Official Sony VPC-Z2 (VAIO Z 2011) Series Owners' Thread

Well, my Z22 has one of the newer CPU's that aren't available in the Z21 (i7-2640). There's probably other differences as well, dunno.

 

I have a question concerning the creation of the Recovery Media DVD's:
I understand that there are two methods for Recovery. The first method involves a restore of the system from the "recovery area" (partition). This would obviously do a factory reset of my entire system. The other method involves me creating recovery media (DVD's), and that is what I am doing now. It says it will take 3 DVD's to back the system up.
My question is this: What does this backup contain? Does it contain the entire system, including all of my installed applications and data files, or is it just the operating system. The little pamphlet isn't exactly clear on this.
It also makes me nervous when I see that the instructions for recovering from the media don't even ask me to boot from the media, but rather I have to boot into "VAIO Care Rescue", which sounds like something located on a recovery partition on the SSD. However, what good would this be if my RAID 0 loses it's brain and completely wipes out the contents of all of the partitions on the SSD?
I'll probably just use TrueImage for my complete image backups because I am unsure of all this.

 

^
The recovery from the DVD's is the same as recovery from the recovery partition. They both restore to factory which includes the operating system and preinstalled programs.

 

Not sure why they would even include the capability of making the Recovery Media DVD's, if it doesn't do anything different than the Recovery Partition method, particularly if the system needs to boot off (and thus depend upon) the "VAIO Care Rescue" partition to be able to read the DVD's.
Well, back to the TrueImage backups for me.

 

^
You can boot into the discs without the recovery partition.

 

OK, that's a relief to hear at least. Still, I wish it would include my installed programs and data files.
Thanks.

 

Does anyone know how to get into the BIOS boot menu? I keep hitting F11 repeatedly very quickly after powerup, and it never gives me a menu. It just keeps starting up Windows 7 directly. I am trying to boot off the DVD drive so I can run my TrueImage backups.

 

Try the F2 key.

 

Sorry, I should not have mentioned the word "BIOS" in my question. The F2 key gets me into the bios. What I really am looking for is a boot menu to let me choose external USB devices or the DVD-ROM to boot from instead of the SSD. On Dell computers, it is the F12 key.

 

In the User's Manual (page 169), it says that in order for the F11 boot menu to work, I have to first disable the "Fast BIOS Startup Settings" in the VAIO Control Center. However, I cannot find any such setting in the VAIO Control Center! Arrrgh!

 

It's the first option under "System Information" in the Control Center.

I don't remember -- would booting up using the "assist" button give boot options?

 

No go for me. Here is what the two screens under the "System Information" look like for me...





Maybe this is because I have a different (newer) model Z22?

 

Can someone please recommend some laptop locks that are compatibile with the Z2? I need one as soon as possible.

Thanks

 

Does anyone know if I buy a gen 3 SSD to replace the gen 2 in my Z2, will it work at full SATAIII speeds? Thanks!

 

I am not aware of such an option on the Z2 or any VAIO for that matter...I could be wrong though...

 

That is so weird. How can Sony not provide such a basic feature? The ability to boot from external media (and to be able to choose which external device while booting) seems like a non-optional thing to me.

 

It's quite odd that you don't have the FastBoot option available to you.

In any event, though, I turned mine off and tried to use the F11 key to pull up a boot menu. Didn't work.

However, if you read the manual closely, it doesn't actually say anything about a boot menu. It just says to plug in the external drive and hit the F11 and it will boot from that.

So, I plugged in a bootable USB key, hit the F11 and it simply booted off of that device. No menu, just boot.

WFM (Works For Me)

 

I have an external SATA hard drive cage that plugs in using USB, and my CloneZilla boot media may be USB thumb drive or DVD. So you see, when I'm doing drive imaging work, there may be 2 or 3 drives present that are bootable, so I don't know how Sony is going to decide which one to boot without presenting a menu. I guess it just polls all the available drives and ports until it finds the first bootable drive. I'll just have to keep swapping things around until it boots off my CloneZilla media.
By the way, the F11 boot (without a menu) did finally work. It just didn't like one of the CD-ROM's that I was trying to boot off of. Thanks!

 

For everyone interested in the issue of carbon fiber, here are some new internal photos of the Z2 just released by the FCC.

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1464686

Gobi3000 photos are here, https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1464701

External photos, https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1464684

User's manual, https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1464697

Letter to the FCC listing the items for which Sony requested short-term and permanent confidentiality, https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1464697

 

Hi

I just had a BSD for a second time! This is basically a clean machine with factory install. Only things I had time to install was Office, Adobe Studio, Eclipse, Java SDK, Jrun, Firefox and couple other things. I'm still not using it at all and it just sits on the desk in standby.

So I have it in standby connected to the docking station and 24" Dell. I wake up from standby today and fire up firefox, load ebay to check for a NAS. Then I leave it on while I work on couple other machines. The Z ends up just going to sleep. After couple of hours I got some free time so decided to install mySQL and SQL Server to get it closer to where I can start using it as my main dev machine. I press power button to wake it up, clicked threw couple areas of ebay and get the BSD. The dump shows up on the notebooks screen, it was turned off when docked, and the 24" Dell keeps showing the desktop in frozen mode.

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
nusb3xhc.sys

The version of this file is 2.1.16.0 and its for Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller

I have the minidump but had no time to install the tools and look at it closer.

I have all updates from sony except Remote Keyboard software update.

 

perfect! I need to use electrical tape to cover that blinding power button LED anyway

 

Error: You are not authorized to view this page. Hopefully I didn't just get punked by a virus.

 

I know, I did this a little earlier but was sure quite a read

I have yet to find any. there are a bunch for my X on ebay. I was considering getting some vinyl carbon foil and doing it myself. First cut out a template to match the size etc. Not sure how well it would stick on the edges of the screen as its angled edge. I might try it as I was planning on wrapping all the wood in my car anyway.

 

Z22 is newer

 

No, the links I posted (and didn't check) aren't working for reasons I don't quite understand.

Let's try this instead, here is the link to the FCC page with Z2 info. https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas...N&application_id=192344&fcc_id='AK8PCG41311L'

 

Neat find! Thanks for sharing.

 

Hi,

I have the Z21 for a month now (and read ~170 pages of this thread before ordering it ), I am quite satisfied with it, but... when the notebook awakens from sleep, the CPU load stays at 25% level until the next restart. The fan is therefore loud and also battery goes down quicker. The process which takes the 25% CPU is System itself. Does anybody of you experience the same problem?

Thanks a lot,
vazz

 

There might be a few small running changes, but the 2620m vs 2640m is just an incremental improvement from 2.7 to 2.8ghz. nothing to lose sleep over.

 

So, I found a similar problem on MS Windows Vista forums - the high CPU load was caused by Belkin F5U701 USB hub connected to PMD. After disconnecting it, the load went down immediately (and also the loud fan noise). If any of you would have this problem, just try to disconnect the USB hub.

vazz

 

I put mine to sleep while docked once and got a nice blue screen for my trouble when I tried to wake it up. I've not tried that again.

 

My Z2: The master of unusual boot events.

Today I powered on the unit and I noticed it was taking longer than usual. While I watched, the green light turned itself off without ever reaching the Windows logo.

I pressed power a second time and got a screen telling me that the system had hibernated because of a critical power event. I plugged it in but the boot never completed.

I forced a power off and powered up again. This time everything was normal. My battery was at 98%.

 

I will receive my VPC-Z2190X in few hours now (hopefully it won't be between 1pm to 5pm otherwise I would get it only on Monday T_T)

I was just wondering about the first battery charges, because I remember that when I had my VPC-Z11Z9E there was nothing mentioned about. I'm afraid it's the same with the Z21.

So what should I do when I receive it? immediately plug it and wait for ∞ hours ? Or Shall I use the use up the energy of the battery to a low level (~10%) then I plug it and let it charging for ∞ hours ?

Or it doesn't matter and I should use it like I just want to ?

 

My understanding is that the life of Lithium based batteries is determined by the number of full charge cycles. As opposed to older batteries that developed a memory unless fully discharged regularly. "Full charge cycles" is key -- its not the number of charges. So if you use the battery to 50%, charge it, then use it to 50% and charge it again, that's one charge cycle.

I look forward to welcoming another member to the proud family of "blurple" Z2 owners!

 

Greetings from Sydney, Australia. Just thought I'd offer a quick 'hello' plus a BUGE 'thank you' for all of the excellent info which has been shared in this thread.

I picked up my VPCZ227GGX (i7-2640M/8GB/256GB) machine a couple of days ago. Very happy with it so far....except for the classic Sony bloatware ;-)

Cheers

Derek
Derek Jenkins (@ozdj) on Twitter
Thoughts of DUH! | Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence.

 

I've found my answer on this article

So you were right, and first use it is recommend, in order to calibrate the battery, to use it to 5% then charging it up to 100%

 

I know it sounds like you purchased it in person, but when I ordered my Z22 online from Sony, there was an option to order it with a "Fresh Start", which is to say, without all the bloatware!

 

Still looking for recommendations for laptop locks that are going to work with the Z2. Would appreciate any suggestions...

 

I would say, any Kensington should work

 

My Z21 was delivered...but guess what? There was a crack by the ethernet port at the top right corner (exactly the top right corner of the ethernet port). A full crack. Dealing with Sony Canada for a refund. Gonna pick this up in store or something. This is a nuisance. But nonetheless, liked what I see.

 

It definitely sounds like you have a defective unit. I've owned my Z2 for 1 week now, without a single bad thing happen. Perfect operation so far.

 

OS X on my Vaio Z... nice!

 

Close up osf OS X on Vaio Z21

 

did you lose any functionality (Fn keys, special buttons)?

 

Hello,

I've been contemplating buying a Z2 for some time now (been eyeing up the Z, SZ line for years now...) but am honestly a little disheartened as I preferred the Z1 overall. I can get used to this but I'm also concerned of Sony releasing a Z3 so soon! Would the Z2 hold its value such that I could sell it off for a decent price in the event the Z3 ends up being something I want?

Also, I'm considering picking it up from Hong Kong, so was wondering if there would be any issues in terms of warranty. I imagine buying from Sony Style in HK would provide international warranty? Ota-con, I suspect you would be able to shed some light on this? Would I be able to walk in and pick one up, or do I have to order online first?

 

I thought Z3 (or whatever name scheme) will come with W8 (2012 fall). Z23 or similar may come with Ivy spring 2012, but it will sport same design as Z21/Z22.

As for any "exotic" goods, you pay hell of a price, but resales value is questionable - of course you can sell it but you'll lose great deal of money.

So you need to decide yourself if Z2 (with all pros and cons) suits your needs.

As for warranty, for what I know, ALL warranties are 1 year international, unless you purchase some extended plan. You just need to check with Sony HK if they actually repair laptops or send them elsewhere.

Cheers,
Miki

 

Nice indeed! Were you able to retain dual boot capability back to Win7?

 

anyone else experienced the blue screen while docked or undocked?

specifically related to nusb3xhc.sys ?

 

Hi,
Sony HK provides one year of international warranty which cannot be extended. The local warranty can be extended to three years though.
You can walk into a Sony shop and purchase it provided they have stock. Good luck with your purchase! Let us know how it goes!

 

It's running in a full screen VMWare within Windows 7. Running VMWare on laptops used to be painful until SSDs came along... now it's sweet, except for guzzling up all those expensive GB. Graphics performance is almost as good as the real thing. IT does not seem to support Mac Quartz capabilities so installing software like Logic Pro had to be performed with some judicious file copying.

TBH, given the choice, not sure of any benefit of a dual boot over a VMWare install: I can develop, debug and deploy iPhone apps within the VM, connecting to the iPhone. I do have Macs btw, but this saves me having to carry both a Mac and a PC around.

Cheers, Howard

 

One of the reasons I got my on ebay. It was brand new still sealed and about $700 less then retail once you factor in the tax. This gives me a good cushion for absorbing price drop in case I want to sell it off on top of the lower price.