Sony SE Owners' Thread

Hi all, had my first problem with my SE. My headphone jack decided to stop working. The SE no longer detects if I have a speaker cable or headphones plugged in and outputs only to the laptop speakers.

I've tried disabling and reinstalling the drivers from Control Panel. I might be missing a simple setting though.

They were working fine earlier today and I didn't notice any updates installing. Is it possible that I fried it? The speakers I have were ON when I plugged them into the jack but I used to do that many times on my old laptop without issue. Was that my mistake?

Any chance it's a software thing? It's still under warranty but I'd rather not take it to Sony unless it's a defect.

 

New models not showing for me on the de site.

I should receive my new (soon to be old) SE today. Probably asked a hundred times before in this thread but I can see the answers.

Looking for tips when I first run the machine. Should I make the recovery discs immediately or can I do it when I have more time this weekend?

Thanks,
Guy

 

Strange.

Here is a direct Link to one of them.
Maby this will work.

 

I am deciding on buying the presently offered SE or its new version (the SVS). Price difference will be decisive. If, for a similar configuration, prices remain similar, I'll obviously buy the new model. Unfortunately prices will only be revealed on week 25. Does anyone remember if prices remained similar in past new launches? Or were there significant hikes?

 

Sorry if somebody already discuss about this, I tried to search the thread but got nothing and I'm too lazy to read all 181 pages:

I know the spec said the laptop only allows max of 8GB 1333 RAM, but i saw some comments from a dude on Youtube said he put in total of 12GB RAM (8GB stick with the soldered 4GB onboard) and the Bios recognized it.
So the question is has anybody else here tried it? 8GB RAM is OK for me but I want to take the laptop to the max if possible.

Tks!

 

yes, 12GB works fine.

 

Thanks for the reply. So any 8GB DDR3 1333 stick will work fine?

In love with the Vaio SE already after only a few day. Now upgrade the Ram, get a caddy and it will be perfect.

 

Hi gents, can anybody tell me the max resolution the 6630 supports for an external monitor?

 

1920x1080 @ 60Hz (although you can drive higher resolution screens by lowering the refresh rate, which requires some tweaking of files).

 

Thanks, So I wouldn't be able to connect the SE up to a 1920x1200 external monitor without messing about? I find that amazing on what is meant to be a professional spec laptop.

Second question linked to that then. Am I right in thinking Sony have disabled the rotate screen option? If I wanted to run a 16:10 display in portrait could I do that from my SE?

Cheers,
Guy

 

That's right about the rotate screen. I searched for a long time looking for a solution, played with registry settings, somehow set the laptop LCD upside down once, and installed Windows 8 with generic drivers.

I successfully rotated the screen in a Virtual Machine....

It seems Sony went out of their way to disable the rotate feature.

If you find a way to fix it, please let everyone know because the general consensus on the internet is it can't be done on most Vaios.

 

Most likely a mechanical failure in the jack. Most jacks have a switch mechanism to detect if anything is plugged in and that can fail sometimes.
It could be a software problem (some audio chips detect plugged in devices by measuring resistance instead) however as you already tried reinstalling the driver that's less likely. :/

 

Why would they do that?? My gf wants to use it for lots of word processing and wanted to use the monitor in portrait mode. I've just splashed out on a 1920x1200 display and now it seems this laptop neither supports the resolution or the rotation!!? If so it's going back. I hate when manufactures disable core features of an OS.

 

^ i have heard from a knowledgeable person here that 1920x1200 is also supported by the HDMI port. i haven't tried that myself though.

 

Thanks for the info on the headphone jack. I am going to take it in for repairs after I find some downtime from work. I currently need this little SE to get some deadlines finished.

I hear you and I tried to get an answer from Sony. I made it to an Advanced specialist on their phone ladder before I got disconnected due to an error on my part, they sounded like they knew what they were talking about. Tried again and got some rube saying, "you're model doesn't support this" and that "it's not a normal feature in Windows"...

I had the monitor a bit before this laptop and my old Toshiba could rotate without a problem. I work in comics and the pages are typically portrait so the perk would have been nice. Oh well. I learned to live without it but still a blemish.

In my search there was some program that rotates your entire computer screen through software. I think it takes up a bunch of processing power so it's not ideal for me working in Photoshop. But for word processing it might work.

I'm gonna go look for it again and test it, it's called Pivot Pro, I have to restart and then I'll report back if it works.

 

Tried it, failed. Didn't even flicker...

It seems that Sony put a lot of work into disabling this feature. That makes very little sense to me... whatever problem they are trying to save us from couldn't be worth the effort in removing it from the core of all their laptops.

 

Thanks chaps for the info. Monitor i've bought doesn't have have hdmi so if it doesn't work over hdmi i'm a bit stuck.

I'm amazed Sony would disable the rotate feature and i'd love to know the reason. My gf hates 16:9 screens on laptops so this was my best solution.

I found this thread and check the reg on my vaio. It was already set to this.
Cannot Rotate Display - Neowin Forums

 

as far as i know, it's the Intel iGPU that's actually showing stuff on the screen, so if there is going to be any tweaks through the registry to make the rotation option accessible, it should be done to Intel's not AMD's. does the following registry path correspond to AMD's or Intel's GPU?

 

It's really odd, I am able to get the options to rotate to appear in the Intel Graphics Properties menu but it ignores any comands you give it to rotate.

I have played around with registry settings similar to the one you posted darxide, it was awhile ago so it could be the same folder.

I'll try the edits later and see if it works.

This is the fields I usually edit,

Display1 Enable Rotation (default is 0)

I remember reading some comment by someone on a random self help board that said it was disabled at the BIOS level. I tried Windows 8 which doesn't have a single Sony driver installed and could not rotate. Not sure if it's at the driver level.

 

i have the following registry keys in the same path mentioned above which, by the way, is for Intel iGPU:

with their values set to 0. have you tried setting the values to 1, for example?

EDIT: the same registry keys are present at the following path as well

 

Thanks Darxide, I changed all the settings but
in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000" folder, Display1 Enable Rotation is always reset back to 0 after a restart.

Not sure why, rest seem to stay put.

 

I can confirm this is working well!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

When my monitor arrives I will try to test some settings in the registry but if it is set at BIOS level then maybe this could be included in the project in the main Sony forum? I see there is access to the advanced menu features of the BIOS.

BTW what is the latest BIOS and how could I find out mine? Just access it using F10?

 

Go to VAIO Control Centre, it's listed under System Information.

I am using version R2086H4.

I tried some more registry tweaks that are found in an old thread on this forum for the z2, seems like they can get their monitors to rotate but only when attached to the PMD.

Tricky!

 

Thanks.

Does that point to it been controlled by a registry setting in the SE or more a unique feature because of the PMD?

 

That's true for Optimus systems however for the S-series the display output comes from the currently active GPU (via a hardware switch). That's the reason for the flickering when switching between stamina and speed.

Maybe Sony have disabled rotation so that the system doesn't get confused when switching mode?

 

That sounds like a reasonable explanation.

 

If you do a search for 'portrait' the the registry there are quite a few options linked to the Video and ATI card it seems. I don't have the knowedge to start changing settings but have others looked at this?

Guy

 

I have changed any setting that has Portrait mode in hopes of unlocking it but no luck. Maybe I missed one but I still don't think it's a registry issue.

 

I am a little bit confused about hard drive options on VPCSE27FX. Sony website allows you to pick 2 hard drive configuration. I assumed that means it has 2 hard drive bays, but now that i've received the laptop, i see only one.

How does Sony provide 2 HDDs in this laptop from the factory?

I just realised slight model number difference. VPCSE27FX vs VPCSE290. Are these the same gen/body laptops?

Thanks.

 

There is only one hdd bay. The configuration with "two" drives is only for SSD which are soldered onto the motherboard. That goes for all models so the model number difference is not relevant for this.

 

Wow. Soldered onto the mobo? Never would have imagined SSD drives are not replaceable/swappable in a laptop.

Thank you. I guess ill have to return 2nd SSD i purchased and run single SSD config. At least i upgraded from mechanical to SSD for far less than what Sony wanted online.

 

I believe that's the case, it was mentioned by someone else here, not sure which page.

You don't necessarily have to return your 2nd SSD so long as you're happy to swap your optical drive for a caddy.

 

Hoping to get some help here. My friend has a VPCSE190X and is having problems with his bluetooth. He had been using an Apple keyboard and Microsoft mouse, both of which are bluetooth, and then was having problems getting a set of Bose bluetooth speakers to work with it. I had him update his drivers from Sony's website, and now none of his bluetooth devices will connect. Any ideas on how to get it to work?

 

Anybody tried this software to enable pivot mode?

Pivot® FAQs

 

Just wondering if there has been a real difference between the SE1 and SE2 computers?

 

I tried the trial and it ignored any rotate commands. I appreciate you looking Guy H, maybe by briging this issue more attention we'll find a solution.

Not sure if you are as frustrated as I was when I was googling the problem, and everyone was asking how to DISABLE rotation cause their cat had accidentally switched to portrait mode.. Wish we could have that problem

 

I believe it was just a slight CPU bump.

 

I've read so many threads with people complaining of that.

I know I'm covering old ground with this one but it seems such a basic thing that it's annoying me and I have a 24" monitor arriving soon with a 90 degree pivot function which is useless with my 'professional' laptop. I'll be honest this is my first Sony and it's putting me off the brand even though I may rarely use portrait mode. I do not like options been removed from me.

Cheers,
Guy

 

Yea I'm not sure what to do about it if you need portrait. I was looking at some Lenovo's before I settled on the SE. With all the laptops refreshing you might be able to complain and get your money back, then find one that better suits your needs.

Tough call though, other than that (and the headphone jack dying on me but oh well, I'll get it repaired when I have time) I'm pretty happy with the SE.

Cheers!

 

Just wanted to post this in here as well, I went to the Sony Centre in Toronto and they had a new S 15 series on display. The texture is really strange and different, there is more grip on the case.

Nvidia graphics, etc. You know the specs.

What people are probably are wondering, the display!

Red/Orange issue is still there. I was able to take the S15 and display it right next to the older SE2. Went to MS Paint and the reds were identical.

Just thought people would like to know, it was a nice looking machine though.

 

The red/orange issue is going to be the same until there is another 15-inch IPS screen available besides the LG one. Right now, that appears to be the only one. (Not sure about the Dell Precision, never seen one in person).

 

I figured that but lots of people come in every few pages to ask if the SE2 has a different screen than the SE1. I imagine it will continue when the new S15 is commonly available.

It's too bad, other than that it's a great screen. The new Asus zenbook seems to have good colour reproduction but it maxes out at 13"

 

Hey all.

Had my VPCSE26FG for a few weeks now and absolutely loving it after coming from a 3yr old Dell Studio 15. The screen clarity and resolution as well as the lighter weight of the SE are fantastic.

There was one oddity that annoyed me for a few days until I sorted it out. Often there was a 2-3 second pause when scrolling (or clicking/typing/anything else) in Google Chrome. It was not present in any other apps that I use, and I ended up doing a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate and slowly reinstalled everything - the problem reappeared when I installed the bundled Trend Titanium Internet Security. As soon as I uninstalled it again, everything went back to normal. Bizarre.

Just curious, has anyone figured out if it is possible to uncap the CPU speed in stamina mode? I'm happy with the extra battery life that the Intel gfx gives me, but the 1GHz CPU cap is quite noticeable at times.

Otherwise, would running in speed mode but disabling the ATI graphics adapter in Device Manager achieve the same thing? I'll have to give that a try.

Edit: Discovered that the CPU capping is a result of the "power saver" power plan. I've switched to "Balanced" (with a couple of tweaks) and CPU speed goes up to 3.0GHz when required now.

And I'm guessing there is no real fix for the lack of SATA III...

 

On sonys site there are a few different variations of the s 15 some say "Full HD display" while some say versions say "Full hd IPS display", does that mean that they have some versions with a non ips display-so no red/orange issue? or is it just the same display for all versions?

 

nvm i checked the specs again says all s series 15.5 come with ips

 

I've upgraded my VPCSE27FX to 256GB Samsung 830 SSD. Everything works like a charm and computer is wicked fast. Boots in under 15 seconds. Comes back from sleep in <2. Love it.

The only question I have is regarding AHCI. Samsung SSD utility says that i am running in non-AHCI mode and should turn it on for optimal performance.

I went to BIOS, and the only somewhat relaeted option is "Show RAID Options: Show/Hide".

I've contacted Sony support and they said AHCI is on by default on these laptops and there's no way to turn it off or toggle it.

I've checked Windows Registry to ensure that AHCI is turned on per AHCI articles, yet SSD util still claims it's in non-AHCI mode.

Any ideas?

 

Now I'm curious about the 13" model. I know it has a matte, 1600 x 900 display, but will it compare to the great display of the Asus UX31A or even Samsung Series 9?

Or is it the same old dull one that Sony used before?

 

Its most likely the same display, most manufacturers just did refreshes and not redesigns so using the same parts except for cpu/gpu for the most part. Im going to the local sony store today and im gonna see if they have the new models with IB to see what the screens look like.The 13 inch vaio is quite expensive for what you get and with all that power under the hood I think it would be more prone to over heating thats why im looking at the vaio e series custom 14 inch with IB and 1600 x 900 resolution, amd 7670 option or intel hd 4000 stock and looks like better speakers for >$1000 otd depending on your config.

 

hmm since sony released their notebooks with nvidia gt 640m LE edition, I wonder if this will show up in the new macbook pro 13 because it is meant for slimmer laptops. That would make the macbooks very attractive with nvidia graphics and retina display and price point not far off from the s 13 series custom.