Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

does a list exist of what to uninstall and maybe what to keep on?
or what processes people have disabled within the sony laptops?

 

can you take a photo and post it?

 

Yeah, there is a gap between the barrel and the hinge... I think that's part of the problem because it allows some flex. A small amount of flex everyday eventually cracks the plastic tab holding it on. I wish they made the tab out of metal instead.

 

Can't it be glued back on?

 

I think I'd have to disassemble the case to get at the broken part to glue it properly.

 

lol thats the funniest thing i read

he shouldn't have to

it's a quality control issue not his problem!

i'd complain and send it back asap

Edit: I wonder if they would say it's your fault or something, now thats be really screwed.

 

Hey guys. Just got my FW290 CTO with Full-HD screen and 250G 7200 rpm hard drive. I love the computer, except I have two big (for me, anyway) issues I'd like your input on:

1. There is a stuck pixel on the screen. When the computer is first turned on, the screen is fine, but after using for about half an hour you see the blue pixel in a fixed spot on the screen. Can anyone explain why it only appears after the screen is left on for some time? Is this a temperature thing? Any advice on how to fix this? It's in the middle of the screen, so a bit annoying so see.

2. There is a constant whirring sound from my hard drive that's pretty noticeable in a quiet room. Also a very slight vibration and some heat that gets uncomfortable because it is right where my right hand palm rests (right above where the hard drive sits). Is this a typical issue with the FW with all hard drives, or is it the Fujitsu MHZ2250BJG1 250G/7200 that's the problem? Or perhaps my particular hard drive is defective?

Thanks.

 

Got my FW290CTO on Friday, and I've been messing around with it all weekend. Some initial impressions:

1. The Full HD screen is amazing! Blu-Ray movies look incredible.

2. The Blu-Ray drive (read only) is VERY loud.

3. The materials used seem kind of cheap and flimsy (lots of flex).

4. Speakers are a bit better than I expected. Well, they are louder than I expected anyway.

5. In addition to the usual bloatware, there is TONS of Sony Vaio software installed. Does anybody know which of these programs are truly needed, and which I can uninstall?

Overall, I am quite pleased. I haven't really done anything yet to gauge performance, but it seems pretty decent.

Has anybody set up their FW to dual boot Vista and XP? How can I set this up if I have the XP disc, but no Vista discs (since Sony doesn't ship discs). Everything I have read says I need the Vista disc to repair the boot loader.

 

If the build is so amazing then the poor guy in post #1699 wouldn't have his power button broken off

 

A one-off, rare incident perhaps? The barrels on my FW are solid and don't wiggle at all, except for the power plug slightly.

 

my build quality is fine, both barrels on the side are solidly held in place and don't move at all.

 

One thiing i am really finding weird

the the HD screen is over reacting on the colours blue

example in these forum the Links really dont look blue they look more purple.

I have compared this to other desktop screens, 2 42inch LCD, and three other laptops to compare the colours, and i think the SONY one over saturates or over colors the blues making them LOOK fake or something.

 

If you think the screen is over saturated, maybe you should try going into ATI Catalyst Control Center, and turn down the saturation.

Maybe that would help

 

I wouldn't say the build quality is bad despite my problem... It's probably about average for notebooks these days which is fairly good. The FW is made by Foxconn which is a good contract manufacturer -- they make the Macbook Pro and other high end products.

The only issues I have besides the barrel design are a little bit of flex on the bottom of the computer near the optical drive, the AC adapter connection is a little loose in the socket and the slight wiggle of the battery.

I chipped the silver paint on mine in one spot but that was my fault. It would be better I think if they used solid silver plastic instead of white plastic painted silver.

On the bright side I've been very happy overall with the speed of the computer, wireless performance, bright screen and great keyboard.

 

As you know I'm struggling to buy a retail version FW with the FullHD screen as I hate the ECO and can't buy online for several reasons.

I managed to find this FW290NEB on bestbuysbusiness, but it's kinda low on RAM.
http://www.bestbuybusiness.com/bbfb...etail&showAddButton=true&productID=BB10911954

I would need to buy some and I'd like to know what kind of RAM should I buy? What manufacturer/type/spec is the RAM used by SONY for FWs? Please help.

BTW, what do you think, is the above deal a good one?
Spec sheet
http://www.advizia.com/v41/PDF/B2B-292767135-721.pdf

 

Hey, Decided To Buy The FW11E model, just a questions, now with the 3470 being low end can you actually play some new games i.e far cry/Cod4/5 relatively decent?

 

not on high frame rates, if you want to game on the fw, get the model with the 3650 card.

 

Hey Guys, a couple quick questions for ya.

First off, I'm really liking my FW160D. So far so good. Just a couple issues.

The blue buttons don't seem to work on my keyboard.

and is there a way to disable the green light on the power switch. My god is that ever bright. Sitting in my dark living room watching a movie with a massive green light is annoying as ****.

It's my first Sony laptop, so I'm just getting used to it.

 

you have to use the Fn key, beside the control on the left to access the blue keys, not sure on the lights, there may be something in the vaio options, someone else with more vaio knowledge perhaps could shed some light on how to turn off the lights, if it can even be done.

 

yep, I know that. They just don't work. Not sure what the problem may be.

 

oh, hmm could it be a driver issue? perhaps reinstall the keyboard driver.

 

I had the same issue with my first FW190 CTO. The Fn key wouldn't work. Something to do with the graphics card. I sent it back to Sony for repairs; bad choice, as it came back with the wireless card not working. I returned the computer and ordered a new 290, but this one has quality issues as well....bad pixels on the Full-HD screen, a very noisy hard drive, and something loose inside that rattles when I type. I'm thinking of returning this one, too.

 

How are people cleaning their screens on the FW? I have the FullHD screen and there are a few smudge marks on it already. I'm wondering what the best method is.

OptiMist Prime has been reccommended to me but I want to be cautious.

 

I use this
http://www.amazon.com/KLEARSCREEN-i...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1227573570&sr=8-1
to clean all of my laptops' screens

awesome stuff

 

I wonder why they disable VT on their machines.

I love that FW285, too bad I'll have to return it to the store tomorrow morning because of Sony disabling virtualization.

I also understood how the barrel part where the power button is may break.

If you put the laptop in the bag with the back part towards the bottom of the bag, constant stress applied on the back corners of the laptop (where the power button and the power plug are located) may end up by rendering the extremities of the "barrel" weak. That is because the laptop may sit/push on them when transported in the bag.

 

Hey guys,

I have been looking at the FW280 on Newegg (forum wont let me post the link)

and I am wondering if the GPU included is going to be the 3650, because they are kind of vague in their descriptions.

 

what benefit would VT have?
how do u know if they disabled it?

 

Hi,

I recently purchased a new Sony VAIO FW. However, there is a beep sound that is driving me insane. It's a solitary beep and it sounds off every minute or so.

I've searched the Internet exhaustively in an attempt to solve this problem but haven't gotten anywhere --

- I turned off Beep from the device manager. I even uninstalled it. Still beeping

- I turned off all the system sounds from Hardware & Sound. Still beeping

- I've set the value of Beep to no in the Registry Editor. Still beeping

- I tried to look for this "system speaker" that I read about for XP but can't seem to find it on Vista (I have Home Premium)

Any ideas? This beep is seriously causing me to contemplate smashing my new computer.

 

power plugs on most Sony Vaio will wiggle if you move it. I checked with my friend's CR and FZ. It is designed that way to give flex. If it stiff like a rock..you will break it easily if you accidentally pull the cable.
(that is why apple use magnet power cable).

hope this clarify the problem.

 

Agree. Build quality on my FW is stellar. Both barrels are fine.

Just dont pay too much attention to those stuff and you are fine . it wont break..trust me. (i assume you use your FW in normal condition)

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227251

Will these OCZ work ok for an FW?

 

yea they will work

 

And this?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8986332&type=product&id=1218005634725

Why is it so expensive compared to the OCZ kit? Best buy is really bad in therms of pricing or is it so much better?

 

the OCZ should be better since those have lower latency

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208407

There was an older post from someone who disassembled an FW and the RAM was the above Transcend. I wonder if every FW has RAM made by the same manufacturer and if it would be better to buy that one instead of another brand for my future FW?

This is the stripped FW:
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5072/image00005zx5.jpg

 

No.. it's won't be better if you stick with the same brand...

 

I have an Olevia 27'' HD TV which supports up to 1366 x 768 resolution, and I have VAIO FW290 which has an ATI HD3650 video card, I am trying to connect them with an HDMI but when I try to change the resolution for the LCD TV, the best resolution that works is 1280x720. It works fine except it isn't full screen but has margins on the sides (about 1 cm), the closest resolution i can select is 1360x768 but this one looks horrible. If somebody knows how to resolve this, please let me know what I can do. Thanks

 

Why not buy the FW290JAB at NewEgg which is just $1,099? It comes with 4GB RAM, Radeon HD3650 Graphics Card, and a 320GB Hard Drive, whereas the one you pointed out on BB only has 2GB RAM, onboard graphics, and a 250GB Hard Drive for the same price.

 

I explained earlier in this thread that a friend is buying it for me, as I don't live in USA. He didn't wanna order online for some dubious reasons... As a matter of fact I did started lobbying again last night after seeing the 290JAB newegg deal, trying to convince him to get this one after all, as it's clearly one of the best FW deals right now. I hope he will help me after all!

 

I would be wary recommending this laptop. Since getting it in October I have had nothing but problems. Firstly one of the barrels broke on the hinges. I had that repaired, then the keyboard started squeaking badly and the fan stopped working. It turns out in carrying out the first repair, something had somehow had got into the fan and caused a blockage. These things were both fixed, but now inexplicably the dust cover over the xpress card slot had become depressed and won't return to its standard position. I can see a spring visible but don't know how to get it work (I have never even used it nor do i know what it does just noticed it today). The laptop itself is excellent I must have just got one made on a friday afternoon because I am extremely careful with it and it dosen't even leave my desk. Fed up.... :-(

 

Did you purchase extended warranty? Also do you mind posting your model # so I know which models to avoid?

here's what you do...call the cust serv center and ask to speak to a manager and bich, moan, complain about all of the problems that you have had fixed and tell them that you got a lemon and you demand a new laptop! Worth a try....If they won't give you a new one, log a complain with BBB

 

Depends on the lemon laws in his state, I know they vary from state to state, so it might be wise to check what the laws are in your own state, but as far as I know, if they fix it 3 times and its still breaking or broken, you can declare it a lemon. I googled and found this

http://www.politickernj.com/consumer-electronic-lemon-law-advances-8292

Also curious which model do you have? the 190 or 290? also how do you carry the laptop around? I try to lay it usually on the front lip as not to damage the barrels. If I can't I have devised a system, I will post some photos when I get home but basically I made it so the barrels never touch anything.

 

I've had that model since the summer. I first bought a HP but returned it and got the Sony. It is much better built than the HP. I had always been leery of Sony because of very bad experiences I had with their service dept. on a VCR in the past, and the bad comments and reviews I've always seen about their service and warranty, but I have been very happy with this model, and in the future I will look at Sony laptops first.

 

** WIZO** - Since you had the FW170j/w at one point....could you confirm if it came preloaded with 32 or 64 bit Vista? I posted to this thread earlier about this, but Best Buy is listing this model on their site as having 64bit (which I thought wasn't an option for ANY FW?).


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It comes with 64 bit.

 

It is standard for the 290 now, but they probably uprgraded the older 140s they had on stock with 64bit as well.

 

Don't worry about the 64bit OS, I was against it myself as well at first, but I have been using it for almost 2 weeks now and I can't fault it. Infact vista is fantastic, and I wouldn't imagine going back to XP, which I might have to do on my older pc now.

 

You have to change the monitor settings so that you are ONLY using the TV as your monitor.

You can't extend the image to the TV without being bound by the resolution of the laptops LCD.

 

Hey, I'm new to this forum. I have a sony vaio FW170J and apparently the available video card is the mobile intel(R) 4 series express chipset family. Apparently i can't do anything intense with that. I bought assasin's creed PC version and i can't run it because my video card isn't one of the supported types. I want to find out if it's possible to have it changed and what the process/procedure's like. Thanks

 

As far as I know the Intel T9800 isn't available until the end of December.

So who else thinks this is a scam?

h t t p://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=290276908359

Any more facts to back up my paranoia will be much appreciated.