Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *Part 5*

Try resetting the CMOS, it's easy. Remove the space as for some reasons the link is breaking when pasted normally: monte verde.org/images/Sony_Vaio_F11/F11_MoBo_Bottom_CMOS_Battery_Joe.jpg

Even if you are not doing anything, it does not mean that your computer is not doing stuff in the background that starts & stops (like media scans, anti virus scan, etc). Those use CPU power so it produces heat and make the fan work more or less depending if they start or stop. Download the free process explorer & observe.

 

From Melodymaster post #3132

Most computers expose fan adjustments in the BIOS, the F11 does not. However the Vaio power management software does somehow access BIOS heat control through a non-standard address, so that thermal settings can be adjusted. My guess is that settings made in software during a prior operating session are retained and still active during the next boot. My settings were for best thermal management, the "Power" setting, thus the fan will run fast.

If software settings are screwed up, such as due to a crash, then those screwed-up settings are still there during next BIOS boot. This can even cause a failure to boot until a warm reset is done, as below...

The way to reset BIOS settings to default, including those not accessible during the boot screens, and to repair a corrupt BIOS (in ANY modern PC),

Remove battery and power, (we cant do anything about the memory battery) let sit a minute or two, reconnect power.

Turn on the system and immediately press and hold the (top) "Insert" key until the system stops booting and shows system menu, then press F2 for BIOS;

Go into BIOS, just "OK" settings, exit, and reboot.

This will clear any corrupt BIOS settings, allow the system to boot normally, and reset the fan.

IMPORTANT EDIT! The F11 is a bit different, press and hold the insert key, then while holding Insert blip F2, that will give you BIOS with default settings. I did this and the fan no longer races during BIOS on my system.

(edit) and now, in-Windows power settings are back to "balanced."

 

thx for your help,,i can hear another sound

its like whistling,beep or sibilance sound and it comes every 1,2 seconds,,any body hear some thing like this?

 

As the first time i post in this forum, I have to say that I find the European version of F13 quite powerful except something i haven't saw commented before.

The web camera it comes with its (putting in gentle words) lousy

Simply after the sun comes down its not possible to make a video call and for others to be able to see yourself

I am curious if you have the same problem and what you do to overcome this...

Thanks in advance

Fyi i have tried the web camera settings from skype itself but to no avail

 

The whistling sound you describe is a well known quirk of the Vaio F... It's been repeatedly explored in this thread and previous ones. I don't think I ever came across a fix for it, as it's simply the Vaio F's characteristic.

My webcam seems fine... but then again I have the Japanese Vaio not the European one.

 

Right click onto the speaker icon, recording devices, click onto the mic, listen, and uncheck listen to this device. This has helped many although it may not be the sound you are describing. Make sure it's on digital output.

 

i want to show u my stresstest resultes any body tell me please how to show image here it say url?

 

You can enclose the url for your image in brackets (remove spaces)
[ IMG ]url for image here[ /IMG]

 

[/IMG]


s this normal or not?

 

Woah. Okay. Weird problem here. My Vaio is producing a sound that is not the Morse code / high pitched sound, nor the fan noise. It seems to be coming from the right speaker, and it sounds a lot like static (?) the closest sound I can think of is maybe the sound a hard drive makes while its working, but much higher pitched. It reminds me of Morse code, but its not the high pitched noise that has been plaguing everyone. (the one you fix with fiddling with the mic settings. Note that I tried that and it didn't yield an improvement.) And when I play sound from my right speaker only, the quality seems to be worse than the left speaker... And the noise goes away when I mute volume. Should I go ahead and assume that my right speaker is dying?

 

Temps look completely in range.

 

thx fishion

 

Thought I would share the looks and the fit of the NZXT cooler under the F. Can also slip the long eSATAp cable under the laptop cooler to keep my external harddrive close to the unit. Forgot to center the laptop onto the cooler but good enough.

 

Sounds like there might be a problem with the speaker connections somewhere (soldering is off or something like that).

Yeah looks fine. Cpu power use is (fine) but ridiculous. Over 40 watts for its peak lol.

 

That's a shiny outer casing you've got there. Mine's on its way. Been waxed 2x so far. Are you getting a buildup of wax in the borders of the VAIO logo? I carve mine out with a toothpick.

 

its huge

 

anseio its a MKV format, hard to explain but it has got loads of pixels when watching.

 

is it comparable to the compression artifacts that I posted?

 

Is it alright if I just leave it? I mean it doesn't bother me tremendously; I'm just worried that it'll end up ruining the speaker if I just leave it like that.

 

The NZXT is definitely not a portable 'take it anywhere all the time' cooler. anseio, the Mothers wax is pure and shouldn't leave any residuals, but a toothpick into some of the crevasse maybe in order. For those who missed it, you can cleanup your laptop case with a good wax. I recommend a 100% carnauba wax in paste form. Mothers® California Gold® Carnauba Cleaner Wax

 

Omaroonie, it's not hard to explain. It's .mkv format. That means it's been compressed. Bluray movies, to my understanding, are 1080p. What you downloaded was compressed to 720p into a .mkv file. The original file was .m2ts

You can't take someone's word that the file you're downloading is true HD and expect it to be that. I have the 1st season of Pushing Daisies on bluray. Each episode is about 45 minutes long and is 1080p. Each .m2ts file is 5GB.

I've mentioned this before and I'll say it again, please get an actual bluray disc or a .m2ts file and compare the quality of that. Anything else that you're viewing is NOT full HD and is subject to the artifacting and pixelation that mangosango mentioned.

 

Nope, it leaves no residue. It's quite nice.

We had a "snow storm" last night in Seattle ) youtube vid of cars and buses sliding down an ice covered street on a hill). I bundled up today and walked the mile to a social place to hang out. Didn't want to fall and damage my nice lappy, so I used the portable aspect of my Notepal U2. It wraps perfectly around the VAIO and keeps it very safe.

 

((The issue is not the air movement sound equivalent to a form of pink noise but with the fan blade created variable pitch tones that seem to resonate outside the laptop at speeds above the minimum idle speed. Besides myself, there are several others on this thread that have reported the problem. I don't mind the usual air rushing noise (I have been living with fans in computers and electronics since 1967) but the variable pitch and its resonating harmonics are most anoying.))

this posted by (jacksjh) in a previous fourm...i this is my problem its not the noisee, the fan chages its speed and sound every second when i dont use any application,i can deal with this but i hope that will not damage the fan because i live in egypt and i have no warranty here

 

anseio blu ray movies are 72op just like tv shows, so not sure what you mean

 

blu ray movies are released in 1080p. What show/movie is it that you're having issue with?

 

dexter in 720p, i know tv shows are released in both 720p and 1080p.

 

Dexter was released in 1080p:
Blu-ray Review: Dexter: The Complete First Season | High-Def Digest

What you downloaded was a compressed file from 1080p .mt2s to 720p .mkv

If the compression was lower quality (I think it's about 20% of the original in file size), then you get the problems you experience.

Go rent Dexter on bluray and see the difference.

What you're experiencing has nothing to do with your lappy or its display and everything to do with the quality of the videos you're downloading.

 

Hey, that looks just like mine! Actually, I'm very happy with my F12 and NZXT cooler. The cooler looks great and is quiet and efficient and the fan speed control and additional USB ports on the back are more nice features. Unlike anseio, my notebook is a desktop replacement and never leaves my desk so I don't worry about carrying around.

 

Thanks it looks a little better. I'm trying to find profile made on this specific model - 1390X with premium display but for now with no luck

 

finally,,sony esupport told me that the problem(the fan change its sound and speed every second when i play games,browsing,or do nothing in the power saver mode)is an issue and i should take the laptop to the sony servies in USA and im living in EGYPT..... the nightmare begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have a problem with "YouruninstallerPRO".

I have an broken entry of "alps pointing device for vaio". I fixed it with deleting all the entries and when i re-open the program, it appears again.

What can i do? Pls help me..!!

 

anseio im confused dont know why people say tv shows are released in 720p as well. Anyway quality is still really good.

 

*sorry wrong thread post

 

I think what's being referred to is that the TV show is broadcast in 720p. That is a version of HD, but is not the quality of bluray, which is 1080p.

Here's how it could have happened. The person who originated the file ripped it directly from the bluray at 1080p and then converted it down to 720p. It may have been heavily compressed, and that explains your picture quality.

Go rent a bluray.

 

Your F looks awesome
Any recommendations for us Europeans?
We can't get Mothers wax over here.

*Edit* It is available outsite the US see: http://www.mothers.com/06_buy/06_buy_01_international.html

 

Want me to break mine in half in send it to you? It's a lifetime supply.

 

This is exactly the one for it. Thank you so much. Now I have dual OS on my system, Win XP SP3 and Win 7 Ultimate. The Windows XP now runs as smoothly as it does on any machine designed for XP. Fn combinations for Sound, Brightness, Monitor Selection and Stand By work just as in Win 7. The Fn Combination for Zoom doesn't work as it's a unique function of Windows 7. ASSIST and VAIO buttons doesn't work either because there are no programs assigned for them, but that's not really a thing to be bothered. It's so good that all the devices like Wireless, Bluetooth, Card Reader... works perfectly as well.

A Bible software and a few other domestic educational programs, and, sounds crazy, I am playing Warcraft II with it haha.

If you want an authorized XP Mode version, give me your email.

I run dual OS, and I do love XP, so I feel comfortable to have both OS on my machine.

 

In case anyone was wondering, the speaker noise progressed into a complete failure of the right speaker. At that point I was sure that it was a hardware problem... It turned out to be a driver problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the Audio Driver fixed it. Really unexpected, but it's all good now so whatever. Thanks all \o/

 

whats people views on the touchpad on the f series, i think its really easy and really smooth than other high spec laptops. Im not too fussed about the two finger scroll function.

 

Here is the monitor calibration profile I am using.

 

I have a real serious problem that i need some help with
In summary my sony vaio f-series 1390x freezes when i start it up with the wireless button switched on .

What happens is it works normal for the first minute then when smart wii starts in notification area the fan speed increases and the laptop freezes and the mouse arrow still responding to any move ?

I tried almost everything :

1- did a clean install with recovery partition .
2- installed McAfee Total Protection and it was up to date .
3- did a full scan, but nothing was found .
4- reinstalled the network adapters drivers .
5- reinstalled Smart Wii .
6- installed newer versions for adapters from manufacturers websites .

All these tries have the same result, the problem still occurs .

The thing that i can't under stand is that when i start my laptop up with the wireless button off, then the laptop starts up normally and i wait for about 5 minutes (to allow all start up application to open) then switch it on and connect to my wireless connection, my laptop doesn't freeze ?

Please help me with that cause i am about to recover my laptop to it's original factory settings and that will cause me to lose a huge amount of data ​

 

1) McAfee Total Protection would not be my preferred security suite.
See for alternatives AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Main-Tests or http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/
2) Smart Wii can give problems, try without it.
3) Get an external HDD and backup your huge amount of data and try the clean install with OEM discs: Vaio_F Series Windows 7 64-bit Clean Install Guide Using OEM Recovery Discs or restore to factory state.

Since you wrote

I would first uninstall Smart Wii.

 

Smart Wii gave me connection problems in the past. Good advise. I've removed it from my system as well.

 

Today I had to solve the problem of a corrupt profile. I had to transfer my profile to a new one. Bit of a pain, but I hear it's quite a common problem.

 

OT, but I just found this postes somewhere else in the forums.

Seagate Momentus XT 500GB on sale for $89.99 @ newegg!

 

Much agreed!

It has a process running called ThirdPartyAppMgr.exe and it's a HUGE memory hog considering its function. Rumor has it that it hogs more and more over time.

 

Perfect! Is this the drive that I've also seen discussed here? On sale for $99.99

Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive

 

Yes, the same drive, but an additional $10 off promotion code.

 

Thanks guys
Finally i found the solution
The reason was Yahoo Messenger 10 and IDM 6
They aren't compatible with windows 7 64 bit versions
After removing it all became normal
Some people also suffering from this issue can be found here :

Yahoo messenger 10 crashes Windows 7 64bit on login? - Yahoo! Answers

 

Im still waiting for on site tech to repair the booboo they made with my laptop mobo replacement. They were out friday nov 12th and they didnt even have time for this week to fix my lappy. I begged them to get out to my house this week because they were the ones that goofed up my unit. Tech will now be here saturday hopefully all goes well. Im making sure after the repair some benchmarks are ran to ensure proper repair before he leaves. I do not plan on going threw more crap with my laptop not working.

As of right now I have the unit in power saver with the cpu set to maximum 50% and I dont get temps over 61c. In contrast thats pretty close to where my temps were in high performance mode prior to the repair.

Im also going to try to at least have the tech order me a new cpu because of to me I think its the right thing to do considering my laptop wasnt protected properly thermally. Like I said warranty will run out in about 5 mos I dont want to risk a dead cpu wich I might be over reacting about but still is in my head that my unit overheated and sony wasnt much help.

I like Sony and their products but in this particular case im very unsatisfied unfortunately.

Im going to take a snapshot of the revision # printed on the new motherboard when it arrives.

Thanks everybody!