Official Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip PC Owners' Thread

One of the problems I had with games... I don't know which one specifically fixed which issue because I had a couple. Here's the stuff I did to fix.

[1] Set up display profiles for each resolution setting you want in the IntelHD Graphics Control Panel. As a general rule, with an Optimus setup, the Intel Graphics Control Panel is your first stop with audio and video issues. Also, creating the profiles allows you to switch between profiles using the right-click menus on the desktop.

[2] Flag the problem application to use the NVidia card, if it's graphics intensive, using the NVidia Control Panel. Optimus is supposed to determine this. But for some apps, it fails. So just force the system to pick a card.

[3] Some of the games I play are too old to know of the possibility that they'll be swimming in a sea of memory. So 1st they do is check for a pagefile and even refuse to run without one.

So if you're getting a message saying you're running out of memory, and you are using a custom resolution in the application/game, set your desktop resolution to match the in-app/game resolution. If you're still having memory problems, set your windows pagefile size to match your system RAM size. Setting the pagefile is a desperation move but it works. Of course, you lose the disk space you reserve for the pagefile.

Other stuff I encountered...

Civ5 on DX11 does not scale to your custom resolution. Run it in DX10 or DX9.

The 1620p, at least for my eyes, is pixel dense enough for me to be happy with turning off the anti-aliasing on games. YMMV

 

Thx a lot but the problem is still. The biggest is that when I change resolution in Hd4400 panel or nvidia or in windows all screen is going flash and it is realy hard to turn off. Only safe mode can fix this :/

 

If you refer to my previous post, I mentioned that I have no other personal data on here. I had 170GB out of 204GB free after uninstalling most bloatware. No other programs have been installed nor have I added music and such. I am missing ~34GB (give or take), but I will double check the old Windows folder to see if it was left over from the 8.0 to 8.1 upgrade.

 

If you guys who have 13A with SSD want to upgrade, here is a decent deal.

Amazon.com: MyDigitalSSD 50mm Bullet Proof 4 BP4 50mm mSATA Solid State Drive SSD SATA III 6G (240GB)(256GB): Computers & Accessories

 

I returned my Flip 15A for WiFi failures and system crashing. I have had a tough time with my purchase and have not actually been able to usr during the 20 days I had it.

Therefore, does anybody know how I could withdraw from my purchase contract as I bought the goods on the 23rd October 2013 and it has been almost 3months and Sony have been unable to follow through on my purchase.

I ask this because I am repeatedly told the sale is final because it isa custom build and the technician told me today he has only factory restored it and cannot find faults. The faults come when rumning updates and win8.1 upgrade, causing WiFi failures, unresponsive touchscreen / pad plus horrible fan noise

Ps, if any one is curious, my ordeal is highlighted on 131 - 133.

 

Attention, do not order that SSD for the 13A, it's an msata form factor which won't fit. You need a M.2. form factor !!!

 

I did a clean install of WIndows 8 and everything is working. I don't need all of the Multimedia Apps for the VAIO, but the Inspiration Suite would be benefitial (VAIO Clip & Paper) for making notes in meetings.

Is there any way to install them? Where can I get them? I have the USB, but didn't find anything there. I have also installed VAIo Care, but the restore Apps menu doesn't show any of them (at least I don't see them).

Do you have any help for me?

Thanks upfront

 

I would try again installing the updates in the steps recommended avoiding installing wifi and other drivers through windows update. Alternatively, if they still have the laptop ask them to do so and see how the machine behaves. To me your issues do not seem hardware related, it seems like the issues lie completely in the software therefore if it works correctly on win 8 i don't think legally there is anything you can do except play the return game as obviously your guarantee is valid. Eventually they may exchange it for a new one.

 

So you say 34 GB is occupied. How big is your Windows directory? Probably around 10 GB. That would mean we are trying to find the other 24 GB.
Can you tell us the size of the other directories on your C: drive?
You only tell us you are hunting for those 34 GB, but you need to break it down for us per directory.

Have you tried cleaning up the C: drive?
How to Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 8

 

After problems with my second 13A (random shut-downs, WiFi adapter etc), I called Sony and asked for a replacement. The rep told me it's better to wait for the new models coming beginning of February. I agreed. However I do lose the 4 year warranty deal, hopefully that promotion will be available by then again.

Anyhow, who knows more about these new 'refreshed' models?

 

I just got my Flip 15 last week. got the 750 GB model with 8Gb RAM, the 2GB Nvidia graphics card & "fresh start". Absolutely NO fan noise, N-Trig pen works great & when my touchscreen didn't seem to function, I went to the Sony support site & they have a "calibration" tool to download. it took me a total of 3 minutes to download, install & restart & there have been no issues since. I LOVE this laptop - I personally believe that Sony has fixed all the issues for the fan so I wouldn't worry about the "previous" issues that were there from the first couple of months.

 

opps sorry made a mistake there.
Thanks for correcting me.

 

hi everybody,

I'm having trouble deleting my recovery partition after having made my Recovery Media. (I'm assuming my USB stick is good - I used a PNY 32 GB USB 2.0 stick, it went through verification OK and seems to boot up OK via the Assist button).

While powered off, I'm doing Assist>Start from media (USB device/optical disc)>U.S. Keyboard layout>Troubleshoot>Vaio Recovery Solutions>Windows 8.1 which then gives me a green progress meter stating that Vaio Care (Rescue Mode) is starting. I then choose Tools>Remove recovery partition which then returns the error message: "An error occurred while executing an application. The operation was not completed. Shut down your computer, then try the operation again after reboot. Error: 1116"

I've tried wiping the USB and redoing Recovery Creation a few times, with no luck. Is it an issue of Win 8.1's finickiness with the USB stick? Thanks.

 

I think you can delete any non-system partition within windows with the integrated Disk Management Tool. In Win 8.1 you can get it with a right click on the start button. No need for Vaio (don't) Care.

 

I've tried wiping the USB and redoing Recovery Creation a few times, with no luck. Is it an issue of Win 8.1's finickiness with the USB stick? Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Yes... I couldn't delete it also using Rescue Mode. Cursy's right, you can use the DM tool to reclaim it - delete partition then expand the C partition. It's not an issue with the USB Recovery Media.

Anyways, I thought at the time that there's only one way to really test the Recovery Media. So I deleted all partitions in the drive and did a restore using the USB. Found out that it works, and that it'll take as long as a movie to complete after the 1st prompted restart. Then decided to do it again just to confirm the timings and partition mappings for posterity. From then on, I resolved to go the clean install route.

 

Do you use Skype at all? I find all my fan problems occur when in a video chat and web browsing. Or using youtube and another program at the same time..

 

Hey, does anybody know what Device -Intel(R) 8 Series PCI Express Root Port #3 - 9C14 is? It keeps waking my 13A from sleep...

also after being woken like this it doesn't go back to sleep so it's really weird and annoying

 

Hi Kingfield

From my searching, it's a Wi-Fi card driver, so Wi-Fi related. I also found someone with a similar problem to yours, meaning sudden *awakenings" pointing to this device. They fixed it by going into the wireless card properties (Device Manager) and preventing the card from waking up the laptop from Sleep state (there's an option for that).

 

it could be your settings for the intel wifi always connected that does this. i dont have my flip 13 now, havent had it for 2 months because sony are such ups and cannot deliver my replacement unit but i remember that always connected in intel wifi settings made my comp wake up suddenly from time to time.

 

Hey guys thanks for the reply - it was weird because my laptop wouldnt go back to sleep after being woken up like that. I figured it might be the intel smart connect thign but it was uninstalled for some reason, i installed an update for it today and it's back. so far it hasn't happened again so i hope the update fixed the problem!

 

Has anyone with the nvidia card updated to the lastest Photoshop CC and gotten a "3D capable graphics card not found" message on the first run?

 

I always get the intel HD display card has crashed and successfully recovered. I cant believe how quirky this 15A is... If it operated as fast and smooth as the Asus I replaced with it then it would be the perfect machine. Hope they get this thing updated and running smooth within the next 2 weeks or its gonna have to go back....

 

EXISTING PROBLEMS WITH 13A MULTI-FLIP: CAN ANYONE HELP?

Hi all

I've had my MultiFlip since November and as much as I desperately want to love it, I just can't as it still has problems that I just can't fix, despite having updated everything I can find, through the native Vaio Update and by going to the Sony site to see what's available in the support section. This includes the latest BIOS update. I wondered if anyone had any other suggestions for any of these problems:

1) FAN: I would say that whilst the fan is not quite as noisy as it was pre-BIOS update, it's still remarkably loud, especially for such an expensive machine. Of course, I've tried Silent Mode, but that really affects the graphics and video is stalling or simply not running. I expected better than that to be honest. So, taking it into Standard rather than Silent mode, the fan cranks up. Any final ideas for improving this?

2) WIFI: On re-awakening in a different building, the laptop only displays the previous wifi network. There is no refresh button (not that I think we should need to use one, my phones can figure out they're in a different wifi zone, so why can't a high-end laptop?) I've tried turning off the wifi in PC Settings, and a few seconds later, it shows that it's switched itself back on again! And with no refresh. It's very frustrating! The only way to solve this is to restart, which is ridiculous. Any ideas on how to make sure the wifi is sensitive to changing wifi zones?

3) NOT GOING TO SLEEP: I charge it up, use it, close the lid and all looks quiet (it's set to sleep when I close the lid.) I come back to it and the fully charged battery is flat, because it's been on, with the lid closed, even though it is supposed to have been in Sleep mode. It's just unacceptable that I have to constantly re-charge it and can't use it as it's designed to work. Any ideas on how to make sure this doesn't happen?

4) RESOLUTION CHANGES ON WAKE-UP: When I lift the lid to wake it up (assuming that the battery hasn't gone flat or it's on charge), the resolution changes. Everything is much smaller. It's incredibly annoying. If I flip the screen into backwards facing position, it will re-size itself back to normal resolution. But I shouldn't have to do that. It should just stay in the resolution I left it in. Any ideas on how to stop this happening?

5) NO SOUND WHEN CONNECTED TO A PROJECTOR: Ok, so it has an adaptor for connecting to a projector. Fine, that helps it stay slim in its design. BUT... when you plug it in, it seems to think that it's connected to an HDMI gadget that produces sound and so cuts all sound out of the speakers/headphones. But if you connect to a projector (which you have to do with the adaptor), you are only transmitting images. You still need the sound to come out of the Sony's own speakers/headphones. I can't believe it would have such a basic design flaw. Bearing in mind I have to present at lots of conferences and travel extensively for work, I bought this laptop specifically to be small and efficient, but it actually stops me doing the very job it was bought for!

Other gripes, well, I think the terrible Windows 8 is to blame for those and I'm sorting those out separately. But if anyone can add any solutions to any of the above points, I'd be super grateful. I really don't want to have to send this back, but at the moment, it's not fit for purpose.

Thanks in advance to anyone with helpful suggestions.

 

I'm on my second day of 13A ownership now. It's a mixed bag really.

The good:
* Performance of Clip Studio with the N-Trig pen really is great. It's better than the experience with my (admittedly 8 year old) Wacom Intuos and Corel Painter 9. ArtRage wasn't so great, and it kept picking finger touches up as brushstrokes, so not ideal. That's a software problem rather than a hardware problem though.
* I've cleansed the crapware and upgraded to Windows 8.1. Once I have my new USB stick on hand, I fully expect to have around 205GB usable, including some apps I've already installed.
* It's light, it's beautiful, and it's super thin - the whole thing is thinner than the screen on my old Acer lump.
* Bootup, shutdown and application start is super fast. It's very very smooth and slick.

The bad:
* Wow, what a lot of pre-loaded crapware. It took some cleaning!
* The fan is still noisy from time to time, despite being on the latest firmware. It seems random too. Sat at the desktop with no apps open, and the CPU running at ~2%, and it's belting away as if I'm holding a blowtorch to the CPU.
* The WiFi is terrible. My HP ElitePad 900 manages 54/10 on speedtest.net. The flip manages 25/10 (and that's if I force it into 2.4GHz mode, if left to 5.2GHz mode, it barely manages 17/8) Same connection, same router, same network.
* My Lumia 1520 won't connect to it, because it doesn't support USB 3.0. Well, that's more a Nokia problem, but still a pain in the balls.
* Brightness seems to shift up and down, seemingly at random.

Overall, I really like it, but I can't help thinking the whole thing was rushed to market. Worse, I'd expect issues like these to have been resolved within a matter of weeks, not months. Fiddly little faults like these are not something you really expect on a £1200 ultrabook.

 

Actually I used to get this message all the time, but the latest update (last week) fixed it. You may be able to 'fix' this problem by renaming the sniffer.exe file in the photoshop directory.

 

Update - unfortunately it happened again last night, this time, the wake source was 'unknown' so this is getting really annoying =__=

 

i get this resolution change as well on 15a.ant exactly tell what causes it but it will go from 1080 to 1620 out of nowhere and with the current scaling problems of windows @ 1620 it is unusable

 

Fan has been relatively quiet for the past 2 weeks but for the last 2hrs in tablet mode it has been screaming. What a dissapointing POS

 

Fan has been relatively quiet for the past 2 weeks but for the last 2hrs in tablet mode it has been screaming. What a dissapointing POS

 

First post on this forum. Happy birthday, me.

I skimmed through Google and a good number of random pages in this thread and didn't find the information on the 15 that I was looking for... at all... which kinda threw me off, coming from a laptop like my old Asus G73JH. So I just kinda winged it and tore this little mighty-morphing machine apart (a few times, actually) to peep and fondle it's no-no parts with reckless abandon.

Anyway...
I'm not sure if someone already confirmed it, but if not, I am now: the stock Intel 7260 "dual-band" Wireless N Wi-Fi card can be upgraded to the Intel 7260 dual-band Wireless AC card that apparently comes with the 13 stock. I only had to uninstall the old bluetooth driver and reinstall the new one, the wireless part of the card was ready to go as soon as I booted back up.

I also repasted the GPU and the CPU. I was worried there for a minute or two after I powered the laptop back on because the fan was literally not spinning. No noise, no movement, nothing. However, after physically confirming that the heatsink was only very slightly warm and waiting a few more minutes to visually confirm the fan powered on before putting the bottom cover back on,I'm inclined to believe the 35 degree Celsius temperatures HWiNFO64 reports are legitimate.

 

I've got the 13A, and my Network Connection details say "Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-N 7260" My connection speed is a joke compared to other devices I have.

 

Welcome to the forum, Vlampy, and ... Happy Birthday :thumbsup:

It's always good to hear from someone who can and does take these things apart. We've discussed thermal paste briefly here ; there seems to be a strong possibility that factory TIM is less than optimal, on some machines anyway. We also mentionned that lifting CPU and GPU heatsinks is not for everybody, and that there's the warranty thing to worry about. What I'm getting from your experience is this : I'll wait until the one year warranty period ends, and then I'll lift the heatsinks if we find the running temps - and associated fan activity - to be less than optimal. Worried owners who can't do the job themselvbes could seek help to get this done. I'm getting low 40s at idle / light load, with Core Temp right now.
35C sounds great.

About the Wi-Fi cards : I have a 14 and it has the single band 7260-N. Many-many members here have reported having the same card, while some have a Broadcom card. I have not seen anyone yet with a dual-band 7260-N, and absolutely sure no one reported having the 7260-AC.
One member did report, many weeks ago, that he felt the internal antenna in a 15 (IIRC) did not seem to be 5Ghz friendly, but this is anecdotal.
With all that said, 7260-AC cards are available cheap via Amazon for instance ($30-$40) ;we just don't know if they will perform at their best, or not.

 

I know it's really not a games machine, but anyone been able optimize their setup for decent gaming on this? My i5 14a and its integrated gpu start wheezing when playing 4-year old 3d games at relatively low resolution and settings....

 

Has anyone tried the new R0250DD Bios for the Flip 15 yet?

 

Well my Flip return and refund process officially started today.Sony should have the machine in their possession by Tuesday. I really could not deal with the multiple issues surrounding the machine. Gorgeous looks, good active digitizer support and amazing concept. Unfortunately, implementation is not so good. It is important to note that the Vaio pro series is also plagued with a number of the issues expressed in this thread about the flip.

Terrible fan noise (despite 220dd, 230dd,240dd and 250dd bios versions)
Erratic fan behaviour
High temperatures even when idling
Light leaks in all four corners
Sluggish i7 performance
Auto rotate sensor that works when it feels like...a vigorous shake might help
Poor battery life

Really Sony people pay $1300+ for a machine that is almost perfect not for a machine plagued with issues. Indeed people pay $250 for a computer and expect no issues with all the features of that machine. I asked for my refund and will await the reviews for the new models. If they are favourable I will buy a new one in around April.

Unfortunately, there is no close replacement for the Flip. No other hybrid is as elegant and even if well designed most do not have an active digitizer. I think there is real room here for Toshiba and other brands to come to the market with a well designed hybrid that just works.

 

Hey, can anyone tell me what the symptoms should be of a faulty WiFi adapter?
I'm experiencing a slow internet connection on my laptop lately... but I can't really find out if it is my laptop or something else...
It is very slow sometimes. Speed varies... sometimes 300MB/s other times just 300KB/s or even under 20KB/s. The connection itself is very stable though (continuously 4-5 bars in the icon on the taskbar). The stable connection makes me think it isn't my wifi adapter, but on the other hand I'm no expert at all, what would I know...

 

@Mezzi, good to hear you arw able to go through a refund process. I had to return my machine currently waitong for delivery. However, I have come up with resistance with Sony Canada regarding a refund and they would only try to replace it. The tech guy said thwre was nothing wrong with machine whichbis ridiculous. So I am hoping my machine is fixed and able to run Windows 8.1 with no wifi failure, a working touchscreen and reasonable fan functions. I love the machine but frustrated but its inability to function.

Anyway, do you have any advice on how to get a refund. My machine is a custom 15A, 1TB hybrid, 2GB NVidia, 12GB Ram.

 

Not yet. But that sounds like a LOT of issues generated.

 

R0250DD? I don't even have R0240DD yet :'(

 

I saw the new bios a few days ago on the sony.com support site and now it is available in austria:
Sony : SVF15N1C5E Updates | Updates für SVF15N1C5E | SVF15N1C5E herunterladen
Sony eSupport - SVF15N17CXB - Support

It is not my notebook, so i'm not sure, if i should try it, because the owner is pretty happy with his book. It's just the fan which is not as quiet as it could be, but it is not a big problem for her.

 

Hey dupreejeremy I first spoke to technical support and when they said they were going to arrange a repair I told them in no uncertain terms that I need a refund. I was then placed on hold and the support person placed me to a refund line. The person on the phone initially told me that they would replace the unit. I outlined all my issues with the last straw being my co-workers asking me why the machine is making so much noise. The rep immediately understood my frustration and also added free return shipping.

Like you I love the design and the tablet mode. I really got to love Windows 8 with this machine but sadly the issues particularly the heat, fan and auto rotate sensors were driving me insane. I had a custom 14 with 8gb ram, i7 processor and 1tb hard drive. I had the intel wifi card and my wifi was always strong. I think you should try calling them again and this time demanding a refund.

 

Appeared that I had an old driver. Installed the newest one. Let's see if anything changes...

 

Hi

I have seen some videos of the multi flip and I am worried about the design. It is supposed that there is a ribbon flexible cable inside the lid that must support 180 degrees flexion in a radius less than 5 millimeters. For what I have seen in stress tests for those cables in such a small radius they will only support about 1000 cycles (or more depending the cable used). Has someone seen any info about the durability test Sony has done to this laptop?

 

Brand new owner of a Flip (fit) 15A - i7-8gb-gt735-1920. I've been doing the updates and luckily haven't experienced any of the issues I read about before buying the machine.

My only complaint so far is the spacebar.

It feels dead. it works but doesn't have any spring to it.

Is this normal or should i be returning it for a new one?

I tried searching this thread and google but no one seems to have complained about anything other then fully dead keys.

 

Hey guys, I'm back, hopefully everyone's evening is a good one so far.

I'm actually too lazy to condense all of my replies into a single post so, unless there's a forum rule against this that will make me merge them later, my reply to any single person's post will pretty much always be in it's own post. Among other things, I've got a lot going on in real life at all times, day or night, so replying like this really does help me retain focus on the subject as well, amid the ordered chaos I affectionately call 'daily life'. .-. ...Hahaha. Anyway, that being said, bear with me; I'll be replying to posts starting here soon.

Plus, I've got pictures.
Everyone loves pictures, right?
Hell yeah they do!!! AWWWWWWW YEEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!

- Vlampy

 

My space bar key was also really bad the first few days, as if it were stuck to the base and had no spring. After using the keyboard normally, it started to improve and now it works like normal. Just give it a few days of solid typing to break it in maybe.

 

Does anyone have an idea ?

 

Thanks for the response, i'll give it a couple more days. I really hope it gets better, love this thing so far.

 

@Mezzi, thanks for your advice. I received my machine back this evening and have been really disappointed and frustrated. When I last spoke to the technician who was working on my machine, he agreed to upgrade my machine to Windows 8.1 as this is what was giving me problems. He factory resetted and installed all the necessary upgrades.

However, when I opened the lid, the laptop was already on under a local profile called "Owner", which I thought was fine. But after checking the updates, restarted the machine and it loaded into "Administrator" profile. So, both profiles log in when I turn on the machine, and it defaults to Administrator, and switching to "Owner" causes the machine to freeze, shutting down goes to a black screen and restarting will crash the machine and require me holding down the power button. Also, I tried to boot in Safe mode, and I get a message in Administrator profile on the desktop saying "Windows Cannot complete installation in Safe Mode, to continue restart the computer". Also, I have noted that Vaio Update Utility has been removed.

To make things worse, when I opened the box today, noticed it improperly packaged with just a thin plastic sleeve. The original packaging was just discarded in the box. Bear in mind I am in Toronto Canada, and it has been -25 to -30 degree Celsius!! After I got the machine out the box, I noticed tiny dents and scratches on edges which were immediately noticeable because of there shiny reflection that caught the light of the black aluminum casing. Luckily, I took pictures of the casing and screws before I returned the laptop. But worst of all, on the Repair Report, under Description of Service, the technician has written "COND:MARKS", which I assume is marks on the outer casing, but not sure if this means when he received it or after he repaired it???

So, I have had my $1700 brand new laptop returned to me with cosmetic damage, two profiles on the machine which conflict normal usage, possible incomplete Windows installation and Vaio Update Utility removed.

This is simply devastating. I am going to demand a refund first thing tomorrow morning!!

 

Are you certain they sent you back the right machine?