Official Sony Vaio F22 2D Owners Lounge

refurbished still has warranty and must be working.
If you want to replace keybord yourself then search for it on eBAY.

 

I bought the laptop from an unofficial Sony dealer - so no warranty.

As I said, I can find a keyboard - no problem - it's just I don't want to cut open the whole machine just to get the keyboard out, as I am sure it must be a easier way to do it.

Currently installing a fresh copy of Windows on my brand new OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120GB Drive

LE - Instalain is DONE. JESUS THIS IS LIGHTNING FAST !!! After a full install of drivers and utils from Sony, it takes about 15-17 seconds to get the desktop icons from the moment I press the power button - IMPRESSIVE.

However, I have an uninstalled device listed in Device Manager called UNKNOWN DEVICE under Other Devices.

Card readers are installed, webcam is installed - donno what could it be. I downloaded and installed pretty much everything listed on Sony's website under support for this model.

Also how the hell do I get the FN + F5, F6 to work ( Brightness control ) ?? Vaio Event Service is working and the volume controls ( FN + F2, F3, F4 ) are working properly. The FN + F1 ( turning off the touchpad ) doesn't work either. And is there a possibility to lower the intensity of the light on the keyboard or the level is preset and set so it's either ON or OFF - no other options ?

Someone also mentioned something about changing the sound settings to Dolby something .... where the hell are these options? I can't seem to find anything related to sound card options anywhere.

Thanks

 

Hard to tell what the unknown device is...
It doesn't sound like you have the correct software running for all the function keys....

For the function keys to work, you need to have VAIO Control Center running, then you can change some stuff and all the keys will work.

There is no way to dim the backlight on the keyboard, just on and off.

 

Thanks for the answer.

Right now I have the Vaio Control Center opened. I only have "tabs" available - System Information, Power Management and Network Connections - with no settings available just 2 "Advanced" tabs under the Power Man and Network Conn which send me to the regular Windows settings for Power Profiles and Network and Sharing Center - nothing else.

Maybe they will only work with the OS the laptop came from the factory because the software needed to run all these is not available for download - which I find very STUPID. I can't even turn off the Touchpad which is VERY ANNOYING as I am using a separate mouse for my design needs. I will try and play with it some more - maybe I can get the hang of it. BTW - when I use the volume controls ( FN + F3 & F4 ) I get the volume bar on screen, so that might tell us something as I've read online that most of the people can't get that to display.

 

You don't have all the software installed on the computer from Sony.
This is my control center





This is the link for the software for my build
Sony eSupport - VPCF233FX/B - Support

 

!! I only have 1,2 and 4 on your list. Is that on a fresh windows or the one provided with the laptop ?

So what's the difference between the /B and the non/B version - on the back of my laptop the model is VPC-F22CFX so non-B but there is also a /B model on their website. Anyone know the differences ?

 

This is with a fresh windows installation.
I had to start adding files/programs from Sony to get all of the features working..... Start downloading software and installing it.


No clue what /B means.
MOST of the Sony laptops are 3 digits mine is F233, not sure why yours is F22
Seems like an older model to me.

 

Ok this is totally CRAP. I have downloaded and installed ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING from Sony Support that belonged to my model ( 53 items ~ 3 GB ). The Unknown Device is STILL THERE and the Brightness + Touchpad FN key are still NOT WORKING. Vaio Control Center has the same 3 tabs which aren't helping with anything.

This is IDIOTIC !! This is a fresh Windows 7 64bit. I will try again with another Win 7 64 bit SP1 this time but I doubt there will be any differences.

It's not a matter of principles here !! Grrrrr

 

Hate to sound negative, but you didn't download everything from them or it would work.
Hop onto Sony support chat and they will tell you what what package you are missing.
When I did a fresh installation, I had the same problem and I did eventually get it to work.

 

Ok I am back - I managed to solve the problem but this is STILL STUPID It turns out that all my problems are due to the fact that SFEP ( Sony® Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver ) was not installed. I got this info from another thread about this problem but the thread is quite old ( 2009 ) and the file I used seems to be for a completely different model but it worked for me. I have installed the UNKNOWN DEVICE in Device Manager with the file from here : http://dls.update.sony.net/pub/oth/64/EP0000148802.zip and everything is now resolved : Brightness Controls are working, Control Center now has all the options.

I also found a "newer" SFEP Driver - Sony eSupport - VPCF126FM/B - Drivers & Software - also for another model ( the VPC-F1 ) and installed that one to be sure I have a newer version.

Also FN+F7 ( for selecting external monitor display options ) and the 2 zoom keys ( FN + F9/F10 ) are now all working fine. The VAIO button is working too and is programmable via the Control Center. One question though - do the 3 upper buttons ( ASSIST, WEB and VAIO ) buttons have backlights or the SONY Logo on top of the keyboard ? They seem to be "backlight-able" but I never saw those light up.

Anyway - what strikes me is WHY THE HELL does SONY not include this obvious CIRITCAL driver to my model's ( and probably others too ) support page ?? Oh well ...long live the internet !

 

Glad you figured it out.
I have that specific driver when I go to the specific support page on sony for my model

Sony eSupport - VPCF233FX/B - Drivers & Software

I am glad you got it working.

about your backlight question. the keys you are referring to, do not light up, neither does the Sony logo.

 

well apparently they "forgot" it for my model and God knows how many others

2 more questions : do your bly-ray drive "door" closes a bit weird ? I mean I kinda have to slam the tray to lock in place If I close it gently it won't close

Also the lid - I need to hold it with my hands when closing it because it has the tendency to SLAM itself the same for you guys ?

 

I never noticed the issue with the blu-ray drive till now
Mine is the same way, can't be closed gently.

Sounds like your lid hinges are weak, I can have my lid 1" above the keyboard, and it stays put.

 

the hinges are very tight - it doesn't wooble at all or anything and they feel very tight when moving the screen or lifting it - just that very close to the keyboard it rushes down but takes a bit of force to lift her up again - I suppose it's relatively normal since the F2 design doesn't include a "locking" device like almost all other laptops have. Well it's nothing to be alarming - I was just curious that's all.

I also managed to "fix" the B key - I glues a small square of tape inside the plastic cover which you actually press and that 1mm of tape ( or even thiner ) gets the rubber button closer to the plastic one and seemed to do the trick just fine

All in all - I am VERY pleased with this laptop - the screen is awesome although I got freaked out at first when I saw that my BW photos had a "sepiash" tint to them but after turning off all the auto-color options in the Sony Control Center - everything is tip top as it should. It's pretty much the best laptop screen I've seen so far ( and I have seen quite a few ) - I will be very curious to have it side by side with a friend's 17 macbook that impressed me in the past. The processing power is great - to be completely honest I was expecting a bit more. I am doing a lot of photo and video editing and when converting FULL HD footage - it takes about exactly the same time to complete as my home PC which is equipped with a much older AMD Phenom X4 965 BE. So I was expecting this i7 to blast it but nevertheless is a VERY fast machine and for a portable machine this is just insane.

The CONS would have to be - JUST 3 USBs ( granted 2 of them are USB 3.0 which is very important in my line of work ). I don''t remember seeing another 16"+ multimedia laptop with JUST 3 usb slots before ( my Dell M6300 had 6 ). Another CON would be the lack of space for a 2nd HDD unit, of course one can buy a tray to include a HDD in the place of the optic unit. And of course the inability to switch between the video adapters although the CPU is capable of using it's integrated HD card. I suppose the price wouldn't have been the same with everything I mentioned added but hey - we NEED to complain about something don't we

 

There's a magnet in it that helps keep it closed when it's closed (in lieu of an old-school physical latch). A side-effect of this design is that if you close it 95% of the way, the magnet will pull it in for the remaining 5%. So to avoid it slamming itself, I close it by holding the top with thumb and forefinger and pulling it shut that way, instead of just pushing from the outside of the lid and pushing it shut.

 

anyone upgrade to Windows 8?

I did, now in my Device Manager I have one "other devices, and it says unknown device"
I know it is the webcam because It doesn't work now.
Any ideas?

 

Have upgraded; haven't tried the webcam yet. I'll try tonight.

I get an occasional pop-up about "USB device not recognized," but I had gotten that occasionally before upgrading as well and thought it was throwing a fuss about my Logitech mouse when the mouse was in sleep mode.

 

I look forward to hear from you.

 

Sorry, forgot to last night. Kids and all that.

 

This is a bit old now, so I don't suppose you have any pictures? Could you give a quick verbal description?

I am about to undertake a screen replacement myself, and I am a bit concerned about the screws that seem to be hard to access at the hinge.

 

My webcam doesn't work either. It's not recognizing it.

 

I updated software (just the regular Tuesday Windows update) and now my webcam is working fine.

 

Can you tell me the info under driver details?
I just updated windows and the device is still unknown.

 

How did you remove the keyboard? It isn't obvious to me on this model. Usually there is a strip on top that you remove, but not on this model.

 

Did you ever get an answer? I am also trying to open up my F236FM. I think there are screws under the keyboard but I can't figure out how the keyboard comes out.
The F1 series had a strip along the top of the keyboard which was removable. The F2 series does not.

I had an acrimonious exchange with Sony support because they basically won't tell you a thing.

 

For the benefit of others who may need to replace the power input jack on a Sony VPCF2 series laptop, just a few guideposts since I did not find any of this info elsewhere. My model is VPCF236FM/B.

The input jack is accessible by removing the bottom cover. There are 25 screws to be removed. There are NO screws under the keyboard! (I wish I knew that before I removed it and put a crack in it).
The bottom cover sticks on the side by the cooling fan (as noted by others in this thread) but it will come off with enough poking and prodding. The input jack comes with a connector to the motherboard (red wires go nearest to the fan) so no soldering is necessary. The jack itself is held by a metal bracket. One screw is easy to remove. The other screw is under the fan. I removed one screw and simply bent the bracket to free the jack.

It really is straightforward if Sony would give out this information instead of forcing people to do this by trial and error. Sony has got to have the worst technical support of any of the major computer manufacturers. They won't tell you a thing.
Dell puts this info on their website for free.

 

Derailing the thread with my own problems...

Sometimes when I put my VPCF23JFX to sleep and wake up, the screen remains black. To fix the problem, I have to put the laptop to sleep again by pressing the power button and wake up a second time. I can live with 5-10 seconds of wasted time, but I would like to address the underlying issue, which I suspect is Nvidia's driver conflicting with Sony's screen software.

 

I had a VERY similar issue, and it was updating to the new driver software.
I ended up rolling back to the old driver and it resolved itself.
In Device Manager under Display Adapters....
Look at the driver information and click Detail

The driver that works for me is
date - 6/21/2012
Version - 9.18.13.286

Hope this helps.

 

Hi There,

i own a VAIO F24 and want to change the wireless card (because olny 150 mbit 2,4 ghz..) into a Intel 6200 . I removed all screws, but i cant reach the wireless module , i can't remove the cover. is there any guide or picture which can help me to open the vaio ? or perhaps a service guide?

 

I had posted this in the main F-series Owners Lounge but apparently that was the wrong place and I was sent here. So I'll just copy+paste:

I know I'm a bit late in the game, but I bought an F-series laptop, specifically the VPCF236FM/B during the weekend of Cyber Monday to replace my aging FW series.

It's been working well for the most part (got it lightly used from eBay), but there's been two issues that I haven't been able to solve that are really bothering me:

1.) I can't upgrade Vaio Care to version 8, no matter what I do. I've tried uninstalling it and re-installing from the original version, but to no avail. It's stuck at version 7.3 and when I go through the setup process for 8, it keeps telling me that there's no applicable version of the software to upgrade from, and lists 7.3 and 6.4 as required versions, but I clearly have 7.3. I can't even use 7.3 because it gives me the "VAIOshell has stopped responding" error, which, ironically is the error that version 7.3 was supposed to fix, accorrding to Sony's support site. On top of all this, somewhere along the way from upgrading from the original version (IIRC, ver. 7.0), it also made Vaio Update disappear, but I was able to get that back.


2.) I seem to have a limited-functionality version of Dolby Home Theater V.4. I can only select from the 3 main profiles, but I can't tweak any other settings. I've seen more fully-functional versions of it on their website and I also saw in another forum that Dolby was offering some sort of patch to fix it but the links were broken.

Any advice on how to fix these issues?

 

Has anyone found the colors a little oversaturated and too vibrant since upgrading to Windows 8? Anyone know how to remedy this? The display section of the Vaio Control Center has disappeared with Win 8.

 

I noticed it too,
I think i am downgrading back to win 7

 

For me upgrading the renesas controller firmware and installing the renesas drivers did solve the Problem.

Can be found here: RENESAS/NEC Drivers & Firmwares
(We have the uPD720200a)

 

Did you install the Display color profile?

 

My VPCF22 motherboard is at an almost constant 75-80degreesC while in use, even for simple web browsing,
are these safe levels?

The fan is so loud and constant(!!) that it I cannot even use this laptop in class or even in the same room as others if I am doing intensive stuff. This is extremely disappointing.

There is no fan control I have found except for some strange CPU tweak that didn't work for me,
Does anyone have ideas?

I vacuum out the vents regularly, but I am loathe to open it up to replace the heat-paste without a video guide or something.

I realise some answers may be buried in this forum but I cant find a search function :/

Honestly I like the computer, but at this point I cannot use it in the situation i bought it for...

Advice would be appreciated, the fan is LOUD.
Cheers!

 

I would also like to know!

 

75-80*C is safe, IIRC, but definitely a bad sign.
The fan is not loud becuase it needs to run slower, it is loud because it cannot dump enough heat for you.

You might not need to replace the thermal paste, and that is not something you are likely to need for the motherboard, only the CPU/GPU, but those are not things you should be doing either way.

Is the CPU temperature high during minimal use? 50*C is not something you should be hitting for normal websites (e.g. minimal crap, even sites like youtube included) Is the GPU temperature high without gaming?
If the CPU temperature is high, but GPU is not, it is possible something is actually using the CPU (virus, WCG or other crunching software, etc.). Check the CPU usage levels in the Task Manager. If it is high, check what is using it.

If the GPU is also high at idle, then possibly the computer is unable to get sufficient INTAKE air to clear enough heat. There is an exhaust and also an intake vent. If the intake is closed, the computer can still work somewhat, but not as efficiently. It would not heat up to 70-80*C at Idle however or anywhere close!
My F2 has a large battery, so I can always prop the lower part above any surface, and it can always get enough air. But I noticed that my F1 can get a lot hotter if put on a closed surface, since I think the intakes are below (where the memory is).


Try proping it up from a flat surface just in case. If that does not help, you might have too much dust in your exhaust vent, and no matter how hard the fan blows, it cannot push out enough air. When I clean my laptop, I take most time to clean the exhaust path, not the fan itself, and it helps more than anything else. Last month I opened the laptop fully and also completely wiped the dust from the plastic part of the exhaust (the cover) and it helped reduce a few degrees.

 

Solved the webcam problem on my F22 with Windows 8. Downloaded this driver: Sony eSupport - VGN-SR165E/P - Drivers & Software

Device Manager > Update Driver > Select the downloaded folder

 

Has anybody found a fix to get the FN/Hotkeys working on Windows 8? Volume works, but I'm missing brightness control.

They actually work on Ubuntu. It's silly that Win8 doesn't have the drivers for them.

 

has nothing to do with windows 8.
i have 8 running and all of my FN/hotkeys work just fine, volume, brightness, HDMI output, zoom in and out......

 

Care to tell how you got them working? I've tried all of the Win8 drivers available on Sony's support site and nothing gets the FN keys working.

 

this exact answer was posted 4 pages back..........
here is the information for you to read...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...vaio-f22-2d-owners-lounge-66.html#post8852875


It sounds like if you go into Device Manager, you have an unknown device, and you need to install the SFEP Driver to get your function keys to work.

 

That's the thing, I already have that driver installed. The FN keys still don't work in Win8.

 

Afternoon all. I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been following this thread for awhile. I have a VPCF22CFX/B with Win7 Ultimate. Decided to sign up, say hey, & maybe contribute something!

 

Welcome :thumbsup:

 

Did you ever get this working? Im interested in swapping out my wireless card in my f23 but not sure if its possible.

 

I hava a VAIO F series VPCF2, it's almost two years old now.
Recently, my power connection (inside the laptop) is a real pain in the .
I have to turn and twist the adapter's cable in order to get a good 'connection' so I have power, it's becoming harder and harder to get the laptop to charge.
It's come to the point where I know I need to replace it.
Could you guys please help me by linking me to which parts I should buy, and maybe a guide and a few tips on howto take the laptop apart and replace the parts?
Thank you kindly.

PS: The while vaio power connection in this laptop is pretty bad, my old Vaio had it way more simpler than this F series.

 

Just search this thread, it has been discussed before.

 

Today one of the two pins inside my vaio's power connection actually broke off, so now I really need a replacement asap.
My vaio's exact model = VPCF22S1E
Could you please help me in buying the correct power replacement thing?

I'm a bit confused because every power thing I find on ebay looks different than mine.

Here is my current (broken) power connection.
(red=broken off pin, green = pin that is still there)


Now all the power things I find are like this:

Which seems to me like a 1000 times better system (since there aren't two fragile pins..
But! Is this compatible with my vaio?
If not, could you please link me to an item I should buy?

Thank you.