Official Sony Vaio CW Core 2 Duo Series Owner's Thread

Hey guys, ordered my customised CW before the refresh, should be arriving any day soon! Been following this thread with interest and found it very useful for details on changing settings etc. I have a question though - I received an email today saying my VAIO has been registered automatically for me, and it then quotes the serial number of my VAIO. I notice that my serial number is 6 0's then a number, so "0000001" for example. Is this a usual serial number for the CW? Or am I getting a "new" something? Sorry if its a stupid question!

 

Hello:

I'm new in this forum!
Someone has this problem with the screen?

In my opinion this looks like very fragile..
Do you think it should be dangerous in the future?

Cheers from Chile!

 

Just don't squeeze the screen

 

Well, it can sometimes help if you take the time to "condition" your battery first, as I did.

Charge it all the way up, then in one long session under varying loads, run it ALL the way down. Repeat once or twice more. It's also a good idea to do this again from time to time.

Lithium-Ion batteries don't get the memory effects you had with Ni-Cads, but you can still improve performance with proper handling. Note also that Sony has a battery management option setting designed to improve the the lifetime of the battery by limiting it to an 80% charge. This will shorten your run time on the battery, but may be better for it if you normally keep your laptop plugged into the wall.

 

Hi,

I have a question about the hdmi audio output when using hdmi out for A/V. I have it connected to my older plasma model. The plasma model's digital audio out is connected to my receiver. All other audio that comes out of the plasma (like regular TV) gets output to the av receiver fine. However for videos played over hdmi, the TV is able to display only the video. No audio playback.

Are there any settings for the hdmi audio that i need to tweak? Is it something to do with copy protection issues with hdmi? Also, the specs of my TV (pioneer elite 1130hd) state that it can accept only linear PCM (2ch stereo) over hdmi. Could this be an issue too?

I did try connecting the headphone output directly to my receiver. But there is no audio output on the headphone socket when the playback is over hdmi.

Any other possible solutions here?

Thanks,
-Raj

 

If anyone is interested I'm selling my CW that's in my SIG Its about 20 days old. $800 shipped. PM me if your interested.....

 

+1 -- 1366x768 is perfect for me.

 

If anyone wants to see a video of the matte black version they can watch it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86TpZ_z22fA
this model doesnt come with the fingerprint maybe since its from singapore but the display off and web and vaio buttons arent there as it was said earlier.

Enjoy!

 

Hi! Maybe anybody knows how to replace keyboard on VAIO CW.

 

Check the manual. I think I read somewhere that it's pretty easy to do.

 

I found that uninstalling the stuff I didn't want and disabling a bunch of VAIO services got mine nice and clean. And I mean clean... I even disabled Aero

 

I had read all manual but nothing about keyboard replacement

 

Looks like I am the only one who bought the machine with Windows XP

Thank you for all of your contributions, one of the posts led me directly to the Splashtop browser many pages back and I forgot to say thanks! The instant web works great. Generally, very impressed with the machine, runs like a gem (incl. some graphic intensive games)!

Also, a big thanks for posting a link with the keyboard skin (black), works great, and saves my keyboard from a lot of crumbs.

I second the question regarding the extended battery, does anyone have it, and is it actually worth it?

 

I've found the Windows colour calibration tool a while ago (really useful, highly recommend using it) but recently, everytime I turn off the machine or disconnect it from an external HD monitor, the colour settings revert back to the standard settings which looks really washed out. Does anyone how to stop it changing back? Thanks in advance.

I think my only serious complaint so far are the glossy surfaces used on the lid and palm rests. If you have it set right by a desk lamp you will notice all the smudges and finger prints on the palm rests which is particularly annoying when you're still in that 'must baby it because it's shiny and new phase'. I've already noticed some VERY minor scuff marks on the lid, probably from when I put it in a messenger bag a few times. They are really small but if you're as anal as I am when it comes to new things then it is annoying. A matte material would've been a better choice but that'd probably be a visual trade-off Sony didn't want to make. As I've remarked earlier in the thread, the keyboard and screen are very good, although the vertical viewing angles are quite shallow. Also the touchpad is great, pinch zoom and spiral scrolling are very useful and easy to use.

 

DO u mind sending a link to get the calibration tool? thnx

 

Did anyone purchase a laptop cooler for their CW yet?

 

Does anybody even need one with this laptop? Mine runs super cool on my lap whilst playing games.

Easily the coolest running laptop ive ever owned.

 

During idle (105F) it seems fine but it gets kinda hot during games (core 1 and 2: 152F and GPU: 140F). Are those fairly low readings for a laptop when playing games?

 

just got the tracking number from my shipment so it appears they are definitely in stock.

 

Personally "fresh start" is a waste... A fresh Win7 install is probably still going to be faster and work better. Because I think Sony still puts their notebook utilities on there, just not the extras like an office trial or antivirus trialware crap... a clean install with the essential drivers will make your appreciate what your notebook can do.

 

Go to the control panel and click 'Appearance and personalisation', click on 'Display' and on your left will be 'Calibrate color' with a little blue and yellow shield symbol next to it, hope that helps,

I've not used an iphone but you only notice the smudges under or near direct light

It's like a Prius when compared to my old notebook, which was like a fighter jet taking off.

 

Hi everyone. I bought a Sony Vaio VPCCW17FX from Best Buy (Windows 7 Home Premium) a while back and wanted to ask - has anyone successfully performed a clean install? I have a Windows 7 Professional x64 courtesy of my school and I wanted to install that one. Well after I performed the installation, I downloaded all the drivers on http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VPCCW17FX (except iTunes and other things of the sort). I now have a few problems:

1. Before I performed the fresh install, I had the preserve battery option activated so the max battery charge would be 50%. After I installed a few of the drivers I've started receiving an error saying that my battery was not recognized and that when I click ok, the computer would go into hibernation and I had to remove & reinsert the battery. I cannot get rid of this message, it keeps appearing no matter what I do. Also the battery light is always on (the one near the palmrest, between the ON light and the HDD light). I am now trying to recover using the Vaio recovery DVDs, I hope that will fix it.

2. None of the function buttons seemed to work except volume up/down/mute volume. No brightness, no sleep mode, no change display button, no Vaio button.

3. The SmartWi program always says the WiFi adapter is off, even when it is turned on and I am connected to a wireless network. Anyway, this is not such a big problem, compared to the other ones

4. The Splashtop doesn't work. It says I have to install it but I don't know where I should install it FROM.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and if anyone performed a successful clean install of Win7 Professional to replace Home Premium AND has made everything work, a step by step guide would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Word. So much talk about Sony's bloatware, but nobody can actually say "keep this, uninstall this". I really don't want to reinstall a "clean" OS, I don't want my FN buttons to stop working and I don't want to mess around too much. I just want to get rid of everything that I won't need and that is not needed. Please, computer experts, help us! You're our only hope!

 

Are these temps in a safe range for a laptop underload? (core 1 and 2: 152F and GPU: 140F)

 

well, the thing is if you do, do a clean install, then its just the matter of installing 3 drivers in correct order and all ur FN keys will be working , i mean ive done this for over 8+ VAIO PC's and its really simple
for a Thorough step by step walk thru then follow this post

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=450641
everything is written in detail

Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver
Sony Notebook Utilities
Sony Shared Library

these are the drivers you need to install to get your FN keys working properly, just remember to install in this order
and one thing thats not in the guide but i would like to add is always restart after installing each driver, so it gets installed properly, its always better to be safe than sorry

 

I'm gunning for three years, provided a crucial part doesn't break down like on my old notebook

Probably means read and burn, but I'm no expert.

 

I just unfortunately dropped my laptop from 1 foot height and fortunately it fell on a thick carpet. Now I, like, hallucinate everything is breaking from the inside. Im really worried now and want to ask if anyone feels a little warm under the touch pad of your CW's.

Ill be so thrilled if you guys do and my CW remains intact.

 

I have just finished replacing the CPU in my notebook. I can really recommend the p9700 CPU, its a big difference in speed compared to my p7450.

Earlier in this thread I posted my WEI score with the p7450, then I realized that my memory was performing worse compared to other people with 4gb in the CW series. How ever now my memory score is much better because of the CPU upgrade.

The installation itself was really easy, just unscrew the backside of the notebook. Then unscrew the cpu/gpu cooler (6 screws). And simply swap the cpu to the new one.
After the swap Windows booted up just as before except abit faster (23 sec compared to 27).

With current specc p9700, GeForce GT 230M, 4gb ddr3 ram, Intel x25-m 160gb g2 ssd.
WEI score is now:
cpu 6.4
ram 6.4
gfx 6.3
gfx 6.3
hdd 7.7

 

So I decided to say screw the newly refreshed CW since I already got the original CW with a 230M GPU. I was gonna buy the new one and resell this one but it's just not worth it for the incremental performance gain that won't matter in real life practical situations. What I decided to do instead is upgrade the screen to a nice 1600x900 resolution and possibly upgrade the wifi card to the new Intel cards. That should hold me over for a while.

 

How do you know you'll be able to upgrade the screen?

 

Why wouldn't I be able to? Just buy a compatible screen that's the right size.

 

Hello, this is my first laptop so please forgive if this is blatantly newbie of me. I want to buy a second battery and am wondering if any battery with the model number VGP-BPS13 will work with my Vaio CW. I ask because I notice there are a number of suffixes such as VGP-BPS13/A, VGP-BPS13/B VGP-BPS13/AB, VGP-BPS13/S etc. When I took a look at my batttery I see that it has the model number VGP-BPS13/Q and I can't find anything with this Q suffix anywhere online, including Sony's web site.

Is it safe for me to assume that as long as I order a battery that claims to be compatible with Sony VGP-BPS13 it will work with my machine or would this be a mistake?

Thanks for any info that might be given.

 

It really does suck. I keep my Battery Care set to 50%, and when I unplugged it today within a few seconds it dropped to 47%, then after 12 min it was at 36%

 

wow, swapping out already?! was that expensive? What was the WIE before?

 

I got the processor from ebay for 300usd.

My WEI with old processor (p7450 was: )
Processor: 5.7 (P7450 2.13Ghz)
Memory: 5.8 (4g ddr3)
Graphics: 6.4 (GT230M, 512mb)
Gaming Graphics: 6.4 (GT230M, 512mb)
HDD: 7.7 (160gb Intel X25 M G2)

(The gfx was overclocked when I did the test, performs 6.3 on standard clock).

Edit:
just managed to perform a better result.
Processor: 6.4 (P9700)
Memory: 6.4 (4g ddr3)
Graphics: 6.5 (GT230M, 512mb)
Gaming Graphics: 6.5 (GT230M, 512mb)
HDD: 7.7 (160gb Intel X25 M G2)

 

I found it already remember I'm the guy that posted the gif.

 

yes, i remember you posting that, i answered by asking how you were able to post that moving image

my post was intended for the girl who bought the 2 laptop for her nieces and couldn't find the Bluetooth. (i get so confused on these posts, sorry if that's you and i just read it wrong and ur a guy not a gal (i can never find the original posts in here - sorry

 

it was me and I'm a guy.

side note. did they just split the CW thread up? or have I been posting in the wrong thread the whole time?

 

There should be a maintenance manual somewhere on the Sony site

 

Are the CW's that are matte, do they have a matte screen as well or is it just the casing?

 

they split it. i saw where the moderator had written, "this thread's content can be covered under the i3, i5, i7 thread" or something like that. How did you post that moving image??!! (3rd time asking Sorry about the guy/girl thing, the "pink" threw me off, but i realize now that was for your nieces (i need to "read" these posts instead of just "skim" because obviously i don't skim well lol

 

I got a new 7200RPM 320GB WD Scorpio Black. Is there a problem reinstalling Win 7?

So far I downloaded all the drivers I want and moved them to my USB drive and got my Win 7 Ultimate 64bit disk ready, any last words?

What is that I read about what to install first? since when do you need a chain-install? sounds odd to me

Thanks!

 

I am having the same issue on my Vaio now. I tried to run the cleaner and the same..goes away, then returns after bootup. Also ran a defrag on the registry and still... the problems return. Have you found out why this is happening? Thanks.

 

i am a new cw owner. i can't findout how to activate the bluetooth. can anybody please advise....

 

Is it possible to disable that VAIO One Click Care crap? It keeps bringing my CW out of sleep mode to run its stupid scans. I think one of the required VAIO services starts it up because there's nothing in task scheduler

 

efcoba, go back one page. there's a cool gif that shows (us visual learners) how to do it...

I remember people talking a while back about battery draining while the vaio was asleep. I notice that plugged in or not, like a toddler, it tends to wake itself up and go about its business. Several time's i've been woken up by AIM or my "24" countdown timer, even though the lid is closed. One time, I put it in my sleeve, then satchel on my way back from work. When i got back, i just put the satchel down and went to a friend's spot. I came back, hours later, to get the vaio, only to find the inside and the computer warm and the battery pretty much drained.

Does anyone else have this problem? Could it be a reason for the battery drain? Its set to go to sleep when the lid closes and does do that, but it randomly wakes itself back up. its not like its updating or anything either. not that i can see

 

i ran WEI on the new CW26 but my ram score is just 5.9!!!!!! ohw have u guys managed to get 6+ scores on the same? Any fix that i must add? (My graphics gives a decent 6.4 though!)

 

I was thinking it's the Sony software, but now that I think about it, I've had that happen with nothing running but my usual programs.

 

thanks for the advice. now i can access by bluetooth.