd stick with the OEM partition scheme and just do a clean install as desired.

Why? The factory install straight from the DVDs takes FOREVER. Like 4 hours!

another random note..
As most Windows power users would (and should) know, as long as you have the system restore state option enabled (I forget what exactly it's called, but it should be under the system properties window somewhere), then you can repair a Windows 7 install (this goes back all the way to XP). You'd simply have to boot from the retail disk..

 

Thanks for replying.

My questions are addressed to users who did a clean install on & formatted the entire HDD or used a new blank HDD or SSD.

I would like to know exactly what options they see on their F for the clean install from recovery discs article.

 

If you format the entire HDD, then it's a given you're giving it a new partition table. That stuff definitely goes away.

I've been playing with hard drives a lot (and different operating systems!) Sadly, there's no cool EFI restore stuff in there. Basically if there's no bootable stuff, then your computer will just sit at a black screen with a blinking cursor.

 

Folks have upgraded to diff ones, but best bet would be to get
The Samsung 4GB DDR3 one that comes in the laptop. Currently at 140 at eWiz.com
If you just want a 2GB here is the one I'm looking at M471B5673EH1-CH9 Samsung DDR3-1333 SODIMM 2GB Original Notebook Memory - DDR3 SODIMM 200 Pin - SuperBiiz.com

 

Nope. Hitting F8 on the VPCF when booting should give you something similar to this on a clean install:



Note: "Last Known Good Configuration..." repair tool.

With the clean install using the recovery discs I am working on OR with the OEM hidden Recovery partition, you have additional tools.

Hitting F10 when booting a on the VPCF that had the HDD fully formated may give access to a limited Vaio_Recovery Center which may be in the BIOS or in the hidden 100MB System Reserved partition (see it in > Search > Disk Management). Since I did not install from a standalone off the shelves Win 7, I can't very my theory so that's why I'm asking.

 

That's the Windows boot manager. You'll get something just like that with any Windows install..

I was saying if you had nothing at all on your hard drive OS-wise, you wouldn't have that menu.

To elaborate just a little more, I think that when you'd hit F10 to go straight into the restore partition at boot, it's using a boot manager from that hidden ~80mb partition.

The F8 boot manager is pretty much the same

Edit: Hey Joe, I just restarted my Vaio and hit F8 (I have a clean install with the OEM partitions intact), and the first option was "Restore your computer" It takes me to the win7 restore tool.

If I hit F10 at startup it skips going into my Windows partition and goes into the VAIO recovery thing. Thought so! LOL.

 

Why wouldn't people just mirror everything from the HD to SSD? That way you keep your recovery partition, if you want to fresh install win7 after that, you can do so too.

 

But you did not delete the OEM recovery partition so it's normal.

Maybe you could read the questions again http://forum.notebookreview.com/6221715-post4130.html

P.S. Why don't you ever keep the post subject title by using Advanced when replying? It's annoying to always edit your "Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*" titles when replying to your posts.

It's more user friendly when skimming this thread for subject of interest & makes Search this Thread much more efficient with a significant post subject.

 

Thanks "unknown id" for the link on where to get the 4 gig Samsung ram. Perfect match! Installed it today.
jim13

 

I just nuked my hard drive entirely with a fresh GUID partition table & format, which will house a very large Win7 partition and a large, but not quite as large OS X partition.

I'll let you know what happens when I hit F8 and F10 this time

 

Someone in this thread (I believe) found a 2.5 eSata enclouser for their sata hard drive. It came with a cable that plugged into the eSata port and carried the power also on usb part or the eSata port. I've searched but can't find it. Can someone point me to where I can purchase one of these. Thank you.

 

And the 80 - 200 Mb Boot partition required by win7 I assume.

 

That's required in the case of an MBR table. In a GUID install, you have a hidden EFI partition that is added automatically and can be happily ignored

 

Here you go: Sony_VAIO_F Power Over eSATA Port & ext Enclosures Benchmarks

 

Thanks for reply. Everyone seems to be out. I'll keep checking....

 

hello everybody,

I'd like to configure my own f series, and when i go to the Sony site, they say the 1080p screen is not available with a black chassis. How retarded is this? Anybody know if this has always been the case or if it is a new, and hopefully temporary thing? thanks for any feedback.

 

It's not retarded, it's: Just-in-time (business) and high demand for black.

Some speculated in this thread that they are clearing out inventory for an upcoming "refresh". Search this Thread with: refresh.

 

mine is a black chassis with the 1080p screen so it used to be available. unsure as to why they removed that option. it doesn't say out of stock or anything so it looks more like they just don't like the combo of 1080p and black.

are the chassis for 1080p and 900p screens different per chance? or maybe to add to the speculation, maybe new screens are gonna be in the refresh hence they want to get rid of old chassis stock?

 

Didn't you read last few pages of this forum?SONY is about to refresh their F series this summer. Like Joe said, use "SEARCH" function if you dont want to read through pages.

 

"Considering F" must be talking about US Sonystyle, and has got it lucky.. may I just remind everyone that the F-series is no longer available for sale in Canada, at all, Nada; it hasn't been for a couple of weeks and I'm told won't be offered for sale again until next month, presumably being of the refresh models. Also it is no longer offered by any South American vendor nor some European outlets. There's nothing "retarded" about gearing up for the announcement of new options and features for the next generation of F-series laptops.

There's no difference in the chassis for various screen resolutions. Options for the video GPU to go along with the screen may vary, but that's the vendor's choice.

I bundled Premiere CS4 with my F11 for $349. CS5 is now out, ANY system you now buy with CS4 is eligible for a FREE upgrade to the superior CS5 Unfortunately my F was bought exactly one month too early to take advantage of that offer, which would have saved me the $299 upgrade cost..