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

Fishon can u plse confirm to recognize the beeps @ http://forum.notebookreview.com/7200001-post3359.html? Weak recording, but still noticeable.

 

No.

But I did some further invest. about http://forum.notebookreview.com/7161797-post3144.html #1-noise.
Ramped up the fan by putting some AIDA64 load on the processor.

AIDA64 shows the fan decrements/increments rpm by 60 rpm.
The constant-pitched "intermittant" whining seems to occur on my F13X at rpm's:
- 2340-2400
- 2640-2700
- 3060-3180
- 3540-3600
- on some occasions the whine becomes continuous from 4260 rpm on.

On idle, the rpm mostly alternates every other second up & down between 2400-2460-2520 rpm. In this case the vaio is (noisewise) silent. But sometimes it idles rpm-ing up and down between 2340-2400, so within above list-range. In that case it continuously emits every other few seconds the irritating tone.

 

There is no free HDD spot. You will have to remove the HDD and install the SDD in its place.

If you don't need the Blu-Ray drive, it is possible to replace it with a hard drive caddy. Also, if you're not concerned about portability, you can put the original HDD into an external 2.5" eSATA HDD enclosure.

 

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9

A correct fit and popular choice of others.

 

Yeah, but it has big timings (for nowadays). He can find CL7 on newegg. On his amazon site I found only CL8 Komputerbay 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 SODIMM (204 pin) made with Hynix semiconductors 1333Mhz PC3 10600 8 GB with SODIMM Heatsink for extra cooling (8-8-8-24): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories with not famous brand or here on US newegg site Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Memory,Laptop Memory,204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM,8GB (2 x 4GB),7

 

Good stuff James. Something I was not aware of.

Understanding RAM Timings | Hardware Secrets

 

thanks to everybody for reply but on amazon.co.uk are different RAMs then on newegg...can anyone specify any model with CL7 on amazon.co.uk because i can't find this information. thanks!

 

This is a very loaded question in the minds of many. Most will say the Intel SSDs because of their overall performance and easy of maintenance. Look into the SSD thread (beware of fanboy behavior) and this is a great website for SSD info as well.

http://thessdreview.com/category/beginners-guide/

My Sony came with a Toshiba THNS256GG8BBAA. Understand controllers and firmware of your particular SSD also effect performance as well.

 

Crucial Sodimm Laptop Memory Upgrade (8GB Kit - 4GBx2,204-pin,DDR3 PC3-8500,Cl=7,1.5v): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories but it has only 1066 speed. I will edit this post if I find smth better

EDIT: I did not found any good memory with low timings and fast speed at the same time. Komputerbay 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 SODIMM (204 pin) made with Hynix semiconductors 1333Mhz PC3 10600 8 GB with SODIMM Heatsink for extra cooling (8-8-8-24): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories As I said this fits you and has CL8 which is better than CL9 but as you guessed worse than CL7. Either buy this or try to find on another site or elsewhere. If you have friends in USA you can ask them to buy the best one and send you as it is little it won't take much for posting this

 

i was looking on this one also, but it is just 1066Mhz, or it doesn't matter?

 

hey i have a vaio f series and mine used to get pretty hot playing games but it never lagged due to it and no where near BSOD.
HOWEVER, i did get a virus at one point and so i reinstalled windows and after doing so the laptop has never been the same again... when i play a game it plays fine for a while on max gfx as it used to but at some point in the game the fan goes crazy and the frame rate drops from around 70fps to 9 or 10. after a couple of minutes it goes back to normal but then a few minutes later it would do the same again. My vaio is aparently not affected by the f-series overheating problem: http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computin...cw2/index.aspx
but it is definately overheating.

when i reinstalled i used sonys support site to get the drivers and everything but nothing i do seems to fix it (not even playing on min gfx which it should be able to handle no prob)

please can someone let me know if they know whats wrong and/or how to fix it
thanks


btw laptop is sony vaio f-series vpcf11s1e
i7 cpu @1.60 GHz (x4)
6.00 GB RAM
Nvidia 330M gfx card (1GB)
graphics driver was up to date a week ago using nvidias drivers, then i uninstalled it and used sonys recomended but still did not fix
any other info needed just ask

 

Corsair - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - SO DIMM 204-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10600 - CL9 - 1.5 V - unbuffered - non-ECC: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

this one is 1333mhz, so which of them is better? CL7 and 1066 or CL9 and 1333?

 

Look my previous post. I told you that the best I found is CL8 1333 Mhz

 

I recommend you update BIOS if its not and do a clean Windows install again from USB flash Drive using Windows7-USB-DVD-tool for example.

 

I disagree, as always on this topic. You should do a Vaio "clean install" as detailed here. Much better IMO!

http://www..org/images/Sony_Vaio_F11/Vaio_F_Series_Clean_Install_Guide.htm

 

I agree with you.

Your link doesn't work, but I think your goal was to get to this:
http://vaiofseries.com/Vaio_F_Clean_Install_Guide.htm

 

Just curious, why are you against usual Windows install?

 

Here's the video: http://tinyurl.com/4otldk5

I can hear it twice at the beginning and twice at the end. The sound is there, and it's with my F as well. Now my suggestion is to turn the volume of the video to a non amplified setting that matches the normal sound volume of the laptop fan. Playing the video again, to my ear the sound is distinguishable but oh so barely. Good video for those who are grappling with this issue. If that sound is going to bother you then there are other choices of makes and brands. I'm attempting to be very objective here.

 

And from what I am reading the differences are usually negligible and might only be seen in benchmarks. But why not get the best performance possible if price is good.

 

Anyone with any issues with the Bluetooth? I can't seem to detect my bluetooth devices with this F13

I went into Device Manager and can't seem to find the driver under Network Adapters. Tried downloading the driver from Sony Website and it won't let me install! Kept giving me a weird error..

 

Post #5480 may help.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...o-f-series-owners-lounge-548.html#post5959118

 

Tried but still not working.

Am I suppose to see a Bluetooth Driver in Device Manager?

I've only got 3 under Network adapters:

Intel(R)...
Marvell Yukon...
Microsoft Virtual Wifi...

EDIT: I tried again and now it says "Update can only be done in Windows 7". :S Don't think I'm on Windows 8 yet!

EDIT: Tried using CCleaner to uninstall Broadcom bluetooth software and reinstalled. It's now working fine. phew..! Thanks for your help anyway!

 

Thanks for the corrected link, anseio. I should have verified it first.

James, this board has gone through the benefits of a Sony_"clean install" many times.

It provides the best performance for a non expert user, uses the Sony supplied Windows 7 license and at the same time allows for the install of Sony supplied software like the Adobe bundle. It is the best of all worlds and IMO has no downsides.

You can even upgrade to a higher level version of Windows if you like.

This will only change once "Windows 8" goes GA.

 

I know it's been a while but here is my color calibration

Also, gameplay for Test Drive Unlimited 2, Far Cry 2, Dragon Age 2, and CRYSIS 2!!!:

All of the run fairly well (details in each video's description). Incidentally, I think I may have cooked the thermal paste off of my GPU because it runs to 100C after 30 minutes in any game. Hmmm. I might take it apart and put some artic5 on it =)

YouTube - Dragon Age 2 Demo
YouTube - Far Cry 2
YouTube - Test Drive Unlimited 2
YouTube - Crysis 2 PC Multiplayer Demo

 

Take some pictures and write a tutorial, I would like to do the same...

 

For those considering an SSD upgrade, have a look at the problem I'm having with my corsair F120:

Sometimes getting "Operating System Not Found" with F120 in a Vaio F12 - The Corsair Support Forums


I should add that for some reason it's not happening as often anymore (only thing I can attribute it to is the Win7 SP1 upgrade, but that makes no sense to me).

It's only a minor inconvenience at this point, but thought I should point it out to people.

 

Good to know. Haven't had this problem with either of the Intel's that I've used.

 

First, I have to apologize for the poor quality of the photos, but all I have is my phone camera and I also have a torn rotator cuff and bicep tendon so I was having trouble holding the camera up and pressing the button. But I thought you'd rather see these than no photos at all. So, after researching for a couple weeks, I bought a ViewGuard anti-glare matte screen protector hoping it would make my screen less painful to use. I looked (online, not in person) at several similar products from other companies that had equally good and bad reviews as this one and chose this because it was supposed to offer greater glare reduction with good light transmission compared to the others.

With the cheapest shipping option (UPS Ground at $8) it cost $28. You can find the product I bought here: Official Site of ViewGuard® Products including Privacy Filters & Screen Protectors for Laptop, Notebook & Desktop Computers; LCD Screens; Mobile Phones; PDAs and More It came with a microfiber cloth. And when I ordered it, there was a special - free screen and keyboard wipes - but I don't know how long that's going on and I didn't really like the wipes anyway. The cloth did it's job though. The application was difficult for me due to my shoulder/arm injuries. It was hard for me to lay down the film evenly, without getting dust and air bubbles, but this is typical of any film like this and I was basically doing it one handed so it took me over an hour and a half. Not a ViewGuard issue, just the nature of this project and you really need two good arms. The longer you take to lay down the film, the more time dust has to get in the way and then you have to get the dust out - vicious cycle. It won't take anywhere near that long under the right conditions. You will see a lot of air bubbles in the after pic, sorry about that, but I just didn't have the energy left to get them out before taking the pictures. I've got about 90% of the bubbles out now (I did this on Friday).

It's supposed to be at least 90% glare reduction with at least 90% light transmission. I don't have anyway of actually measuring that, but just as far as how it looks to me, I'd say it reduces glare by 60-70% and reduces brightness by about one notch on the Fn+F5 scale. I have mixed feelings about the result. I plan on keeping it on because it does decrease the strain on my eyes. It doesn't eliminate it and there is still glare. While the display looks what I would call "matte-ish" it still does not compare to an actual matte display. My old Inspiron 6000 still kicks it butt and I used to consider that an average screen. So, it's not a miracle worker but it will make a glossy screen "more matte" and does significantly reduce glare (while still leaving a significant amount of glare).

The text is not blurry like is caused by some films. It does look slightly different but I don't know how to describe it. It looks fine to me just different in some way. I'm going to redo the clear text and try different calibration profiles this week but even if the text look stays the same, there's nothing wrong with it in my opinion. I tried to take text pics but even my before pics looked blurry and they don't look like that it real life so I deleted those pics since you couldn't tell what it really looked like. One thing I've noticed is that in certain places, like the title bar of my web browser, there shows a diagonal shading. There's probably a name for this but I don't know it. Again, tried to take pics of it, but you can't see in the pics so it didn't do any good. The shading is on the display/film because if I move my browser window around, the shading stays in the same place and does not move with the window. But I don't see it in the body of my browser, only in the title bar, even if I move the title bar down to where the body normally is it will still be present in the title but not the body. So, maybe it's only certain background colors that show it - haven't had time to test this out. It doesn't really bother me so far but I have not watched a movie yet to see if it shows up there. That would be a problem. I've picked up a corner of the film and laid it back down and the shading remains in the same places there so it's not a matter of air or lack of contact with the screen, etc.

The viewing angles were not affected, either for good or for bad. Still have very bad viewing angles but it did not make them worse. Light bleed seems the same as well. Like I said, brightness was reduced a notch but I am fine with the brightness level. I'm not sure if I'm forgetting to mention anything else. While I think it was worth the $28, since it does lessen the strain on my eyes and my computer no longer looks like a mirror, it did not have as much positive effect as I was hoping based on reviews and the listed specifications. I will have to see if this diagonal shading effect is an issue or not as I use it more. Since I can't afford a screen replacement, this was my compromise effort. I don't know if another brand would have done better but this had better specs, on paper at least, than most and had as good reviews as the others that have been mentioned on here and that I researched. So my verdict is that's it's better than not having it but it's not without issues and it will not miraculously give you a glorious matte screen for $28.

I'm going to post the pics now. I can't upload them as attachments so I'm doing it different than I have before. Let me know if you have issues viewing them or if they screw up the page layout. The first two are right before and right after the film application, facing a window on a cloudy day (sun was not out) with the display off. Next two are same position with the display on. Next two are with a flourescent light bulb behind me and display off and last two are some position with display on.

 

US people (or anyone who can buy from the US site) - the memory I just bought to upgrade my F13 is on sale for 64.99 at Newegg until 10am PST Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ

Edit: I don't have it yet, so can't answer any questions about it.

 

Ok, thanks for feedback, guess almost all F1x's have it then, noise level moreorless quantified by personal tolerance level & a bit fan hardware/installation variation maybe. To me ("us") the beep is very distinctive and well noticeable throughout the whole room. To me there is no other comparative laptop with same display quality and some minimal graphpower. That's why I try so hard to determine if this problem is solvable.

 

WOW! That's quite the difference.

Unrelated... are any of your injury full ruptures are just partial tears? Which biceps tendon (long or short), and which of your rotator cuff (infra/supraspinatus, subscapularis, teres minor)? Are you keeping fully immobile, or have you been given specific exercises (preferred) to place appropriate strain on the tendons as they heal to ensure the scar tissue forms correctly (decreasing long term pain/immobility)? And, what were you doing to cause such an injury? Also, are you icing regularly? You don't need to worry about ice packs for 20min. Direct contact with an ice cube for 15-20 seconds is incredibly efficient. Lastly, once you've healed up, or even beforehand, you should seek out a Bodyworker specializing in Rolfing or KMI (Kinesis Myofascial Integration - preferred) to help remobilize the tissues. Swedish and deep tissue massage aren't as effective unless the practitioner has a fantastic understanding of how to move the body during work. It's all about mobilizing planes of tissue against other planes. Quite fascinating.

I hope you recover quickly.

 

Anyone know if (and where) I can buy a replacement speaker cover for my silver F12? Caused some cosmetic damage on it...

 

I'm very surprised more of you are not commenting on this. It's the big issue de jour for so many and then not.

Replaced Spyder2 calibration with your Spyder3 and I prefer. Thank you!

 

Just going to ebay one can see quite a view speaker covers for sale. I do not immediately see one to fit your F but good luck and someone else may assist you further. At the end of the day you might have to go to Sony. How much is Sony asking for this part?

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=sony+vaio+speaker+cover

 

I'm getting my f tomorrow and plan to do a clean install using the recovery disk. Will I lose the Adobe bundle and Office Home and Student, if so how do i get them back?

 

@anseio I hurt myself doing an over-zealous workout of pullups and dips. I'll send you a PM later tonight when I'm back home - I don't want to bore everyone else who doesn't want to hear about it. Thanks for your concern.

@blackball I saw some on ebay a couple weeks ago when I was looking them up for someone else who damaged theirs. So you may want to keep checking there and they may come and go. There were also some at parts stores online that I don't have the urls of right now. You have to look around to determine if they are the right parts because they are not called speaker covers in the part name. I forget the name but it was related to the top keyboard cover assembly in the parts lists. It took some researching to figure it out. If there is a part number on your speaker cover, that may help out - I haven't taken mine off to see if there's a visible one printed.

 

You should be able to re-install them through Vaio Care. Before you do your clean install, you can check this by hitting the ASSIST button, then look under Recovery - Reinstall Apps and Drivers - and see if they are there. You will use Vaio Care to re-install most essential things on your computer after your clean install and it can be downloaded from your Sony eSupport site. Occasionally, some things are not listed for re-install in Vaio Care, and this can vary by model, so that's why I"m telling you to look first.

 

Hi! I don't want VAIO GATE to appear at the top of the screen everytime I start up the laptop. Does it have to run in the background all the time? How do I change this? Thanx!

 

There's a settings button on the right hand side when you pull down VG. You can change it there.

 

do you have a free antivirus you recommend?
how much space should I use for my OS partition? I want to partition the rest of my ssd for storage.

 

Don't recommend you to do this. Dont create multiple partitions on SSD. It will lower speed, it will decrease life time of SSD and it is useless actually.

Avira Antivir Personal. I use it

 

Are you sure about that? Granted, partitions are effectively useless on SSD's as they are unnecessary. But... from what I've gleened from the SSD thread... partitions are seen at the virtual level, but not at the hardware level. So, wear levelling doesn't even see the partition to care. I could be wrong about this. I was glancing when I read the post a while back.

Regardless, I agree, it is useless to partition SSD's.

 

avast! is also good (I use it)

So I've noticed something about my fan noise - there's not enough of it! I'm starting to think that my fan isn't going all-out when my 3d apps are running, which is causing temps to skyrocket (might also be the thermal paste). Has anybody had problems with their fan not ramping up? I'm going to get everest over the weekend and check to see if this is the case :/

 

General Discussion Mutiple Partitions on an SSD: Good Idea or Bad Idea

Sounds like the answer is no, but improperly aligned partitions- yes.

SSD Storage Demands Proper Partition Alignment

Avira, Avast, AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials all rank pretty much at the top for free security- one being better or lighter on the resources on any given update/change.

 

Won't my HD already have a partition for recovery from sony?

 

what do you mean by skyrocketing temps?

 

I've had similar issues twice with a SandForce based OCZ drive on another laptop. Except in both cases, the drive could not be cured with a simple reboot and I had to do a full reinstall to recover the drive. Various forums are full of people who have had problems with SandForce drives resuming from low power/suspend states. Remember that SandForce is a relatively new startup with less than 2 years experience in the storage market and it shows.

To be fair, Intel also screwed up pretty big with a series of half baked firmware updates in 2009 culminating in one in Oct 2009 that bricked a whole bunch of drives.

It should have no effect on speed or life or performance. There is a valid reason for partitioning SSDs and it's to segregate different file types for backup purposes.

 

It is not big one and it has no free space you could use for other part of a drive.

partitioning is usually makes for preventing fragmentation of system files and decreasing spinning head search files on all drive for one task (as program files are on little OS partition in the beginning of hard drive. Also it is bigger speed and access time in the beginning of HDD. That's why I say that this is useless for SSD unless you got used to see drives C and D in My Computer.

When NTFS has enough free space it works faster allowing to write data on previously prepared free space which which were found. That's why it's recommended to have 15% free space on hard drive. But SSD is even more needed in free space. Without trim support it needed 50% free space for showing it's maximum. With TRIM situation is better but it isn't solved at all. If partitions are not on virtual level as Anseio said it will reduce speed or lifetime. If Anseio is right perhaps it will reduce only speed or it won't reduce anything. But is it worth trying that or it isn't? I wouldn't do that

 

Im trying to install a new screen to replace the cracked one in my notebook. When I connect it all up and boot all i get is a white screen. Any ideas?

 

I second you on this. I saw different filters mounted on glossy LCDs, and they are definitely an improvement, but still the result is far from a real matte display.
I know this is subjective, but form this point of view, I consider that even my F13’s FHD European Vaio Premium display is behind my Dell Precision D820’s display.

Very nice post jpride!

For who is interested the link to the discussion thread:
ViewGuard Anti-Glare Matte Screen Protector Review Discussion
And also the review done by Notebook Review (also linked on the thread from above):
ViewGuard Anti-Glare Matte Screen Protector Review

PS: I wish you a quick recovery!