VAIO CR Owners' Thread

No noticable increase in vibration and temperature with this 1 year old HITACHI Travelstar 7K100 HTS721080G9SA00 7200rpm 80GB pulled from the parts bin. The Left Palm rest stills feels as warm os the old 5400rpm drive. I will most likely upgrade to the new 7K320 when it arrives at newEgg at a decent price.



Temp 46-48c
CPU 43-45

 

thats awesome.

 

Zalman ZM-NC1000 underneath the CR is a pretty good fit. Adds a slight angle to typing postion and lowers temps. Slight hum no more than a typical slow moving 80mm fan.


38 CPU From 43
34 HD from 38


Official specs
---------------

CR Dimensions

13.2"(W) x 0.83-1.51"(H) x 9.8"(D)

Zalman Dimensions
13"(W) x 1.6"(H) x 12.13"(D)

 

v-moda hi-definition headphones

Sound not up to snuff in the CR, so I bought these from Costco for 60 bucks, much better. Blocks out the plain & train noise. Very easy to wear and light

 

Hi.

I just bought myself a CR-320E/W on ebay.com for $850. First off I have to say that it is absolutely gorgeous. I dont know if I should use it or make love to it. The bad thing about its beauty is that you constantly want to keep it clean and I probably will sit and cry when it receives its first scratch.

Anyways enough of the good words, let me say some bad things about it.

The biggest bad thing about it is that it doesnt support XP. I did manage to install XP sp2 on it, and downloaded some of the drivers from ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/CR1/ .

I know that many have said that the AV mode doesnt work, which I dont really care for. What I do want is to be able to turn down the brightness of the display, which I cant.

I did see a video on youtube (in Korean) http://youtube.com/watch?v=-qPthGLfA3g&feature=related , and the guy had the same laptop running XP and he was able to turn down the brightness using the Fn key. He was also able to use the capture function for the webcam (something that I cant on my XP)

So basically my question is if anybody in here has been able to make the brightness go down when running xp.

 

@ boogiedownberlin
I'll be buying a Vaio CR this week and have the same concern too....

Somebody please help us...
Is there no way to install XP Sp2 on the CR ? (with everything working)
i mean... the laptop is gorgeous but vista is cr**....

Please help Please help Please help Please help Please help Please help

 

If I can get Vista 64 to run you should be able to find the drivers for a fully functional XP. Try searching the UK & Asia sony support site. Also, depending on your hardware you may be able to go to the hardware manufacturer i.e Intel, nividia etc and download the drivers. I recomend backing up your harddrive(Acronis) or nd buy a cheap 2.5 hard drive to work out all the kinks.You can usually find device manufaturers from Vista device manager or other utilites that display hardware information.

 

Still working on the brightness, but I did get the AV mode to work in Vista 64. Basically you copy 2 hidden files from the root directory and a hidden folder.

search for *.pam in the root and c:\InstantON , if you made a copy of the original hard drive.

 

i believe the reason why the brightness works for some individuals overseas is that some countries have the CR offered with an ATI graphics card, and those individuals should be able to adjust their brightness (that's what i believe).

Pretty much all the drivers can be found on the vaio support site for the UK. Thats where i just downloaded the driver packages, and the only two things that do not work for my vaio (as also described by the USA support site) are AV mode and FN Brightness. I had a vaio rep today when i went to work and according to him and other support technitians, there are no real intentions of sony making the CR - especially the newer models - fully compatible with XP. We're kind of out of luck for the time being, but i'm still waiting.

I currently Dual boot with my vaio for XP Pro SP3, and Vista Home Premium.

 

There's an updated VAIO Event Service v3.4.01.17220 that resolves fn key and docking problems. Not entirely sure if it's for XP or Vista.

 

neat find...but installation just kinda starts and exists by itself in xp...
i guess i dont have the correct version of event service installed for the upgrade. it seems that upgrade is for much newer CR's.

 

damn it, cant download it because the site is blocked out here in dubai. Would appreciate it if somebody could upload it to a file sharing site or email me the program at [email protected]

thanks in advance

 

Take note of the VAIO Event Service version number (there should be a version.txt file which contains the version number in the VAIO Event Service folder) that's currently installed on your notebook then uninstall it. Then install this version and see if there are any improvements.

 

i honestly figured thats the version i'd need to make it work but when i try to install it, the installer gets to the preparing setup window with the green bars, and once the bar is full...it just quits. I noticed that that version is for the CR2...and when i checked the complete driver packages for that model they were slightly different than mine. I actually - even though im a cr240 - need to use the CR1 package.
Perhaps i'm just out of luck? =(

 

Well, v3.4.01.17220 is actually intended for the Japanese equivalent (CR*2) of the North American CR4XX series, but I'm pretty sure there's not much difference between the CR2XX and CR4XX models other than the switch from Merom to Penryn CPUs, so it might be compatible in Vista. I don't think this will work in XP, though, even if you're successfully able to install it, because all of the VESes I've seen for XP on other VAIOs are at version 2 and the ones for Vista are at version 3. I'm not sure if this is done on purpose, but I do know that the Vista VES won't be compatible in XP and vice versa. Are you sure the extracted version that's on FileFront can't be installed in XP, though? I've only had what you'd described happen with Sony packaged installers but not after they're extracted with Universal Extractor. You'll need to disable your existing VAIO Event Service in WinKey+R -> services.msc and uninstall it before installing v3.4.01.17220, if you still want to try to install it again.

The XP downgrade drivers and utilities for CR1 and CR2 are available here and here. Have you tried those yet?

Also, you'll want to update your BIOS to R1120Q0 if you haven't done so already.

 

thanks for all the info.
Answering ur questions backwards...
I have the newest bios released for my cr to make it compatible with Vista SP1.
I uninstalled any event service - it asked me if it can disable before uninstall and i said yes - uninstallation successful.

I've tried installing event service from CR1,2,3 software packages and it always tells me it'll install the 2.7....version regardless of if the installer package is newer or older. But the 3.4 wont begin the installation process. I figure the reason maybe that its incompatible and it isnt using a sony installer like my other application installer apps.

I have verified that the file extracted is the proper file size.

i've done all that you've listed and it just wont go...sigh. Now im more dissapointed than ever because im so close yet so far. i should get a mac and call it a day. hah.

 

Sound Issue

Hey all
anyone has an answer for the sound turning off if my laptop is not used for some time (like when the screensaver is running) and i wake the system up my sound is off, i then have to hybernate the system to get the sound to start working again.
I have set my hard disk to never go off and the display to go off after an hour.
Had a look around but can't find a clear answer

 

i havent had that issue in either xp or vista...i'd only suggest reinstalling your audio drivers and maybe reinstalling vaio event service too.

 

I have a CR420E and the left speaker stopped working in the middle of a song. Sound works fine in the right speaker and if I plug in headphones it works on both ears. What's the best solution for this?

 

Hello, first of all, sorry for interrupting the recent questions in this thread. I am considering the Sony Vaio CR series (420XX - not sure which colour yet) but I have a few concerns about it.

Could someone please comment on the 'battery wiggle' issue, LCD issue and any other potential problems/concerns/issues? I know the battery issue has been mentioned many times but there are a lot of owners in this thread. Do you have the issue or do you just tolerate it? Is it present or you don't feel it moving? I would have the battery locked but if it is still wiggling inside despite it being locked, it would probably concern me.

On the review section of the CR-series, there is a 'discussion/comments' section after the review and someone claims the LCD parts are not very sturdy. How would you describe the integrity and quality of the hardware in the CR-series?

Lastly, please mention any other issues or quirks you aren't particularly fond of.

One more thing unrelated to the actual hardware. I want to install Linux on it. Any Linux users here? How did it go?

Thanks for any answers. I am able to inspect these laptops at Sony Stores (in Canada) and I can customize.

I plan on making sure I have: T8100 (at min.), Intel X3100 graphics (I don't play games, at least no need to on a laptop) and Intel wireless 4965agn. Which colour did you choose and why? I am thinking about the Champagne Gold or White. Comments about that?

 

If re-installing the drivers do not help, call sony. Maybe an electrical connection that failed/shorted. It will be covered under sony's warranty.

 

Puter1:

It's a nicely built unit. To remedy the wiggle issue of the battery a few friends and I have just folded a post it or other piece of paper between the chasis and the battery to basically make up for the little gap. Its no big issue.

I've never really treated a notebook so poorly before - as in i've set it down hard, kind of dropped it while it was on, really just USE it on the go a lot, and its held up very well so far - 6 months into it - and so I say its a fine notebook. Least it hasnt cracked like my old dells - and i took very good care of those.

Linux - i had ubuntu on it for a short period of time, its a matter of finding some drivers, but if you just install it, it'll install and boot successfully - thats the extent of my experience - i didnt have time/spare computer to locate drivers etc.

Color is personal preference, darker = dirtiness doesnt show; non-gloss = fewer finger prints and scratches show up.

Hope this helps.

 

Sony told me to reset the BIOS to default values. What does this do, and is there any chance it will actually work? Will this have have an affect(delete) anything on the hard drive?

 

No, reseting or updating the BIOS won't delete anything on your hard drive. The BIOS is basically a program that identifies and detects hardware components.
You could try and update the BIOS to see if that will solve your speaker problem, but my guess is you'll probably need to replace your speaker and/or the connectors.

 

give the bios reset a shot...although it probably wont fix the problem, we've got to think positively right? =) A simple bios software upgrade or reset to default does not delete your data/windows etc.

 

Thanks for the help. You were both right, though. It didn't fix the problem. I bought the computer from Circuit City, and didn't get any kind of warranty other than the standard warranty it comes with. Am I going to have to send it in to Sony, or will I be able to take it in to Circuit City? Thanks Again.

 

haha i just left CCITY...we've got a 14 day return policy if its defective within that time period, you can bring it in and exchange it for the exact same unit or upgrade/swap for another brand/model.

beyond 14 days w/out the protection plan you have to deal with sony. Vaio care is pretty decent, but you will be without your unit for about 2-4 weeks depending on a multitude of factors.

FYI the protection plan does not really allow you to bring the unit into the store for service, unless that ccity is sony certified - which you would have to check with a manager and a firedog associate.

Typically HP is the brand that is certified to be repaired on site.

The only thing neat about the protection plans are the annual battery replacements and the firedog tuneup - and accidental if you get that.

 

I ordered a refurb Sony Vaio CR123E\B with a t7300 cpu, for $869.

I think the processor is great becasue it has 4MB L2 cache and is a lot less expensive than a t7500 or t8300 which are very popular.

Although it only runs at 2.0GHz clock, that is not too diferent from a 2.2GHz with the same 4MB L2 cache.

I read that the important thing was to buy the best processor I could affort so I choosed the Sony Vaio CR. And, obvously, I don't play games at all.

The strange thing is that I read in some thread that this particular model kind of rare because it was discontinuated.

Does anyone else owns a CR123E\B?

What do you think about it?

My specs:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 2 GHZ
Hard Drive: 160GB 5400rpm Serial ATA
Memory: 2048MB (4096MB max) PC2-5300 667MHz | Memory Slots available for Upgrade: 0 | Maximum RAM per available slot: 1024MB
Optical Drives: DVD+R DL Write: 4x max DVD+R Write: 8x max DVD+RW Write: 8x max DVD-R Write: 8x max DVD-RW Write: 6x max CD-R Write: 24x max CD-RW Write: 16x max DVD±RW: Yes (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/DVD-RAM) CD Read: 24x max DVD Read: 8x max DVD-RAM Write: 5x max DVD-R DL Write: 4x max DVD-RAM Read: 5x max
Cache: 4 MB L2 cache
Screen: 14.1" WXGA LCD (Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels)
Graphics card: Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (358MB shared)
Audio card: Sony Sound Reality - Audio Enhancer
Speakers: Built-in stereo
Networking: Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 (802.11a/b/g/n) 10/100Base-TX integrated V92/90 modem
Ports/Slots: Multimedia Card Reader, ExpressCard slot /34, Secure Digital Media (SD), USB2.0, FireWire/iLink, S-Video out, Mouse/Pointer: Electro-Static touch pad
Keyboard: QWERTY, 82 keys with 2mm stroke
Battery [Life]: Lithium ion [0.0hrs max]
Power Req: 85W + 10%
Size: 13.2x1.25-1.67x9.8 inches
Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)
Supplied: Battery
Supplied: AC adapter
Supplied: Software Bundle
Supplied: Memory Card Adapter
Operating System & Software
OS: Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium
Software: Free Productivity, Internet & Graphics Software Bundle

I can't hardly wait for the little beast.

 

It's a good model, and I have that one too. It was sold exclusively from Best Buy for a Sales Promotion last summer/fall.

 

Mine is a CR320 in white. Although it looks amazing in white, I would nonetheless discourage others from buying one in white. Why? Because you just spend so much time keeping the damn thing clean. If I could get another color I would go for the Black one.


The battery wiggles just a little bit when it is in the "locked" position. But like I said only if you try moving the battery does it wiggle a "bit"

Overall quality of the hardware is top notch. I dont have any problems with the LCD or anything.


The only thing that annoys me about it is the fact that Sony doesnt offer drivers for XP, so I am stuck with Vista Home.

 

again for the battery issue, just fold a post-it or a piece of paper a few times and stick it to the laptop or battery. that will get rid of the wiggle. =) simple fixes. Its like those phones with SIM errors...folded paper always did the job!

 

I want the driver for the webcam of VGN-CR33

 

i have a VGN-CR220E, the land lan doesn't work, but i know for sure that the connection card is not broken.

 

has anyone else had problems with their CR and the audio output. I have a CR4000 and everytime I turn my CR on without the wireless switch on there isn't an audio output, even though it says there is on the volume icon. When I restart my computer with the wireless on it works just fine. Anyone else have this problem. By the way I'm running 32bit vista premium

 

when you right click on the speaker icon on the taskbar, and click on playback devices, does it show the right output is selected and if you're playing music etc, does it show the green volume bar going up and down?

If the proper things are selected and software shows that its outputting sound, you may want to call sony. I'd probably still call sony since mine will play sound regardless of wifi on or off.

 

ya it did show the green bar moving, but luckily i found the solution without having to call sony which can be a pain and a half sometimes
turns out a simple bios update does the trick, guess the old bios had an issue with sp1

 

oh yes...the bios update. I forgot i installed that before i upgraded to SP1, so i never ran into any issues.
glad to hear it all worked out though!

 

Hello,

I'm soon going to a new school soon and I need to buy a laptop for it. Or well, it's easy to have a laptop to carry around. I've always loved Mac's for their designs, owned one before but it was a complete nono for me.

I've been looking for a nice lapto ever since and now saw the Vaio CR. I have a few questions:
- Is a Vaio CR actually good for school?
- Does the mouse thingie, where you move the mouse with, no idea what it's named, also "click" when you tap it?
- I might want to install Sims2 on it, does it run properly?
- Is it a quiet laptop?
- Is it too big to carry around?

Thanks in advance!

 

hey man, im a college student, so heres my honest take on the unit.

It weighs the same as a macbook pro and is .5 pounds heavier than the macbook. I judge it to be a notebook that is certainly in the portable range.

It doesnt run really hot when just using it in class, and it is very quiet for the most part - assuming you dont run things like crazy to make it hot so the fans go on high.
The bottom of the notebook does getwarm from just normal usage - but its standard of any notebook, what is good is the keyboard,palm rests, and touchpad stay much cooler than the bottom.

It is very easy to type on and to use - it mimmics the macbook.
The touchpad does allow you to tap and scroll vertically and horizontally too.

I'm not familiar with SIMS 2, but im going to say yes it'll run it - maybe not at the highest setting. CR's have the intel built in graphics card that can share up to 387mb with system ram. I've ran games like counter strike, half life etc, and they run well only on the low/lowest settings. But i think for more primitive and less motion related games, it does the job fairly well. Myfriend plays WOW on his intel graphics laptop and that even does a good job.
You can do a search to see how people think the game runs on the intel gfx.

It has great wifi reception, can definately run many applications well, and of course burn/play cd's/dvds.

The battery life is pretty good too, especially if you use the vista advanced power settings to really set it to exactly what you need in different environments.

I have owned my CR now for almost exactly 7 months, and have checked the wear on my battery and am very impressed that the battery wear is only at 3%. I discharge and charge my battery every other day - sometimes daily or multiple times a day - and 3% is much lower wear than what i got with any of the dell's i've had in the past.

Sony support has also been very helpful. You do pay a prettier penny for this and other sony products, but so far I've had a very good and pleasant experence paying a little extra.

I hope what I've said helps you out. But also from a sales representative stand point - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go and try it out at the store. Open up MS word or works or notepad and Internet. USE it for a bit, type on it, use the touchpad. Really try it out before buying. Dont let any sales rep pressure you and talk to you about a bunch of junk. Just try it out, and then ask for help if you decide to get it (assuming ur not customizing one on the sony site).

=)

 

The thing is, I'm not sure if shops near me sell the Vaio CR, I live in a small village about 300km away to "the biggest town". Sure, some of the shop's sell some Vaio's but not the CR..
Shops near me recommend Acer for students, but my friend recently bought one and I'm not really too fond of it. I just love this laptop for the looks. I do know what the keyboard types like I think, my dad has a similar keyboard on his laptop, a vaio aswell so.. But yeah, I'll look around a bit and see if I can find it in a shop somewhere, if not I think I'm just going to order it.

 

cool.
Acer is decent when it comes to the business line, but the normal home/personal line is not so great - they tend to be bulky, hot and low on battery life. It's not a crappy brand, but they just happen to dish out some of the lower end notebooks on the market. The price tells all too.

Living far away from a larger town with a store that has more selection is difficult since you really just cant see/test it out in real life. were there any other notebooks you are interested in? I was an employee selling and servicing computers at Circuit City just under a month ago and I could possibly offer you some input on some models you may have questions about.

 

I have no idea really. I didn't really check out alot yet..
In the first place looks are pretty important to me, thats why I got so into the CR. I was overwhelmed by the looks and the fact it uses windows made me honestly love it. I don't wanna work with a mac, I don't like it, so I don't want a notebook without windows..

I'm mainly going to use my laptop for notes, and maybe some video-storage. I need to film stuff while I'm at my placement and need to watch it over and over to see how humans develop /rolleyes. So, it's pretty important I can work with video-material on it, I don't really need to edit it but a bit of editing might be nice. And then I just want to have wi-fi, bluetooth, and I wan't to be able to play a game on it, doesn't need to be anything much cause I'm not into gaming really, the only game I play is the Sims2 once in a while.

I hope you have any idea what kind of laptop would fit with me seeing as the things I want it to have. I hope the CR is a good fit though, I'm really overwhelmed by its looks l0l.

 

CR is a good fit then.

 

Care to elaborate and have a link for the BIOS update? I have the exact problem

 

Last question, does a Vaio CR have wifi built in or do you need to get one of those cards or something? :/

 

WiFi is built in, 99.9999999% about all laptops sold today have built in WiFi. I shudder to think if there are any still sold today that don't.

 

Lol, I'm a bit of a nub :<
Thanks anyway!

 

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNCR240EB&upd_id=3618&os_id=28

that's the most recent bios released for pretty much all the vaio CR's.

just go to sony's website and find the download drivers area and enter your device model and you'll get lists of stuff.

But that bios update should work for you. Its one newer than the original sp1 bios fix, so it includes sp1 fix for audio and some more.

Gluck.

 

well, i own a CR354 and i got it just about a week now.
ever since I got it, I was trying to enable the Virtual Technology (VT) on the BIOS to be able to run 64-bit vmware guest systems.

The problem is that the Phoenix BIOS I have (R2100Q0) is pretty hardened in away that I can't change the VT enable flag in the CMOS and keeps resetting it when ever I change the value!!!!

Did anyone come across such challenge before and was able to solve it ?!!

BIOS Version:R2100Q0
Sony VAIO VGN-CR354/B

 

i recently purchased Vaio CR590 CTO notbook from sonystyle and am very happy with it.
it came with C2D T9300 (2.5 GHz), 4GB RAM and 250 GB HDD plus all the goodies. It has a fingerprint reader too which in my opinion is very very helpful. I paid $1300 (inclusive of tax and free ship) after getting $100 off using sony card.
I removed most of the bloatware and crap from notebook. Screen is the best i have experienced till date. Battery wiggle is not bad as some people say. just make sure to lock it. also i'm very impressed with battery life (i'm getting > 4hrs on powersaver mode). its great laptop with perfect sized screen. i think i will not be happy with 13.3" screen. Its very very quiet, although dvd drive is a bit loud while operating). USB ports are placed perfectly (one on right top side and 2 on left side) another great thing is vent position is nice and headphone and microphone jacks are also placed far away from vent and power jack (left front). Audio quality is outstanding (absolutely no noise at all).
notebook itself is very light considering i had a HP ZX5000 beast (9 lbs) earlier.
Overall i'm really happy with my purchase.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sony Vaio VGN-CR590
Intel Core2Duo T9300 (2.5 GHz), 6 MB Cache
4 GB DDR2 RAM, 250 GB HDD, DVD-RW (DL), Wireless N, A2DP Bluetooth, Fingerprint Reader.

HP Paviliion ZX5000
Intel Mobile Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz)
2 GB DDR RAM, 120 GB HDD, Wireless G, 64 MB ATI Radeon 9600