Vaio FZ Owners Official Owners Thread

Hi

I am looking for some help with my Vaio.

I recently purchased an FZ25G.I downgraded to XP and all is running well escape for three small issues:

1.The Fn functions do not seem to work. Are there separate drivers available for this?

2.The volume through the ear phone port is rather low. Is this normal?

3.And lastly, when I power the laptop down, it will not power up again unless it has been off for about 5 minutes or so. Is this the normal?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

why not search a little!?
the answer is here!
look at this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=213580

 

I have exact same problem
the blu-ray drive has problem reading cd roms
it seeks and make noise for long and can't read cds

 

coolguy,
yeah i had tried some 5 or 6 different notebook utility packages on my fz 240 and only on the last one did it actually work to get my av and s1 keys working on vista 64. unfortunately, i cant remember the exact source of the original package as i tried so many and had just about given up when i tried the last one. i think it was from the sony support site for either the aw or fw series but i cant be sure. i ran universal extractor on the utilities package to extract the drivers and installed everything except for the isb utility (i used the original for that, otherwise you get this really annoying pop-up error that doesnt go away). the original camera capture utility will work fine. all my other drivers were downloaded from the sony 64 site posted in the thread on upgrading fz's to vista 64. my vcc8 camera driver was pulled from the temp directory during installation of the original camera driver. i can back track and try to find the original source if anyone is interested.

 

btw,
four gigs and vista 64 and vaio fz=awesome

 

Help!
Hi, I'm new to this forum. I've just bought a fz18e second hand. The last owner has replaced the hard drive without burning the recovery disks. Could anybody burn me a set off their fz18e so I can do a proper install on my machine? I'd be happy to compensate for disks & postage!! Sony support takes the mick with this sort of thing
Thanks
gordon.

 

Sorry, no one here can legally do what you are asking. Even attempting to have such a conversation is against the rules of these forums and likely to get a handslap from one of the moderators. Your only option is with the last owner OR to buy a set from Sony. Sony does offer these disks for $20 or so.

Gary

 

How do I specifically change the boot order on my FZ? It first boots off the cd drive when a cd/dvd is installed. I want that to remain the same. But, I made my Lacie USB hard driv bootable to restore images made with Acronis if Windows won't boot and my Linux CD doesn't work. I want the cd/dvd to be first and the USB hard drive to be second if either are connected or have a cd installed as with the cd drive. So, I guess I am looking for a way two make a 1,2,3 order. Or, at least have the Lacie boot if it connected and leaving everything else unchanged.

Hope this makes sense,

Ken

 

Go into the bios at start up by pressing F2 and change the boot order from there.

 

Thanks VAIO FZ



Ken

 

VAIO FZ,

I hit F2 and this is my Boot Screen

1. USB Optical Drive *
2. Internal Optical Drive
3. Floppy Disk Drive *
4. USB Flash Drive *
5. USB Hard Drive *
6. Internal Hard drive
7. Network

A note says the * means these drives are available when External Device Boot is Enabled. That is on the Advanced Tab and I can do that. It is currently disabled. But, not sure what it all means.

The Floppy Disk drive has the * (hence not available?) but it boots first when I turn on the computer if a disk is installed (like a DVD or my Linux CD that I use to load Acronis True Image during backup and restore). But, the USB Hard Drive will not boot into Acronis if it is connected and turned on when I turn on the computer.

I want the Floppy to boot first if a CD/DVD is installed and the USB Hard Drive to boot first if it is connected and turned on. I don't use optical drives. But, to make the USB Hard Drive bootable, I did install on the USB Hard Drive a 125MB Fat32 Flash partition. So, I don't know if the computer will read the USB Hard Drive as a Flash and not a USB Hard Drive when it is connected at startup. At present, when I turn on the computer with the USB Hard Drive connected and turned on, it just boots into Windows and not into Acronis True Image as the Fat32 Flash partition is suppose to have it do.

I thought I could just enable the External Boot Device under the Advanced Tab and leave the order the same. But, since the Floppy Drive has an * like the USB Hard Drive, I don't know what I am accomplishing.

It is possible that the current configuration is correct for what I want to do, but the Fat32 Flash partition is not working and the USB Hard Drive is still not bootable.

Hope this isn't confusing and any advice would be appreciated.



Ken

 

There is no Floppy drive on an FZ series machine. Your external drive is a USB Hard drive, not a USB Optical drive.

So I think you want the order to be:

1. Internal Optical drive (this is your CD/DVD built in drive)
2. USB Hard Drive (your external)
3. Internal Hard drive

Gary

 

Thanks ScuderiaConchiglia,

Understand there is no floppy. Do I rearrange the order on the boot screen to the one you posted and have the rest follow the Intenal Hard Drive on the list? And, do I have to "Enable" External Device Boot on the Advanced Tab of the Boot Screen to have that order work the way I need it to?

I guess I thought since the CD/DVD Drive and USB Hard Drive are already a head of the Internal Hard Drive on the current list, it should already work the way I want it to, if I correctly made the USB Hard Drive Bootable. Am I wrong on that thought?



Ken

 

Rugmankc,

Technically yes. But there is no point in having the BIOS looking for devices you know don't exist. It just slows things down.

I have a feeling that the issue is that the USB hard drive is not correctly set up for booting. But I have ZERO experience in doing that.

Gary

 

ScuderiaConchiglia,

Thanks Again,

I will try the order you suggested. I can always go back to default settings.

I will check with the individual in the Acronis Forums to see if there is a way I can tell whether the USB Hard Drive was set up correctly to boot into the Acronis Environment.



Ken

 

ScuderiaConchiglia,

Got it working, thanks for the help. After you told me the Internal Optical Drive is my CD/DVD and I looked at the screen a little closer, I realized the only two drives with no asterisk were the CD/DVD and Internal Hard Drive. So, all was working as it should. I just changed my order as you suggested and Enabled the External Device Boot under the Advanced Tab on the Boot Screen. The Lacie now boots into Acronis when it is plugged in prior to computer turn on.



Ken

 

I have an FZ280E/B and am interested in upgrading the hard drive to 7200rpm or even a solid state drive, but Sony support does not recommend this because they cannot assure the normal functionality of the computer. Will this actually wreck the computer, or are they just being paranoid?

 

My blu-ray drive is doing the same with CDs... It can´t read or burn CDs anymore!! But DVD is ok. Weird problem!
If there is anybody else who does have the same problem, let us know!

 

uninstall the drive from the device manager > delete the driver checked > install driver from the sony web site

 

I think its safe to upgrade the HD. I don't see any problem of going wrong.

 

That's just Sony trying to control everything. Mine works perfectly fine with a Hitachi 7k200.

 

hey guys, im new to these forums and ive been walking them for the past two months with my vgn fz348e and i guess i was just too lazy too post a reply.

well i have a couple of questions...

one: i have my 8400m gt with 256mb of ddr3 overclocked to 729 core and 950 memory, yet im only pulling maybe 3400 on 3dmark06. should i be expecting more? or should i pull my head out of my ***?

and two: im sporting a dual core intel 1.66ghz and am wondering if upgrading the processor to a 2.2 is possible? or if anything at all?

oh and my fan never shuts off... for the life of this laptop it has never turned off once, and last week i did a complete tear down and no more dust...

thanks for any help,
Cory

 

Probably not I have the same card, overclocked and only getting 3443 max.

 

Are you guys both suicidal? You do realize that the Nvidia chips in FZ series machines are subject to the "bad bumps" syndrome (see other threads here for details) and are at risk for dieing when subjected to extreme heating and cooling cycles.

Gary

 

i dont rarely turn this machine off, only but for updates and such...

but i usually play a game for about half an hour to five hours.. weekends... and my laptop sleeps on my bed


it will usually bunker out at around 65c to 75c and during games tops at around 95c to 100c and ive never had any problems, it only artifacts when i overclock it too much without overvolting it... and i dont get snow just things start bleeping around. but at 729core 1500 shader and 950 mem it works fine no problems.

could it also be a driver issue? that im overclocking with the wrong drivers?

thank you,
Cory

 

I only overclock when I 'need' to squeeze a bit more fps from a game running slow. Yes I've do know about the problem with nVidia. My temps usually are quite low anyway. Idle - 48c and full load - 58-60c.

 

95c to 100c...

You really need to read this:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/378/1004378/why-nvidia-chips-defective

The fact you have had no problems thus far, means nothing in this case. When it fails, it fails. Check out the articles and see if you REALLY want to continue to overclock this fragile chip.

Gary

 

hi all,

thanks for this great thread, I learned a lot from it.

I have a VGN-FZ180E and in general am very happy with. Its got Blu ray and I connect via HDMI to my Sony Receiver, all fine there (including sound settings on Dolby and 5.1 via SPDIF). Certainly for normal DVDs I get great sound quality.

Problem I have is playing BluRay movies, I re-installed windows and fogot to make a recovey disk duuuh me....

All is working fine when I pop in a BluRay, as a DATA disk, it does not give me the option to PLAY the movie, only to explore files (which works fine).

Anybody any idea why this is ?
Did I forget drivers, a little tricky program somewhere?

specs:

- Windows Vista Business
- K-Lite Codecs
- AC3Filters
- Nero 9.0

Thanks for ANY advice give (I am onbiously a beginner at this stuff but lovin it!).

Ronald

 

What program did you use to playback blu ray movies before?

 

download the latest drivers for most of the components in your laptop and playback should resume to be like it was prior to the system restore.

Cory

 

Thanks fella's

I think it was called Win BD, it came with the vaio BEFORE I reformatted the harddrive ....

Listen to this, my model is a VGN-FZ180E which is a US model, the Sony US support does not send recovery discs abroad, and Sony Australia does not support the model..... NO SONY SUPPORT for me, aint it great... gotta love SONY

btw, I downloaded all the latest drivers, or all what I can think of....

 

hehe... thats funny... my fz348e has the same thing...

it will only play bluerays through the win bd program now that you bring it up, and media player or anything else wont touch it.

but recently i had to help somebody for a party for their work's 25th anniversary and they had burned a normal dual layer dvd but my laptop would only play it through the win bd program.

any ideas?

Thanks,
Cory

 

Hi guys! I have a FZ323 and want to know: is there a drivers for the videocard(mine is GF 8400GT) and everything else in the hidden recovery partition? Thanks!!!

 

Yes. When you got your Vaio it should have prompted you to make recovery dvds - everything is on them. From vaio recovery centre, you should be able to find the driver. Offcourse, if you still have the hidden partition installed then they will be on that too.

Just a note, the original drivers supplied by Sony (on your recovery dvd's/partition) is most likely to be outdated. Update from laptopsvideo2go.

Btw, you can also use there FTP page. CLICKY

 

Thanks mate! And i want to ask another thing. My videocard is GF 8400GT and I want to know can I increase my VRAM trought the BIOS or the videocard use as much as it wants?I tried to increased it trought BIOS, but there is no such options. Please, help!

 

Hi, has anyone attempted to install 4GB of RAM in their FZ11S? Does the BIOS map the extra RAM properly?

 

@ Radon 222 : I have 4 gigs HyperX memory on my FZ25GN. It shows me 3069 mb in windows but 4 gigs in the bios.

@Everyone : My Core Temp is usually between 60 and 70 C when im using this machine. Idle at 48-52.

Is that normal? should i be worried?

Also im getting a WD Black Scorpio 320 gig 72k drive for it next week sometime. should i be worried that it'll overheat the machine even more?

Thanks..

 

Core temp of GPU? Or do you mean as in one of the Core's of the CPU?

 

@ tj: Thank you for your reply. Could you tell me what your BIOS version is?

Your CPU temperatures look perfectly normal to me (I presume you are refering to your CPU temperature as the GPU runs noticeably hotter). As far as the HDD upgrade is concerned, I've been using a 320GB Scorpio Black BJKT for a couple of months now and never had any problems with it, including any overheating problems. My system temperatures haven't changed at all after fitting the new hard drive.

 

Hi.....

FZ11S with 4GB no Problem !!!!

See my Signature.....

 

YO Boomzilla, how did you get yours 64x drivers to work?!
http://www.vaio-link.com/os/vista/64bit is down, anyone knows if thers a new 64bit drivers site?! Im working to get 64x on my FZ190, 4gb ram ;~

 

Not necessarily, my GPU temps exactly match his figures. As long as they don't go beyond 80C whilst gaming etc, then you should be fine.

 

Hi....

it´s the same me to.....wait for Download.....

 

You could try the ftp site.

 

Omg, the site is online again!
Thx anyway!

 

Does anyone think its worth it to try to upgrade and FZ? I bought mine last year, its an 180E/B, 200 gb HD, 4 gnb Ram and a T7300 cpu. I was looking for a T9500 to install and a faster HD but Im not sure what I should spend my money on. Any recomendations?

 

I'll stick the the T7300 because although theres an improvement in the T9500 over the T7300, I rather save the money and upgrade the HD. You already have 4GB of RAM so HD is the only worth while upgrade.

 

so you dont think the T9500 is a good upgrade? And from what Ive read everyone that upgrades their HD goes with a 7200 RPM toshiba, is there a specific one that I need?

 

Until the potential issue is resolved about the Nvidia chips, if your FZ has the Nvidia in it I wouldn't sink a dime into any sort of upgrades. I might upgrade the HD, but only because it could be used in another laptop or in an external enclosure. But because this Nvidia issue is hanging like the sword of Damacles over our collective heads, I wouldn't do anything else.

Gary

 

anyone tried Windows7 x64 on a FZ(21S) yet ?