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

hey so i dont remember the last time i saw my back light activate

how can i check it still works or doesnt work anymore, because right now my room is dark and its not on

:S

thanks!

 

Did you check that backlit keyboard is activated in th VAIO control center?

 

When you turn the computer on the keyboard should light up. I believe it'll light up regardless of the Vaio control setting as that hasn't loaded up yet when you first turn on the computer before Windows loads.

 

I finally got a z13 with the 1600x900 screen everyone is raving about but I am disappointed in that it has a grainy coating. Does this graininess exist on all 1600x900 screens? I really hate the graininess and was hoping it was more like the macbook pros. This notebook is really awesome otherwise, perfect resolution and bright screen but the graininess is killing me.

 

No gloss coating is available to the best of my knowledge.

 

You could strip it though, we used to do this all the time back in the day when I was into DIY LCD front projection.

 

I had it with my Vaio Z... really...
Decided to write a blog about it hoping that someone at Sony will get a wake-up call...

Sony Vaio (doesn't) Care (at all): Buying a Sony laptop? Better think twice!

 

Occasionally on my VPCZ1, the volume and brightness Fn keys are slow to respond, like 15 seconds instead of immediately. Is there a known issue/fix for this?

Also, are the Forceware 190.24 drivers the latest official ones? (I do know about the community hybrid graphics drivers which I was using on my previous notebook - 9600M GT/Intel 4500MHD)

 

If you find a solution to this, please PM me or something. I always ask this on the forum, but nobody ever seems to know or encounter it.

Sometimes mine won't even affect the brightness at all either. but the volume fn key works. The only resolution is to reboot, until it happens again, then reboot, to fix that session, when it goes bad, reboot, Again. etc.

 

Hmm, maybe it seems to happen when I open a program to check CPU or GPU temps. For instance, AIDA64, HWMonitor, OCCT.

Do you use any program like that?

 

I am pretty sure it is because of the POS graphics driver that Sony supplies. That used to happen to me also, but now that I use the latest nVidia drivers I modded for the Z1, it's all good. (note you need the BIOS hack to make these work)

 

Read your entire blog. I feel your pain. I have a Z13 Configured. So far no problems. However, someone, back when Sony launched the VGN-Z, suggested to NBR members, to stay away from CTO's, as they are prone to issues more so than configured models. He had similar issues, as you, with customer support. He took a "poll" and turns out the majority of people that did have issues were from people with CTO models rather than configured models.

Did you get a refund?

 

Infact, yes I do, I use AIDA64 on a regular basis to monitor Battery health and temperatures among other things.

I also think that when I have Photoshop running, and I switch to Stamina while such a program is running, photoshop will obviously crash. Then the problem will begin. But the problem I think still occurs (after a while) even if I don't do graphics switching, but Sleep/Resume alot..

If there is a way to kill the process responsible for controlling this, I think I could do with that, so as long as when I respawn the process it will fix itself, without having to Reboot each time. it's quite annoying on the go.

Also, the brightness (when not working with Fn key), also does not work with the windows battery taskbar icon. I simply cannot adjust the brightness Anywhere when that happens. So it's either stuck dim, or too bright for remainder of that session.

 

Can I use said driver while still being able to switch to Stamina?

Switching to Stamina/Speed is very important to me since I don't use the Z permanently docked. I'm on the go alot.

 

^ Yes... with a reboot. Switch to stamina reboot then you are Intel only, switch to speed reboot and you are on nVidia only.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/602497-latest-vpc-z1-330m-drivers-bios-hack-people.html

 

For those who have replaced the optical drive with a hard drive or SSD, was it necessary to change the "optical drive auto power off" setting or does it not affect a hard drive that has been connected via optibay? (I mean so the hard drive won't randomly turn off)

 

Ahh. I see. Well that makes it awesome then

 

Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately I cannot turn back the time so I guess I'm stuck with this one unless Sony finally reacts... I haven't heard anything from them at all, let alone got a refund. I'm still hoping that someone at Sony will seriously look into this.
Last Monday I wrote to customer care asking them were the promised docking station is and guess what... No reply... Just sent them a reminder...
I simply cannot believe and understand what is going on at Sony and how they treat their customers here in Belgium.

 

It actually uses less power on speed this way because the Intel adapter is all the way off. The Optimus drivers eat your batteries like their job. My driver is the best for gaming and productivity, you can use the latest Intel and nVidia drivers as they come out. 280.26 was just released... I made a hacked version in a few minutes, I've been running nicely ever since.

I am probably going to write a program that will patch any new nVidia driver automatically. That will be awesome and easy

 

I used to own an F12 and the EU FHD display on that is matte so reflections are completely diffuse and you can't pop your pimples in front of your notebook. You will need a mirror.

Currently typing this on a Z11 and the display is glossy but has some sort of coating on it. I just tilted the screen up and I can make out the edges of the light bulb and lamp shade above me, clear as day. Theres just a diffuse halo around it. If I was a vainer man, I reckon I could still pluck my eyebrows against a black background with a light source behind me.

That said, the coating does do something because I also have an SR29XN within arms reach and that has an all out glossy display. The reflections are definitely more prominent on the SR.

 

Yep, i meant semi-matte/semi-glossy. It's not perfectly matte, as you can see, but it isn't perfectly glossy, which you can see too.

 

So, I'm trying to get Optimus to work properly on my VPCZ1. Does 12 watt idle in power saver with lowest brightness and wifi on seem reasonable, or might the nVIDIA GPU still be on?

edit: scratch that for now. hard to say if BatteryBar is reading the discharge rate correctly, though I can seem to get ~9 watt idle with the original drivers.

 

Hello guys:

Last February, I bought a Sony Vaio VPC-Z133GX from Microsoft store. Everything was going fine until I started to get a RAID error during booting and yesterday while I was checking my email and updating Vaio Gate, the computer suddenly turned off and it never turn on again. I have tried different ways (with battery, without battery, plugged in etc... ) to turn it on but so far I haven't had any luck. Yesterday I called Sony customer care and they will send a technical guy to change the motherboard which they believe is the possibly cause of the problem
Did someone had the same problem with a Z13 i5?
Does Sony have brand new motherboard to replace?
How many weeks will I have to wait to get it repair?


Thanks in advance for sharing your comments

 

Is it safe to install the battery while Z is powered to the outlet?

 

Should be no problem, I've done this with all my VAIOs

 

Hello everyone,

So I have a somewhat strange problem that most people don't seem to be plagued with. I apologize in advance if some one somewhere has answered this, but I have researched like a fiend for the past couple of weeks trying to fix it.

I noticed my Vaio Z (VPCZ11CGX/X) [i5-540/GT 330m/256GB SSD/4GB] was having a hard time playing Diablo II on Speed mode. It was a bit concerning, so I figured I'd run some benchmarks. Turns out, when I ran 3DMark06 at default (free version) settings, I only received a score of 4002 3D Marks (something not altogether different from what the integrated Intel should be getting). I knew the average was supposed to be around 6250-6500, so I immediately tried various fixes. By now, I've tried the community drivers, I've turned off powermizer, I've changed the thermal control, attempted using Optimus, all to no avail.

Then I flashed the BIOS and put VGA switching into Static and restarted the Z into Speed. It listed the GT 330m as disabled in the device manager, so I enabled it, restarted, tried the benchmark -again- and got the same score. Then I updated to the most recent nVidia drivers (successfully), overclocked the card a bit, and ran 3DMark06 once more, only to get a score of 4200.

I have looked everywhere to try to find something else to try and have been able to find nothing. I don't suppose anyone has any further ideas? The card seems to work, is recognized by device manager, I was able to install the latest drivers, and HDMI out works, so I would hope the card itself isn't damaged, but I just can't think of why it would be performing so poorly. With my luck, it will end up being something quite silly and easy that has been throttling my card in one way or another.

Thanks for any help!
Renn

 

I think that 4200 sounds about right for the 330M, I get around 15,000 with my ViDock4+/GTX570
I'll have to try 3DMark with just the 330M and get back to you.



EDIT: I ran 3DMark06 with my 330M and scored 5676
http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15965721;js...6/15965721?key=pCeV5E7VENvxEWXXKk4LjC899AsSv2

I wonder if your 4200 is correct for your i5?

 

4200 does sound low. I have a Z11 with i5 and get in the 5000-6000 range with no overclock. I seem to be able to push it to upper 6000s with an OC.

Edit: checked when I got home from work and actual 3DMark06 with no overclock was 6241 and with overclock was 7518. Makes 4200 sound even stranger.

 

I did take into consideration that the 4000 would be appropriate, but everything I've read on either benchmarks for i5/330m Z's or simply benchmarks on other systems using the 330m have scores higher and report being able to play rather smoothly using lower res on medium settings. Seeing as I can get neither a higher score nor playable fps, I suppose something must be amiss. But as you can see, I've tried quite a few things to no avail.

I don't suppose either of you have any other ideas for potential fixes?

Renn

 

Thanks CC.

 

I'm sorry Renn, I'm not sure what I would do in that case. It is definitely suspicious that you aren't getting a higher score. I'm guessing you've had the Z for at least a year given it's the Z11? Is it still under warranty? Have you ever noticed the poor performance (like with other games) in the past? I'm wondering if you might be able to get a replacement motherboard out of Sony, but dealing with their tech/customer support is a nightmare...

I also am wondering if maybe some software could be interfering with the GPU. Do you have any non-standard programs active during your benchmark tests?

 

Unfortunately my warranty ran out several months ago. I had never really noticed the problem with the GT 330M because I generally only use the Z for research, writing, and the occasional video. It's ultimately not the largest deal if I can't get it fixed, since I rarely play any games on it and the integrated graphics work plenty well for watching German expressionism films; however it is unfortunate and I would like to fix the card--plus it would make the Z feel new again!

I'll try the benchmark again just to see if there was anything I might have had running simultaneously.

Renn

*Edit: So I've found out something interesting! I used EVGA Precision again to reclock the 330m to factory shipped settings and got the 4020 3D marks again. Then I overclocked to 654/1438/803 (a safe overclock after my previous testing) and ran 3DMark06 and it started giving me about twice the fps during the first mark06 sequence for the first time ever! However, then mark06 crashed with an error along the lines of "Lost hardware support" and I checked EVGA Precision only to see that, at the moment of crashing, the card had downclocked itself to 405 Core, 810 shader and 324 memory, which then resulted in the same ~4000 3DMarks.

The temperature never went above about 80 degrees centigrade, but it seems to me this could be some sort of setting in the BIOS I could change? I have great hope though, because the video ran for at least 10 seconds showing around 55-60 fps where prior I had been getting around 24-26.

I don't suppose you guys have any ideas given this information?

Thanks!

*Edit 2: After a great deal of basically redoing everything... Success! I ended up re-turning-off Powermizer and reinstalling some drivers and finally I got the GT 330m to stay at the clock I put it at. Run 3DMark06 and got 7289 3DMarks! That's around an 80% improvement and, somewhat miraculously, the max temperature during the Mark06 test was only 71 degrees centigrade! My baby Z is finally behaving as it ought to.

Cheers!

Renn

 

I forgot to mention that I had to run 3DMark06 four times before it would run all the way through without crashing. It would give some DX error. I think maybe it doesn't like the new 280.26 drivers.

 

Yahoo! Finally received the optical-> hard disk caddy in the mail. Installed a 500GB WD Scorpio Blue for now.

Swapping the optical drive for the caddy was much easier than I thought it would be, though not as easy as on my previous notebook where you can remove the optical drive by releasing a single screw.

I was considering installing my 7K500 drive which is a faster drive, but the whoosh sound it produced seemed to make it quite a bit louder than the WD drive which is practically silent.

Hoping the 1TB Sammy HN-M101MBB drive that I've ordered will be quiet as well.

 

Nice work! That 3DMark score looks a lot better. That temp seems way too low (I would guess 3DMark06 would produce temps in the high 80s), but at least you got it figured out.

 

@JP$
I think you have the display specs wrong on your DELLs in your sig, aren't those displays actually 1280x800?

 

No I gouged out some of the display. Those extra 80 pixels are pointless.

Yes, I had them typed wrong. Thanks for the note.

 

Hello all,

I have a 128G SSD and start running out of space. I would like to delete the recovery partition and gain the space by combining it to the C drive. I asked French Sony support and told me that even with a re-install with the recovery discs, the recovery partition will be re-created. I thought that with Vaio care it would have been possible to delete it. So it seems only a clean install could be the solution, but then I will have to download and re-install all Sony drivers, too much of a hasslefor 6GB. If I do a clean re-install, can I recover the notebook in working condition with my image backup or do I have to re-install everything?
I also checked with partitioning software that the recovery partition is before the MBR, so I cannot combine it to the C drive. I thought that maybe the least troublesome way is to reformat the recovery partition and have it as an additional 6GB 2nd drive where I could stock eventually a movie for the next trip. Is there any risk in this, could it affect booting up?
It has been now more than a 1,5yr that I have my Z, it is still blazing fast (I didn't see any significant slowdown) for me to start considering re-installing everything. Any advice?

 

Do you ever use the DVD/Blu-ray drive? If not, you can replace that with another hard drive by purchasing an optibay.

 

Clean install everything anyway. Much better like that.

Oh yea and after clean install get one of these newmodeus caddys and another SSD!

 

Thank you for the advice, but I like to keep the DVD drive, I use it from time to time. Also adding a hard drive will add slightly some weight, noise and vibration. I prefer to use an external drive when in need to back up. SSD could be a better option, but have not yet planned to do any serious upgrade.
How much time would I need for a clean install?

 

Depends on how much crap you wanna load besides Windows.

The install will take less than an hour, then it will take a half hour to load drivers. Add on the time it takes to install applications that you like.

I suggest you download the WiFi and or LAN drivers and put them on a USB stick before you install Windows.

Also forget Sony support for those drivers, use these links instead
Intel 6200 WiFi

Intel 82577LC LAN


If you want to install super fast try this http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd535816.aspx

 

I know I have read about a lot of you having trouble with a hinge on the Z.. well the hinge on the right side now makes a loud creek when in the open position, and trying to adjust the screen angle a little. Is this easy to fix? I certainly wouldnt want to send it in for service for it.

 

Hi!

PLEASE HELP!

sometimes when i sleep my vaio 7 before i go to bed at night, i wake up in the morning and the light is green and the fan is going loudly. i will not be able to wake the computer up and invariably find myself crashing closing the computer to reboot it!!

this is bad and i obviously want to stop

any ideas??

 

also what does everyone think of the new z?

 

Hello guys!
Is it possible to use the sheet battery on the Vaio Z of my sig?

 

Don't like it, I view it as a big compromise and less innovative in terms of design, considering what they left out of the Z1 in terms of features (on board discrete GPU, ODD) and what they gained in terms of battery (nothing) and weight.

 

[/QUOTE] Also forget Sony support for those drivers, use these links instead
Intel 6200 WiFi

Intel 82577LC LAN

If you want to install super fast try this Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7?Even on a Netbook[/QUOTE]

Many thanks, also for the useful links, sorry for the delay of the reply but was pretty busy.

I will definitely go for it, maybe during the next weekend if I find the time. I guess I will need half a day to put everything into place.

 

My hinge started getting loose and making noise 4-5 months after the purchase. There was also a dark spot on my LCD. I called Sony France they immediately accepted the repair (they agreed about the hinge problem, but I think there was no debate especially because of the black spot), they picked it up and sent it back the next day repaired (LCD replaced-I guess), hinges tightened. Amazing service.
6-7 months later the right hinge started clicking-loosening again. Since the laptop was already opened and repaired once, I followed the instructions of dismounting the laptop. You can easily access the screws for the right hinge. I am afraid for the left side you need to disassemble the screen bezel which is much more complicated and dangerous, but the problem usually comes from the screws at the right. In less than an hour I was finished and now, 3 months later there is no problem. But I also decided since then to open and close the lid very gently.
If you do a research in the forums you can find details of disassembling and how some owners have applied some Loctite to prevent the screws from loosening, etc. It is a common problem and I think depends on the usage of each one.

 

I don't think it will work...