Sony Vaio Duo 13 Owners Thread

After updating to Windows 8.1 the autorotate function doesn't work anymore: in the setting panel (sliding from the right side) above the brightness slider I see the lock icon, but if I tap it nothing happens. Autorotate doesn't work even if I set it enable from registry.

I tried to install the latest HD4400 Intel drivers, solution I read on this forum worked for other people, but still I can't activate it; any ideas about how can I solve this issue?

 

Hi. Had to repair my installation using the assist button and have run into a little problem. Every so often, my duo 13 crashes and I get th BSOD stating a DPC Watchdog error. I looked on the internet to see what causes this to happen and found it may be a driver issue. So I took a look at my device manager and lo and behold I see some unrecognized HUAWEI hardware in the list. Tried to update driver form device manager and got no joy. I've also realised that Sony have removed all the drivers for the Duo 13 from their support site. So does anyone know where I can get these again?

 

The drivers for the Duo 13 are still on their site. For example:
Sony eSupport - SVD132190X - Support

 

Is SVD13233CXB the latest model of the Vaio Duo 13?

 

On europe mine is the latest one and is also SVD1323-Y9EB, the latest letters are just for the processor, ram and HD I think,

 

Hi all,
Just got the Vaio duo 13, pretty happy with it so far, I narrowed my search down to these machines:

Yoga 2 pro - thermal throttling reported on notebookcheck, lower battery, however everything else is fine
XPS 12 - not technically "throttling" but GPU fails to turbo boost under heavy load, screen "ghosting" reported by many users, everything else is fine

Main reason for me to get the vaio duo is that there is no apparent throttling and the machine runs quite reasonably under high stress.

Now my only concern with this laptop is that I would like to change the laptop mode viewing angles, does anyone have any "hacks" that allows a different viewing angle in laptop mode? Something like an attachment to the bottom which is able to lift the rear base higher? Any input is appreciated. Thank you.

 

Same, I had this Vaio Duo 13 for more than 2 weeks now and I'm inlove with it. Everything about it is perfect and it just feels so premium and the Sony Vaio brand just makes it so worth it and puts a smile to my face. Knowing that Sony Vaio is nomore and discontinued, I'm glad I snagged this sexy beast brand new for a very good price and I'm able to hold on to a Sony Vaio Brand now that I know it's no longer being made and so it feels like I have one for my collection.

Now on the annoyance, I feel the same way like you in regards to the fixed viewing angle when on laptop mode, but I managed to fixed it while in bed by just using a pillow underneath it. When using it in regular desk or while sitting normally in a chair while it's in my lap, the viewing angle is perfect.

Now for the good stuff, this thing is quiet as hell, compared to my vaio pro 13 I had before, this one is whisper quiet, the touchpad is also very responsive and the two finger tap for right click works perfect, the narrow touchpad don't even bother me because the display is so close that touchscreen use is such a breezy experience.

 

i still have a bit of time left to decide if i want this laptop, the inability to decline is really getting to me, it's either this or the sp2.
Has anyone tried this adjustable stand? Looks fairly promising

STANDIVARIUS mobile office ergonomics - aero - attachable laptop stand

 

I've had this beauty for almost half a year, and it fits every single need I have in college (with the exception of a dead motherboard and Sony taking over 2 months to fix it).

However, the plastic pen clip Sony provided recently snapped (probably from awkward placement in my backpack). Does anyone know where I can get a replacement for it, or if there are any alternatives to clipping the pen to the laptop?

 

Hi all

Problem....Dog running through living room caught the power cord causing the tablet to hit the ground. It took my daughter 2 hours to anti up about the cracked display.

Question: Computor SVD13225PXB display works just fine and responds to all touch commands so LCD part is just fine. Can I just get replacement glass???? If so, where and who from. If not and I have to buy a new LCD screen, again where and from whom has the best price.

Thanks to all that respond.

 

I find that an art stand works well with getting a good angle for the computer but it is perfect when on my lap. I use a different reading tray with it on when I am in bed, all very easy to use.

Getting the beast repaired is a serious problem. When mine broke Sony wanted to charge me more than I paid for the computer to replace the motherboard! Everywhere else have said they cannot get them in at all. Eventually I went with the i5 motherboard but saved a lot of money.

 

Hi all. I've just joined the Duo 13 club after upgrading from a Duo 11 and I'm loving it. Managed to get an i7 1.8ghz, 8gb ram, 256gb ssd, perfect 100% battery in perfect condition on ebay for €670. It just feels like a complete package and I'm amazed the difference going from 11.6" to 13.3". The previous owner had restored it to original Win 8 settings so I went and installed all updates via windows to 8.1 and then installed all Sony updates via the sony support site.

However now the laptop is freezing randomly. It could last a night with no issues or it could freeze every hour. I can't seem to find the trigger. I honestly hadn't spent enough time on the default Win 8 configuration to find out if it was happening there. Basically I get a spinning ball, applications become unresponsive but the end unresponsive dialog is not ending the processes. The touchscreen is responding at least for a while and I can ctrl+alt+del to the Win 8 menu containing the task manager option and select it (but I can only call it up once not twice it seems) but task manager will not appear. It looks like a windows explorer issue or a driver issue to me.

Any ideas how I can find out what the hell is going on or if there are any non-Sony drivers which are superior. Cheers.

Update: The issue has become apparent. My wifi card has completely disappeared from Device Manager. It was showing up in hidden devices but no longer. Anyone any suggestions. really need help with this one. I could use a nano usb receiver but I'd really rather not.

Also whats the situation with Sony warranties these days considering they are out of the business. Are they still repairing and have htey even admitted they have issues with the wifi card on the Duo 13. Please help.

 

Hi. Gonna make this short!
I have the Vaio duo 13 and i love it. I wiped the restore partition thinking I could download any windows 8 onto a mem stick and fresh install it with the vaios inbuilt key activating it.
I downloaded windows 8 off the Microsoft site and this does not work. It says it wont work with this version of windows.

Which windows 8 install works with the Vaio duo 13?
Thanks in advance


Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

 

Nevermind i sorted it. Downloaded a windows 8 non pro oem and it worked great.

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

 

Hi everybody,

I've been enyoing my Duo 13 for over one year now, but it recently (and suddenly) stopped working! It just won't turn on anymore. I can see the on/off light flash, and also the keyboard backlight turns on for a brief moment. But no further sign of life... I tried the battery-reset button, no luck..
I took the bottom cover off (it is already out of warranty) and removed the SSD and battery, nothing..

Anybody seen this before? Does it have some sort of bios-battery or some way to reset it?

After the problem occured I managed to get it to boot into the vaio-recovery and bios screens,a several times, but that was already some time ago..

 

Hey guys,

My computer's backlit keyboard sensor stopped working recently. Even in extremely dark areas, it refuses to light up. However, when I go into vaio control, and turn the setting to "always on" when running on battery, it lights up (which makes me think the sensor is broken). Does anyone else have this problem?

 

Hello everyone,

I need your help! I bought a Sony VAIO SVD1321L2EB. I bought it from Italy, and it came with Windows 8 64bit Italian. So i thought, i will wipe the disk, and do a clean Windows 8.1 install. I did not burn the recovery disks or create the recovery flash drive, as there were problems with Vaio Update when i tried a couple of times to do that.

I pressed ASSIST button and logged into recovery console command line. I did a DISKPART -> CLEAN DISK and the 128GB SSD was wiped. So now, no operating system or partitions exist on the drive. I created i UEFI bootable flash drive with a clean (MSDN) Windows 8.1 ISO. So far so good.

Now the big problem: I cannot make it to boot from USB. When i press the ASSIST button and VAIO care appears, there is no option to boot from USB. I have enabled in BIOS the "External Device Boot" and set it in highest priority, but it never starts from USB. I tried both USB ports, with XHCI mode both enabled and disabled. I tried with a 8GB and a 16GB USB2.0 flash drive.

Is there anything else i could do to make it boot from the flash drive? I neved thought i would face such a problem.

I have attached some photos here: VAIO Problem - Imgur

Thank you all in advance!

 

Try to install Windows 8, not Windows 8.1. And then, update from there.

 

Thank you for your reply.

Problem solved by using 64 bit version of Windows 8.1 (MSDN filename: en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_6051480.iso). It seems that if you go UEFI, you need to use Windows that match the architecture of the CPU.

I used Rufus to create a bootable UEFI USB and just turned on the computer normally (not with VAIO ASSIST button), and the setup screen appeared.

 

I just noticed the back light of my sony duo 13 SVD 13225PXB keyboard doesn't come on anymore in the dark. i checked the settings on vaio control center and the settings are as it should be but the back lit doesn't come on in the dark.can someone please tell me what i can do

 

Hey guys, new owner of a Duo 13



Did a fresh install of 8.1 and installed all the drivers from Sony's website. Works perfectly

 

After changing a BIOS setting and rebooting NOTHING on my keyboard worked....and the CAPS LOCK led was constantly lit. Keyboard didn't function in BIOS or WINDOWS. Was resigned to a return to Sony for service...when inspiration struck! What about a battery drain/reset. In most compy's this is easy...remove battery, depress power button for about 15 seconds, replace battery...and see if it works. In this system you can't remove the battery without opening the case. Thankfully an external keyboard DID work.

So here's the drill.....run the battery down as close to ZERO as you can...which with windows safeguards to protect you from yourself will be about 2 to 7% depending on how you have it set up. THEN boot some sort of utility (I used PARTED MAGIC) with NO power safeguards and let it run until the battery is exhausted and the system dies. An alternative would be to run the battery down as far as possible and then let the machine sleep overnight or until the battery is fully exhausted. To be sure you've REALLY exhausted the battery press and hold the power button for about 5 seconds. If the battery is truly exhausted the charge LED will NOT light at all!
Now plug in AC power and start the system. My keyboard worked immediately!

 

Exchange WIFI card?

Dear all,
I have a SVD1321C5E, one of the first batches, crappy WIFI still drives me insane (lost connection, bad speed). All latest drivers and firmware are installed.

I have tried to exchange the Broadcom with two different cards, Intel 7260AC and Broadcom BCM94352Z AC and installed the proper drivers for both but still the Vaio would not show them in the device manager.

Has anyone managed to successfully exchange the crappy Azurewave Wifi and get other running? Does Sony have a whitelist in the BIOS?

Help highly appreciated!
Best
kuchlbauer1

 

anyone upgrade to Win10 yet? I was reading the last 2 pages of the Duo 11 thread and everything seems to go fine and smooth, with all the previous driver problems I'm a bit sceptical to upgrade but might go ahead with it, will update if I go ahead

 

UPDATE: Win10 installed and running smoothly so far, all hotkeys and shortcuts working fine and my problem from Win8 has moved oveWin10 . I often boot my laptop or wake it from sleep my wifi is not working so I have to go to Device manager and disable/enable and it picks it up again or restart it. any fix for this?
I have restarted after having Win10 update and I'm trying out Microsoft Edge(Internet Explorer) and my typing is delayed by almost 1 second, hopefully this doesn't occur after a restart or in Chrome or Opera.

 

I've upgraded to windows 10 and have noticed several small issues and one big one. First, the big one: I cannot, for the life of me, get audio to play through the on-board speakers. The headphones work great - but not the speakers. The audio setup indicated that there are no headphones, just the speakers - yet the playback only occurs through the headphones.

Little things:

Even though I have a 15 minute grace period setup, I often have to retype the logon password after just a few minutes after the
computer goes to sleep. (It sleeps after 5 minutes, so it is well within the 15 minute window).

Things don't seep to unpin from the start menu.

The onscreen keyboard is supposed to come up with I select the icon with my finger, but sometimes it still comes up with handwriting recognition input (as it does when I select the icon with the pen). Not sure how to change the default behavior on this one.

I'll post more if I find more.

Is anyone else having the speaker problem??


FYI: Cellular data working fine under windows 10

 

So after seeing RayStar upgraded his Duo 13 to Windows 10, I decided to do the same as well. Everything is running pretty smooth on my part, and I haven't encountered my Wifi problems from 8.1. One problem that does still continue to exist is the sleep problem. Either I have it to automatically sleep from inactivity or I manually sleep it, it will not wake and requires me to hard restart the computer.

Has this issue been fixed yet? And I've ordered myself a wifi dongle from amazon for only $10 to get just in case the wifi issue does come back. I need consistency in working things. lol

 

I discovered why I was having sound issues: Apparently it was because I had a 3rd party sound driver: ASIO4ALL installed which confused the upgrade process leading to the sound being screwed up. Fortunately I had a pre-upgrade Image I was able to restore so I could redo the upgrade after uninstalling ASIO4ALL. Now sound works perfectly.

Concerning things not unpinning from the start menu: It appears as though some start menu changes don't go click in until you log off and log back on. Strange problem I home they fix in an upcoming update.

 

Anyone noticed any changes in battery life after Windows 10?

 

My wifi driver work with this driver in windows 10
" http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/DriversForWin8.1/WLAN/WLAN_Broadcom_Win81_32_VER5931038.zip"
don't install lasted build broadcom driver from microsoft 104.x. it'll rune 40 MHz capacity

But i have a problem with intel graphic iris driver with tear half screen, when i play video with graphic accerated.

 

I did my upgrade on my SVD13211CGW. Everything works out pretty well, but here are some tips to make it work properly:

1. After install, many drivers work, audio, graphics, trackpad. Windows 10 is really great at pre-installed drivers.

2. You will notice in Device Manager, there will be 8-10 unknown drivers that are not installed. Some of them are Bluetooth drivers, and Bluetooth does not work with a fresh install.
Run Windows Update and it will install a load of drivers with Bluetooth including updates for the Intel GPU, pointing drivers and audio.

3. After the update, there will be 2 more drivers that are listed under "Unknown device". One is "Unknown" and other is "SM Bus Device". You need to go on Sony's website and download the following:
- Intel Chipset
- Sony Firmware Extension Parsar Device Driver

4. After that, all devices in Device Manager will be all installed with a clean installation of Windows 10.

5. Only Sony program you want is VAIO Control Center, to control the fans, operation of Battery Care function. There will be an error "There is a newer version already installed..." when you install it so you need the following installed first:

- Sony Firmware Extension Parsar Device Driver (should be installed already in step 3)
- Notebook Utilities

After installing Notebook Utilities, you need to restart. Upon restarting, it will ask you to install "SonyNBSetup.exe". You NEED this to be installed to be able to install VAIO Control Centre.

You can install VAIO Control Center at this point, but you will realise that only a few options are available and most settings are missing, so lastly you also need to install:

- Sony Shared Library

Then after, you should be able to see all the options available.

__________

So far, my VAIO Duo 13 has been excellent on battery life. My only tip would be to change the Windows scaling to 100% if your eyes are okay, the default 150% takes up a bit more real estate.

 

Having video issues with Windows 10 on Vaio Duo Pro 13 with Intel HD Graphics 5000 on 4th generation i7 processor.

YouTube, Facebook and Windows Media Player videos are half blurry. Half the left of the video is clear but the right half is blurry. If it's a portrait oriented video then the bottom half will be blurry. Uninstalling the drivers for Intel HD Graphics 5000 and using the "basic graphics driver" fixes the blurriness but I lose some display functions like extended display.

Is anybody else having this issue?

 

Yes! I have this problem too. Any solution?

 

Disabling hardware acceleartion in Chrome helped as a workaround.

 

Disable X-Reality for mobile under "Image Quality" in the VAIO Control Centre.

 

Disable X-Reality for mobile under "Image Quality" in the VAIO Control Centre.

 

Thank you for sharing this fix!

It's people like you who make the Internet a better place. People helping people.

 

You are welcome, misterjames

 

Hi,

Question for those who upgraded to Win 10. Did you spotted issue with Alt Gr key?

Like here http://goo.gl/CNWK43
Main issue is, that after uninstalling Synaptics driver and restarting pc, Windows update will install driver again. No chance to stop it. Only disable Windows updates in services.

Do you have any findings?

 

Ctrl+Alt seems to work....

 

Things aren't going so smoothly for me!!

I'm informed the download has been finished and a window opened stating 'Preparing for installation' and there it stays for 8 hours. I have to 'hard' switch off and the download process starts over!

I believe there have been more than 5 attempts, none have succeeded!

Any suggestions please

 

Hi, I have an interesting problem.
My sony vaio duo 13 doesnot charge.
When I turn off and do a battery reset by the little hole, it goes back to charging again...
If the computer goes to sleep this happens, if not, you can put the charger back and it will charge normally.
It is running win 8.1 with all updates...
BIOS is also updated to latest version.
I did a complete factory reset from win 8, etc, nothing changed.
Any suggestions? Its almost useless like this. It's still 100% functional, the battery works too, and it still holds almost all of its charge but it is a weird situation.
I am not sure how I can contact the sony support, I bought it on eBay, the guy brought it from USA and the device is in Belgium.
Thanks for any help.

 

Perhaps it is a problem caused by the computer going to sleep. You can prevent that (sleeping) by using a very simple program called "mousejiggle".

I had a few problems with the computer sleeping (though it would still charge) myself before I upgraded to Win 10. It would still go to sleep even if I had the settings to "never".

 

hi guys
I don't see any upgrade from win 8 to win 10.
how can I upgrade to win10?
should I install win10 manually?
thanks Guys

 

Hi, My backlit keyboard isnt working even in windows preboot/power on, where is the sensor for the backlit keyboard please!?

 

I've successfully upgraded to Windows 10 - had to disable Superantispyware!

The only issue I have now is that all video playback, Youtube etc is fine on left side of video window but streaky/stretched on the right half of the window.

Any ideas?

Cheers

John

 

So I was just wondering if anyone with a SVD1322 series model updated to windows 10 and successfully installed the drivers Sony provided for the SVD1323 series. It looks like the hardware between the 2 model types is exactly the same yet Sony won't release updated drivers for the former. I have a SVD132290X specifically.

 

Has anyone ever dissembled this notebook?

My notebook doesn't have cellular, but I wonder if it's doable to install it.

 

Has anyone changed the battery on this? Is it safe to do? I'm thinking about replacing the battery. That, or figure out why my battery capacity has been at least halved since I bought the computer, even though I've only got 16% battery wear. Anyone have any ideas? Maybe it has to do with the computer being made with Windows 8 and I'm on Windows 10 (which runs beautifully)?

 

hi everybody,i delete win 8 and format patition recovery vaio duo 13, here and now my computer not boot, i use usb hiren boot or usb window but computer does not recognize the usb.
please help me. Thanks.
i m sorry,my english very bad