Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *Part 3*

Hi,

basically the process of the clean install is still the same as with the F11.
You should read the entire guide from joe.

Here is a post with some screenshots of the german version:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6523681-post2507.html
and another one with a short step overview:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6527705-post2579.html

Hope this works for you!
Please be so kind and take photos and screenshot from your English program
and hand them on to Joe Bleau. He will update his page so all of us will benefit.

You can't really do to much wrong. With the dvds and the recovery partition
you can always restore the system from scratch. So the only thing you should not delete is the recovery partition.

 

It's 933 mHz x 4 core on battery & it's because of physics & by Intel's design. Check this post: VAIO_F Series CPU Speed on Battery. I specified plugged in my example BTW.

Check: post by FredFrenzy, HP Gaming Staff replying to this question on the official HP ENVY forums: "... the processor gets locked at low frequency mode (x7) and all we get is 930MHz (on battery). This is unnaceptable. Has this been discussed?"

HP staff reply: "This is correct and as designed - turbo mode is disabled. We do this on many of our notebooks. Not only turbo, but the maximum speed are disabled while on battery. The maximum speed is not possible on battery power, the battery is 52 watts only (and the system needs ~110 watts for full performance)".

The F has zero throttling "issues".

Keep on digging!

*****

 

Joe,

Per your request...my controller driver:



Now, my point in showing my controller was that Emil's is shown as a 4 Port AHCI controller, where mine is 6 port. All of the controllers on our machines, even the base F11s, have the 6 Port controller. Is there a difference? I don't know...I only use this driver, and since I have no problems, I have no need or desire to switch.

 

It is a 6 port controller, but I have testes with different drivers and every driver works.

 

I have SSD tests on quite a few drivers too, in my sig.

8.9.4.1004 is ok. The default Windows Driver performs much better, as does 7.0.0.1013 from Intel.

The newer Intel drivers work great for RAID setups, but don't do much special for AHCI. Uninstall Intel Matrix Storage Technology, let windows install the driver, then run the test again. Better performance. Of course, it will still perform better in safe mode than in normal mode, because that's not the core of the problem.

 

** never mind wrong thread **

 

Yes, thats true.

Did a HDD wipe as Seagate suggested and did a clean install, but 82,9 MB/sec at max and average 67,9 MB/sec, burst 49,4 MB/sec.

The HDD was slightly faster in Crystal Disc mark then before, 100MB/s+ speeds

 

Can someone please help me with the F12 OEM recovery, for somereason when it starts to install programs after first boot its not the drivers that get installed, it starts with the VAIO Messenger =/

 

I haven't experienced that. For me it is Windows-->drivers-->software. Do not know why it it different for you.

 

Well I cancelled it at the begining before anything got to be installed and i looked at Manage on My Computer it looks like all the drivers are installed, i probably just have to update it. Hopefully every things fine

 

When you do a Complete Restore, are you given the option of adding "value programs" to the recovery partition? Decline that and see what happens.

 

What speed do you get? I considering to purchase the C300.

 

No theres no option for that, I'm recovering using the recovery drive. I shutdownthe laptop > ASSIST > Tools > Start advance recovery wizard > Skip rescue > Custom recovery - C:drive only. Thats about everything I go through

 

Same for mine F12Z.

 

Well everything seems fine anyways, just cancelled it right when it starts installing the vaio messenger.

 

Won't get the option of you recover using the recovery partition. You need to recover from the discs. Insert, boot up and then begin the process.

 

Yeah its still the same thing. When i put in the disk i get a Windows 7 option i forgot what its called, I also get a vaio recovery option which i chose.

 

that is correct.

Then, the recovery center, using Complete Restore, will treat your HDD as if it were blank. It will write partitions for recover, reserved and C:\.

When you recover from VAIO Care, using the recovery partition, that partition is not affected.

When you recover using the discs and begin complete restore, you should have an option for how the recovery partition is made.

 

Hello Everyone,

New member and first post. I ordered a VPCF1290X-LBOM last Friday (Aug 6th) before a Google search on 4GB DDRS SDRAM pricing lead me to this forum. Based on the product identification, most of you already know the configuration but here’s the list.

Standard Battery
i7-740QM processor
16.4” VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920 x 1080)
NVIDIA 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
No Fresh Start
LED Backlit Keyboard
6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
Blu-ray Disc Player
Adobe Bundle
Backstage VIP Protection Suite
Genuine Windows 7 Professional
500GB HD 7200 rpm
Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Business
Black plastic

I've been shopping for almost two years for new laptop but I kept putting it off as the desktop I built in 2001 (yep it’s still kick’n) still works. Unfortunately it is now so slow that I can watch the bytes move through my Cat 6 cable. I’m very tight with my hard earned money but after I saw a Sony F12 at Best Buy, I was immediately convinced that it was finally time to buy a new computer. I’m also an avid comparison shopper (this reduces buyer remorse) so I checked into Costco, Fry’s, Dell, HP, Asus and Apple to see if the Sony F series was really a “Best Buy”. I even checked the Sony F12 against desktops and all-in-ones trying to maintain an apples-to-apples comparison of the specs. Surprisingly the biggest bang for the buck is a CTO F series from Sony Style. It should ship early next week and I admit to feeling a little bit like a kid anticipating presents at Christmas.

Even though I stumbled on to this forum after I ordered my Vaio, I’m really glad that I found you guys. I’ve spent several hours reading post after post and I’m now about half way through. All I can say is that I’m clearly out of my league here. You guys really know your stuff and are very passionate about accuracy, validation and confirmation. Exaggerated statements and baseless comments need not apply with this group.

The knowledge that I’ve already obtained from reading through this forum is fantastic and there are too many to thank already for their contributions but without meaning to slight anyone, my thanks to Joe Bleau, philm94, Fishon, lundstrom.emil, MelodyMaster, anseio, Willscary and Trancedellic for alleviating any concerns that I may have had with my purchase and for providing me with insights to my as yet to be delivered laptop that would have taken me months or even years to discover. So with that said I have about 150 more pages to read through on a very old and slow computer and I better get started. Regards, OldDIYGuy

 

Hey guys, quick question: If I get one of the new momentus xt hard drives, is there anything I should do to it, or should I just copy and past files over?

 

I'm wondering that also.

And Newegg is offering this enclosure free with it.

Newegg.com - CMS Products Data Transfer Kit DTK-25U2

Do all the storage experts here advise using it? If so, how would it be used most effectively in conjunction with the supplied clean install methods suggested so far?

 

Check out Engadget's review.

In it, the author describes how you fill it with all your stuff (just copy and paste), and the drive will automatically determine which files and applications you use most often. Using this data, the drive optimizes the location of files (flash or platter).

So just copy and paste everything, then use the drive for awhile. You should then start to see an increase in performance.

 

Does anyone else think the Z display is just too small?

I'm comparing the Z and F and I'm ready to order an F12 but still worried I'll regret it. I'm not a gamer but a developer and am online most of the day. I need mobility and real estate. Since I'm never in the same place a monitor just won't do. I've upgraded the F and want to know if there will really be a noticeable difference in 1.86GHz vs. 2.66 GHz in the Z? Also I'm not comfortable with the SSD yet and the Z only comes with those. Last - and strangely - the Sony Outlet store has F11's with identical or less specs that are much more expensive - anyone know why that would be since I'm shopping at Sony?
Specs for the F:
Large capacity battery
Intel® Core™ i7-840QM processor (1.86GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.20GHz
16.4" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080) NVIDIA® GeForce® 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
Fresh Start
LED Backlit Keyboard
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Blu-ray Disc player/burner
No Engraving
Microsoft® Office 2010 Professional
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
500GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
Model Number: VPCF1290X CTO
In stock. Estimated ship date: 08/18/2010.
At 2,198 this is still much cheaper than the Z (with same upgrades).
The only other option that I am considering is an HP Envy 17 - would that be a better choice?

 

Well doesn't the vaio have a recovery partition?

 

Are you sure the battery life meets your needs?

 

I don't think any of the bigger laptops have a battery life to speak of anyway - I guess maybe the auto/air/AC adapter might be a good call.

 

The extended battery so far has met my needs, in both gaming and real life usage. It's been great so far

 

would vaio care be a necessary install? ever since i did a clean install i never really cared much for that program so i decided not to install it. is it really that important?

 

Here are the results from CrystalDiskMark...



Boot time is typically 25 seconds

Note that this is the 256GB model and lower capacities have slower write speeds.

I'd definitely recommend it if you can justify the cost.

 

I thought of the 128GB version, so the readspeed should be the same, but the writespeed slower.

The 256GB cost 876,84 USD, and the 128GB cost 424,79 USD, but if I choose the Corsair Force or Nova I pay 372,14 USD and get the same and better peformance with only Sata2. So much money involved and hard to choose. xD

 

I wouldn't agonise over getting the very fastest available drive - I have a Crucial M225 128GB SSD in another machine and the day-to-day experience is very similar. I only bought the C300 because I found a deal that was cheaper than the M225 making it a no-brainer.

 

I understand

 

Yes! I managed to slowdown my Seagate 7200.4 average read rates & get a flat graph in HD Tune just like Emil's!

First HD Tune benchmark is with the default VAIO_OEM OS installed drivers & OEM_F12's Intel RST 6 port SATA AHCI. Second is after installing an Expresscard/34 with a eSATA/USB combo port (Power Over eSATA) & the necessary driver which was a JMicron JBM36X R1.17.55 RAID driver:



Which begs the question: Emil, do you have any peripheral devices installed on your F that may affect the performances? Even with the card removed, the performance is still afected because of the driver. The only thing I had installed on my first bench is a Bluetooth mouse.

The JMicron driver added a Storage Controller & a service in startup (JMB36X IDE Setup c:\windows\raidtool\xinside.exe) as seen in Autoruns. I added a benchmark of a WD 1 TB external enclosure (shows as SATA Gen 2 BTW ) connected to the F via eSATA through that Expresscard/34:





I you buy such a card to add a eSATA/USB port to your F, make sure it has a Silicon Image chip which is currently the SIL3132 and NOT a JMicron which I have & is very finiky to setup. Search Fleabay (included Title & Description) with: esata usb silicon image or Expresscard/34 SIL3132 eSATA or eSATA usb expresscard, etc. Make sure to read the product description carefully as some card works with: POeSATA (POwer Over Esata or eSATAp), eSATA or USB but others have ONLY SATA ports OR eSATA ports OR USB only OR 1 ESATA + 1 SATA port, etc. The mess of keywords used to sell these products makes it a real PITA!

 

Yes. If you wanted to keep that, you could take a backup image of the entire hard drive and restore that image onto the new one.

Other possibilities include keeping old drive handy or regularly backing up to an external drive.

 

YES!!!!!! Thanks Joe! I did mention something along the same lines in this post yesterday: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...7-owners-thread-part-3-a-337.html#post6576878

I had thought that perhaps something could have been using (or had been used and not ejected properly) from the eSATA drive or drivers not playing nice. Your findings go hand in hand.

Great work! +1 on the rep!

 

I have no external devices or cards (and their drivers) connected and installed to the laptop when the tests was made, not even an USB-mouse. The network connections was off, not plugged in.

Some of the tests I made, was a clean win7 dvd install with and no extra drivers installed, which means I had unknown devices.

Is it possible that Sony have some extra hardware installed that we do not know in the F12.

 

Have you used the eSATA port? If so, was it ejected properly using the eject icon in the taskbar, or was it simply pulled out?

If you have not used anything of that sort, it is still possible that a stray or incorrect driver could have been installed. I know that my F11 originally came with a JMicron controller of some sort that showed up on my original recovery disks, but would not install when I did my clean install. I also had an extra set of Bluetooth drivers that did not work with my hardware. When I went to the Sony site, it detected my machine, but it thought it was a VPCF1190X (as in my signature), but after finding that a couple of drivers did not work, I found that the VPCF1190FX was actually the model that had the same driver set as mine. This could be because of my CTO, which was put on hold for months due to parts shortages.

Again, I understand that you (and others) are have a hard drive that is performing with a slightly slower top end than others here. If the hard drive works, there is perhaps a .001% chance that the slowdown is hardware related. I will help if I can, but you need to trust that guys like Joe, Mango and Melody know what they are talking about. These guys learn their machines inside and out, at least for the purposes that interest them.

I had no way of testing your machine, but it is fantastic that Joe was able to do it and create an issue that would cause his machine to act exactly as yours does. Now, perhaps progress can be made in finding where the issue lies. Your clean install most likely added an insrtuction set of some sort that is the root of this problem.

 

If I test to uninstall devices, maybe I can get some boost. :/

Wait a minute, in device manager I have the card reader drivers under IDE controllers but you did have it under another category? ;P

I will check, what would that up bandwidth on the pci-buss.

Have never used the eSata-port.

 

Yes, we agreed on the troubleshooting.

I was actually setting up my card because I want to transfer data between 2 external drives via eSATA, not trying to show our point but I always run a quick benchmark to make sure everything is Kosher.

Now how to get my Expresscard/34 working w/o having an Emil graph?

BTW for $10 shipped worldwide or less, one can get a USB card that fits flush to the edge of the F, not sticking out like mine: inside expresscard. Again, check description, card must be Expresscard/34 format.

 

When unistalling devices, it is best to both uninstall AND DELETE the driver. You can always reload it later. The problem is that MOST drivers need a restart in order for Windows 7 to acknowledge the change. Unfortunately, Windows 7 also notices the lack of a driver when the computer is restarted. It then searches your computer for the best match and may very well re-install the very same driver that you just uninstalled!

Again, to stop this vicious cycle (believe me...I have experienced this with a driver on my machine!), uninstall and delete the driver before restarting. THEN restart and install the new driver. After installation, you will need to restart again, then you can check Windows Update and see if it pulls up a newer driver.

 

I would be interested in that card if it could somehow add USB 3.0 to our F11s, but otherwise, I have plenty of ports for my use.

Does the card do power over eSATA? That might be interesting also, although USB 3.0 would add much greater flexibility for the future.

Now I am wondering out loud if the expresscard slot has the ability to offer USB 3.0 if the motherboard does not support it. Can any needed software fit on the expresscard chip that would allow this?

 

It's a real pity that most people don't do nothing with that Expresscard slot IMO.

I think that POeSATA is better than USB 3.0 for me because I have a bunch of external drives w/ eSATA & no way I will get sucked in to replace them by USB 3.

The advantage of eSATA is that it talks directly to the computer in SATA language & does not need a USB 3.0 translation back & forth. Yes, there are several USB 3 Expresscard on the market that work with the F. And yes my card is POeSATA.

Even if you have enough port for your use, my point is fast transfers/backup between 2 external drives or having tons of photos on 2 drives while using my Adobe Lightroom huge catalog, for example.

*****

What! Then are you sure you installed the F's OEM Intel Chipset Driver properly & other stuff also?

 

I got the Startech PoESATA expresscard with the Silicon chip. It does stick out like yours but I can confirm has worked perfectly since bought a few months back.

 

Yes, I am one of those people who never uses the expresscard slot. Mainly because up until 3 months ago, I had never owned a laptop. After your post I began reading about the ExpressCard.

I simply like the flexibility of having USB 3.0 if I want it. I do agree, however, that from what I have seen, identical systems on eSATA are faster than USB 3.0. What REALLY interested me was the dual eSATA cards with RAID controllers. Does this mean that we could RAID a pair of external SSDs on our F11s? Or does the motherboard still have to support RAID for this to work?

I guess I have read a bit this morning about the ExpressCard concept, but it sort of boggles me that a $30 plug in card and a few exterior enclosures would allow me to have a RAID SSD setup that would be twice as fast as my current SSD.

 

So for me, playing alot of games and browsing the web and listening to music, would the momentus xt make a huge difference?

 

Thanks for the feedback! That would be a Silicon Image chip as most chips use silicon. A Startech ECESATUSB1 product manual here confirms it. The price is OK, found some starting @ $25 on the web.

If you could run a few HD Tune benchmarks & report, that would be great.

I wrote to this seller/manufacturer and they confirmed that they also use the Silicon Image chip in their Expresscards. Some of their combo w/ POe cable and/or eSATA enclosure (not POe!) are interesting: esata usb expresscard

 

Uninstalled serveral devies that I though ithat could effect the peformance but it did not help. An internal connected device might steel bandwidth but what could it be?

Bluethoot and Wifi?
ODD? (did remove during before reinstall)

It might be a law that no laptop should be perfect. Because of this Sony implemented a slowdown. xD

 

Emil, as Willscary wrote, there are tons of possible causes. Maybe you could try some stuff & then make a big post instead of many small ones? We talked a lot about this in the last days & it kind of overtaken the thread. Not everybody is interested. Hard to beleive, is'nt it?

 

My use is similar to yours. I move my laptop around quite a bit and needed something that could truly be used as a laptop. I spent months looking and found that the 15.6" displays were simply too short and the 17.3" machines were more luggable than portable. In addition, since I do use the machine on my lap I wanted something that didn't get so hot it needed a cooler under it. After reading reviews and talking to users of new Dell and HP quad-core laptops I ruled them out because so many found them too hot to use on their lap.

After two weeks with the F12 I've found it fits my needs nicely. I'd still prefer a taller screen, but they are simply not available any longer from any mainstream manufacturers. It's a bit bigger and heavier than I'd like, but that's a price I'm willing to pay for the additional screen size over the 15.6" displays. There are also features that you give up on the F12 for nicer build quality, but overall I've found it to be a good replacement for my old Thinkpad.

Good luck with your search.

 

My will is my command, obey, xD.

Yes we have overtaken the thread, but interesting thoughts has come up as a result. The consequences is small posts from me

The only thing I have left is to open it up and remove stuff, but I do not want too do that.

This is both software and hardware related issue, and the F-series is crippled by Sony. The issue might be intended and we can not do anything with original parts.

And only HD tune shows slowdown, so I think I am finished for now.