Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

Are you sure you can use an expresscard SSD as your boot drive? Sounds like a great idea- let us know how it works out.

 

anyone know where i can find an extended battery for the sr430

 

www.SonyStyle.com

 

Please someone tell the REAL LIFE of standard battery.

CPU P8700, RAM 4Gb, HDD 320 Gb 7200 rpm, ATI 4570, Standard Battery, Fresh start.

 

hi everyone! i just placed the order for ....
P8800 (2.66Ghz), 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, ATI 4570, standard battery.

will hopefully get it by the nxt mnth. jus need 2 no if replacing da OS wud void da warranty or not? :s as 'm alredy DL'in da win-7 ultim8 64bit. coz i'll get home premium wid da SR.

dis is gna b my 1st laptop n i hpe dat 've mde a gd choice ...

 

2.5 to 3 hours for me, with display brightness set to about 75%, wifi to max power saving.

 

How about the extended capacity battery for the SR? How much time does it practically get? Can someone please post some pictures too?!!

 

Hello guys, I can't configure my notebook to work with HDTV correctly.

1. Notebook 720p+ HDTV 720p (Duplicate)

2.HDTV 1080p (Single, HDTV only)

How can I make it like this?
3. Notebook 720p+ HDTV 1080p (Duplicate)

I'm running Win7. with Catalyst control

 

i dont see the SR extended battery on sonystyle.com? i thought its $100 not $200

 

I just purchased a CTO SR590 on 12/10/09. It cost $100.00 to upgrade to the large capacity battery ( VGP-BPL13 ) at the time of configuration. That battery is usually sold separately if purchased from Sony Style for $250.00, same price as the Z series large capacity battery.

 

$250 for another couple hours battery life? 1/4 the price of the laptop....no thanks

 

That is why I configured it with the large capacity battery at the time of purchase for only $100.00.

 

I'm not sure about the batt life, but there are links to pics in the first post of this owners thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3838556&postcount=554

 

on mine I just turn off the laptop display and use external only. works great. (Fn+F7). using both at the same time usually stretches one screen so I just use external only.

 

Hi to all i own a VAIO VGN-SR31M/S (European model) and i started the procedure of upgrading with Windows 7.. after a couple of months i saw in their site that they produced a lot of drivers for windows 7 but i can't download the driver named Vaio control color setting.. it seems that the download URL is wrong.. Can you please help me with this?


Thanking you in advance!

 

Scratch on the top of my SONY SR laptop, anyway to get it out??
titanium gray SR430, no clue how it got there but its all scratched up (lightly) in one area on the lid.......

what do you guys recommend for trying to buff it out? its really ugly

 

here is the link
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/VAIO/ORIGINAL/VAIO_CONTROL_COLOR_SETTING_1.5_1.5.0.06300.ZIP

 

The silver sr is a nice model, unfortunatly, its the only colour we can get in Belgium (edit: somethimes it comes in ugly white too). And we have no way of configurating them ourselves I spoke to one of the Sony people here and they told that configurating your own sony laptop isn't even planned yet for the future.
Maybe I should go to the states and buy myself a black sony vaio sr with 3 ghz core 2 duo, only problem is I probably won't get any warranty here in Belgium, nor will I have the proper power supply (we have 220-240 Volts I think).

 

i've placed an order for SR590-CTO and on sonystyle.com it shows the model " US-VGNSR590-LBOM". now the problem is that i cannot find any support (as in drivers & softwares) for this model (US-VGNSR590-LBOM) if anyone could please help me out and give some link to this model or confirm me if some other model same as this 1 like just SR590 or something else.

please help!!!

 

Thank you very much!!!!!

 

You can use US adapter in Europe. It's 100-240V.

 

Then the only problem would be the qwerty keyboard, and the warranty, and the cost of the usa trip

 

Hello, find similar pre-built model. You'll probably only need to find model which has got same Windows version.

For example: I have SR490 CTO with Win7 64 bit, so I choose VGN-SR490J, which has got almost same components+software (factory OS is Vista)

 

Wwhen I was in Internet Cafe near Manneken Pis, y and z letters on keyboard were swapped. I think you also need u and o letter with 2 dots, am I right?

 

Sticker? You can stick 2 grey stickers symmetrically if you like.

 

fnx alot man. i've found the model but now the problem is that when i try to download the drivers or softwares it shows that they are only compatible with "windows 7 Professional or home premium" where as i need drivers for the ultimate version as i'm planning to upgrade the OS.

now i don't think that i could be lyk that a driver works for win7 home premium or prof. but it won't work for ultim8. just need to confirm that. can i use the same drivers for the ultim8 version or i'd av to find sme other model with the preinstalled ultim8 version?

 

Reason why there's no Ultimate is Sony currently doesn't sell computer with Ultimate on it. They only sell notebooks with Professional and Home Premium.

BUT on SR-490J support page, there are drivers for Ultimate. It's up to if they'd add Ultimate drivers on not.

I'm not sure but I think drivers for Professional should work.

Anyone knows if its possible?

 

No we don't use 2 dots on o and u, only germans (maybe also danish and those people from norwegen, sweden and finland) do. I could probably get used to a qwerty keyboard. I always use an aditional keyboard anyway to keep a distance between the screen and my weak eyes so this shouldn't be a problem at all actually. The keyboard on my laptop (from 2007) is practicly new, I bet I didn't use it for more than a week.

 

UPDATE: Hello guys i have problems with f**ing drivers for VGN-SR31.. I have made 5 installations in order to have the notebook working properly but i have not managed yet to have power management working!! I tried vista drivers i tried new windows 7 drivers but SPMgr.exe & SPMviewer are not responding!! Please help because it drives me crazy!!

1. Is this heppening because there is a procedure or exact order that i have to follow to install drivers?
2. I have installed only the new drivers (7UPG..) do i have to install VISTA drivers first and then the new ones?

Also i would like to mension an issue which happened 2-3 times during these installations.. After installing some driver and made a restart the screen came off but the orange hdd light was on with funs working and i had to hard reset... Any clue on this?

Any suggestion - help is much appreciated!!

 

problem: i just installed 7 ultimate and i am trying to get my fingerprint scanner running. i downloaded the driver but it's not working.

any solutions? i went to control panel - users - and nothing about fingerprints shows. thanks!

 

Did you try Control Panel - Biometric Devices?

 

If LONG BATTERY LIFE is your top priority, I would recommend you look elsewhere e.g. Asus or Toshiba as that is its fatal flaw with the SR series...I get 2.5 hrs TOP w/ Wi-Fi ON and there's is rampant battery drain issue. I still love my laptop and got a great deal on it but if I had to pay Full Retail Price I'd be pretty upset about its POOR Battery Performance.

 

Thx!!!
So 3,5 hours Isn't true !!!!!!!!

 

Wow, some sony vaio sr models have like 5 hours according to the sonystyle shop.

 

The newer models with the 4570 dedicated seem to get a bit more battery life around the 3hrs 30 mark. If you read some past posts you will see that some owners have been able to get over 4hrs. Notebookcheck also got battery life in that area. To get the best battery life you should use power saver mode, the silent mode and turn the built in drive of. Of course lowering your brightness to at least 50% will help.

As to Sony's battery life claims. Not all of the SR models have dedicated graphics. 4hrs 30mins-5hrs with integrated graphics with a 54whr battery is a quite realistic battery life that people should be able to obtain and have been obtaining.

 

Quick questions for owners of new SRs such as SR590, with up-to-date BIOS - is there an option to enable VT in the BIOS? I know Sony has been patching that up in various BIOS updates, but I can't tell which models have been fixed.

(Also asked on the VT thread, but since I'm looking specifically at buying an SR, I thought I'd ping here as well. Any help appreciated!)

 

all Srs models with new bios have option to enable VT in bios .

 

I´m lookng forward to buying a Vaio SR very soon (maybe before this week ends) but I´m afraid that Sony is going to upgrade (for example DDR3 intead of DDR2) this model in few weeks given that it has been a long time since the company did it. Do you suggest to buy it immediately or it´s better to wait a little?

 

hi guys

i just bought a sony vaio SR540G !!
2.53GHz, 4Gb DDR2, ATI HD4570, 320 HDD, win 7 pro

i have been using it for a day now and i absolutely love this beast! initially i was stuck between apple mac pro 13' and sony sr and bought the sr and i think that its one of the smartest decisions i have ever made cuz this machine is just amazing

i had a couple of questions:
1) since i have windows 7 pro, would i be able to run xp mode on here-more specifically: can i enable VT on sr540g? cuz reading a little bit on this forum i get the idea that the new machines can do it but idk if new machines specifically refers to sr590 or not

2) i select a theme from the "personalize" option in win7 and it works fine even after restart and all - but when i press the "mode" button to go to different mode, it makes all of the diff modes as default settings - like it would change the theme i personally selected to the one that came w. the laptop

answers to any of these qs would be tremendously appriciated!! THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

I too am on the lookout for a small laptop with high-end specs. The SR and the Z were the models that bubbled to the surface and if not for the DDR2 issue, I might have sprung for an SR with my eyes closed, since from all other respects, the SR series meet all of what I am looking for.

However, based on the advice from the other forum members, the general wisdom seems to suggest waiting than springing for a laptop at this juncture. This is the end of the lifecycle of these models and the newer ones (which would be released in a matter of weeks/days than months) are expected to be head-and-shoulders over the current versions.

I would think there would be a generational improvement in the processors employed (Intel i7 or i5 etc), the memory would all go to at least DDR3-1066 (considering that even a consumer model like the CW now comes with DDR3-1066) etc., in the upcoming models.

Bottomline, if you can wait, then you should wait. However, if you absolutely MUST have a new laptop, these are all good options anyway - just don't tear your hair out in a month, if you happen to glance at the specs of the new ones.

 

Was wondering if anyone could help me in this thread - I recently upgraded to Windows 7 32-bit Professional, but I neglected to save all my drivers. I was wondering if anyone knew where I could grab these drivers (or if a kind soul could upload their own) for my VGN-SR190.

Also, does anyone know where the thread for upgrading to Windows 7 is on this forum? I remember there being one, and IIRC there was a link for these drivers that I am asking for - but I can't seem to locate it at the moment.

 

you can get all the drivers here:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=VGN-SR190

do a forum search though because there is an order in which you should install them.

 

Hi, unrelated to any of the threads, can anyone advise where I can get a replacemrnt screen for the SN29XN/S, none of the replacement screen suppliers on E-bay have them and the only one I have had a reply from was in Ausssieland who wanted nearly the price of the laptop, (A$ 790) fat chance
Would appreciate any help on this,
Boyd (mactoshb)

 

I agree, every 6 months you wait you get way better hardware for les money. Ok maybe not with sony which keeps selling old technology. I mean they still offer ddr2...comon sonypeople, you know thats a joke.

 

Agreed, offering DDR2 RAM in a premium model like the SR is a disgrace, especially when the companion "consumer-grade" range like the CW series gets DDR3 RAM.

In fact, the CW range can be equipped with everything, including 8GB DDR3 RAM, 2.8GHz T9600, windows 7 professional, GT230M 512MB graphics card, Blu-ray burner (can also burn CDs/DVDs), 500GB Hard-drive etc for $1750. Compared to the current SR range, that is a RAGING bargain.

PS: Clearly the new SR is on the way, in a matter of days/weeks. With the introduction of these high-end features into the CW range, the SR will not be allowed to fester for too long.

 

I've tried running the installers from this page, but it stops before installation and says "This software is meant for Windows Vista Home" or something to that effect, even when I run it in Administrator mode. I'm definitely using Windows 7 Professional, what could be the issue?

 

Google UniExtract; download it and use it.

 

i recently upgraded my hard drive for my SR190 to 320gb seagate momentus 7200.4. i constantly hear tiny seek sounds and vague click sounds. nothing too major but im just wondering if anyone has installed such HD and what experiences have you guys had.

 

The momentus is a mobile HD, right?

I have a WD Scorpio, also a mobile HD, which also makes a vague clicking noise now and then. This is actually a safeguard feature, where the reading header is parked when not being used.

Don't know for sure whether it has any effect, but I do know I accidentally dropped (ok, launched) my netbook from 2m onto a solid floor and that the only internal damage was to the crappy fan (which now rattles a bit when the netbook is held at an angle) and one of the weak screen hinges (which broke off). The casing was... well, less than ok. Despite this beating the netbook didn't even turn off and about half a year later the thing still runs fine every day

So long as these HDD's can take such a beating and not break a sweat I don't mind a little vague ticking now and then

 

a little but barely....depends how picky you are?

all hdds make noises