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

I am currently using the latest driver (the one you listed) with no issues at all.
I have the 310M and it was the Driver supplied by the NVidia Driver Finder.

 

You got the 310M because you got the 1600x900 display. The 330M only comes with the 1080p display. 720p videos should look fantastic on this display. What file type and file size are these videos? Were they compressed? If so, to what? And... what about the playback is less than satisfactory?

 

Well, if you got it free, yeah, you can't complain. A user on here, mangosango, has an F11 with a 310 GPU and has done a ton of gaming reviews. Here is a link to Part 1 of mango's info and at the bottom of the link, in the signature, you can find the rest: http://forum.notebookreview.com/5986590-post449.html

Edit: sorry I made a mistake. Mango has the 330, not 310. My apologies - I'm on a lot of medication right now. Hopefully, the link is still informative though.

 

Thanks for the clarification about the 310M - that makes sense and is not something I realized.

I tested 3 things:
a) A 720p Avatar clip (one minute in length) - The file seemed to play alright, but took at least 3 seconds to start playing without distortion/lack of visuals - Mildly Compressed MKV

b) 2 1080p files from: 1080p Test MKV examples (from Birds scene Earth movie) - Plex Forums

The first file in the list and the last file. The first file played alright, the last stuttered incredibly (yes, these are 1080p files).

Maybe the Avatar file was just a bad time for the test - I will re-test tonight.

Can the laptop play any current-gen games or is it better suited for.. 6 months and older generation?
Thanks to the link for this answer jpride

 

Thanks jpride.
I do hate to complain - I got it as a replacement to an HP dv9774 that was pushing 3 years old. A month before the Extended warranty went up the motherboard died - Futureshop Handed me an F13, so here I am

It appears that he has the 330M though - wouldn't this make a considerable difference for him?

 

You are correct. I'm at work and mistakenly went to the Geforce/ Ion instead of the Verde page. Thank you and Rep +1 when I can.

 

Hey, yeah sorry, I was just editing my previous post to say I made a mistake when you posted this. It would make a difference. Hopefully someone with a 310 can give you their opinion since I know there are 310 users on here who have done gaming.

 

Great - hopefully someone can let me know.
Otherwise, I am loving the laptop.

Generally things that I love:

1. Island Keys
2. Blu-Ray Drive > My HP Blu-Ray Functionality
3. Widescreen 16.4" > HP Full Screen 17"
4. Intel i7
5. USB 3.0
6. Optical Audio Out (huge love)
7. Fairly quiet fan for such a cool machine
8. Watching HDTV rips is like night and day. New Screen Trumps HP incredibly.

Generally things I dislike so far:

1. No dedicated hardware volume controls
2. No multi-touch touchpad (or is there?)

 

To be clear: 1080p display can't be ordered with 310m however 330m and 310m both can easily be ordered with 1600x900.

About an Avatar. I saw ripped Avatar made in 60 FPS, not 24. It was incredible however it lugged little bit on Desktop with 9600 GT

 

Interesting. I will have to check the file I have used for testing for that also.
I don't have a 1080p display, but I do use the HDMI out to a 1080p Sharp LCD, so I was hoping to be able to play back some 1080p movies (not straight from the BluRay).

Just as an aside, the conversation comes up because my 3 year old HP could output 720p over HDMI without stuttering once (8600GSM) and play some 1080p slower scenes.

I guess my expectations, being 3 years in the future, may be a little lofty; I just expected flawless playback of almost any media by this time

 

Since we've got the same display/GPU, I'm in the best position to tell you what to expect. If you're playing from a compressed MKV file, the problem is in the decrompession/buffering process. You're going to receive a lag pretty much no matter what while it begins to decode, buffers, and plays back as soon as picture is ready. The player you use makes a significant difference. PowerDVD does a great job, VLC is pretty good too, but you'll have the lag while decoding.

I use only uncompressed 1080p files. (.m2ts and .m2ts on ISO). Both playback fantastically. Every now and then I go to my friend's house and hook up to her 1080p tv via HDMI. Playback (either.m2ts or .m2ts mounted via ISO) are quick and smooth. There is neither stutter nor lag.

Remember, compression, adds another step during playback. If you have the storage, then uncompressed will give you a smoother experience with better response time (IMHO). I have 580GB onboard and 2TB + 500GB externally. I keep the bulk of my movies offboard, but move them onboard when I'm going mobile and will be playing at my friend's. We've watched about 5 or 6 movies over the months with not a single problem (not counting audio output).

 

1. I didn't like this either. I downloaded a program called KeyTweak that allows you to re-map your keyboard. I use the media buttons for volume control now. If you like the media functions, you may be able to find some other keys to use. I'll look up a link to the program and re-edit this post with it.
Edit: here's a link anseio previously posted: http://www.tucows.com/preview/327616 That's the version I have installed and it works on Win7 even though it's not listed on that site.

2. It is multitouch. You can adjust the sensitivity in the mouse properties. It's still not very smooth though.

 

Hi, I have a sony vaio VPCF12M1E and when I connect it to a external monitor using VGA I get ghosting around characters, I searched and tried everything but can't seem to fix the problem. Also the problem only occurs when I connect my vaio, with other notebooks the picture is crystal clear. I find this very strange. Can somebody help?

 

Interesting - I never thought of it that way. I have around 5 TBs of external, networked hard drive space - that certainly isn't an issue. Maybe I will look into doing that and compare performance. I am currently using GOM Player because it's Hardware Acceleration trumped VLC for my last laptop - now I just use it by default. I will retest the Avatar file and see how that goes - maybe I will be impressed as of yet.

 

Thanks for the awesome link again - I will give this a try.
Although I'm a huge media guy, the Next and Previous buttons are not part of that experience for the most part (most software has other keyboard controls I can use for that).

 

This is just a wild guess, but maybe it's the ClearType feature doing it (under Display in Control Panel)?

 

It has also nothing to do with cleartype, but thanks for the response. It's just like in this picture.

 

Hey guys. I really cannot read through 270 pages (x5 for that matter).


My laptop is extremely loud. So loud that even when I'm running only firefox, it cannot be used in class. It is literally embarrassing/can be heard be everyone in a quiet classroom (easily at that).

I am wondering if this issue could be resolved with a clean install. I did the patch that sony released a while back, that was supposed to fix overheating, but my laptop gets extremely hot and loud ALL the time, EVEN when it's on a good cooler! Ahhhhh. If it helps, my model number is VPCF115FM.

Please - I appreciate any help you can give. This is driving me absolutely nuts. I love this laptop too, but this noise issue makes me want to smash it ;(

 

Hi,

Please provide some more details:

1. Has it always been this loud? If not... is it possible that the fan is getting too dusty and needs to be cleaned out?
2. What temps does your VAIO idle at and what temps does it jump to under any kind of load?
3. Are you in a warm climate?

I'm in Seattle, cool temps and I can't get mine to go over 65c while on a cooler. I've been converting 1400 songs from .flac format to VBR 256kbps. All 8 cores are maxed (CPU 95%+) for almost 2 hours now and I can only hear the slight whooshing of my fan.

Many people complain about fan noise, but what you complain about seems to be much worse. As someone else recommended a while ago, check for it being too dirty inside.

 

It's unusual for an F series to get extremely hot. What temps are you talking about here? What is the environmental temperature as well? What is your CPU usage and how many processes are running when this happens? Have you overclocked? If your laptop is truly getting extremely hot without any unusual circumstances that would explain it, I would contact Sony. One of the reasons the fan runs so much (and somewhat loud to some people) is because it does such a good job cooling the F. So that is not typical.

Edit: I see anseio beat me once again. You should definitely try cleaning out any dust from inside your laptop. http://tinyurl.com/3xuf23c

 

It's been loud for quite some time, as long as I can remember really. My environment is currently room temp. Nothing extreme, definitely not HOT.



It's currently on a cooler...

Thanks for that link, though that does look like a lot of work and i'd probably mess something up if I took everything apart like that.

Maybe this makes sense, but it's all hot air coming out of the left side. I could leave a sandwich there to heat it up, not exaggerating. My laptop sounds like someone is driving a miniature motorcycle around the classroom -__-

Ahhhh! Also, not sure how accurate that gadget is. What's the best way for me to give you my temps?

...playing halo with the cooler off.

 

I use nvidia monitor for this. Download nvidia tools 6.06 (or later if it exists) and install monitor. It gives you all info about temps, load graphic, processor, load of memory etc. Also gives you sidebars. Thanks to Nvidia tools you also can overclock graphic card (besides when I overclock my max temp is 69 degrees playing)
The best way for quick usage once in your life without long installation just to check your program is to install GPU-z. Nice program

NVIDIA DRIVERS 6.06

GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility

EDIT:

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! Guy, your graphic card gonna be fried soon. I think it will be crunchy. The problem is that even with minus 10 degrees (some gadgets show 10 degrees more than it is) it is still scared. 84 degrees is bad. 94 degrees is hell for it

 

Were you playing halo (or any game) when you took the 71 degree temp on the cooler? I was going to say that was high, but I don't think it would be unreasonable while playing a game. Is your GPU overclocked? I was also wondering about your CPU temps. There are several programs where you can get readings for CPU and GPU temps. Besides the NVIDIA system monitor, which can be used as a gadget, a non-gadget one is HWMonitor: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting
There's also AIDA64 but that's a trial version unless you pay, so it will expire.
Edit: What your GPU temp when you are not playing a game or doing any video intensive stuff? I have a different GPU but just for an example, if I'm just web browsing like now, my current GPU temp is 47 C with a room temperature of 63 F. I don't have a cooler.

 

Yea...haven't been lpaying any games because of this.

I downloaded that program. Not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at really.




@Previous Poster, My comp is running at 62 on a cooler. I'm running iTunes and some browsers. The fan is VERY loud even at 62. My cooler is not even audible due to the loud fan noise from the comp.

 

Good that you found where the temp is shown A question: was that gadget right about 70+ degrees or it wasn't? How higher it's temp was over the real one?

I would suggest you to make a clean install. for me it is usual (I have 2 windowses on my VAIO, just in case if something bad happen to first one).

Also make vent cleaning an DON'T forget to check the internal side of leftsided grill. What if something stucked there. Use lamp to see, or try to push through something thin from outside a grill. If you feel resistance - perhaps it is "carpet of dust and hair".

Forgot to add: IF YOU HAVE CHANCE TO GIVE IT FOR REPAIRING FOR FREE - I SUGGEST YOU TO DO IT. USE WARRANTY.

 

I would really want to clean out the dust/dirt if it were me. Are you still under warranty? If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, you could get Sony to do it.

 

That 94c GPU temp is awfully high. What is it while idle?

Also, there that gadget is for GPU temps. What are your CPU temps? Try this gadget and get a screen shot of it at idle and under load:
OrbLog Blog Archive Intel Core Series – Sidebar Gadget

It should never sound as loud as you've described. Also, you've got a mad amount of processes running. 107!?!? I'm at 90 and I'm doing a ton of things right now. Playing Batman: AA, my GPU didn't go much higher than the 60's.

I vote it's a dust issue. Until it's not a dust issue, then I vote something else.

 

Are you playing on a table or on a bed for exemple?
That makes a BIG diference

 

I did my extended testing last night. A full length 720p Avatar file played quite well, but it did take about 30 seconds before it played smoothly (I can live with that). I noticed a bit of shuttering at the 'high action' parts, but I do believe that may be the rip job (I have a 720p MKV file for testing in the near future).

Thanks for the help - hoping my laptop satisfaction stays this high

PS: Anyone have any experience with VAIO In Home Service? I had a sticker on my laptop telling me that for the duration of the warranty, in some areas, there is in home warranty coverage?

 

Yep. I'm playing on a table, with a cooler underneath the computer.

Currently running at 57 C, but it's still pretty damn loud. Anyway to clean the fan out without opening my entire computer?

 

Ok, 30 seconds does seem a bit long, but I don't know anything about that since I don't use .mkv. They take took long to create. I tried once using AVS and it was going to take like 15hrs or so. Regardless, I was thinking like a few seconds, not 30. You should try different players, just to compare. Try VLC. If you try PowerDVD you'll be blown away at the picture quality compared to VLC. I couldn't believe it.

 

It's funny because I've always considered PowerDVD to be Bloatware.
I may get it though - see how it goes.

I did try and MKV instead of an AVI file and it seems to be playing back much better. However, the action scenes in this file (The Score) aren't as intense as Avatar.

Regardless, I'm satisfied and downloading PowerDVD.

 

Before getting too terribly upset at the temps, I would begin looking at the processes running and the CPU usage. If I was asked to manage your computer, the first thing I would do is get rid of the running processes that are not needed. As posted earlier, for me...I would perform a clean install and get rid of the obviously large amount of bloatware.

If you don't wish to do this, simply go to services and change the processes in question. Make sure that you know what you are doing!

Seeing 107 processes....wow. I seem to recall that my F11, when new, had close to 100 processes running. I now have under 50 at startup, and usually my computer runs at 54-55 processes. I cant recall it being over 60...EVER...since my clean install the day after I received it.

I hope this helps.

 

Well, I decided to look. Thank goodness I wasn't over 60 processes!

Here is a glimpse of my resource manager. At the time, I had 2 web pages open, my Outlook email, the Resource Manager, a Word document and the snipping tool. simply by getting out of the Resource Manager and the snipping tool I dropped down to 57 processes. Closing one of the web pages, Outlook and Word dropped me back to 54 processes with this webpage open.

 

On a cold table. No cooler.

 

Hello!

Has anybody tried connecting an older PS/2 keyboard to your F13 laptop via PS/2 to USB adapter? I can't get my Cherry keyboard to work that way.

Thanx.

 

dappolo,

You took this last snippit 8 minutes after restarting and you had 97 processes and nearly 1,300 threads active. Compare those numbers to my 59 processes and 800 threads active after more than a day of "up" time.

Again, my thoughts are that your heat is probably caused by these additional processes (and corresponding threads). Perhaps you have installed a conflicting driver or you have an Adobe program or other add-in that is corrupted.

Perhaps you have a virus or you installed a torrent that is taking over. Do you run torrents? Perhaps you use limewire?

My point is this...find and turn off the unneccessary processes. You should be able to get down to around 50 running processes if you work at it. I would hope that at that point your heat issue would disappear. If not, THEN I would contact Sony.

I hpe this helps.

 

I got mail back from Sony, concerning the dark bar broblem. They now admit it is hardware problem likely on screen and I have to send my computer to service for closer examination.

Screenshot however doesn't helped anything in my case. At first dark bar problem was diagnosed as Windows feature, because support noticed that I could mean hidden start bar, because it shows hidden state some white few pixel tall line at bottom of display. Yes, I was really loosing all hope... I am complaining about product failure and they called it now Windows feature.

So after couple of emails, support finally noticed shadow bar at bottom of display. Thats really worth of couple pints of beer.

 

Thats goods hear terhox, have they said they will resolve the problem, I am still waiting for a reply for Sony over here.

 

Blaming the taskbar for the grey line is easy to rule out by simply relocating it to either side, or the top of the screen and see if the line persists.

Congrats and good luck!

 

That’s good news. It’s the first step, don’t lose hope!
I have some personal problems, so my notebook tests got low priority, but I will have to contact them too, very soon (in order to try to solve this in the return period, just in case).

 

dappolo, could you post your CPU temperatures too when you post screen captures like above ? Also shortly mention what class of applications you run just few minutes before the screen captures were taken (like games, video processing, video playing, office applications, …).

You miss read the time. It is 8 hours and … in the screen capture from above.

I agree with Willscary, but I also noticed that you posted your GPU temperature only. Are you running a game in the background or video player or any application which is actually using your video card’s GPU ?

If you are using OrbLog’s GPU Observer Sidebar gadget, then in the options of this gadget, please enable the following items:
- Show GPU Load
- Show VPU Load
- Show Memory Load
- Show Clocks
And then repost the screen captures with the Task Manager and CPU temperatures capture.

If there is no GPU activity and after 5-10 minutes the GPU temperature is still high then you have a cooling problem.

 

Guys, you shouldn't be a geniuses to understand that if there is no game in the background this GPU (not CPU) temperature means that something on a hardware level is not OK. Of course It also may be BIOS problem or video drivers but I doubt that some 100 processes could make influence on GPU instead of CPU (only 3%).
Clean VAIO or better make Sony to do it. It must be under warranty.

BESIDES! If you oftenly use cooler it must put inside MUCH dust. About 3x or 4x times more than usuall

 

I finally noticed this fan noise everyone is talking about.

My F13 last night, as I was watching a movie, was running so loud it was actually quite annoying. I can definitely live with this, and I'm thankful it doesn't whistle or make the other strange noises, but that is definitely quite loud.

The price of a cool i7 I guess

 

Mine doesn't make noise anymore, as cpu is not running more than 4% with nothing going on. That was a big factor. It used to always swing between 0-15%, and that was causing loud noise and continuous swing in sound pitch. Don't know why. Now it stopped, and its been quiet calm for past month and more. Even when i do photo batch resizing, or internet browsing, processor is at only 0-4%. Before it would do things requiring up to 18% usage with all programs closed and just sitting for hours disconnected from internet. ??

I think i set it to "quiet mode" somewhere in settings, which was suggested to me at the time, but it didn't seem to help much right away. Eventually it got quiet.

 

I have quick backup question:

With my old laptop, i got used to backing my system in form of Northon Ghost backup. I would create ghost image of my computer when its in the best shape, and later on, if it starts to function bad, or for any reason i want to refresh it by reinstalling operating system, i would just
1. Format HD
2. Install windows only (no drivers)
3 Install only Northon ghost program
4. Restore my saved Ghost image from external backup HD
5. Whala, all the work is done in with this ghost image. All drivers, all software ready and running (even ones that expired in 30 days , all files i wanted to have always on HD are sorted in folders as i had before. Perfect.

Now, with F13, i have created 3 recovery disks, but i'm not even sure how to use this if my operating system won't boot for example.

Question #1
Are these 3 recovery discs Vaio care suggest to create equivalent to Northon ghost image?

if not

Does it make sense to capture ghost image of my current state of C drive? and use it as i described above i used to do with my old machine?

thanks in advance

cheers

 

To be honest, I have no experience with Ghost images. I just thought I would share my own two cents.

I keep application installers backed up externally so I can fresh install the major applications on my computer (Adobe, etc).

Beyond that, i simply backup my Documents, Pictures and Music from time to time.
Once a month, I backup my entire AppData folder, which saves all my Firefox, Adobe, iTunes and other settings. This way, when I fresh install, I just copy the AppData back in - overwrite the current AppData and I have a brand new, custom installation.

I still have to manually install the Adobe Suite and Firefox, etc - but that doesn't take that long, and I like the 'Brand New' aspect of the computer.

 

You just use recovery disk as like usual Windows 7 installation disk. Which means you put it in choose drive C and it does everything else. 99% that I'm right because I used only OEM recovery disks (but they must be the same)

 

New BIOS for my F11M, It's stated that it would fix Improvement of thermal management.
Somebody else noticed this? Has anybody already installed this?

 

No, the recovery discs are not the same as a ghost image. The recovery disks will enable you to revert back to the factory settings - the way the computer was when you bought it. A system image, which you can also make but would be too big to put on CDs, would be the same as your ghost image. The system image creation can be found under Control Panel - Backup and Restore. But if you like your Ghost program, you might as well just use that. Or try both and see which you prefer.