Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 (VPCZ1) Official Owners Thread Part 2

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...7-official-owners-thread-720.html#post6625141

An update for those who care, or those who might have had the same problem with the cursors in Adobe Photoshop Elements:
So I spent a couple hours on the phone with both Sony Support and Adobe Support. First, Sony support, as everyone knows, kind of sucks. They especially suck at helping you get the Serial numbers you need for pre-installed software. In any case, turns out there are plenty of free programs out there that can get that information for you.
Once I had that, I was on the line with Adobe, and turns out that the distorted cursor display was due to my changing the Windows 7 DPI setting. Seems that Photoshop prefers 125% (on a 1080p screen) - once that was set, cursor was fine. whoduthunk?

 

Thank you for taking the time to solve that mystery for us glad to know its not a hardware or driver issue

 

Hi there ppl!!

Another new member, I just bought a Z12 with a core i5 540, 8Gb Ram, FHD screen (that's what got me sold) and 128SSD Raid. I avoided QUAD raid SSD because I plan to replace the DVD with a HD as a means to massive storagement, I'm debating between buying a caddy and throw a 750Gb WD scorpio, or forget about the caddy to use the whole compartment to fit the 1Tb version. I'll be reading through the original thread searching for experiences regarding 12.5 drives.

Anyway, I hope to make the most of the forum and share my experiences with this little gem!

 

I have this weird thing going on and can't seem to find a solution that helps resolves this:

the thing is, after I received my Z, I uninstalled lots of junk, let me name them :

Norton Internet Security 2010
Roxio
Microsoft SQL Server
Office Starter
OOBE
EverNote
ArcSoft Effects
Adobe Reader
Adobe Writer
Adobe PhotoShop
Google Chrome
Google Toolbar
Windows LIVE!
PMB Vaio Edition (ALL)
Vaio DVD Menu Data
Vaio Media Plus
Vaio Survey
Vaio Transfer Support
Vaio Messanger
Vaio Update
------------------------
Pagefile set to 512MB

Hibernation file = Delete

Windows 7 Optional Components, like Media Player, Media Center, Games.

All of this Saved me around 9.8 GB (hiberfill.sys Included)
------------------------
All went fine with no problems at all, and running services after boot was reduced from 103 to 86. that's like hell Improvements!

THE PROBLEM IS:

Whenever I right click any partition then select Properties, I get the window as shown in attachments, it should default to (General) Tab, but as you can see it does not. Then I must go to general tab by clicking on it.

Doing the same for a folder, works well


Please see attachments.

Any Solution? Happened to Anyone?

I'm suspecting that Uninstalling Norton Internet Security 2010 using the NIS2010 Removal tool caused this, BUT, I'm not sure.

thx

 

hey everyone,

if i were to downgrade os to xp pro, will optimus still work? I'm getting hang of win7, but i'm so used to using xp...

 

mine has now been given a tracking number not long now

 

I don't know about your tab problems, but holy mother, 83 processes after booting up? I'm not done tweaking the start up and have around 32-34 processes... I thinking about doing a clean install to see if there's something I missed that is not necessary...

 

I have 132 processes after booting up is that bad? LOL, I don't really notice it though since everything runs smooth, i suppose the extra ram helps

 

I have 109 at full load... running Visual Studio 2010, Outlook 2010, Chrome, Messenger, Notes, FTP, Media Player, Internet Explorer... the list goes on and on. I guess that is the advantage of a clean install.

 

@Willy330Ci
Please check this M$ forum post, seems to be your issue: Local Disk Properties: Not showing "General" tab as default view.

 

@Enny:

Thanks for taking the time to find this for me, but unfortunately it did not work.

Can you or any one just Export the following from their x64 Win 7 Pro, and send it as an attachment?

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers

-Right click on (PropertySheetHandlers) on the left pane
-Click Export
-Save it to your desktop
-Attach it for me.

thanks in advance.

 

Here you are, hope it helps.

 

@gerg:

Man IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

Yay, thank you dear for the effort, REP ADDED!

 

You have to love this community of Z owners were all so helpful to each other. Now i have a issue with my Z after doing the hard drive swap i would get this error msg from time to time does anyone know what it might be related to?

 

@TigerBone:

Sony Media Applications, like Media Library, DDNI Stuff, Vaio Messenger.

Look TigerBone, Try to go back 1 or 2 pages, and look for the list of Crapware LIST that I removed.

Then go to this location:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Uninstaller

Click on VaioUninstaller.exe which is the Vaio Application Uninstaller.

after you fire it up, it will load a list of all applications installed.

Examine my LIST, see what you can get rid off, its your choice, and later you can reinstall whatever you want.

Doing so, and removing SQL Server 2008 in particular, along with Sony Media Gallery & Entertainment Platform, etc etc etc, will give you a cleaner system with way reduced services, plus lots and lots of space.

After doing so, Restart, then do the following to eliminate orphan registry keys and obsolete files using vaio care:

1. Click ASSIST button
2. on System Care click on (System Tuneup)
3. let it run.
4. It will tell you that defragmenting the registry will occur at next boot
5. Restart

Watch your system runs like, WWWWay better, and report back to us if you still have this darn error message.

my 2 cents.

 

probably has to do with that dreaded mssql thing. have you uninstalled it? read through http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/482143-new-f-series-failed-start-database-service-error.html and see if any of the proposed solutions work for you.

then there is this from ms technet

 

Thanks! Willy330Ci and soujisama I'll try that and see if it fixes this problem it only happens after so often reboots but always at boot up so i suppose its a start up program just not sure which one :GEEK:

 

I found something in that thread that pointed me to the systems log. Looking in there i was able to find the information in the attached picture below. It appears the computer is still trying to access the dvd-rom drive usually when coming out of sleep or restarting the computer. I probably should have uninstalled the dvd-rom in device manager before physically removing he drive. Not 100% sure that would have eliminated this error but now I'm wondering what i can do so that it doesn't try to access or locate drive anymore, any suggestions? Also can someone tell me if the dvd-rom appears in control panel and if there is an option to remove the drive.

 

Do you have something called PMB in programs and features listed? I think that uses this SQL server. Is any SQL server product listed in PRograms and Features?

On my notebook were two SQL server products installed, SQL2008 as mentioned is for the media gallery etc. the other one called SQL compact edition is I think is used by the app PMB.

 

The only SQL services i see running in task manager is SQLWriter, SQLBrowser, and SQLAgent$DDNI. In processes I have a PMBVolumeWatcher.exe but i'm not sure if the problem is related to that. I remember you also did a swap a little while back, did you removed your dvd drive also?, and have you or anyone else here who has removed their drive ever encounter this problem as well? If so was there anything you did that resolved it? thanks in advance.

 

I replaced my drives but backup/restired the installation and did not a fresh install. The database message is not DVD drive related. Do you use the media browser (PMB)? If not uninstall it.

Can you go in services sort them by startup type and check which service is set to automtic but is not running.

 

can you tell me if the start up settings look correct not sure if i might have changed something by accident. If you can compare my start up settings to yours, thanks!

 

Well, I don't have the SQL server installed anymore. But if you check the services that are set to automatic but not running you maybe find which service has a problem. In the event log it should show why the database/application can not run, what is missing.

 

Np thank you very much for all your help it definitely brings me closer to solving this issue.

 

Well, it's not bad at all, as long as it does not hurt performance for you. For me it's more of a control complex, I want to know what's the purpose of everything that executes on the computer, I don't run an antivirus but I've never had a problem with virus, malware, attached dll's or even rootkits because I play a close attention to what's going on there.

But it has just ocurred to me, now that this is my first computer with SSDs, having that many processes running, even if they don't hurt performance, might not be that good taking into account they might do writes/reads to the SSD to check stuff, if you add to the columns on the task manager "I/O write bytes" and "I/O read bytes" you could spot what processes have more intense I/O, that doesn't mean they are writes/reads to the SSD, I think they are both memory and disk I/O, but there's a little program from the MS TechNet PsTools that shows reads/writes to disk, even the file that is being accessed (I don't remember its name but you should download the whole pstools suite). That way you could be certain if a process you don't know has too much I/O to disk to consider disabling it (once you know you don't really need it running).

Edited: the program wasn't part of the PsTools suite, it's called DiskMon, also from the MS TechNet site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896646.aspx, these tools from system internals are very neat, be sure to check the entire library.

 

Sounds good, will do thanks!

 

loving mine so far, but still having some trouble getting adjusted to the small trackpad. other than that it has been a fantastic laptop in my 2 weeks of use.

 

anyone here has a problem shaking screen after resume from hibernate or sleep when it was from battery to wall power?

 

JP$,

Thanks for your post, these tips will definately be taken into account. Are there any other tips to maintain the longeivity/performance of the SSDs? From what I've read, defrag is absolutely unneccessary, so would you recommend running a disk cleanup or a ccleaner every once in a while?

Thanks!

 

guys.. does your battery light indicator turns on when unplugged (battery mode)? i notice mine only lights up when the power adapter is plugged in.

is this normal on the new Z?

TIA

 

i guess this is normal based on this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...al-owners-thread-part-2-a-18.html#post6660686

 

The battery indicator on the front of the palmrest indicates charging, not sure if there's another battery light?

 

Any particular experiences/troubles/recommendations with a clean W7 install on the Z12?
(As opposed to using recovery DVDs)

I'm planning to install a clean W7 Pro, drivers and vaio care as needed by manually downloading them from sony website.

 

seem like it is just me? i just found out that this is happen only from 40hz to 60hz and problem.

is this might be hardware related? shall i RMA?

 

i did that, make sure you installed share library from sony website

also there is new driver for some component please check manufacture website

 

Hey guys, a new BIOS is now available, dated 1st September.

"BIOS Update version R3030C3"

Does anyone know what the enhancements/fixes are?

 

according to Sony India:

Applicable Models:
VPCZ129GW, VPCZ128GG, VPCZ116GW, VPCZ126GW, VPCZ129GG, VPCZ117GG, VPCZ126GH, VPCZ126GG, VPCZ116GG, VPCZ117GW, VPCZ126GF, VPCZ115GW, VPCZ115GG, VPCZ116GH, VPCZ127GG, VPCZ126GA, VPCZ116GA, VPCZ115GA
This program will update BIOS to version R3030C3 and will resolve the following symptoms:

- On the Device Manager, "WiMAX Function Driver" disappears and "Unknown Device" appears after repeated Hibernate/Resume of the system.

 

I have not run (and am not planning on running) a disk cleanup utility or ccleaner. These things can (theoretically) help you clear out unwanted crap and free up space, but they won't prolong the life of your SSDs.

The SSDs don't have a "short" lifespan; they will last a long time for the vast majority of users. But there are some things you can do to keep them running strong. The best thing would be to make sure you leave some empty space on the drive (20-30GB) to allow the background garbage collection to do its work. The background garbage collection occurs during idle states, so it is not a bad idea (especially as time goes on) to let your computer stay on and idle overnight. For more information about the testing and conclusions regarding the Z SSDs, check out this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...g-term-ssd-performance-post-your-results.html.

 

I noticed a wavy pattern the first days of use, kind of distracting, but I haven't noticed it lately, maybe because I've been using it plugged (with 60Hz of refresh rate). You experienced it when the display runs at 40Hz, or also at 60Hz?

 

Has anyone with an SSD checked if the Z suffers from this problem?

First run CrystalDiskMark and then run the same benchmark but now with HyperPI stressing the CPU for 100%. Compare results.

All other notebooks with PM55 chipset show a steep increase in 4K random read & write performance when the CPU is stessed.

I'd like to know if Sony Z does the same.

 

It seems it does increase performance. I tested it with 4KB (1 Queue depth) random read/writes and it almost doubled the throuput.
But I had to have the Crystal Mark Disk window as active window otherwise I got only 0.1MB/s.

 

Thanks for testing that. That makes sense. It seems all PM55 notebooks are affected.

There is a fix but it creates heat and loss of battery life.

 

Thanks for the information. Next time when I open my Z I'll test my RealSSD C300 on my Desktop computer. Have you done the test also when you've not booted (Windows) from the SSD?
I've noticed that performance results are better when you run them when you not boot from it (I guess that is logical but still when almost nothing runs in Windows you see a difference).

 

COMPARISON: Sony Z & Toshiba's R700

Hi! I need help and was adviced to come here I am looking to purchase the Sony Z.
In Australia, we only have 3 options - the two that I am interested in are: VPCZ 127GG/B & VPCZ128GG/XQ.

I need a comparison with the Toshiba R700. I purchased one of these and like others, am having constant ongoing freezing issues. Enough! Losing work & time. After research, looking for something similar that will not let me down. The only option was the Z. Looks like a great machine.

I need to run the latest photoshop, aperture 3 and lightroom. Need to be able to work in all areas of graphic design and need a light, sturdy computer for work at home and on the run.

Aus $'s are $3,400 for the 127 & $4,099 for the 128. (R700 was $3,300)

Prefer 256 GB of SSD and 1920 x 1080 res but concerned re the extra $'s!

In real need of help from those that know. Thanks!

 

Thanks mate, if that's the only fix, then I might not bother risking a BIOS upgrade.

 

Well... I dont know the conversion rate, but for Aus$ 100, you get the super speedy SSDs in Raid0 in the z, you get a better screen res, you get a superbly better video card(dedicated vs. integrated... and if you want you can use integrated too on the Z) Yeah... i would've never bought the r700... that's a premium... for nothing really.

As for the extra Aus$700 for 1080p and 256 Gb... well i jsut checked. 1 AUD = .91 USD so fairly equal. But yeah... i5-i7... $100 usd, 128-256 = $300 usd, 6gb-8gb(aftermarket) = $100, 900p-1080p = $100. So in the US, that'd be a $600 difference(but then again in the us, the 256 is 2x128 gb in RAID0, yours is 4x64 GB so faster and you guys got a TPM module). I'd say call in and see if you can get any discounts. In the US, it's 15% off w/ warranty and 2 accessories, but i havent heard it internationally. But it doesnt hurt to try. Point is, you should NEVER have to pay retail for anything > $1000, really =/

 

didnt realise microsoft office was note included. getting critised by everyone for being scammed into getting a $4000 latop with no word included

any suggestions whats the cheapest was to get a product key to unlock it is??

im a student in australia if that makes any difference

 

Since you are doing picture editing/graphic design the Vaio Z is a good choice. The display has a very high color gamut (both 1600x900 and 1920x1080). I have the Z12 with 1600x900 and have around 90+% Adobe RGB color space coverage. Before you decide to go with the 1920x1080 you should check in a store if you can live/work with the smaller pixel/text.

 

Snapehead, if you're an Australian student, then you can get the full version of Office Professional Academic 2010 for AUD99 from here

Microsoft Office Discount for Students - It's Not Cheating

 

Oh thanks Cal and Enny02! SOOooo grateful for your time. This is all REALLY helpful. Looking forward to my Z.