Sony SE Owners' Thread

Do all of the SE series come with the IPS screen?

Who is the screen manufacturer of the IPS screen?

 

it's a massage to not waste time with games? :\

 

Any idea why the wireless adapter doesn't always work coming out of sleep? When I run the Intel Manual Diagnostics Tool it fails at the Hardware test - Wireless Hardware is not bound to transport driver. Toggling the wireless hardware switch doesn't always fix it either. What does fix it is going into device manager, disabling the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230, then re-enabling it. I went to Sony's site but I already have the latest driver (14.3.1.1).

I never had any luck with Intel cards. My last laptop (Dell Latitude d820) had an Intel 4965AGN that did the exact same thing. Do you think I can fit a Broadcom card? Intel cards suck anyway, they don't work with Hackintosh dual boot setups.

 

Ah ok according to Sony 14.3.1.1 is the latest version, and according to Intel's driver update detection java applet it's the latest... but Intel actually has a newer version 15.1.0.18. I just installed it from here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con...reless_15.1.0_Ds64.exe&lang=eng&Dwnldid=21143

 

I had intermittant problems with the Wifi on my SE, eventually tracked it down to the 802.11 n being enabled. Disabled this in adapter properties and it is solid as a rock, not sure what was going on but if you can live without the alleged super fast speed 802.11n gives..

 

Update

I have been working with Eclipse trying to write some android stuff and the window just becomes in-active, I have deliberately made sure my hands are nowhere near the mouse pad and it still does it.

Can anyone make any suggestions?

 

might be a short-circuit between the touchpad and the laptop's palmrest. they should be fully isolated, but if not, touching the palmrest could be registered as a click on the touchpad, given the palmrest is made of metal. idk!

 

If the construction is anywhere close to the SA the touchpad is fully isolated, the touchpad board is taped to plastic that in turn is taped onto the palmrest. There is no overlap between the board and the palmrest.

 

Has anyone had battery charging issues? I'll unplug my laptop and use it down to about 20~40%. I plug it back in to let it charge. I let it charge all day and it's stuck at 64%. I unplug it for 10 seconds and plug it back in and it jumps to 75%. I hope that makes sense but has anyone else run into this?

 

I do about the same to my battery some days but I have never encountered that. Strange.

 

Yes I have too! I hope its not an indicator as something is failing prematurely.

Another thing I encounter is the laptop will go into a spat where typing W closes windows. Turns out I have to click the right ctrl key a few times for it to get out of that spat. It's really frustrating.

 

Glad I'm not the only one having this problem. Guess we gotta wait till it happens to more people.

 

Ok even with the newest drivers direct from Intel (not available from Sony yet), wifi still takes forever to sync up to an AP after waking from sleep.

I had to create a BAT file on the desktop and because simply disabling and enabling the interface doesn't seem to work, I had to toggle it a few times and then put some pauses in near the end. This seems to work, though it takes like 45 seconds, it beats the few minutes it takes for the spinning wheel in the lower right corner to finally turn into wifi bars.

netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" DISABLED
netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" ENABLED
netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" DISABLED
netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" ENABLED
netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" DISABLED
REM Wait 10 seconds
ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 > nul
netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" ENABLED
REM Wait 30 seconds
ping -n 30 127.0.0.1 > nul
\\path\to\loginscript //this is not here on my home script.

 

I installed a lot of drivers from sony.com but on device manager SM Bus Controller is still no driver with a caution sign next to it. I installed Vaio Control Center but no options for back-lit keyboard.... and mine is not working.

 

I installed the "Intel® Chipset Device Software (INF Update Utility)" from intel's website, and it solved the problem. As for the back-lit keyboard, you should install the Sony Shared Library driver for it to work probably.

 

I installed Intel® Chipset Device Software (INF Update Utility) but the SM Bus Controller still there.... wonder what it is... thanks though, I got my back-lit keyboard working perfectly.

 

Today I finally received my SE.

Unfortunatly the first thing I noticed (just 2 seconds after Pushing the Power-Button) was the massive Backlight-Bleeding at the bottom of the screen.
When you have a normal Desktop or a normal 16:9 movie it doesn't seem to be such a problem, but e.g. with really dark movies or 16:10 it just becomes annoying.

Did anyone else notice this Problem?


Here are some photos:

 

I have the same backlight bleeding, doesn't bother me at all though. Just like the orange gate issue that everyone seems to be going crazy about.

 

Thank you.
Of course I've also tested the orange gate issue (it's clearly there) and it also doesn't bother me at all.
But this backlight bleeding is really annoying when watching movies, as it always catches my attention.
(as I said: for Word, internet and stuff like that it's also not a problem)

I realized that you can influence it by pushing / bending the frame, but it seems like there is no chance to get rid of it completly...

 

I sent an email to Sony asking if they are going to release a new BIOS firmware (more advanced options, SATA III) and was told to call (888) 476-6972 or (239) 768-7669 for international owners.

My suggestion is that everyone who owns this notebook and wants full SATA III speeds plus advanced options in the BIOS should call in and inquire about it.

 

So I don't really expect anyone to know this, but I installed the Windows 8 preview on my SE and the screen continuously changed brightness; it would get brighter or dimmer constantly while using it. What gives?

 

Sounds like the Intel power savings feature which dims the screen automatically. Try turning it off in the graphics properties.

 

It seems like I have no luck with my Vaio.


Today I installed a Crucial m4 SSD and did a clean Install afterwards.
And after that I installed ALL drivers from Sony.

Now there is always a message, saying that my battery (I'm running it with the internal battery at the moment, either with or without AC-Connector, but without sheet battery) is incompatible and it forces hibernate.

And furthermore I don't get the FN-Keys for the brightness working.

 

I have that in exactly the same position... Must be more than simply a coincidence?

I also have a blue dead pixel not too far above the backlight bled. Think I'll try phoning Sony one of these days and getting a replacement.

Anyone get a replacement for backlight bleed/dead pixels?

 

The backlight bleed isn't really a problem with the SE, most likely every SE has the same thing. It's just how the laptop is made that way.

 

It's not that you have no luck with your Vaio, you just need to do some research for your problems.
I did a clean install with the factory HDD when I received my SE and had the same problems you did.
I just received my Crucial M4 SSD and Crucial 4GB RAM earlier today, and I will have it installed and swap everything over.

For the battery problem, type "msconfig" in the start menu, go to Startup tab, find the ISB Utility, uncheck the box, restart your SE, then you should be set. It's the Sony battery managment program that is conflicting with the Windows battery management.

For the brightness setting, did you install the Sony Shared Library driver?

 

Hi guys, I was trying to find some info about adding a second SSD, but then I found so many problems you guys encountered that I lost faith. I have a SE190X CTO 2012, got it about 1 week ago. It is i7 2640M with the 1Gb 6630 graphic, 8 gb ram, 256 Gb SSD. I saw online that you can remove the optical drive to put in a second SSD, and it seems safe. I wonder if that is actually safe and not just advertised as it is.

I have play around with a laptop for a while and I haven't see any problems so far, I am very content with the purchase. I don't know why you guys got so many problems, maybe you guys were trying to install market items instead of ordered them with the laptop?

 

I removed the optical DVD rom and bought a caddy from NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks and I put the 500GB HDD that came with the notebook in the caddy. So you could do the same with a SSD and it works perfectly fine.

 

You will have this issue while doing a fresh install, when you don't follow the installation procedure. This issue is triggered, when VAIO Notebook utilities are installed before Parser Firmware.

Killing the process in msconfig is one way but it is not for ever, at each fresh start you will have to do it again, so I suggest, that you re-install everything properly, beginning with the OS.

Then:
1) Drivers
2) VAIO Database
3) VAIO Notebook utilities

If you look in this thread or the thread related to VAIO SA/SB/SC/SD someone posted the correct way to fresh install a Sony VAIO with Hybrid Graphics.

Hope this helps !

 

Can you tell me which SE model # you have and which BIOS firmware your notebook is running?

I'm asking because you're achieving 6GB/s speeds but in the screenshot IRST reports you're running at a 3GB/s transfer rate.

 

Well, it only takes less than a minute to do the editing in msconfig and it's simple. It just helps some people when they have already went through the fresh install procedure and found out the problem. It saves all the hassles from re-installing the whole windows which isn't really necessary since it's just a small conflict between the the software.

 

VPCSE2KGX is what it says on the bottom. Got it from PCMall.

I guess I have to reboot to check the bios version? I'm not sure, the vaio tools said there were no updates for anything, so the latest I guess?

6GB/s speeds maybe because the 2 x 3GB/s SSD's are in RAID-0?


EDIT:
BIOS Ver: R2086H4

I added the additional 4GB RAM myself (initially came with 4GB in total).

 

Thanks for looking up that info, appreciated. First SE I've seen using this BIOS version. Speeds are likely due to the RAID setup you have but it still seems high for 2 x 3GB/s. I'm going to try finding a download for the same BIOS version you have, if I cannot find it would you mind making a back up of yours?

 

No luck finding R2086H4 for download anywhere.

 

I have a question regarding the panel in the SE. Has anyone opened up the SE and seen the panel and the cable?

If yes, is there any information about :
- the exact type of the panel
- the LVDS cable used (is it 40 pin and compatible with AUO B156HW01?)
- if it's really 15.5 inch and not 15.6 then how is it possible that the Envy 15 has the same screen, but in a glossy version? The Envy is 15.6!

Thanks!

 

check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJKF6XXPSGY
maybe it is mentioned there; or if not, maybe you could leave a comment for the person who uploaded the video and get an answer back (he actually replied to my comment).

 

The video states it is especially dedicated for this thread, so the creator must be here! Any user with similar name to "fueroer"?

 

Thank you.
I just thougth that there might be a real Problem with the battery.
But disabeling ISB did indeed solve the problem. Hopefully it's really just a software related problem.

And for the brihtness problem I also found the solution. There was just some driver missing (installed it in the device manager via Windows Update).
Don't know how this happend as I really intalled all drivers provided by Sony...

 

In another thread, this is the explanation:

 

Thanks for this, very valuable information! So the Sony is indeed just the matte version of the Envy panel.

Also, I seem to remember there were an Envy user who replaced the screen on Envy with a AUO? If this is true, it means that

AUO, Sony SE / HP Envy and LG 15.6 (Dell M4600 non-IPS, HP 8560w non-IPS) all use the same 40 pin LVDS cable, thus they are all interchangeable electrically.

Do you think this makes sense? (I know that physically the SE is thinner so you cannot put in the AUO panel, but the other way it's possible).

 

I think I want to junk the Intel Centrino advanced-n wifi card that comes with this laptop. It always takes a really long time to get wifi up and running when waking up the laptop from sleep. I wrote a script to disable and enable the wifi adapter a few times and also I needed to add some pauses in between.

It's not just this laptop. We have some Dells that have intel wifi cards too and they have the same problem. On some other Dells that have the broadcom based Dell Wireless cards, there are no issues.

So I'd like to get a broadcom based card (they also work in OSX86 hackintosh). Is it mini pci-express in here? Replacing the Intel wifi card... does that remove the Intel WiDi feature? I don't use it but it would be good to know for the future if I would lose WiDi by going to a better, non-intel based card.

EDIT: I see for mini pci-e wifi cards on Newegg all they have are Intel! Also read some reviews that some people indicate certain laptop BIOS whitelist wifi hardware and trying to switch it out may or may not work without a BIOS modification. Also the Centrino Advanced-N 6230 has bluetooth built in, so unless replacing it with another card that also has bluetooth built in I would lose bluetooth (and then my wireless mouse). Maybe I'll just wait for the next wifi standard after N and get that.

 

I wonder if the AUO B156HW01 V4 15.6" TN panel would be a good replacement for the Sony SE screen? Both are LVDS. I see you have this on your Lenovo laptop. Are you able to compare your B156HW01 V4 with the Sony SE IPS screen?

According to Anandtech on a recent review, LP156WF1 (A1) on the new ASUS N56VM is pretty good, and they say AUO B156HW01 V4 is even better, although not as wide viewing angles as the IPS.
AnandTech - Mobile Ivy Bridge and ASUS N56VM Preview

Anandtech review ov AUO B156HW01 V4
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4649/mythlogic-pollux-1400-clevos-w150hr-tested/6

Data sheets on the AUO B156HW01 V4 say it has 95% color gamut:
http://www.logicalblueone.com.au/docs/B156HW01_V_4.pdf
B156HW01 V4 Specification & Datasheet download - Panelook.com

 

OK, I got it confirmed that the SE screen and the AUO screen are pin compatible, BUT the AUO is thicker. So you cannot put in the AUO in the SE, but you can put in the SE in computers support the AUO, etc.

 

He have a RAID0 setup where four drives on separate SATA channels have a combined throughput higher than that of one SATA channel.
Nothing strange

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I only see two drives installed on his notebook per the screenshot. It just looks like the drives are partitioned.

 

I'm not really 100% sure. Here's what the drive caddy looks like (click to make it larger):


In the Intel RST program it does show 4 x 60GB drives, each with slightly different serial numbers and they are on ports 0, 1, 2, 3. There's only 2 cables on that drive caddy though as you can see... unless each ribbon carries 2 channels or theres another cable under that assembly that I can't see.

I think its amazing and I love the performance of this beast. I have 62 GB free out of 224 GB formatted capacity. The biggest space hog are two VMWare workstation 8 virtual machines (Windows 8 consumer preview and Mac OS Lion). I also have Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS5 installed. No games yet, but I'd like to get Starcraft 2 on there.

 

Thanks for posting a pic of the innards. I'm fairly certain there are only 2 drives installed (4 drives wouldn't fit in there). When you custom build a system on Sony's website and select any of the Raid options it states either 2 x 128GB, 2 x 256GB or 2 x 512GB. The 2 x 128GB Raid configuration is what you have in my opinion.

In the IRST screenshot you took earlier it shows the serial number of the drive which has "128GB Samsung" or something similar to that in the serial number. I can also see the same serial number in the pic you just posted as well.

I believe you are correct about the Sony SATA adapter cable you have there, it looks as though it is a 4 channel Y connector. It says so right on it.

 

its interesting... I wonder if those SSD's have 2 sata ports on them each for double throughput?

I saw the configuration on Sony's site, but I got this from PCMall preconfigured.

 

It looks similar to the setup in the Z series with the Raid option in my opinion. (2 x MSATA SSD's connected with a Sony "Y" SATA cable)

http://www.blogcdn.com/chinese.engadget.com/media/2010/03/img_1507_vaioz.jpg

 

Do you know the model number and data sheet for the SE screen?

is the color gamut much better in the AUO screen, viewing angles?
thanks