Official Y series 11.6 Owners' Thread

Hi Pill, did you wear an antistatic strap when you opened up the laptop to play with the insides? I forget every now and again but never had any problems so far (touch wood!).

Can't think of any situations where the machine would be completely unresponsive as if the drive was fubar, it'd still post, and you tried it with both drives so it'd be doubtful both drives broke at once. Did you make sure the RAM was seated right when you put the thing back together? Maybe you dislodged a stick slightly when you swapped it out first time.

Sorry I can't help much - maybe Chong can help as he'd swapped his out a few times, though on a YB rather than YA. I get my SSD next week so when I swap it out I'll keep an eye out to see what can go wrong.

 

Pill, call Sony tech support. Its hard to imagine even the original hd is not working.

I got an external 2.5 and 3.5 USB docking station just to check out my ssd or hd.

Before boot, hit F2 to get into BIOS to see.

I put in a Vertex 2. So it is a Sandforce controller. The Corsair F120 is also a SF controller. So it should work.

For me, I got the AMD chip, so I didnt install the AMD Controller. I am using the MSFT ACHI controller.

 

You should install the AMD AHCI drivers. The boot is much faster (no hang at Windows logo screen).

 

I finally got a sony 11.6 with i3, 4gb, w7 pro and 500gb hd.

I'm going to buy a corsair F120, can anyone suggest me a way to preserve all the partitions of the original hd so i can use them even with the new hd?

I mean the sony assist partition and the recovery partition.

 

How about just making full system restore discs on DVD and eliminate the partitions altogether? Don't want to spend precious GBs on install software.

 

Burn a set of recovery DVDs using VAIO Care. Then swap the hard drive, boot from the recovery DVDs, and chose the option to restore the complete system. You'll end up with the same partitions on the new drive as the original, with the software configuration as it was when new.

Obviously, this will not preserve any of the files or programs that you've put on the computer since it was new. You can either back these up manually, or use a 3rd party disk imaging tool like Acronis or Clonezilla. You can not use the built-in Windows system image function if you're going to a smaller C: partition on the new disk than the original C: partition.

If you're going to keep the existing partitions on the original HDD, then sure. I don't trust burned DVDs for long term storage of important stuff. Before hard drive storage got so cheap, I was backing up to DVD and I've had several of my backups go bad after just a couple of years. I also had a Linux DVD exhibit read errors immediately after a successful burn.

 

Hi thank you for your useful answer.
So the recovery dvds set can even restore the sony assist partition? I've noticed that pressing the assist button when the vaio is off will activate a sony utility. Do the recovery dvds restore even that?

The SSD drive is smaller then original drive so maybe i should shrink it before doing a disk imaging tool?

 

Yes

The Windows System Image feature can only restore an image to a partition that is the same size or smaller than the one it was created from. So if you want to use it, you will have to shrink the partition. It's relatively easy to shrink the C: partition by up to ~50%, but shrinking it from 500GB to 100GB is major pain because of the unmovable files. Another annoying problem with Windows System Image is that it won't burn to DVD-Rs, only DVD-RWs.

I've also used Acronis True Image and Clonezilla and they do not suffer the same limitations. As long as the new partition is big enough to hold all of the data in the image, they will work. The last time I went through this, I used to Acronis to save the image to an external HDD, which is also much faster than using DVDs.

 

thank you very much again!

First I'll get the SSD and then I'll see which solution to choose.

I've read that the Corsair F120 is a very good SSD, balanced, not to expensive, affordable and with a low power consumption but i wonder is it compatible with the vaio?

 

Any 2.5" SATA2 drive should be compatible, including the Corsair F120

 

Lately for the past few weeks my Y-series (the original SU7300 model) has been freezing and making a weird audio sound during video playback, including standard definition video.

Anyone else have this problem? I tried updating the Intel integrated GPU drivers but they are already at the latest update.

 

Okay, I just bought a YB. I figure $499 without tax is pretty darn close to $449 with tax for the dm1z. And while battery life sucks in comparison, putting in my Intel SSD should give me extra minutes. Meanwhile, I get a better screen and avoid the atrocious anti-design that is HP.

I will possibly post a guide on how to get up and running with a clean install on Windows 7 x64, upgraded RAM and SSD, etc. My MacBook Pro is going bye bye in the meantime.

 

Sugarkang, please post your W7 x64 install. I did it already.

I just install a USB tuner on my YB. It works great. Now my YB is a nice HDTV.

 

You said that W7x64 picks up everything now? I can't install from a USB stick? What's the best way to install? My YB arrives on Wednesday.

 

Yes it does. Except for bluetooth. If it is a bluetooth mouse, then its alright. For bluetooth audio you have to do something else.

You can try install from USB stick and it should work. I use a external drive.

 

I'm pretty sure you cannot use a USB thumb drive to install Windows.

Did you use an external DVD or HDD to install?

 

I suspect you were hosed by a recent software update. What applications & types of video are affected? Is it just Flash video? Does it happen in WMP, and if so with what formats or codecs? That info will help you narrow the problem down, then you can search the web for a solution and/or roll back the update that caused it.

 

Will going to 64 bit improve the performance over the 32 bit. Cause now I'm a bit disappointed about the YB performance.

 

Steberg, that I dont know. I have a YB and the diff between a 32 and a 64 is a gain of .2GB of memory. Remember there is a cap of 4GB on the YB and the rest is share with the video card.

You can google advantage of 32 vs 64 bit os and see.

You are better off getting a SSD. You see some(I said SOME) good responsiveness.

Sugerkang, what is "atrocious anti-design that is HP." The reflective screen? Finger print magnet?

 

Has anyone here try the Bluetooth headphone on your YB?

Do you notice the range is not that great compare to other laptop?

Where is the location of the BT module on this laptop?

 

Just saying HP is ugly. Can you answer whether you used HDD or DVD external drive?

 

I use a external USB DVD drive. Try installing it using a USB drive. I know it will work. Its a modern computer.

Anyone, does Sony have a quick BIOS boot menu screen to select the first boot device?

 

No. Unless you are telling me this is wrong:

"I must point out a MAJOR failure of Sony VAIO YB netbook. It will NOT boot from USB flash drive. It will boot only from external HDD or optical drive. Bad news if you want to install something via bootable USB stick. I suppose Dell, HP, Acer have not been that stupid."

 

What a suprise. Did you try it yourself to confirm?

 

No. I do not have a USB drive. However, searching the net, it appears that this is very common for VAIO to disallow USB thumbdrive booting. I have tried Win PE install over the network. Couldn't get that to work. To get a clean install, I could only make an install partition on my Vertex 2 SSD and install it that way. I'm missing a 100MB system partition, so that's another problem.

This computer seems very poorly made. I suppose I shouldn't be too upset, but I expected a bit more. I thought it would be like my old TZ, but the build quality is much worse. The only thing that this does better is video processing. I get a 7.7 in WEI so I guess that's also a plus.

Did you get your blue function keys to work? If so, could you tell me which drivers were used?

 

Yes, this computer got cheap plastic. Be careful not to scatch it. I think its OK. Better than a fingerprint magnet laptop.

I cant get the blue function key to work. My contrast up/down and audio up/down doesnt work on my W7 64 bit.

I didnt install any driver. I just use what Microsoft had installed. Only for the bluetooth audio I have to do special trick.

 

Probably a stupid question, but do you have a DVD drive?

Well, the TZ was a premium model that started at $2300 or so, with some configs over $3000. The YB is $500. I wouldn't expect the same build quality.

For most VAIOs, I believe you need to install the following packages in the following order to get the keys to work:
1. Sony Notebook Control device driver (may not be applicable for YB)
2. Sony Shared Library
3. Sony Notebook Utilities

The Sony Notebook Utilities package is a bundle containing the following:
VAIO Event Service
Setting Utility Series
Battery Checker
VAIO Control Center

I think only the Event Service and Setting Utility Series are necessary to get the keys to work, but the Battery Checker and VAIO Control Center are fairly important to have anyway. All of the above can be downloaded from the Sony eSupport site.

If you want VAIO Care to come up when you press the Assist button, then you need to install VAIO Care as well. Otherwise, I think the Assist button mutes the audio or something like that.

If you install all the above and the brightness controls still don't work, you probably need to install the AMD Radeon driver from Sony as well. Sometimes the graphics drivers you get directly from AMD or nVidia have the configuration data for the Sony brightness controls and sometimes they don't.

 

Sony only makes the 32bit drivers available, but I've loaded Win 7 x64. Would the drivers still play nice?

EDIT: Thank you! It worked. I've confirmed that just installing Shared Library and Notebook Utilities worked to restore Fn key functions for brightness, volume, etc. I don't care about VAIO assist. Don't know about bluetooth either.

I did a clean install of Win 7 x64. I used Sony's 32 bit drivers, but they still work. YAY.

 

Hi, i'm have some issues with my vaio yb 11'6.

did you having some random freezes in his use? normaly playing videos or gaming, sometimes i'm just listen to music! all freeezes, after 30 sec it come back working petry.

Notes: Not using 50% of processor when it happens, and where in freeze it low processor use to 20%.

this problem is driving me crazy, someone can help me?

sorry for bad english.

 

Here's a video walkthrough for replacing the HDD and RAM.
YouTube - VAIO YB replacement guide HDD to SSD

EDIT: Okay, I've had this thing for nearly a week now. Anyone thinking of buying this thing... DON'T. (unless there is a substantial discount)

1. The fan is unnecessarily noisy. The AMD chip runs cool. So what the hell is going on?
2. There are some other internal electronic noises happening (not the hard drive). High frequency noises. Weird.
3. The trackpad clickers are SO LOUD. And the click sound they make just screams of cheapness.

4. I'm getting battery life of 3.5 to 4 hours. Minor YouTube, mostly internet using Chrome.

Of course, the crazy thing is that this laptop still destroys any netbooks by Intel. But given all the other AMD E-350 alternatives out there, it's best to take advantage of it.

 

Hey everyone, just bought my own Sony Vaio YB1S1E/S!

-AMD E-350
-2GB DDR3
-320GB 5400RPM SATA
-ATI HD6310


I'm loving it! It's so compact and small, but very sturdy! The screen is quite good and the battery time is great! It also runs smoothly all the aplications I need like Photoshop and Solidworks, and even a few games!

 

LOL
LOL
LOL

Dont??? hahahaha

1. Hell my YB feel like a jet is taking off all the time. It sure is humming but for what I have no idea! Even at 5% it still buzz. I mean at least slow down the fan.
2. I have no problem with one. I dont hear anything. Maybe I got too many electronics around me.
3 I dont use the trackpad on any laptop. Using a trackpad is like using a chopstick on rice or killing a fly with a machine gun. It is not ment for it. So I use a bluetooth mouse.
4 Yah I get about that around 3.5 hours

I got my new laptop for $245 something with the Sony cc promo.

The other thing is that the bluetooth range on this laptop is weak compare to my earlier Sony Vaio SR.

I get this laptop because its better than a 10.1" screen for sure and at least this laptop can do external at 1920x1200 and plays 1080p with no problem.

Overall, I am OK with this laptop and at least it is not a fingerprint magnet.

I am going to keep this for 1.5 yrs and hope the next version of Vaio S will not have everything loaded on the right hand side. What a stupid idea!

 

I dont have anything like that. Mine is as good as a smooth operator.

Did you do a restore disk? Can you do a new restore?

If I were you, I do a clean install if you got a retail CD.

 

Hi everybody I really need help here!

I've bought a SSD, I've opened the vaio and extracted the original hd but I can't insert the new one because the only way is to use the tray the original hd is screwed onto.

I can't reuse the original tray because the screws are too hard to screw off.

What shall I do?

 

eventually i did it!

Now I'm restoring Windows 7 on my new Corsair F120 SSD!

 

I was going to say watch my video. Enjoy your awful, awful notebook that I will be returning soon. Getting my Lenovo x120e this Friday and hope that will be better.

 

In the video it's impossible to see how to remove the disk cage.. I thought it required special actions but it only requires.. force.. a lot of force in my case.. the screws were very hard to remove in my vaio!

Anyway now the vaio is a way faster than before and the battery runs more, i like the vaio i think the only bad thing is the fan.. a bit loud.

 

To remove the cover, you need to put your finger under the top/right of the cover. Then wiggle.

Yes, the fan is ridiculous. The AMD CPU is very, very cool in temperature. Totally a waste of potential.

 

Sugarkang, I'd say hunt down an Intel version (YA) of this notebook - fan is barely audible, base is cool, keyboard is excellent, and the plastics are decent and the whole package is well put together. Very pleased with the machine at this price.

Enjoy the Fn and Ctrl key swap on your Lenovo... hate that little "feature" they have

 

Sugarkang, any restocking fee for returning it?

Thats it? You are returning.

Would you keep it if it was $250?

 

My Lenovo x120e is arriving tomorrow. I also hate the craptastic screen on the YB. It's the shiny crap kind that HP uses on all of their own pathetically bad computers. The YB also has two mouse buttons that click really loud.

One click goes, "PACK KOW!" In notebook language it means, "Hey! Look at me! I'm a really crappy laptop!"

My only experience with VAIO notebooks before this one was the TZ and that one had an awesome matte display. Of course, I paid like $1,700 when it first came out, but just saying. Any awesome characteristics of the VAIO YB is because of the AMD e350 inside it. Everything else about the YB completely sucks. It's total trash. Complete garbage. I could not have made a worse notebook if I was blindfolded, hands tied behind my back and assembled it with my feet.

The Lenovo x120e also has a noisy fan (from what I hear). However, there is some third party utility for thinkpads to control the fan speed. I hear that you can shut off the fan or almost shut it off for idle. This is great because the AMD chip is very, very cool in temperature. I don't need to waste battery from a stupid fan and I don't need the noise to pizz me off.

x120e also comes with a matte screen and a great keyboard (from what I hear). Who knows though, I will post more tomorrow.

PS: Chong, I think I lose shipping but that's it. And sure I'd keep it for $250, but I'd sell it for $350 and get a Lenovo.

 

I got the YA version with the i3 ULV and I can tell you that the fan is loud.
It easily spins up.

Anyway except the fan i like this notebook especially now that i have a SSD in it.

It REALLY goes faster.

The only problem i get now is that sometimes the vaio doesn't recognize the hd displaying the "can't find operating system" error message.

I can see from the bios the those times it doesn't see any hard drive at all.

Is the Corsair F120 not compatible?

I hope not cause i've spent about 200€ to get this SSD!

 

If it's not compatible, it should never work. Your problem is intermittent, so that your sata connector / cable needs to be reseated.

Unlikely, but possible that the Sony bios is bad.

 

"Operating system not found" is a very common problem with SSDs affecting lots of different computers.

One problem is that BIOS HDD detection was designed for HDDs that take a few seconds to POST. SSDs come up instantly and sometimes don't get detected on cold boot. The solution for that problem is usually a BIOS or drive firmware update.

I've also read that when transitioning to sleep or hibernate states, there isn't enough power available for the drive to shut down properly. I don't know whether that is correct or just somebody speculating. I've personally experienced this problem a couple of times with an OCZ Vertex 2 drive (SandForce SF-1200 controller) in one of my computers. Updating the firmware seemed to fix it.

 

Yes, I've experienced this myself in my desktop. However, the difference is that if the OS wasn't found, it's because the BIOS didn't recognize the drive at all. And if not found, it remained not found until I switched SATA ports or disconnected a different HDD.

Poster said that his problem was intermittent.

 

It varies. The problem on cold boot is intermittent for most people, but not everybody. The problem on resume from sleep or hibernation is more apt to result in a "stuck" or seemingly bricked drive like you encountered. Manufacturer support forums are full of problem reports on this.

Do you have a full BIOS on your desktop machine? If so, there are suggestions out there for changing the IDE timeout or controller mode. I don't know if they work as I only have notebooks with crippled BIOS.

 

You could be right. Either way, I'm glad I dumped this horrible, horrible computer. To anyone thinking of buying this POS, don't. Unless you get it for under $300.

 

Thank you all for your advice.

I don't think it's the sata connector because with the original hard drive it worked perfectly.

Do you know where I can look for a BIOS update for my VAIO?
I'm checking for a firmware update of the Corsair SSD also.

 

If you have the VAIO Update program on your computer, you can have it check for updates.

Otherwise, find the eSupport link on the Sony web page for your country/region, enter the model number, and it should take you to a page where you can download drivers and stuff. If there is a BIOS update available, it will be there.

 

I've found a workaround!

If I start the pc, enter the bios and then exit from the bios without doing nothing and restart the vaio, it WILL detect the hard disk and boot normally.

That means that at least I can use it but it's crappy!

Now I'm sure it's a software problem, I hope sony to release a new bios to fix the problem!