Vaio FZ Owners Official Owners Thread

Right now I have 71 processes running, but that includes my AVG anti-virus, Spyware Doctor, and Zonealarm firewall (the free one). Despite what other people say about the ZA firewall and its compatibility with Vista, I don't think it's a resource hog. However, I can tell you that Spyware Doctor IS a resource hog, it slows down my startup time by at least 20 seconds. Anyways back on topic, besides those three processes, I just can't see what other processes that are running which i could get rid of (other than the sidebar). I guess this the best I can do for now.

 

Now I am even more confused. I was running at a steady 30C on temp 1 and temp 2 for two days. I mean STEADY, flat line no dips no spikes NOTHING. Then I burned an ISO to investigate the VT bit in the bios (see the virtualization threads for more). After that I ran the test and rebooted. The temps for temp1 and temps 2 were 52C. We are talking no more than 2 minutes after they were showing as 30c. They stayed that way for ten minutes at which point I shut down and let it set for 15 minutes. They both dropped to 40C. But they stayed like that for about an hour. Again totally a flat line. Then I needed to run the VT diagnostic again. So I booted to the cd with the ISO I'd burned noted the text from the diagnostic and rebooted to Vista. Now both were at 52C again. The diagnostic ran for all of 20 seconds, before I booted back to Vista. There is no way the temps rose that much that quick.

Something very strange is going on here. Does anyone know for sure what Temp1 and Temp 2 are REALLY measuring. We are assuming RAM, but do we KNOW that? And why would they stay in such a steady state all the time with no variance? (BTW the entire time the two core temps were 30-35C with a lot of up and down in the graphs, as expected.)

Gary

 

hi guys,my first post here,been reading this forum for 8 9 months.i have bought a fz 140 e in june,i am happy with performance,now it is pretty good now.my system services are disabled or manual so i have around 68 processes running with norton 360 as well.how is it ?more scope to increse performance?

 

Alright, thanks a bunch!

Thanks again, I'll check into this. Any idea when SP1 will arrive? And what problems it will adress?

Exactly the same Bioshock problem. I actually got a bluescreen saying "memory parity error" once. Hmpf.
Yeah, mine is with 2 gb of ram already and... FM2007 really is running great
Are there 2 slots for RAM on the FZ? In that case, an upgrade to 4 gbs of Ram in the future isn't that bad... Well, just dreaming.

 

wow, i cant believe you guys with 50+processes running. ive got 34-37.

 

Anyone experiencing problems while connecting to an HD screen with HDMI?

I've got a Pioneer HD TV from a few years back, and when I connect my FZ via the HDMI output into the input on the media receiver box thing, everything works like a charm. Except...

My resolution on the TV says 1125i, and my FZ is only putting out 1080i, which then makes a little problem. The problem is that the outer parts of the screen (i.e. the taskbar, half of the sidebar etc) doesn't show on the TV. They're there, because if I move the cursor, I can click, for instance, the start button. But... It really is a problem, especially when playing shooters and such.
What do you reckon I should do? I've tried changing the resolution on my laptop basically from minimum to maximum, and no change in terms of lost parts of the screen. Any ideas? (I tried e-mailing pioneer with this, but they only said "hey great, you get 1125 instead of just 1080. I don't want 1125. I want to be able to actually see the entire screen.)

Thanks for any help (again)

 

You got the bluescreen after installing those drivers? I never got a blue screen. I wish I had the money to upgrade to 4gb of ram, but I'm only running on 32-bit vista anyway and I am happy with it. I doubt I will go to 4gb on this laptop.

 

I WISH I had less than 40 processes running. Did you turn off sidebar? That's like two processes by itself. Since I'm also running anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall all separate, there's three processes. I always keep Outlook 2003 up, which is also two processes. I checked right after i start up my laptop, after everything's loaded to see how many processes I have running. Turned out to be 56...so I guess I can live with that.

 

Just an update on the temp1 and temp2 mystery. I hibernated my FZ190 as I left work today. 2 hours latter I started it up at home. Speedfan was still reporting temp1 and temp2 at 52C. I knew full well that was impossible after the machine was off for two hours. (Full hibernate NOT sleep.) So I rebooted and instantly temp1 and temp2 are at 42C. It appears that temp1 and temp2 are never really being updated or Speedfan doesn't know how to retrieve updated values.

Has anyone seen any variation in temp1 and temp2 at anytime OTHER than a reboot?

This is very strange.

Gary

 

I somehow managed to bring down the procesees running to 58. Start up time has considerably improved.

 

There is an excellent article on Anandtech about tweaking Vista and it talks how it may not be advisable to dump all of those processes. In many cases they are not really taking up resources and are dormant until needed. And as such they freely give up their memory if it is required, only paging themselves back in again when needed.

So the optimum configuration may not be the least number of processes at all. By deleting some of those processes you might actual be slowing down your machine appreciably. Check out the article it is a REAL eye opener and offers many tweaks which are helpful. It really takes the app "Tweak IV" to task.

Here's the link: Windows Vista Tweaks

(For those of you unfamiliar with AnandTech it is one of the most respected sources for hardware analysis.)

Gary

 

NICE THANKS!

 

Thanks for the info.

I didn't disable the running processes. I just made some of them manual instead of automatic start up. Those are some vaio services, toshiba bluetooth services which I would n't be using

Anyway why did sony install sql server 2005 in FZ. I think you don't need that right?

 

Hi. I jsut got my fz-190 and its pretty much awesome, but i have 3 questions. First, it lists my computer as 32-bit processor, but im pretty sure that it should be 64-bit. And secondly, how long are the batteries supposed to last on a charge? Running my computer on the "optimized" setting and full brightness, the battery lasted for 1.5hrs, which seems a little low. Lastly, as every vaio owner knows, sony packed way too much crap/bloatware into the laptops, and i was wondering which programs you guys deleted/uninstalled. I'm definately not a computer expert and don't know what half the vaio programs do, even after toying around with them. I don't think i'll do a clean install because from the tutorials posted here, it seems way too complicated and long. Thanks in advance. This forum is great; i've read nearly every page and have learned a lot.

 

It's installed automatically as part of the Vaio Media Center (if I rememeber the name correctly). That app allows you to share media files throughout your HOME network (not the internet). It uses SQL server (actually a named instance of SQL server Express, for any developer lurking out there) to house a databse of your media files. If you uninstall Vaio Media Center (or maybe it's just Vaio Media), it will uninstall that named instance of SQL server.

Gary

 

The processor is a 64 bit one, the operating system is 32 bits hence the display you see. Battery life is TOTALLY dependent on what you have running. It is affected also by hardware settings, screen brightness, wireless use (especially distance to the access point), etc.

Regarding bloatware, if you have the prerequisites (a Vista DVD) you really should do a clean install. It is not difficult at all. The instructions I wrote are long only because I went into a lot of detail on what to do and WHY. Unlike some other similar instructions, I didn't want to just make this some robotic experience. I wanted to be sure folks understood the process.

There is a thread here on doing the clean install. If you want to give it a shot, make sure you have made your Recovery DVD set. (You SHOULD do that ANYWAY!!!!) Then give it a try. If you have any trouble or questions post them to the "clean install thread". (See the link in my signature below.)

Gary

 

yea, I dont have sidebar running. I am thinking of putting it back up but I am not sure. after that I only really have zonealarm and a few barebones services.

 

Wow. Thanks Gary. Yea i guess the battery life of 1.5 hrs makes sense cause i had wifi on, the screen was at full brightness, and i was mainly uninstalling programs. But still, that just seems a little low to me. I guess if someone is looking for shortest battery life, I have the answer. haha.

And maybe if after a few weeks I am still aggravated by the amount of space taken up and slower start up speed i will try a clean install; just gotta get a Vista DVD soon. Your tutorial was still pretty helpful to me even though I haven't done a clean install because ur list of software helped me decide what to uninstall. =)

And with regard to the discussion about number of processors running...i have 80. I'm guessing thats wayyyy too many. My old laptop only had 39, but that was xp so that might make some kind of a difference. It definately isn't a difference of 41 processes though. I need to start working on that. And any tips for lowering that number would be appreciated.... Off to work i go.

 

Thanks to the people who told me about laptopvideo2go.com and so... It did help, my bioshock actually runs fine now (on low settings though..), so thank you.
A weird thing though, when i tried updating the drivers (with the 163.44) on my 8400M GT card, i couldn't find such a driver in the list, however i did find a driver for the GS model, which i used. Now, I dont know if this affects performance, but does it?

 

A lot of that difference IS due to changes between XP and VISTA. Some is bloatware but Vista does have a lot more services running, that's not a bad thing. Unused memory is wasted memory. (See the link I site in the second tip below for more about that.)

Just one tip. If you are not 1000% sure what a process is don't disable it.

Ok make it two tips. Read this: Windows Vista Tweaks FAQ

That is the MOST reliable source I know for the REAL understanding of all these tweaks that are flying around from so called experts. I hate to say this but a lot of these "experts" are self proclaimed and don't have a clue as to the consequences of what they are telling folks to do.

Gary

 

Gary,
Thanks for that Vista tweak guide, I read through it all and it really was an eye opener. I've actually enabled some of the things I had disabled in the past, while lowering some of the vista graphics stuff as mentioned in the article. Now my laptop SEEM to be a little faster than before. Thanks again

 

Yeah, that guide really was great. We're all lucky people take time to write these things!

 

Finally I received my Vaio FZ190N5 (bluray, 2.2Ghz, HDD:160GB, bluetooth, 2GB Ram, Nvidia 8400, Vista biz)

My first impression of this laptop was really marvellous and more than my imagination, the screen clarity and brightness is really awesome (my laptop has hi-brite WXGA sceen). I also got three free Blu-ray movies and one BD-Rw with laptop


I spent solid 2 hours to remove all bloatware manually, though i wanted to do clean install of vista but i found manual procedure feasible. Special Thanks to Gary whose clean install guide helped a lot in identifying and performing this task. Also there were spiderman movies occupying lot of space.

Now my laptop is showing 121 GB free of 141 GB (with page file & system restore off).

I read lot of posts regarding heating issue and fan noise problem, although my laptop has no fan problem, but heating is definitely a problem.. laptop gets hot infact really hot, also the charger adapter gets damn hot and untouchable after continous operation of 6 hours.

Somebody suggested me to operate laptop directly on wall-charger without battery inserted. this would save the battery and helps maintain battery life.

Now I want to have advise on following:

Vista built-in feature dont allow me to shrink C: drive more than 10GB. I have tried defragmentation and deleting pagefile etc but no use.

I want to repartition approximate as follows:

C: 60Gb
D: 40GB
E: 30Gb
F: 30GB

Please inform me, if its ok & how to do it??

 

Hi everyone,

First of all, I don't know very much about the technical aspects of computers. I was just about to purchase the FZ11S (Here in Holland only the VGN-FZ11E, VGN-FZ11S and the VGN-FZ19VN are available on Sony's own website), when I ran onto this great forum. Yet, after reading a large part of this thread I still have got a few questions;

Like mentioned several times by others, the 17th of September new versions (model codes FZ2xxx) of the FZ will apparently become available in Europe. I read these models are upgraded concerning several aspects (amongst others better processors), so my first reaction was; great, let's wait just a little longer and then get a better notebook for about the same price! However, I also read in this thread that the new versions would presumably be less good concerning other aspects, e.g. less good screens. '1 lamp' instead of '2 lamps'? Is this true? Or does this only hold for some of the new models? Then in general, would you advice to wait for the new models or not?

Then a general concern I have (about the FZ11S, the FZ-series in general and the new FZ-series);
- I read someone experienced a battery life of only 1,5 hours. I definately want to be able to use my notebook at least 3 hours while using the battery. Would this be possible (assuming that some settings (e.g. concerning brightness of the screen) are optimized)? Or should I then just forget about the VAIO series?
- What about the heat these notebooks produce? Do they really get very hot?? Can you work on them while holding them on your lap or not?
- Do all models have this Blue-ray thing? I remember to have read somewhere this is what can make notebooks a lot more expensive? If not all models have it, is it still adviced to choose one who does?

Then finally, what VAIO model(s) would you advice me to buy, taking into account the next 'profile'?;
I want an allround notebook which I will primarily for study related activities, but on the other hand I will also be using it for some webdesigning, downloading and watching films. Speed is important, as well as screen quality. It quite certainly has to be a VAIO model, because they look so nice.

Thanks a lot in advance for your insights and advice!

btw. Does anyone have any idea which model exactly would be the successor of the FZ11S in particular?

 

Hi Tomassi,

op die info zitter er meer te wachten helaas

Concerning battery life; 3 hours with w-lan on is difficult, unless you get the extended (9 cell) battery of course. Some have achieved 3 hours with w-lan on on the 6 cell battery i believe, but you'd have to turn all your settings on extremely low and be very close to your router.

Not all models have blu-ray, only the more expansive ones. If you should get it or not totally depends on your needs. Blu-ray is another variant of HD, it allows you to watch high quality movies and to record up to 50Gb of data on one blu-ray disk.

It's hard to tell witch model exactly will be the successor of the FZ11S, and witch one(s) will be availble in NL. Have you ever considered ordering a foreign model btw? Otherwise; nog even geduld...

 

Sorry for the late reply;

That is a very fast rise in temperature! I can't tell exactly ow much, but in my case the temps 1&2 reached 51 in a very short time to.

To bad nobody here seems to know a little more about this. I posted a thread in the hardware section about this phenomenon a week ago or so, but no answers there either. Where are all the tech-heads here!?

 

Vaio FZ's battery life is not exactly stellar, and I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, to squeeze 3 hours with Wifi on, as Storm3016 says. If battery life is your concern, SZ would be a batter choice. Or, Macbook Pro - there are not many laptops with both great LCD and good battery life.

Vaio FZ uses metal chassis, which means it gets pretty hot outside - I won't recommend using it on lap, at least when you are using AC power.

I don't think Blue-Ray is necessary. However, BR model has 256MB vram and extra processor speed, as well. I am not sure if you can get these in Europe otherwise.

BTw, I use FZ- great laptop, highly recommendable. However, I could configure it at Sonystyle.

 

My temp1 and temp2 settings NEVER change after I boot. I can hibernate or sleep and they stay exactly the same I have not booted for two days now and I have a flat line no variation whatsoever. If I were to reboot right now I'd have a different reading. This is true with SpeedFan and Intel Temperature Analysis Tool.

This is bizzare.

Do your temp1 and temp2 settings change at all? Or are they like mine?

Gary

 

Well, coincidentally I already started to look around on the international (American?) website of Sony (sonystyle.com). Especially with the current euro/dollar exchange rate taken into account buying a model via that website would be much cheaper.

Consider for instance the VGN-FZ190E/B (not available in the Netherlands):
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...toreId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=VGNFZ190E/B. Compared to the (Dutch) FZ11S specifications, this FZ190 has -on first sight- a better processor (T7300 instead of T7100), better Ghz (2.0 instead of 1.8) and better L2-cache (4MB instead of 2MB). However, I did notice that the "Total Available Graphics Memory" is only 358MB, as compared to 895MB for the FZ11S. But that seems to be the only aspect where the FZ190 is less good than the FZ11S: concerning the remaining specifications the two models appear to be the same.

(Yet, the FZ190 is stated to have XBRITE-ECO™ Technology. I don't know if that's less good/the same/or better than the technology the FZ11S is equipped with, whatever that may be? Does the FZ11S have XBRITE Technology as well? And if so, is that the ECO-version or the XBRITE-HICOLOR?? Would that make much difference at all?)

Anyway, thus taking the exchange rate and possible reductions into account the FZ190 would be FAR less expensive than the FZ11S (€1399,-). However, the big question now of course is; Would it be possible at all for me as a Dutchman to buy a notebook via sonystyle.com (and not via sonystyle.nl)? Would I then pay the $-price or would they then automatically change it to the €--price? Moreover, if they would charge the $-price, would I then not have to pay additional (Dutch) taxes?

Thanks for your help here!

ps. Another question; I read the X-Black technology (partially) is what makes the Sony screens so great. Do all Sony VAIO's have this "X-Black" Technology? Or do only the models with X-Brite technology also have "X-Black"?

 

I'm not sure if it's difficult to buy at Sony usa, i think i've read somewhere that you have to have an adress in the usa where Sony can send the laptop to so a friend or family would come in handy, but maybe someone else can confirm that.

The T7300 sounds nice ( i wanted that one myself too ), but i'm not to sure about the v-ram. I'm a bit worried that it might just have 64mb of dedicated v-ram like the FZ11E in our country.

The xbrite-eco screen in good screen, but not as pretty as the Hi-color one. The eco screen has one backlight and the Hi-color screen has two so it produces more brightness and better colors. Both screens have X-Black like most vaio screens nowadays.

 

My temp1 and -2 are very steady to. They stay at 30 degrees Celsius most of the time, although when i play games that are almost to heavy for my machine for 2 hours or more they can go up to 31, but that's all. (besides what i mentioned before of course)

 

hello

I've got quite a few heat issues with the GPU and would be glad if someone could maybe answer a few questions.

I installed XP and pretty much everything seems to be fine. The system is running with the nvidia 163.44 beta drivers which allow me to use powermizer. The whole system would running quite cool actually (especially the C2D processor), but the GPU usually reaches 60 degrees celsius pretty fast and goes up to 64/65 (about 150F) which is when the fan starts running.

This would be alright actually, but the problem is that whenever the PC is plugged in the GPU clocks go up to 450/600 which makes things hard to cool and the fans running all the time. Powermizer seems to be pretty much unstable at the moment, with the settings changing at random. I'm using the old NVIDIA interface which allows me to set the powermizer feature at different levels, but they don't seem to be saved and change pretty much all the time. Im unable to underclock the GPU right now, so... I dunno what to do in order to bring the temperature down a little and reduce the noise.

- is there a good XP driver that would allow me to over/underclock the card with, say, ATI Tools?
-Is there a way to change the voltage of the GPU in order to reduce heat?
-How do I take control of powermizer so that it behaves the way I want it to do and doesn't let the GPU run at full speed all the time?

thanks for any help!

 

Hmm, but that would mean they are just lieing big time on their website, where they say the FZ190E/B has "358MB Total Available Graphics Memory"?

Then one more question: I noticed the VAIO notebook models come with three types of display technology:
- WXGA LCD
- XBRITE-ECO™ Technology
- XBRITE-HiColor™ Technology

I suppose the WXGA is the least good and the HiColor one gives the best quality. However, about how much difference is there between these qualities? Does it matter a lot with which technology the notebook you buy is equipped? Is the ECO just slightly better than the WXGA? What technology would you advice?

The problem for me specifically is that I'm doubting to take a 14,1" instead of a 15,4". (Reasons: the 14,1" models are lighter, smaller though they have the same resolution (1280x800), and they have as a result -presumably- better battery capacity.) However, the 14,1" models don't come with XBRITE technology... Is XBRITE technology really so good I should better just forget about the 14,1" models?

 

Tomassi,
Actually I have the x-bright eco on my Fz190 right now and at the maximum brightness, I think it's perfect for me. I have problems staring at a screen too bright, I get eye strain very easily. I don't know how bright you'd like your screen to be, but eco is a very good screen.

 

All the screens of sony laptops nowadays are WXGA, however in FZ series sony is offering two types

1) eco-brite &
2) hi-brite.

I have FZ190N5 equipped with hi-brite lcd,, which is really awesome. according to my jusdgement only difference between both is brightness.

hi-brite is much brighter than eco and also consumes more battery.

I think WXGA hi-brite lcd of sony laptop is the best among all other brands at the moment supported by bravia technology

 

XBrite-eco has only one lamp, while Xbrite (non-eco) has two lamps. I believe "high color" are their new display that is supposed to have wider range of color than their older models. Interestingly, Sony doesn't offer Xbrite-eco on FZ in Japan, where demands for screen is higher (whereas demands for RAM, CPU etc are lower). I wonder if Xbrite-eco is the same display as seen in N series - if so, then there's significant difference in quality. Either way, I recommend going for HiColor if you have a choice.

Aside from N/B series, Vaio generally have one of the best LCD for notebooks (assuming you can stomach lower resolution), among with Fujitsu.

 

I've just got my FZ with white keyboard .. awasome look inside. I love it if u think to buy one be remind of that the large battery is bigger and the laptop stand lil' up of the ground from back. Its not problem for me., but may be for someone else will be so .. be awared there's nothing that i dont like except that i cant make my hotkeys to work with winamp. And i dont understand the sense of AV button its unusefull.

 

I was just on Sony's website and under the FZ 190 configuration, it appears that the xbrite-hicolor will be a standard with the laptop. There's no choice for the eco-brite anymore for that laptop

 

Today I downloaded the SpeedFan program to check my temperatures. The readings came out:
HD0: 42C
Temp1: 58C
Temp2: 58C
Core0: 30C
Core1: 28C

The Temp1/2 seemed really high. Also the little flame icon to the left of it didn't really help to console my worries. I had just finished playing with the speech function I had discovered, so I don't know how much of an effect that had. Also, my power option was set to performance.

Any ideas or comments?

thanks.

 

I have been monitoring the Temp1 and Temp2 readings on my FZ190 for over a week. I have observed that the ONLY time they change is when I reboot. I can hibernate or sleep and they won't change for two days. If I reboot they change instantly and the remain steady. The Intel Thermal Analysis Tool is reporting the same temp for this as well. I have no clue and have not been able to find out what temp1 and temp2 are even reading.

Please let Speedfan run and turn on the chart option and see if you see any variation in the reading. I will check in Friday morning but won't be able to again until Sunday night.

Thanks,
Gary

 

Ok I'll try that Gary. I probably won't be able to get around to it until later though, but I'll let you know how it turns out once I try it.

And also, what is a common reading for your Temp1 and Temp2? Just to use as a reference.

John.

 

hi all

is possible to replace the original intel wireless card of the vaio fzXXX notebook with another wireless card ?
I need a mini-pci or a mini-pci express wifi card ?

Thanks in advance
Mark

 

Sure, no problem. Just get a mini-pci card express card (34mm).

But just out of curiosity; why would you want that? The build in wireless card is a very good one.

 

Ah, seems that more people are watching there temps

The highest my temp1 and temp2 got was around 51 degrees Celsius, this wasn't after re-booting, but when Vista was updating itself during the creation of the restore-files. I was also playing some game (Gtr2 i think) and doing some p2p at the same time. Usually they are 30 or 31 degrees. I think they measure the temperature of the RAM banks, but i can't be sure so it would be nice if someone can verify that. The strange part is that once the temps are up they don't seem to go down again until you turn the laptop of, i'm still looking for a solution for this myself.

 

Storm3016 thanks for your reply .
I'm just curious and maybe in future i'll install linux. I' ve read that there are wifi cards based on atheros chipset that are fully supported by linux drivers (monitor mode and packet injection works great).

Bye
Mark

P.S. sorry for mistakes but my english is bad

 

Ah, got it @ Mark_7

Yw, and thanks for satisfying my curiosity

 

Im facing strange problem with my Nvidia 8400M GT, when i start my FZ laptop with power plugged-in it works fine.. but if i start without power cord, on loading vista the rundll32 error of NVcpl (nvidia ) occurs.

 

There really is no common reading, really. It is all over the map. It depends on how long the machine was running before a reboot. If it was off for several hours and I reboot the temp1 and temp2 readings stay at 30C for as long as I don't reboot the machine (that could be days if I hibernate or sleep it). If the machine was running for a while and I reboot the temps can be 42C or as high as 52C. And again they will stay that way until I reboot.

Gary

 

They don't go down because they are an one time reading of those temps at boot time. I ave been watching this and tracking it for over two weeks now. I can say with certainty that the readings NEVER change until you reboot. See the previous message in this thread for more detail.

Gary

 

Ah, thanks Gary, that does explain a lot.

There are 5 new FZ models arriving in Holland at the end of this month, there called the FZ21 (except for the FZ29VN with the intel graphics chip) series and will replace the 'old' FZ11 models. Sony has the replaced the 256mb 8400GT with a 8600GS with 128mb of dedicated memory in the two high end models with a blu-ray drive. These will also be the only two models that feature the Hi Color dual lamp screen. The cheaper models will have to do with the Eco Bright screen from now on, but all of the new FZ's are equipt with 2Gb of RAM. There are only 2 cpu's available, the T7250, and the T7500 for the highest priced model witch also has a 300Gb(!) hdd.


Has anyone else, in or outside Europe seen these models appear yet?