C Series - Question

Hey guys, need some help...

I just bought one ( VGNC140GB), but I've been having unpleasant experiences and I'd like to know if any of you have experienced some of the following (or you think I'm too picky). Over the last two days, I've exchanged it twice.

[1] The first one was subject to a lot of 'electronic' noise, which seemed to come from the speakers. Even with the volume on mute and wifi disabled, there was substantial noise (like interference) coming from the left speaker. Since I couldn't eliminate it, I needed to exchange.

[2] Just this morning, I picked up a second one. There's no electronic noise, but this time, there's an irritating 'whirl-like' noise from inside, which maybe be related to the fan? I know that fan speeds needs to adjust depending on the computer's activity, but in this model, the pitch of the noise was oscillating while the fan blew at the same relative intensity. After awhile, this subtle oscillation made it difficult to use the notebook, as it was terribly distracting. I have no idea whether it was a bad fan/heat sensor, or something else.

[3] I got my third one, just tonight. I notice that there is still *some* electronic interference, but not often and intermittently - certainly not irritating like the first. When I use the keys/pad to scroll, for example, even with my volume muted, doing so will infrequently cause a little noise to come from the left speaker. Moreover, while there is still a subtle hum/whirl which seems to be audible above the fan blowing, it isn't oscillating in pitch nearly as loudly or as severely. I've taken back two, and since this computer is more or less averaging out the flaws of the others, it suggests to me that it might be typical...

I know these things are difficult to describe, but if there are any C owners out there, do these issues sound familiar at all?

Help me out if at all possible; I'm trying to avoid a lemon, thinking maybe that I've stumbled across a bad product shipment...

Brandon

 

Not a C owner, but I think that 'interference' is actually your battery. I have no idea why it happens but it occurs on my FJ relatively often. Dont worry about it.
The whir is something new. maybe its the hard drive?

 

One more thing about the 'electronic' noise on my current unit...sometimes it will come and go, with the unit just running - again, from the left speaker. It's not severe, but you can notice it if you pay attention or put your ear close to the speaker.

I just tried removing the battery ric, going only on AC...but it still seems to be there.

 

Check the top thread about C1Z noise, it happens to a lot of the Sony laptops it seems.

 

Thanks, ric...I've been reading on that, too...This noise doesn't come from the screen, though...

I can only suspect that [electronically] it's just not insulated very well?

 

I have the C series and I don't have any issues at all. No screen or loudpseaker buzz at all. Where were your units manufactured? I have the Thailand version with GF7400 and made in China, and it was perfect right out of the box. The only problem I have with it, is I can't get a semi-clean install done. It just has to install all the software it came with (quite annoying).

Wish I could help, but I think maybe you should take it back for your 4th

 

I think I will; I still have the electronic buzzing on this model coming from both speakers, once it warms up.

I think I'm going to wait a week, and see how it goes. But then after that, I'll either exchange again or not buy it at all...

It's insane - three models in a row, all defective to an extent...I think waiting may be smart, until a new shipment comes into town? I'm thinking the entire run I got in my local stores was defective.

I called tech support twice, but they aren't any help with these kinds of technical issues, unfotunately. I'm afraid I just won't end up buying a Sony...

 

Yeah that sounds like a smart idea. It could be that the whole shipment was defective like you said.

Just wait it out and you should get a fully working system. It's well worth it imo, it's a great computer

 

I have the same problem exactly as you described it: noise from the speakers even when they are muted, you can clearly hear it when you scroll, sometimes it comes and goes. It is an obvious electric grounding problem. Tech support offered to send the unit in and then see if they can fix it or send a new unit. Anyway, I have a US model, no Dedicated video, and it was made in china.

Other things I didn’t like:
1. IMHO it gets a little too warm, especially for a computer with no dedicated video. I like to use the computer on my lap, but sometimes it gets so warm, that it makes me want to take it off.
2. Do you guys find the battery a little loose? I mean it doesn’t fall off and the physical connection with the laptop would not break but its not fully fixed in there. Its no big deal, but its something I have never seen on a laptop before(not like I used many, but I wouldn’t expect it from SONY)
3. Display. Viewing angle could be better, sometimes I have to experiment with the position of the LCD to get the best angle to watch a movie.
4. Weight. Although I knew the weight of the computer when I was buying it, I could say that a 14 inch computer that weights slightly more feels lighter. I wish it was half a pound lighter and a bit thinner. For me this unit doesn’t fall into a category of “light and thin”
5. I think that express card is useless, I would rather have PCMCI.

Good things:
1. Battery life is quite OK. Nothing impressive, but it lasts for 2 hours for sure watching a movie, surfing the web and so on.
2. Relatively quiet. Rarely you can here the fan.
3. Not very big in size. (something I was looking for)
4. Has an Svideo out. (A rare thing on a sony laptop)
5. WiFi connection is good. It holds the connection in the spots where my older computers would disconnect.

Overall impression – disappointed. Mostly because of the noise in the speaker and heat.
If not because of this 2 things I would have been ok on the system for this price . Next time I will consider Asus.

 

Vanger,

Thanks for posting; it must be a general build issue then - my model is the same as yours, with integrated video, made in China, etc. I also notice that the battery is a little loose.

This must be a fairly widespread problem (or at least, may have been common among a particular run...) The probability of getting three duds in a row is very low, unless there's a general build issue with the unit...

Just too bad; I got a very good deal on it after some research and bargaining

Aside from having no help through tech support and having to drive back to the store so often, what bothers me is that this kind of issue should simply not happen on this unit, given the price it retails for in Canada (1600 CDN, or 1,393.75 USD for the GMA 950 model, 1 gig of ram). There's a several hundred dollar brand premium going on, and to me it really hurts the company's image if you're willing to pay this extra, and then have silly issues like this that you wouldn't even find in a sub-1000 CDN Acer model. I know that every company can hand you a dud - hence my willingness to keep exchanging this. But when an entire stock in my city is proving junk, there's something going on. (As a side note - my third unit is even from a different store than the first two!)

 

Brandrama,
Yeah, I bought mine in Circuit City in NH so i payed 1350 and no tax.
I should get a $150 mail in rebate. I will try to exchange the unit in a Circuit City store in Buffalo. Who knows, may be that will help. If not, oh well, i guess that will be it for me with buying Sony and SonyEriscsson products, since lately most of them tend to have different kind of problems, and you usualy have to pay some extra for the brand, which does not make much sence lately.

 

I got mine at Staples, in Kingston ON. I'm going to try a store in another city, as well. If that doesn't fix it, I'll be dumping it like you.

 

Well...

I'm on my fourth unit. The first two came from the same store, the third from a different store. The fourth I picked up in an entirely different city more than 2hours away!

Same problem. There's definitely a build issue going on with this unit.

 

So the issue is the buzzing of the screen?

Im quite cut from this, this notebook suited me perfectly. (excluding the ****ty 512mb of memory).

I expect better from sony.

 

Not screen buzzing...

When the unit is running, noise will come from the speaker sand you can't get rid of it...If you plug in headphones it helps to silence it though. It will come and go from the speakers at random (even when muted).

 

Hi Brandon,

Thanks for replying in my thread, I missed this when I was searching for C-series problems. I checked and I have the same "electronic" noise when I'm scrolling. I usually have music or the TV on so I haven't noticed it until now. The fan is always "whirring" but it's somewhat acceptable.

After talking to Sony support today (US-based, surprisingly) a level 2 support guy told me there are two revisions of the keyboard, where the new version fixesthespacebarproblem. Infuriatingly, the WHOLE LAPTOP needs to be sent in for service, a simple part like a keyboard can't be FRU'd.

VAIO's and Sony support is such junk.... I regret straying from the Thinkpad brand... I may just sell this laptop since I'm past the return policy of the retailer.


Good luck.

 

heh
i still can exchange this unit, but from what ppl are saying here - it will not help.
Too bad, I kinda like it. Close to what i was looking for.

Woshi, how much do you think you can get for your unit?

 

Well, that's part of the problem, ebay is looking like around 1000-1100 US for a sealed new in box unit. Even worse, this week Circuit City is running a special on these, 1100 after rebate. Don't even need to wait for shipping.

Looks like I'll be eating at least $350 after taxes. I'm going to see if my credit card company can offer anything, at this point I'm more than willing to pay a 10%-15% restocking fee.

I made a costly mistake... hope others don't do the same.

 

Sorry to hear about these problems, seems that Sony has nothing but quality control issues, first the SZ series, now the C model. This really sux, Sony!

 

I'm almost reluctant to say it, but if it were a QC issue, it would be okay.... because replacement parts would fix it.

This however, seems like a keyboard design issue, not a QC issue.... major bummer

 

For whatever it's worth, I was very unhappy with what ended up being design flaws in my recently purchased VAIOs (two different models!!), and each time eventually got Sony to offer me exchanges on both occassions. I also thought that I'd end up re-selling my machines and taking a loss --- but didn't have to in either case. I wouldn't discount the idea of calling and talking to Sony support ----- they "officially" do not have an exchange program but, in my experience, persistence and good arguments pay off.

 

That's good to know... luckily, after much arguing with the retailer, they agreed to take the C140 back. I guess I'll exchange it for an HP or maybe the FE770 and cut my losses on ebay.

I did originally purchase an extra Sony AC adapter, if anyone wants it for less than the $80 retail or whatever Sony charges for it, please PM me.

 

Hello to everyone participating in this thread!
I have had my C190 for about 5 weeks now. I spent the first couple weeks playing around with it to do a fresh format/install (a major pain in itself since sony doesn't offer ALL the appropriate drivers on their site!), and once it was up and running how I like it, I started to notice a nasty buzz/hum/whine in the speakers. It DEFINITELY went from 'noticeable' to 'unbearable' in less than 2 weeks time. I don't know why or how, as no other trick I tried by physical movement seemed to change it at all.

Every piece on there had a distinct noise to it. I could hear a 'hum' from the HDD spinning. Using a mouse to move the cursor made a funny buzz. Using the touchpad to move the cursor made a horrible grinding-buzz. Firing up any resource-using device, such as firefox, netstumbler, various audio programs... would make a constant high pitched squeal. Some of them would not stop squealing after being shut down even! And when I plugged in my portable HDD... Holy Crap, it sounded like a banshee in heat! But it did not happen on battery power (well, it did, but was so quiet I had to hold my ear directly to the speaker to notice it). And another weird thing was when the CPU started loading (>30% or so), it went away!

This was simply intolerable. Even with music playing, the squealing was overwhelming it until about 80% volume, when the speakers began to crackle from being crappy. I searched for others with this problem and eventually found this thread. A bunch of other random searches led me to finally figure out how to disassemble the thing! (Because sony so thoughtfully gives users a service manual).

What did I find when I finally got it apart? Oh wow, look here, there are UNSHIELDED speaker wires routed side-by-side with the coax cables for the NIC and (what I presume to be) a power main!

So I half-way pieced it back together to fire it up and see if I could determine how to fix the problem. That in itself caused the buzz/hum/whine to disappear! After leaving it on for about a half hour, it started to come back, but still nowhere near the ferocity of before (and probably even lighter than when I initially noticed it.)

Well, it dawned on me as I was putting it back "together" that I should take pictures of this and document it, so others could at least figure out how to disassemble the blasted thing! So, I've started that. And at the risk of sounding like a thread-crapper, I hope in the next few days to get all the pictures snapped and have a little review written on how to fix it. I need to get some supplies that I require to seriouslyfix it (rather than just hope it stays fixed by disassemble/reassemble), and hopefully it's exactly the problem I think it is and can post a small 'tutorial' on here for all. (hopefully this forum allows me to post pictures since I have no hosting space)

 

Thanks for the heads up. I went to the sony store and was just about to buy one these puppies the other day, but I was turned off by the faulty space bar and the excess heat created by this little machine. Now I know they have serious shielding problems too.

After having my share of problems with a BX and SZ before, now I know to better stay away from sony.

 

When you say "excess heat", do you mean that it gets really (or unbearably) hot? Or just that it seems like the cooling fans turn on much more than they need to--even on battery with power management set to "quiet"?

If it is "really hot" option, then I can't say I've noticed that on mine. This is only my second laptop, but between this one, my old one, and my roommate's (13, 15, 17", respectively... the latter also being a 'desktop replacement'), it is by far the coolest of them all. One of the most irritating things about the laptop is that the heat exhaust is on the RIGHT SIDE, which cooks your mouse hand (for us righties anyway), so that may be why it seems so hot. (my old laptop had left-side intake, rear exhaust, and my roommate's has under-side intake, rear-exhaust. rear makes the most sense to me, but apparently not to sony).

But if you mean "excessive fan use", then I fully agree. I noticed that right away. Even while idling it would have the fan running if it were on for more than 20 minutes or so. I pulled off the CPU cover and then the heatpipe to reveal what must have been the world's $#!+tiest thermal compound application. Easily less than 1/4 of the die was even in contact with any! I cleaned that crap off and put some silver-based thermal compound on there. Now the only time the fans audibly crank up (even when plugged in with "performance" cooling option) is when the CPU goes under high load for more than a few seconds. DEFINITELY a worthwhile mod.

To also touch on that "spacebar problem", that was something I didn't even notice. I guess I am lucky (?) that I only use my right thumb to hit the spacebar. I forced myself to use the left thumb, but it felt awkward, so I must not ever use it , but then I DID notice that the spacebar was goofy on the left side. After getting the keyboard off, I noticed that spacebar problem wasn't a problem--it pressed in and out just as one would expect. Upon further inspection, it seems to be related to the flex cable that connects the keyboard to the motherboard. It is EXACTLY underneath the left side of the spacebar, and slightly pushes upward, and is presumably what is causing the spacebar malfunction.

Hopefully this is enlightening or helpful to someone!

 

Thanks for your review and mods. I meant the unit must be getting excessively hot for the fan to be on almost all the time. I'm going to stay away from this model.

 

All,
I wanted to comment here, too. I've had my VGN-C150P/B since November 2 and have had a really good experience with it. Yes, the left side of the space bar is dead but there is apparently a fix in the works at Sony. Yes, my speakers emit some strange noises froim time to time (even when iTunes is not up and running ;-)) but this is not a big deal in my experience. The computer runs quite quickly with Vista Business RTM installed and in my opinion the design of the notebook is unsurpassed. Black with copper accenting is a great look and the textured keyboard surround is gorgeous and unique. The screen is the perfect size for travel and home use and the colors are bright and crisp. The size and weight are just about what's expected for this level of performance. My wireless functionality hs been great as has the sleep and wake-up operation. Admittedly, those could be more related to Vista than to the C Series...
I do plan to return the unit for the keyboard fix but will be waiting for Sony to figure out the sound issue before losing my computer for a week or so. I've already called in and recorded the issues with Sony so as to protect the warranty status.
All in all I can recommend the C Series based on it's obvious design and style qualities as well as the overall performance I have experienced and now that the price has come down somewhat, I believe it truly represents a good value. I've owned several laptops and still use a Thinkpad daily for work, but I really enjoy opening up the Sony at Starbucks (its great looks get comments from onlookers) and shooting off an email or researching my next gadget purchase. I'll probably use this notebook for a couple years and fully believe that I'll enjoy every day of use. Hopefully this will off-set some of the other comments here - while I can't disagree that there are some issues with the C Series - at least for me they are offset by the positive qualities...

 

Firstly, in response to BimmerJMG:
Fortunately, you have had good experience with your laptop! Or maybe you're the type of person whose feathers aren't ruffled by the minute details of operation. Either way, that's good. However, I have to say, from hindsight, that I would NOT recommend this laptop, even aside from the spacebar and speaker buzz issues, it has some pretty poor design choices, such as the right side fan exhaust and USB ports. There are many other computers of this size/weight/processing class that would have better designs, so in my opinion, the two reasons to that this one should stick out are the great keyboard (minus spacebar issue) and its "stylishness".

But, to get to the speaker buzz issue, I spent all weekend trying to fix it. I ripped it all apart and shielded every cable I could find, as well as adding some better grounding at some points, but it DID NOT eliminate it. It certainly made it better, definitely "tolerable" in a louder ambient noise environment, but still it was there. After lots of fiddling with it, I did determine that it was related to the CPU... noise from that was jumping on either the audio bus (there are two flex cables very close to the CPU that attach the audio daughterboard to the motherboard), or on the power bus. I was able to find another C series (a 140g/b), and was able to swap over piece by piece to find where the problem lie. It was in the motherboard! There were, however, a couple of chassis pieces that were "loose" on mine, compared to the non-buzzing computer. They were related to the bluetooth and express card, though. (But I still wouldn't rule out that possibility).

I swapped motherboards, retained all the same hardware otherwise, and the speaker buzz is now gone! What a long and horrible endeavor! And my first 3 attemps at contacting sony about this all told me that it was software related.

a couple pictures attached to show the speaker wire before/after some copper tape shielding.

 

hi guys, im from china and i planning to get a Sony Vaio C Series too.
i think there is a bit different, in china C series have Nvidia Go 7400 vga card,80 gigs harddisk, and 768 ram its only 9988 Rmb.
before i get one, i think i want to make sure about the lack on the space keyboard and speaker issues.

 

I own a VGN-C140G (bought for $800 at Best Buy the week-end before the arrival of Vista, they obviously wanted to get rid of these). I already posted on another thread regarding the noise the laptop makes when scrolling a window or moving a window around. Recently I went to the control panel->Power Options->VAIO power management panel, and changed "CPU Control" from "performance" to "Adaptive". Since then I experience far less noise (even if it appears from time to time). It's the second day since I made the change and I hope it will stay like that. Apparently I didn't experienced any loss in performances either.