Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Hey im new to the form hows everyone doing?

 

Hi, someone is selling a Sony VAIO F115FM, it originally came with a NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics - Features 1GB dedicated video memory, but it now has integrated video? How is that possible? Is it possible to remove the Nvidia geforce card and have the video run off of the mother board? Is it possible to buy the nvidia geforce card and replace it?

Any information is greatly appreciated thanks.

 

I do not believe that is possible. Something sounds amiss.

 

You CAN "Repair your Computer" with the F as well (VAIO Care - Recover Computer). The Dell and Vaio both use a "Recovery partition" to provide default software. The point is that Wintereq is also deleting his Recovery partition, NEITHER the Dell nor the Sony can go back to factory default if the information to do so has been wiped!!

The recovery discs are in case the hard drive fails, taking out the backup files, OR if someone wipes the recovery partion. Dell or Toshiba or Sony, if you reformat your hard drive AND have not made recovery discs, then you CAN'T recover your computer...

And I'll say again, the VAIOs have excellent recovery tools both for restoring and updating the system - the best I've encountered in fact. BUT if you want to consider VAIO care "Bloatware," and delete the recovery partition without running backup, then that security all goes into the Dumpster.

 

No, it's either not an F (or FW,) or the computer is royally screwed. There's no onboard video. An i5 COULD provide video, but only after major, and impossible, modification. The Nvidia GPU is not on a card, it's soldered directly to the motherboard.

 

3DMark06 score 6451
3DMark Vantage score 2822
This is with the same hardware, Nvidia driver 197.45 and 71 running processes. So for 3DMark06 out of the box is great

 

What? You like your F i5 900p & don't have any issues? You weird!

Did you select "check for errors" when making the recovery discs? Did you also create a Windows 7 system repair disc (one CD or DVD)?

*****

Recovery Discs or Recovery Partition?

1- You can repair or return your F to factory state with the recovery partition IF your HDD is not dead or defective.

2- You can use the recovery discs to install the factory state on a brand new blank HDD in 2 hours like I described here w/o needing any image or cloning software: Vaio_F replacing the OEM HDD. Note that installing your current system state with your added software & customization is different: Windows 7 Backup with repair disc & a fresh system image.

3- You can use the recovery discs to install some OEM drivers & software on a clean install if you deleted the recovery partition when doing so. Value added software not available on esupport like Roxio, WinDVD, PMB, etc.

4- You can use the recovery discs to securely wipe out your personal data & return the F to it's factory state before selling it.

5- You can use the recovery discs as the last troubleshooting step before sending your unit for repair by totally wiping out the HDD drive & reinstalling the factory state & partitions to make absolutely sure the problem was not caused by some messing around you did on the F. Before doing that, make sure you backup all your personal data and create a full system image which you should always do anyway before sending the unit as Sony_support often reinstall the OEM OS state as a troubleshooting step & they don't guarantee that your personal data will still be present after servicing.

6- You can use the recovery discs to do a clean install that is easily upgradable to Professional or Ultimate just by entering the proper key. I did it several times & using the recovery partition takes about 35 minutes & using the discs on a blank HDD: 55 minutes.

7- You can buy a model specific Vaio_F RECOVERY DVD KIT on esupport if you deleted the recovery partition and did not create some yourself before doing that but for my model Sony_wants $63 so I rather do it myself for $2.

*****

GPU is Not Removable

No, the GPU is welded to the motherboard. Go to the Unification Post (link can be found on page 1, post #1 of this thread) where you may also find some other useful links about the F besides that info.

 

Thanks for the quick response, your the man!

 

OK, making a copy would be good, unfortunately my girlfriend was in a hurry, so I had to put my SSD drive right to the new Sony laptop. If I had a time would do this, just for having a comfort.

Anyway, AFAIK they don't require a user to have a Recovery Partition or OEM Windows installed during the RMA process or it might work a bit different in the US and here in Europe.

Nevertheless, I'm very happy from this Sony laptop, great screen, really nice look, quiet (at least in Power Saver mode). One thing makes me a bit angry, it's a SPACE button, it's working really loud.

P.S: Where can I get information about the production date of my laptop?

 

Please bear with me for my lack of understanding a Clean Installed computer. So with this F11, there is an option that lets you bring it back to the Original factory setting if you have not deleted the recovery partition?

Do users only delete the recovery partition (does this = clean install?) to rid the laptop of most software that they consider bloatware?

 

If you burn those recovery disks and do a clean install (nuke the entire drive), you can turn around later and use the recovery disks to bring the entire hard drive to a factory state (including the factory restore partition).

It just takes stupid long, like 4 hours.

 

Nice one....our results are almost identical. is that nVidia driver a significant improvement over the factory driver?

By the way I downloaded your colour profile from this site for the semi-gloss screen, its way better than the factory settings.....so thanks!

 

It is difficult to know if a driver is an improvement over another version because I'm not a gamer
In the Dutch forum at tweakers.net ( [Ervaringen] Het grote Sony Vaio VGN-F11 Series topic - Complete Systemen & Laptops - GoT ) people mention that their F11 runs quieter with it.
If you read the release notes you see that a lot of thing are fixed or improved: NVIDIA DRIVERS 197.45 WHQL
There were some people who complained of brightness issues with this driver.
I downloaded this driver: v197.45 Windows 7/Vista 64bit | NVIDIA Desktop - LaptopVideo2Go Forums and the inf file : http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/infs/195series/19745_win7x64/nv_disp.inf and they installed without any problems.
We have our own driver thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...ate-197-16-gt-330m-10de-0a29.html#post6092381

Great that my color profile can help others.
I found it amazing what a difference a good calibrated screen makes.
That is why a bought a calibration device and use it on all computers I come in contact with.

 

The ONLY reason to delete the recovery partiton on the OEM drive is to regain the 13 gigs used by the partition. (Less than the space of two HD movies, or maybe three Data DVDs.)Myself I have a 16Gig SD ultra card stuck in the front slot to use for archives, thus regainiing that space and providing portable storage. The recovery partion is highly efficient since the data is compressed and provides some 60 gigs of files for recovery. Users may choose not to have a recovery partition if they change the drive.

 

You know, I really wish Sony offered a replacement keyboard tray/trackpad piece that had a perfectly centered keyboard and trackpad (without the numpad), if all else at least as a CTO option.

LOL!

 

So I went and had a little fun considering this, sticking a Sony F board into a Sony FW. It's really nutty, but look:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...es-owners-lounge-part-2-f11-mobo-bottom-2.jpg

FW board:
http://www.nbhow.com/UploadFiles/2009426115022691.jpg

I'm definitely not planning to go do that, but I'm surprised how the two boards are very, very similar.

 

Any luck with the keyboard/trackpad? I'm sending mine in for repair as soon as work permits it, even though the keyboard is working in the bios and sometimes in Linux I'm pretty sure this is a hardware issue as the trackpad doesn't work no matter what OS I use and keyboard functionality is anything but stable in none windows OSes. Good luck and hopfully in a few weeks we will both have repaired units cause apart from the faulty input devices this laptop is a pure pleasure to use

 

avatar screenshots?

 

Before you said it was working in Linux & now you say it works "sometimes in Linux"?

This is an other "clean install" I presume? Were they working in the OEM state out of the box?

Unless you like sending the unit for repair, I would try:

1- Boot in Safe Mode (F8) to see if they work to rule out hardware problem.

2- Use System Restore to go back in time to a point where they were working if you have such a restore point.

3- Connect a wired mouse > Device Manager > Uninstall keyboard & touchpad > reboot in Windows.

4- Connect external keyboard to see if it works. Download fresh Alps driver from esupport, uninstall touchpad & current driver, reboot.

5- Check Sony_support > Clean Install Instructions for Windows 7 > Step 3 ... IMPORTANT: It is strongly recommended that you install the files in the following order (in bold by_Sony).

6- Turn off laptop > disconnect > remove battery > press power button for 5 seconds > plug and turn on w/o or w/ battery.

7- Right click C: in Explorer > tools > error checking > reboot when asked.

8- Check the integrity of the Windows 7 system files with System File Checker, it takes only about 1 minute with the fast F (on Win 7 support): How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows 7.



9- Create a complete system image which is good backup practice anyway & necessary before sending the unit for repair & try step 5 in this post: "...use the recovery discs as the last troubleshooting step before sending your unit for repair to make absolutely sure the problem was not caused by some messing around you did on the F". That means restore to factory state to see if they work.

10- VAIO_VPCF Series: How to Reset The BIOS & CMOS and don't forget the set the clock which will now show 2009.

Good luck & please report back for the benefit of other users with a similar problem.

*****

What is Clean Install?

Click Sony_support link in step #5 above. Check also F11_Series: Installed Vaio Software Comparison & Bloatware? and VAIO_F MSCONFIG out, Autoruns in! and this tutorial that includes useful links: Speed up Windows 7 on w7forums.com. There are other ways to speedup Win 7 besides the radical clean install that would also benefit from these suggestions BTW.

A clean install is wiping out the C: drive & installing a generic Windows 7 OS & all the necessary drivers & software from scratch, replacing the OEM Windows 7 OS. You can either keep or delete the OEM recovery partition & it is still a clean install.

 

Hey guys, finally got my new Vaio F11 =), but I am with a trouble: how the hell do I turn off that "light saver"? That light sensor that lows our light down?

Thanks =)

 

Vaio Control Center/Display/Automatic Brightness Settings uncheck the box that says "Adjust brightness automatically" and hit Apply

 

Worked =)

Thank you very much ^^

 

Go to the Unification Post (link can be found on page 1, post #1 of this thread) where you may also find some other useful links about the F besides that info.

Any other feedback about your new machine that could be helpful to prospective buyers lurking in the shadow?

 

Well, so far so good ^^, but I haven't done much on here.
By the way new problem xD, i've downloaded 2 types (both spider things) of color pattern (or so), and they both suck :S they're suposed to make my screen more awesome but they just turn it into more pink or something similar xD.

Any help?

 

There are more than two posters giving up their calibrations. I'm using Spyder2express.icm but try JoeBleau's and others to find one that seems to work for you. Or you can buy a calibrator.

 

I think its awesome in movies, but in "work" or web browsing I will stick uo with the normal one.

 

Hello everybody!

I got my F11 one month ago here in Brasil and think I can say a few things.

• Intel® Core i7-720QM (1.60GHz)
• Cache L2: 6MB
• VAIO Full HD Real Widescreen 16,4" (1920 x 1080)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU com 1GB
• 6GB DDR3 SDRAM, expansível até 8GB
• HDD: 500GB.
• ODD Blu-ray Disc, DVD e CD
• Memory Stick PRO(TM) [4], Secure Digital (SD), Express Card.
• Ethernet: 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T com interface RJ-45

There are no custumization options and the F112HB black/carbon is the only model available.

Took some pictures to show, specially the mate screen. Yes, I'm a lucky one.









I took a dark room image but you guys will be frightened as in The Blair Witch, so I removed it.

This is my second laptop and I must say that compared with my previous FZ, its amazing, in any sense. I did expected some improvement but not it will be so great.

There is no morse code, fan noise, fan perma-running, screen dimness, screen botton leak, keyboard squeeky, CPU throttledown on battery power and, after yours battery calibration tutorial, no more battery draining/miscalibration. Uff!!

Right now I'm very happy and it worth each cent.

But, here it comes, I'm working on 2 issues...

1) Sonystyle claims that HDMI output can show video/audio on a BRAVIA television. This worry me a little... Only on Sony BRAVIA ? Well, I hook it on a Samsung television and guest what? Only video and only on DVI IN. Maybe its a drive issue, or the Samsung's HDMI is crap. The fact is, when conected with my 5 years old Sony BRAVIA everything is fine. And using the same HDMI cable! I dont think upgrading the NVIDIA driver will solve this.
I dont have a BluRay DVD disc to test on Sansung... all I have is a .MKV file in the HDD that worked on BRAVIA. I dont know... maybe the HDCP is doing his job.

2) I had the same problem that Molody has with his wireless Atheros card. Changing some router's options did the trick.
Network Mode: wireless-n only
Radio Band: wide - 40MHz channel
Standard Channel: 1 - 2.412 GHZ
But in this way only N devices can access the network. I'm working on this...

Hope my "engrish" was clear enogh.

c ya!

 

I'm having problems with the HDMI too. There is no image on an LG 40" TV no matter which cable I use or how both units are configured.

The ultimate solution for the Atheros card was to update the Atheros firmware. Now it's flawless.

Your English is great..

 

You mean driver or firmware?

My Atheros driver is already 8.0.0.238.

 

Hey Rowerraay, long time no chat--I've been off this forum a while, busy using the Vaio F to make mincemeat out of Lightroom tasks, to quote either you or JoeBleau. I was intrigued by your little project to replace the screen. I might be interested in doing the same, however, I also need to consider the old adage, if it ain't broke...I've been doing lots of color critical work on the Vaio F with the original USA screen, and as I've gotten used it, I really can't say I've had any problems. However, I am curious about a few things. First, your thoughts now that you've been using it a while--do you really believe that the new screen provides distinct real world advantages when it comes to photo editing, and if so, what? Also, about the process itself. Like you, I'm not a computer builder, but I've tinkered a bit. Were there times during the removal of the old screen or installation of the new one where you felt nervous that something might break or get messed up?

On a second topic, any new word on firmware from Toshiba for TRIM for the SSD?

 

You were happy when I posted the link to the Brodcom Bluetooth firmware, why not return the favor about the Atheros?

@ duna: Welcome to the club & thanks for taking the time to post some feedback & photos.

One comment: could you edit your post and put some photos on different lines to prevent annoying horizontal scolling?

@ slrosenfeld: Long time no see stranger! I may also swap the LCD but for the Premium Matte if we get the model # & if it fits on the US F's mobo but maybe you should wait for the warranty to be over as I will.

 

hey man , can u plz post me a link to any of the battery calibrations tools plz? many thnks!
sid

 

As the tireless little Joe would say:

Its in the unification post.

 

It seems that sidali prefers human search engines and that his Shift key is broken.

can u plz rite in englich az sum ov us r trying 2 even if itz not our language

******

 

@Joe Bleau. I'm impressed with your staying power. Honestly, I've not been coming to this forum simply because I've had no issues with the laptop. Zip, zero, nada, no problems. And I'm not quite as selfless as you to stick around to keep helping others.

For those still considering this laptop, all I can say is after using it daily for the past four months I just keep liking it better. It's a workhorse that handles anything you throw at it without breaking a sweat. My desktop workstation (itself no slouch) has been relegated to a printer server. Anyone considering the ASUS stealth bomber laptop as a substitute should think carefully about connectivity. There have been times when I've had three external harddrives connected at once (one via esata, one via USB2 and one via firewire), and still had room for a mouse or card reader. The issue of the screen has been beaten to death, but it still seems to keep coming up. Sure, I'd prefer the European screen but that said, I've found this (US) screen to be more than adequate for my (fairly demanding) photo editing needs, and I think it's gotten a bad rap, simply due to the comparison with the even better European screen.

Has anyone else besides Roweraay changed their screen?

 

How about 2 HDD's via eSATA + whatever? Vaio_F HDD via eSATA/USB two-in-one Expresscard 34 benchmarks.

I want to thank you for your reply way back when I was having a hard time choosing between the 900p & the 1080p because of my old eyes. You tipped me towards the right choice for my photo editing: 1080p. I owe you one.

Thanks for your kind words. It's nuts, I know.

 

Joe and everyone else on here -- thank you so much for your continued support to us new owners on here!

I've read through the unification posts and a majority of this thread but still seem to have a question unanswered so I figured I'd take a shot and see if someone can help me out here.

I bought my Sony F from an eBay seller who shipped the computer brand new to me but with 3 changes in it:
1) he upgraded the hard drive to a 500GB 7200 RPM Seagate Momentus
2) he upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 6GB.
3) he installed Windows 7 Ultimate on it (the sticker on the bottom of the laptop is a serial for Win 7 Home Premium)

He also included 2 Recovery DVDs which he created (for Win 7 Ultimate).

My Problem:

In Sony Vaio Care, under Recovery & Restore, I only see two options: 1) Restore Windows or 2) Install Applications and Drivers. There is no create recovery DVD option.

When I checked my partitions using Windows' Disk Management it shows 2 partitions on my hard drive -- a 86 MB System Reserved partition and then my 465 GB windows partition.

If I hit F10 while booting up, I see the screen below (image attached). Hitting Enter, just loads windows normally.


My Question:

Is there a way I can create the original Sony recovery DVDs? Is that 86 MB System Reserved partition empty? My ultimate goal is to create a DVD recovery set and then follow Joe Bleau's instructions on how to do a semi-clean install (keeping the Vaio stuff, as I don't consider all of it to be bloatware).

Thank you for any help anyone can shed on this!

 

I also have this tiny little "ping" noise! For me it happens repeatedly, not just once. It occurs even when the speakers are muted, and it occurs even when the Blu-ray drive is open. It doesn't come from the air vent end of the machine -- it sounds like it's coming from somewhere around the power LED, actually.

Anybody else hear this noise?

 

Thanks for the suggestion--that is a good idea. I've noticed that the drive connected via esata seems to perform significantly faster then the same drive connected via usb2. Since my enclosures can connect either way, and I never use the express card slot, adding another esata connection there makes a lot of sense. And the price is right

 

I've connected my F to my Philips TV via HDMI without a problem.
Just so you guys know it also works with other brands, not only Sony Bravias.

 

I found an interesting little app that monitors system performance for increased power saving: Granola - Guilt free computing

Haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising.

Speaking of power, I took apart my F the other day and put the CPU and GPU under some liquid nitrogen and started cranking up the voltages and clock spee- haha just kidding

I've been playing with Crysis some more, and I did a 1080p 4xAA render at 60fps and synchronized the audio in Premiere. The results are... well pretty amazing, considering that the F wasn't even meant to be a gaming computer.

Youtube video: YouTube - Crysis SP - Cutscene 1 HD 1080p

The game pretty much looks like a movie. Youtube HD usually puts artifacts in everything, but the xvid is available here (~240MB): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/126056/CrysisCutscene1.avi

 

Hello everyone. Just this evening I've become interested in the F due to a unique circumstance at my local (USA) Sony Style store.

Long story short, I went there interested in the E Series, but the sales rep told me about an open box F series, that was a display unit, that was replaced and is now sitting in the back. 25% off... I had them read me the specs, and I customized one on Sony's website, and they want $917, compared to $1514 from Sony Style. HUGE discount.

So... if that is still available in 1 week when I have money, I'll be buying it.

I've read back a few posts and someone mentioned a refresh is coming? Would I regret buying the F series now? I was really looking at a portable machine, and 16" form factor I hadn't even thought of, but at that price, for that much power, I can convince myself of anything!

Thank you for any help. I appreciate it.

 

Sorry but your recovery partition is gone & that's why you can't create recovery discs as there is no more data to burn.

Don't worry about it since you have Ultimate. The upgrades the seller made are all good. Get the free, small & portable SIW 2010 and under License you can see your product numbers. File > Save a report with it for a ton of data on your system.

Just create regularly a fresh System Image which contains a copy of your Windows Ultimate and copies of your added programs, customized system settings, and files with Windows Backup or an other backup utility. Beats a recovery partition that brings you way back to the factory state.

BTW ALL Win 7 install create a small System Reserved partition for BOOTMGR, don't touch that!

You could always pay $63 to Sony_for a set of factory recovery discs but I would not do it. Check esupport for your model for a link to the set.

 

I hooked mine up with HDMI to a Samsung LED TV via my Onkyo Receiver. I had to set my receiver up correctly first then point my Display settings in the laptop to the receiver and Voila!

 

Display Myths Shattered: How Monitor & HDTV Companies Cook Their Specs

Display Myths Shattered: How Monitor & HDTV Companies Cook Their Specs | Maximum PC

 

Oh my god I bet "Serenity" looks amazing on the F. That will be one of the first things I do when I get one.

 

Do we know of any issue where the bluetooth doesn't work once the computer wakes up from standby?

 

Yes, happened to me all the time. Make sure Bluetooth is not in power-saving, and update the firmware.

 

To No End found the solution & it worked for me as the Bluetooth mouse would loose connection several times a day:

There is a recent Broadcom Bluetooth Firmware Update 04/29/2010 2.2.3.593.596, 2.22 MB. Check the Sony_esupport page for your model:

Note that the Bluetooth mouse Power Management setting is a different story as it may prevent proper auto sleep or Hibernate. If "Allow this device to wake computer" is checked then it may wake up the F while it's unattended or in your notebook case.

 

Hello everyone.

Will you please tell, how to partition the HDD into 2 parts so as not to lose data set windows 7 home premium. (Vaio F US-VPCF1190X, HDD 640Gb Toshiba)

Thanks in advance
David