A170/A190 Questions

I've been using this A170 notebook for a few weeks now, and still love it. I have some questions though for people using this model.

I noticed that the fan is running constantly. Is that normal? I can see the little rotor blades only when I turn off the computer. It is not loud, I'm just wondering if that is supposed to be that way.

Even though the battery is fully loaded the icon in the taskbar is always the one with the little lightning. Only if I remove the battery it changes to the plug icon. It says 100% loaded and charging.

Any thoughts on that?

 

my fan normally only in use when im playing games or looking at 3dmark.....

i thought the icon was for sony updates??

krlock

yep... thats me.

 

Hi krlock,

No, I don't mean the Vaio Update icon. There is the other one for battery status. Maybe it's not in your taskbar. But you could still see it in the control panel under 'power options' and 'power meter'.

Regarding the fan, that means you can see the rotor blades while the computer is running (no gaming, etc.)?

axelhi

 

to be honest, i havent seen any rotor blades anywhere....????

i dont know how i would see them, but i can hear when the fan is on, and thats basically just when gaming....

as for the power thing, i would have to check, as im at work...

krlock

yep... thats me.

 

The fan is underneath, about where you can see microphone, and headphone jacks on the left side. I held the computer up and closed the lid, to put it in stand by. After a few seconds I saw the fan stopping. I would be really interested if that is a failure on my computer (BIOS or something?) because I still could return it to get a replacement.

Thanks for your help!
axelhi

 

axelhi,

My A170P exhibits the same traits as you describe so I do not think it's a problem. My fan runs at a very low speed and sound volume (barely perceptable above the spinning hard drive sound) constantly, increasing in speed and sound only with increased processor activity. Also, my battery icon exhibits the same behavior as yours. Looks like it's a feature!

 

MWSony,

Thanks for your reply! I'm glad to hear that this behavior is normal, and I don't have to send it back. It seems you live in a pretty quiet environment as well. [ ] I read some posts about this computer in which people were claiming the A series Sonys don't even have a fan.

Thanks again!

 

Hi Axelhi! My A170 fan spins continuously as well, so I guess it's a standard feature. It is very silent though, so it's not a problem!

As for the battery icon, mine shows the battery icon as long as I'm running on battery. The moment I plug the mains in, the icon changes to the plug with the lightning bolt! Does yours show the plug icon when you're running on battery?

 

@kbk 75

I see the battery icon as well when the power cord is unplugged. In other words it's the same as on your computer.