Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

So you only need the esata-cable then, right? The power goes in it.

So eSatap is as good powerwise as USB 3.0, and it is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0, because it uses the same connection. Well, of course the cable is different..Asus would've had USB 3.0 but what the heck, I'll have a Vaio (Larry approves) =)

 

Are you sure its an eSatap port I havn't been able to confirm that anywhere, I think its just a standard eSata port, my external drive won't run without the usb cable powering it, however I guess that could be due to my eSata cable maybe I need an eSatap cable or something.

Of course you could use an eSatap Express Card but it would annoy me sticking out the side, I'd stick with using a usb cable to power an external drive hooked to the built in eSata port.

 

the esatap port is basically USB+SATA, it provides power only for USB devices(I'm charging my Iriver Spinn on it) But is as lifeless as an ordinary sata port in regard for sata devices.

 

Quoting Wikipedia about eSatap:
"In contrast to eSATA power is already provided, making a second connection with USB or external power supply unnecessary for sufficient small devices. This is especially useful for small hard disks."

"All current standard eSATA devices or USB devices can be used in the eSATAp port. However, only one type of connection can be used at the same time. The port has power for the USB part of the port. Older eSATA devices will still need an external power source."

Hmm..what are older..

 

Thnx Dude!! It worked!! Rep+

 

Yeah the sound is pretty poor.. any suggestions?

 

You can definitely make your E-Series speakers sound better if you follow the solution given
here . It just takes 1 min to implement ;-)

 

Can you try F10 route then. Steps mentioned here

 

You guys should really do a FAQ about these "problems" and their solvings A sticky with a new thread maybe. I've read this thread for many, many evenings and it would take 2 months to complete

Man I'm waiting on the Vaio, I bought a secondhand Logitech G25 wheel, stick and pedals with a rally chair a while ago. I'll connect them to the laptop, and then the Vaio with hdmi to my projector. I also ordered a triple-pack with Grid, Fuel and Colin McRae (a great man he was) Dirt for 11€! While it shouldn't run on full details, it should look pretty good. Also bought the Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box. (Ravenperch, feel bad for ya, you should maybe look for a new graphics card on ebay and sell that one?)

Already tried the CMR Dirt on PS3, but my Heroes of Might and Magic/Starcraft/Civilization addiction drew me back to pc Just can't wait to do some adventuring on those, wohoo!

 

pretty much every sata device is an "older" device. the device has to support the eSATAp interface to be a "new" device.

or like me planning to de solder the old ones and replace them with Altec Lansing ones from a really good unwanted laptop, which are much better

just a side note, try out eusing registry cleaner or tweak now powerpack 2010(freeware), cccleaner does somewhat a poor cleaning job

i mis understood, i see what you mean, no an external drive wont run off the one port because if you check the eSATAp technical specifications, it provides only single USB current, which is not enough for a sata device.

 

Raven, please share your experience with us in case you opt for this.
Please let us know the make and model of the laptop.. I might order them as spare part and replace ;-)

 

Indeed if it works fine and isn't too big a job, my dead HP laptop has altec lansing speakers, may see if they would be portable to the vaio since the sound from them on the hp laptop was amazing.

 

Actually, GRID runs on all maxed detail 1080p resolution on my laptop, so if you have the 5650 one, I don't think you should have any problem.

 

guys, i really want to , but i am really hesitating because I think that would obviously void the warranty(allright I have opened my EB up but there were no warranty seals or anything, ...just weird blue paint on the screws). If someone can counter my decision, please...please do so....(unbelievable but I have a pair of alienware m15x speakers with the subwoofer lying around.

 

+1 - To be honest, I had opened this thread just to warn you about the warranty thing only... It is such a lovely piece of gadget. I would not really want to risk the warranty in this process. I would better buy a set of external speakers and learn to leave with it ;-)

 

I think I am going to cave in and buy my Vaio as soon as the Sony website has all the components in stock.

I dont think I can put it off any longer

 

I guess this would do the trick, with one esata cable only. File:42465-panel.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otherwise I don't see any benefit from that connection.

Btw, new Asus has Altec Lansing also, but I'd also avoid replacing them and just use other speakers.

 

ah yes and its got a dc socket too, no I wont be replacing my laptop speakers till my warranty expires...but will definitely do it after.

 

When warranty expires it's time for a new laptop anyway! ^^

 

How to fix Fn Keys on a Sony VAIO laptop
1. Download "VAIO Event Service" from the Sony website for your specific laptop model
2. Install and restart the computer
3. Fixed!

I have been looking around for AGES to find the problem so hopefully the title will be picked up by Google so people who have the same problem I had can find the solution easily

 

It definitely requires more than mere vaio event service. Not everybody would be as lucky as you. The last solution to fix this issue would be to backup, restart and press F10 and go for desired recovery option.

 

Hi ,
How important is the VAIO update as well as the Windows update? I am a newcomer. So please forgive if that is a nonsense question. Also wanted some advice regarding cleaning the dust from my laptop screen. Thanks

 

some vaio updates such as ones for firmware- hardware components are important. vaio updates for the software installed is unnecessary. I recommend that you always perform windows updates as these are very important. for the screen- purchase "antistatic lcd screen wipes"- they will prevent dust from attracting to your screen

 

Can you "Vaio-guys" check if your Turbo is working with C3/C6 State disabled (without the whining from capacitors)?

Turbo boost problem

The turbo was the reason I chose i5-520M.. So if it whines with it, I guess they should change the capacitors..?

 

turbo boost definitely works with c3/c6 disabled. you can check for yourself by doing a cpu intensive task(i ripped and transcoded avatar from blu-ray), while this is working, use HWiNFO to monitor your CPU clock. I did this several times. Torbo boost does work with c3/c6 disabled. (HWiNFO showed 2.660Ghz, where my 450m is a 2.4ghz processor), (i'm also trying to advertise HWiNFO, which is much better than CPU-Z)

 

Hello All,

I downloaded the latest ATI graphic driver and installed it.
The Problem:
Whenever I do some setting to the video such as colour correction, gamma etc or the 3d setting, none of the videos play only sounds.. like the typical missing codec thing.. What I did was uninstalled the driver and used the built in Win7 driver, Photoshop CS4 didn't recognize the driver, and stated video card is missing, then I downloaded the official driver from the Sony Vaio support centre, and installed it, seems like everything is normal now...

I got an update on the BIOS in the sony update centre.
So I downloaded it. The sound drivers were also updated
Problem:
The tabs for extra sound setting, Dolby, surround sound disappeared, but the settings were on. I connected my 2.1 subwoofer to my laptop and it gave me a blast of extreme bass.. (I had set on bass for my Sony earplugs). I had to roll back sound driver to get those tabs back, I switched off those settings. But I won't be installing the new drivers because they are not having additional sound effects.

Just something I faced with my VPCEA16FG.

 

Thanks for sharing, the videos not playing sounds, has nothing to do with the ati driver. However, ati drivers and sony ati drivers do sometimes cause problems and sometimes fix other things like photoshop- as you mention.

i had the same problem with the sound enhancement tabs and i too had to roll back to so i can confirm that both of your findings are valid issues with the e series.

have you yet noticed any problems with the wifi and sleep functionalities?

Just thought i might put this out for people who are not aware and annoyed by the lack of ATI STREAM SUPPORT. There is currently no media player that utilizes the GPU for processing(no, even VLC dosent do it... really). You guys might want to try SPlayer. Absolutely amazing, built for enhancing HD video, best interface you will ever see and uses as much GPU as it can(monitored using GPU-Z and GPU Monitor Windows Sidebar Gadget). Download it here....At least something for ATI STREAM...

 

Just purchased 15.4 inch EB series Laptop with i3 processor. Somebody please tell me I didn't make a mistake. Didn't want to go F series (too bulky) and they didn't have any i5's in stock. The most demanding thing I do is download and stream video so I think the i3 should be plenty good enough for a few years. Right?

 

the crap ati drivers 10.8 is the big Problem
so go back to 10.7
for the best video playback use default settings

Code:

In the “Advanced Color” section, the following defaults are now enabled:
* Color vibrance (default = 40)
* Flesh tone correction (default = 50)
* Brighter Whites
* In the “Advanced Quality” section, the following defaults are now enabled:
* Edge-enhancement (default = 25)
* De-noise (default = 64)
* Mosquito Noise Reduction (default = 50)
* De-blocking (default = 50)

================================================
HDMI overscan problems will be solved in Catalyst 10.10, until then use 10.7.
Twitter / Terry Makedon: @pthiben Yup, use Catalyst ...

 

Sorry about my English, None of the Videos play, but the sound surely does play.. like those missing codec problem..
To rectify the problem I downloaded a whole bunch of Original Drivers and Applications for VPCE Series (Windows 7 64-Bit) from the vaio website..

VAIO DVD Menu Data Update version 2.0.01.02050 - This particular update failed every time I tried installing it.. Strange. Just now as I am typing I got an update for the VAIO update centre. With the new update centre that particular update fail message is missing now.



About the Splayer, I have downloaded it, some text in it appears in Chinese... I don't find much difference there. And about hardware video acceleration, I saw a tick box in Winamp... Correct me if I am wrong.

Sleep functions, not at all.... Wi-Fi - I am yet to try.. I just pull out the cable from the pc and fix it to the laptop.. I just ordered a Belkin router.. So will surely post here, if face any problems..

I find the Sony Media Gallery a processor hogging application, I just have too too many songs in my extrenal HDD.. I wanted them to go into Media Gallery, It started two application Vaio Personalisation manager and Vaio Media Plus..
Its just slowed down my laptop.. On checking the task manager 1,10,578k each.. I then un-installed Media Gallery, and Vaio Media Plus..
Now the using the laptop is a breeze.

 

Out of curiosity since I've seen it mentioned so many times now, am I the only person who's Fn keys worked fine after a clean Windows 7 install?

I have installed zero sony software after my win 7 reboot the only drivers I used from the support page were for intel stuff and the memory card slot.

 

I've got an E series and am having trouble with Bluetooth.

Have it all set up,connects with devices ( headphones and a Bose Soundlink ),music plays fine but then it cuts out after a few seconds.

I have reinstalled Bluetooth from Vaio Recovery,reinstalled the devices many times,disabled/enabled Bluetooth in Device Manager, reinstalled the Bluetooth update from the Vaio site.looked in all the dialog boxes I can find and it still won't work properly.

The few seconds that music plays for it sounds fine.

Anyone any ideas ?

Windows 7 Ultimate if it makes any difference,all patched.

Ian

 

+1 - I second this. I use this one and Zoom Player.

 

Anyone that has been interested in GPU-accelerated playback simply HAS to know about Media Player Classic Home Cinema by now. It can even use the gfx (including Ati cards) for additional image-enhancing processes like pixel sharpening and color balance. And it has been able to do this for quite a while now. Years even.

VLC has never been good and is probably never going to be. Only reason it got well-known was because of the built-in-codecs that made it idiot-proof. Their GPU-acceleration implementation got out very late and seem to be pretty sloppy.

 

Hi guys, would you please advise below points regarding to this model
vaio vpceb17fg, Core i3 330m 2,16Ghz, 4gb DDR3, ATI mobility radeon 5650, full hd LED display 1920X1080 15,5", bluray DVDRW combo, 500gb HDD

1. Does this model has a backlit keyboard? because it would be splendid if this model has a back-lit keyboard feature?

2. If that model doesn't have the feature, would you please recommend me another model that have the feature but have equal performance please

3. I don't know much about i3? faster than core 2 duo or errr? please help

3. Is it possible to upgrade the processor to i5 (any)?

 

Has anybody used the Gesture Pack form Synaptics, Scrybe.. I downloaded one, it worked fine, But had the text missing on the buttons.. It's very useful if you are not using a mouse..

 

Hi,

1. No backlit Keyboard

2. I guess Alienware and Mac has a backlit Keyboards. Is it really important to have backlit keyboard??

3. The core 2 duo processors is LGA 775 and they come with a FSB bus. The FSB bus is a lot slower in operation than the DMI bus in core i3 processors
The i3 processors have a L2 cache size of 2 x 256 kb and a L3 cache size of 4MB, with hyper threading and smart cache enabled, core 2 duo processors are indeed slower. On top of that, DDR3 RAM compatibility in core i3 processors, compared to DDR2 compatibility of core 2 duo processors makes them even faster.
Simple Terms, Newer Gen processors are faster than older.. Going for an i5 is a better option since it has turbo boost, which helps a lot.

3. There is no customizing option for this on the website. I don't think it is possible, somebody correct me if I am wrong. Similarly you can't change the graphics card, since it is soldered to the MB. May be you can try modding it, then warranty voids.

Hope that Helps.

 

Hi,

1. No backlit Keyboard

2. I guess Alienware and Mac has a backlit Keyboards. Is it really important to have backlit keyboard??

3. The core 2 duo processors is LGA 775 and they come with a FSB bus. The FSB bus is a lot slower in operation than the DMI bus in core i3 processors
The i3 processors have a L2 cache size of 2 x 256 kb and a L3 cache size of 4MB, with hyper threading and smart cache enabled, core 2 duo processors are indeed slower. On top of that, DDR3 RAM compatibility in core i3 processors, compared to DDR2 compatibility of core 2 duo processors makes them even faster.
Simple Terms, Newer Gen processors are faster than older.. Going for an i5 is a better option since it has turbo boost, which helps a lot.

3. There is no customizing option for this on the website. I don't think it is possible, somebody correct me if I am wrong. Similarly you can't change the graphics card, since it is soldered to the MB. May be you can try modding it, then warranty voids.

Hope that Helps

 

1. dooh..
2. well ...err...it's cool to have those on the laptop...although i will using USB keyboard to play games, waste? umm yeaah, sony doesnt have the backlit version eh?
3. i see, so its better to have i3 than C2D

 

Thanks, good to know. I'll try that when it arrives in 2-x weeks

I think i3 is also a really good processor, only lacking the turbo and some safety gadgets/enrypting stuff i5 520M has. If you ordered i3 and can't cancel, just enjoy the Vaio, I think the speed difference might be 5-10% in real life.

Btw, there's a bad rootkit virus out there now, called monmvr32.exe, you may find it in Startup-menu (don't click on it) or active processes. I just hopefully got rid of it, no Anti-Virus program couldn't delete it or even find it..Update your firewall and anti-virus programs and use them every week (I sure didn't)!

 

And one more thing. corei5 has Intel® Virtualization Technology
about Virtualization Technology http://www.intel.com/technology/virtualization/index.htm

 

i came across this nasty fella, i've got it safely stored(i collect virus's), kinda annoying this monmvr guy.

 

Intel® Core? i3-330M Processor (3M Cache, 2.13 GHz) with SPEC Code(s) SLBMD, SLBNF

i3 has Intel VT too.

 

Sorry my bad.

 

Damn you Ravenperch for getting me rehooked but I did it!



If any is looking for a fun racing game I can't recommend Burnout Paradise enough, had been years since I owned it on the xbox 360 and forgot how addictive it was till picking up the pc version on steam.

 

well then congratulations(do you realize how many hours you've wasted playing this thing?) nah, kidding, i finished mine a while ago but with poor stats....congratulations again!!

Does anybody have any freakin idea what this ERROR: Unable to start bluetooth stack service is? I tried uninstallling the microsoft bluetooth enumerator but windows installs custom bluetooth drivers..any way around this?

 

Well it happens when the drivers are clashing, like the windows and manufacturers.
So uninstall the Bluetooth driver, restart the laptop, re-install it by downloading from sony website..

Hopefully it should work fine..

 

what do you know about VPCEA2S1E ?
it's the same as VPCEA1S1E but it has core I3 350M instead of 330M.

does it worth 880euro?
i don't play, i need it for programming mainly and websites, documentation.
i like the 14'' size and 1600x900 resolution. i couldn't find anything else in this price range and this resolution.

(the 15.5'' and full hd is not available in my country).

i read something about a noise that e serie lappies make when they are unplugged... does it apply to this one too?
and another important thing: how's the battery? specs says 3.30h but i read that people were complaining on the vpcea1s1e battery.

and anyone heard anything about a refresh of the e serie in octomber? i've just read about this on a local forum, someone from sony said to a buyer that they don't bring more vaios in stock because there will be new versions.

 

i dont get it, microsoft just installs its own driver again!

 

Yes uninstall that too, disable the hardware and then install the software from the Sony website... brodconn or some company, I don't remember...
But it should work, I remember this problem with my cousin's HP DV7 laptop, this is what we did, it worked out well. Try it... Or else. Take it to the service centre; if you have phone support facility better try it.