Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

Alright, so I'm in this Vaio-Wiedererstellungscenter (vaio restoration centre, according to google translate). I've 7 options to choose from on the right hand side, I want the one that creates recovery DVDs. Which one is the right one? Here they are in descending order:
1# windows backup and restore
2# vaio hardware diagnostics
3# programs or reinstall drivers
4# c: / restore drive
5# entire system restore
6# Create safety copies
7# hard drive erase program

I'm guessing it's not 2 or 7 anyways, and I reckon it's 6. Can someone go into their recovery center and see if the right option is no. 6?

 

Hope it's OK to post this here...

I found the F12 on sale at Costco for $1050 after instant rebate. They include a 2 year warranty that's extended to 3 years if you buy with the Costco Amex.

I'm purchasing my machine this evening.

 

#6 is your option

 

Sweet, thanks a million!

 

I don't think it's the same thing, no. The folder you're looking for is one with VAIORecv.exe in it

And yeah, putting the folder on an external HDD is fine. It's only 60-80mb, so I just keep it on a USB flash drive

 

Does anyone know whether or not the vaio eb lid or the top bit(no idea what you call it) with the vaio logo on it....can it be replaced with another?... Sweep?

 

ATI Catalyst 10.7 had been released. Apparently, it fixes the issues with older games which I reported previously. Any ideas how to get this software installed on a VAIO notebook?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6518361-post1343.html

 

Thanks for the link. Good detective work.

 

Ok thanks, I'll have a look for that now. When you reinstalled windows, how did you re-activate it?

Had a quick look back at the parts list on Zakkant's link by typing "M970" into the "description contains" box, and I saw a bunch of parts called "M970 ASM LCD COVER" any they're all in different colors, so I reckon it's possible, theoretically at least, but I wouldn't fancy the job. Is yours coming loose or something? Or would you just like a nice pink lid (pink is actually one of the options, according to the parts list anyways).
Speaking of jobs I wouldn't fancy, this keyboard replacement I'm going to attempt is worrying me a bit. Ordered a white UK one yesterday from the guy on eBay.

 

well pluck up the courage and give it a go( i havent even gotten mine delivered) but will in the near future with the keyboard...

the lid, no a couple of my friends also have eb's and we thought we could do a sort of pokemon cards thing by mixing and matching lids and stuff..i wondered if they could come off and stick back on easily.

 

I have my own retail copy of Win7 that I used. I think you can use the key on the bottom of your laptop, you just have to go through phone activation.

But the easiest way is to just backup your activation and then restore it on the clean install with this:

ABR (Activation Backup and Restore) | directedge.us

(win7 link at the bottom)

 

Anyone playing some starcraft 2 on their E Series? My Core i3 350m 4gb ram r6560 1080p version runs quite nicely with textures on ultra and settings on medium. Was surprised to get nice performance with the full resolution!

 

I have two quick questions for E series owners(EA, EB, EC) with i5 processors:

1. Does the E series cause the i5 processor to throttle down while on battery power, like the Sony F series(which throttles the i7-720 down to 900Mhz on battery)?

2. Do you have any trouble playing Blu-ray movies on battery power on E series models?

Thanks, guys.

 

No, just checked, the core i5 can run at maximum frequency and also can turbo boost while on battery. I don't have bluray so can't help there.

But how come when I got my Vaio repaired last week they told me that they had updated the BIOS?

 

no troubles watch desert flower last evening

 

Thanks for the help guys. Good to know on both counts.

 

Hey guys,

I've been seriously considering buying this laptop but there is one thing that is holding me back.

I'm looking to buy the 14 inch Ea in china with i5 core, 5650 and 1600x900 screen. However, right now im in hk and they dont stock this particular spec model; only available in china.

The problem i have now is that having seen the hk stocked version of the ea/eb with the lower res screens i have found that the colour and brightness of the in store ones are particularly bad...

What i need to know is if the 1600x900 (reportedly HD?) res version of this laptop hold better colour contrasts or is on the same level as the 1366x768 versions i see at the sony stores?? Or is there a way to tweak these screens better?

Thanks in advance.

 

Oh nice you get a 14inch with 5650 graphics? I wish we had that option in the UK that would be perfect for me.

I also think that since we can't use the i5 integrated graphics we should get the option to buy an i7 and why do they not have the option to upgrade the battery to a higher capacity one... oh well stil the UK deal is pretty sweet.

 

Admirable that you found the cause. When I took it apart I swore it was coming from the GPU. I made the registry change and yup, right on click in power options it was gone. It is too bad the resulting fan noise is insane and the temps are alarmingly high (56c with no load) for 2.1 GHz 32nm.technology.

One thing I wonder is why changing processor power management to min 100 max 100 doesn't have the same effect. That also forces it to max clock at all times, but still has the slight noise but not the same heat and fan. I guess it has something to do with C1E and Speedstep that is being disabled through that registry edit.

Good work, but the whine is way better as mythdat said.

 

It's the drop in voltage that causes the noise - this edit forces the CPU to run in its full voltage state by disabling its power saving states, as you say. When set to 100/100 it still drops into low power states when idle.

 

Found it! It was in the programme (x86) folder. My SSD arrived this morning, just waiting for the keyboard now to replace and reinstall.

 

Hi All,
I bought one of these EB series from sony style uk with Core i5 520, 320 GB 4 GB ATI 5650 and Display Plus 1080p couple of days ago.. I bought it in somewhat hurry as it was last day of FREE BLURAY WRITER and found it a very nice deal for the given price..
I was considering Dell Studio 1558 otherwise.
As there are minimum 5-6 weeks for delivery I am still in search of options -
After reading this HUGE thread almost 70-80%, I still have 4 questions to existing users of EB series with FULL HD Screen -

a. How is the screen quality of Full HD 1080p in this model? I mean - is it comparable to Dell Studio Full HD 1080p WDLED?

b. How good or bad is the trackpad? I know Sony intentionally made it ROUGH ( .... ) but is it sensitive enough to respond quickly for multi-touch gestures? I mean - How is overall user experience?

c. I've also read about speaker quality not being very good - How bad are they?
I'm not expecting supreme quality at this price but are they nice to ears when music with bass is heard at medium volume levels?

d. How good/bad is Glossy Black color? Is it glossy just for keyboard or overall? I heard it attracts fingerprints.. How problematic is this?

All other specifications and factors are very positive for me.. Please help me with the answers to above questions to decide whether should I still opt for Dell Studio 1558 or wait for this to be delivered..
The only problem in Dell 1558 is it can not get ATI 5650 as of today.. At the moment Dell UK is offering it only with Studio 17" model which I would never buy for obvious reasons to all ;-)..

Any pointers are welcome !!

 

Can someone please tell me how to clean an overheating Sony VPCEB1S1E/BJ? MUCH APPRECIATED!!

 

Ok.. I visited local sony store and let my fingers feel this Sony E series laptops ;-) Now Let me answer three of my questions based on my experience ;-)

a. The screen is for Full HD Screen is pretty awesome and no lesser by any means than Studio XPS 1080p Full HD WDLED that I've experienced.

b. Trackpad is not smooth to touch so is a bit strange to feel but I guess it is a matter of time and I think I'll get used to it. and Multi-Touch works like charm. No issue at all.

c. Speaker - Can somebody answer my question above? I forgot to play music there ;-)

d. I was really confused between Glossy White and Glossy Black when I placed the order. However after seeing both the models, I think I did the right thing by ordering Glossy Black.

 

i'll say just average speaker,i'm a bit disappointed compare with other hardware parts but it's laptop speakers after all...........

 

Thanks for the reply..
May be Sony wants people to buy its other pricey range of laptops too

 

Hi, how did you check for multi-touch feature? How can I do it?

Cheers

 

Hi guys,Iam from India
And planning to buy a E series Notebook
Is there any lappy that comes with :
i5 + 4GB + 500GB + ATI 5650

I currently have the Vaio EB26 in mind but you guys could help me out !!

 

Just open any image and use your first two (i.e. Thumb and Index) fingers on touchpad to pinch zoom out and zoom in again.. very nice !

Again.. if you have Full HD screen then it is very useful to zoom out the webpages as well. Just Pinch Out using first two fingers.. No need to go in settings !!

 

guys whats the battery life on a ea series? and is there a massive difference in terms of contrast, brightness and other things between the 1366/768 screen and the 1600x900 screen?

 

Hi Myth, I wanted to ask what temperature gauge is more reliable, since yesterday trying the Everest and the core temp at a time, is that when making changes in the processor's energy plan, while in a program temperature rose at the other down and vice versa. From which we can trust? Thanks again.

(My computer is like yours, except dvdrw and screen takes "regular")

 

Cool.. Thanks, I will try it once my sony EB will arrive.. still waiting for the package..

 

I use HWMonitor and Everest and they both seem to give pretty much the same result for me. Which is the other program you're using?

 

Woop, my keyboard arrived. Currently dismantling my laptop. Anyone know if there are screws under the rubber feet? I really don't want the hassle of taking them off/putting them back on...
EDIT: Turns out there aren't any...

 

... Use the CoreTemp 0.99 and the EVEREST and as I said, when a temperature rises, the other down. Do you think that the theme of "Famous noise" can fix it some day by some of the BIOS update?

Many thanks.

 

Ohh it feels like it's taking forever for mine to go into productio...im so impatient!
Has anyone who ordered in the first week of July heard from Sony?

And for people asking about the 1080 and 768 screen differences - the HD is obviously crisper, but the other is still very good and crisp. I went and checked in a shop with them side by side and to be honest do not regret getting the lower res screen for the better gaming performance I will receive.

Especially when finding out that you can bring the brightness up in the display settings as that's prob the only area that it slightly lacks in, however I felt the HD did also (maybe I like really bright screens - important to note though that neither are LED backlit in the UK, which is a shame). However it's not a problem, both are fine. Its up to personal choice and what you will be doing with the lappy - if you want to play demanding games on the highest setting, native res and receive high framerates then from what I have been hearing you won't get that on the 1080p. For people who will be watching blue-ray a lot then the full HD is brilliant!

 

I don't know what CoreTemp is and I've never used it, so I think I'd rather trust Everest

re: the noise, I'm not sure a BIOS update would help. It happens because the lower voltage of the processor in its power saving states causes components on the motherboard to physically resonate. Maybe a slight tweak of those voltages would raise them high enough to not cause the resonance, but I wouldn't pin your hopes on Sony doing anything - as far as they're concerned, it isn't really a problem, it's just a characteristic of modern Intel processors. CD/DVD drives make noise, fans make noise, and so do Intel processors.

 

Alright go at it...cant help you there because **some** globally reputed organization is taking years to send me my laptop....

 

do you experience dhcp-client error event id 1001?
wifi atheros is working with no problem

i remove and re-install drivers but not resolved

 

I have a problem with Quick Web Access on a VPCEB1Z0E.

Was having a problem with the wireless connecting on QWA so reinstalled it from the Vaio Recovery Centre.

When it came to setting it up via the Connection Assistant all is OK until it comes to entering the Wireless Key when none of the keyboard keys will work.No matter which key I press the cursor in the Wireless Key box just keeps on flashing and nothing from the keyboard is registered.

I removed QWA via Revo Uninstaller and reinstalled it but it is exactly the same.

Has anyone got any answers please.

It worked OK ( apart from the slight wireless connection problem ) previously.

Ian

 

Any suggestions on buying a lappy ?
Pls suggest

 

Well, I've successfully replaced the keyboard (guide coming soon!) and hard drive and have reinstalled Win7. After leaping about with joy for a bit , I'm going to use the recovery DVDs to reinstall the drivers now.
Do I just reinstall them all?
EDIT: I decided to just reinstall them all, and most of the programs (I took out the obviously useless stuff as per this thread)

 

why do you install the latest drivers or WU

 

Well, that didn't go too well.
Installed everything, was prompted to restart, did. Was prompted to restart again, did again, but this time, I got an error message at desktop:

So I entered hibernate, removed and reinstalled the battery and turned on the laptop. This time, I just get:

... Help?

 

oh...did you install the battery checker?

boot from hard drive and kill the ISBMgr.exe i think

 

Yup, that was the problem. Seems pretty common on fresh reinstalls. What a crazy issue. I've just disabled it from running on startup for the moment, is there a better long-term fix for this?

 

unistall it but before clean it from regedit
The program starts upon Windows startup (see Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run)
File Information - How to remove ISBMgr.exe error problem

 

Hi,

I got a E series today(VPC-EB2S1E) with Intel I3 350M cpu. Is it common that the fan runs constantly?? It makes constant noise. I have checked with cpu-z that the speedstep function is working. Even at 1ghz I have fan noise. Is this common?

 

check processes