Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

Usually it's not a good idea to force the fan speed lower as it's most likely running because of high temps inside the laptop...

... but sometimes you can get dust and fluff blocking the vents or heatsinks and making the fan less efficient. In that case, cleaning it out the offending grime will definitely help reduce the fan effort (and hence noise). As this is cooling related, I think you might get some better responses posting your query in the Cooling Central bit of the forums?

 

Thanks for the reply, but I have been only using this laptop for 2 days. The fan has been active since I turned it on this morning eventhough the laptop was cool. I am not sure what causes this fan running actively. It's not blowing like hell but it's quite noticeable than usual.

 

Yes there is a way to reduce fanspeeds, it's called undervolting. It makes your CPU cooler so that the fans don't have to come on. Plus it enhances battery life.

Since I've used undervolting on my Asus 15" laptop my fans have never come on again.

Here's the guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

There may be some processes eating away your CPU. If you press ctrl-alt-del you can see what processes are utilizing your CPU. If you want you can post the results here and I'll comment.

 

Here you go

 

So your fans are coming on at only 3% CPU utilization. That's strange. So now we know it't not some background processes that are causing it.

How hot is the temperature in your room?
Is nothing blocking the air inlets/outlets of the notebook?

Undervolting could be interesting to try, although I'm not sure that the newest P CPUs are supported yet.

Speedfan is another option. It allows to directly control the speeds on the fan, but only very few notebooks are supported. You could try it though. Be carefull when you are limiting fanspeeds because if your CPU gets hot it needs cooling as you know. I'd try undervolting first.

 

Dang it. I was going to try this with my Z when it arrives...

 

Alright...thanks for the info. The room temp is probably around 80 or 85. The fan is not that strong like playing a game, but it's stronger than yesterday when I turned it on for the first time.

 

Try the undervolting. It's amazing what it does.

Maybe it works already. I don't know.

 

Sony shipped my SR yesterday, which is like 5 days earlier than they estimated.. Sweet.

 

Undervolting my SR brought interesting results... temps drop about 5C, and at the moment I'm idling at 33C/33C, ACPI 40C. Normally it's around 35-40C both cores, and 45C for ACPI. Values I used is (SLFM, 8x, 1.0375V) and (Normal, 8x, 1.15V). Orthos freaked out when I put Normal 8x 1.1V for some reason, and my scroll lock kept flashing on and off.

 

Sorry Iam a newbie, but where can I get a program to look my sony's temp ? Also where can I get the fps thingy ?

 

CPUID Hardware Monitor is what I use to monitor my temps. As for FPS, you can use Fraps to get your FPS, but video recording is limited to 30 seconds.

 

Awesome..thanks !

 

I haven't seen this posted yet but Canadians can now customize their own SR to their liking on www.sony.ca!

 

does the SR includes the optical line output together with the headphone out?

 

actually its at sonystyle.ca

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=20153&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921665492323

I ran into the CTO for the SR a week or 2 back while playing with the FW CTO and the site malfunctioned and showed me all the available CTOs and the SR was there, I posted some screens of it in that large thread I believe. lol, wonder if the pricing changed.

 

Yeah but it wasn't officially put up until yesterday and the site has been fixed compared to how it was before. Nonetheless, I think members can navigate the Sony site, it's not too complicated.

 

OK, so I recieved my SR from Newegg (129 E/B) today, and when I booted it up for the first time, it reads that an O/S wasn't found. Is that what other users recieved?

So this means I have to buy my own O/S right? If I do, will the media buttons and webcam still work, or will I have to install the drivers from the Sony Website or what?

 

Hey buddy, unfortunatly, your SR needs to be sent in. Sony does not offer nor supply any SR's without the OS. You can call newegg if you'd like, they will probably ship you a replacement, an apology, and maybe some expedited shipping. (Newegg will provide speedier replacement than sony, and is more likely to give you another machine)

but, if for some odd reason you did choose to keep your faulty notebook, yes, the drivers do exist on the internet for all of the features for the SR.

Regardless, you need to call newegg, tell them you were shipped a unit without an OS and they will probably apologize, and immediatley ship you a replacement.


It bums me out to hear that you recieved your SR in such a state, i have been eyeing the SR for weeks!

 

Bah, is that so. >_<

Ah welll, I'm calling Newegg right now at any rate.

 

Someone mentioned portable one so I went to check out the website. It seems their Vaio SR, for the OS, you can choose xp pro. Do you think that means all the drivers are on there too and it works perfectly? Eventually the drivers fer the xp pro will go on the sony website soon for those who wish to downgrade?

http://laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=VGNSR129EB&Category_Code=

 

Oh my gosh! My SR from Newegg arrived today! @_@

<3333

Now where's that guide to remove the stickers safely from laptops... The one where it won't leave gunk and stuff on the casing? (If anyone can point me to it, I'll be very appreciative.)

 

Another option would be to install Vista yourself and use the serial number on the bottom of your SR.

There's a couple of places where you can download Vista.

On my TZ I did it with a credit card. Worked well.

 

Really? Legal I presume? But alas, I already called Newegg and they said they'd repair/replace for free w/ overnight shipping. Already printed out the shipping label and sent it back.

Thanks for the suggestion though, didn't know that was possible.

 

Oh yeah that may be better, let them fix it.

Yes there's legal ways to download Vista. There's a thread going in the Windows forum.

 

A credit card... Alright, I'll try that. Thanks. @_@

I hope I don't mess it up. xD

 

I just use a fingernail. I usually have to work a couple corners before I find one that will peel. After that I just slowly peel the label off. If you notice a big chunk of adhesive sticking to the palm rest just push the sticker back down and retry. Once the sticker is removed you'll probably still see some small patches of sticky residue. Just use the sticker you just peeled off to blot off the residue. It works great and you don't need any cleaners.

 

Ah, well, I removed it. The only one that gave me problems was that stupid ATI sticker that came on it. xD The other ones all removed fairly nicely. (ATI sticker left a tiny bit of gunk in a corner, BAH.)

I'm more of a minimalist in terms of computers, so I hate stickers. I've been wanting to peel the stickers off of my Aunt's NR since she's gotten it, but she doesn't care about them. xD

 

Don't keep us in suspense. How do you like it?

 

Ah, I like it so far. I went through uninstalling some stuff I know I won't use. Meh, I still have some to go, but it is very nice.

It's pretty fast, even with other stuff installed I don't want.

I definitely like it. I'll like it a bit more when I get that 1 gb of ram in there too of the DDR2 800 ram I bought.

I took pictures too. XP I'll post them... Maybe when I get to my school on Monday.

 

You can use the sticky side of packing tape. Just lightly press down the sticky side of packing tape to any residue and peel back. Repeat as necessary.

Packing Tape is awesome.</img>

 

Hmm! I would have never thought of that. I need to get some too, so that I can tape up the box that came with the mouse and the ram. @_@ xD

I do like it, but I'm defragging it right now, because it needed it I think. Eh, but it's pretty awesome. *Has only played with the M$ games, but eh.*

 

Hey guys,

Could you please post how many processes were running when you first opened up your SR/ before doing any bloat ware removal?

Thanks!

 

I still haven't uninstalled anything, and I currently have 83 processes. Vista still boots up pretty fast for me, nine bars before I reach the Welcome logo.

 

Mine was around 75ish I think when I had first turned it on. I've gotten it down to about 65ish, I still have more housecleaning to do.

I'm too tired to do it though. xD

 

hey guys im gna get this laptop in a couple of weeks but im still unsure about a couple of things. is it worth getting the ati graphics card at the expense of losing battery life? i figure its too weak to run any games right? also about colour if anyone got the glossy silver can you please post pics of it. thanks

 

The UK only gets SILVER sr vaios, how stupid!

 

Any SR owners have the extended battery with the 3470? How's battery life?

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Now playing: The Beatles - She Loves You
via FoxyTunes

 

I heard xp downgrading disk is provided ? Has anyone tried changing to xp yet ? how is it

 

how's the undervolting working out? i have an SR as well and i kinda want to do it. did you use notebook hardware control? it doesn't seem to let me select the multipliers under the voltage tab.

 

For undervolting: If RMClock works under Vista i recommend it over NHC, it's lighter and more effective in my opinion.

 

when you're undervolting with RMClock do you only adjust the highest multiplier and leave the other ones alone?

 

the 3470 is enough to run some games.. for example, Portal should run okay.

 

so i just undervolted and my settings are
SLFM 9.0x 1.0375v
Normal 1, 6.0x, 0.9500v
Normal 2, 7.0x, 1.0000v
Normal 3, 8.0x, 1.0500v
Normal 4, 9.0x, 1.1000v

i can't seem to get temps lower or around you though shinyfalcon? What graphics card and processor are you running?

What could I do to lower it more? I'm running 2.53 ghz with ati graphics. I dunno if that's why.

 

how many hours of battery life are you getting?

 

I think you already figured it out but you use whatever multipliers you want to use. Undervolting is essentially about lowering the voltages not the multipliers.

Have you tried manually lowering the voltages?

 

I've played around with undervolting on my previous laptops, but I personally don't see the benefit in either the battery life or the temperatures. I would just leave it alone as its one less thing to worry about and one less process to load. Messing with the voltage also has the slight chance of causing system instability, and I think they've tested the system so that the optimum voltages are used.

 

For me it increased battery life and my fans never came on again.

By the way I install it instead of the manufacturer utility for energy management, so no extra processes.

 

Newegg deal is deactivated again. Anyone know of any other deals out there?

 

It's difficult to not have the fans turn on, as the processor must be undervolted before the ACPI temps reach 44/45C to keep temps as low as possible. Once ACPI reaches that temp, the fan will stay on forever. ACPI temps skyrocket when the processor is under heavy load.

I agree that undervolting probably won't benefit the SR as much, as the SR still runs very cool regardless. Very impressive for a laptop with dedicated graphics.