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    Giving my Vaio E series some new life

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by JamieBBC, Dec 20, 2011.

  1. JamieBBC

    JamieBBC Newbie

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    I've decided to get my computer's act together by cleaning up the insides and installing a fresh Windows copy on it. I have a few questions that I hope some people might answer (I can find very little about this specific model - vpceb1s1e)

    - I get very high CPU temps right now (50-65 doing normal stuff, over 90 while gaming), can I test for permanent damage somehow?
    - In addition to removing dust, is it worth it to apply new thermal paste (AS5)?
    - Can I install a fresh copy of Windows 7 using the serial provided with the notebook?
    - Can I revert back to factory OS and settings (bloatware) after? I still have the 3 DVDs backed up since the beginning somewhere and also a hidden partition of 10GB seems to be in this thing.
    - When I do a fresh install am I still dependent on VAIO drivers and such nonsense? Always hated not having the option do update videocard drivers.
    - Anything else I should know just in case :)

    Thanks in advance~!
     
  2. JamieBBC

    JamieBBC Newbie

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    Shame no one replied, I went ahead and opened it up. It was actually fairly easy (only hard part was remembering the screws but I put them neatly in order on a table :)). Removed the fan and cooling stuff, gave it a nice cleaning removing all the dust (one part of the heatsink was totally blocked by dust). You could really see how warm the videocard heatsink was because of how burned it looked. Anyway, I applied some AS5, put everything back together and end result is basically a dream. I actually feel cold air coming out of the side :eek: Have the laptop on my lap right now and it feels a bit cold as well. I have Firefox open and Photoshop and it won't go over 40 degrees C! Before it would be about 55-60. Off to install a clean version of W7 in a minute. Can't wait to use this as my main rig again.

    So if anyone has any questions about this VAIO type, just give me a shout!!

    One question I'm still concerned about, am I still dependent on VAIO drivers if I do the clean install? Can I install normal Catalyst drivers? I can't find anywhere if this is dependent on the OEM OS build or the actual hardware...