Sony Vpcz1 (vpcz12ahx) Suddenly Freezing

Stamina (Intel video) does work with two monitors, but not using HDMI. You can connect a second monitor using VGA. Speed (nVidia video) will work with the HDMI. I believe Auto enables nVidia if it detects an HDMI monitor connected.

 

For the last few hours, I've been running on STAMINA mode. No freezing. Unfortunately, in STAMINA mode, you cannot use an external HDMI monitor (AUTO or SPEED only).

Were I to be in AUTO or SPEED mode, I was experiencing 'freezing' on a scale measured in minutes.

If the current status continued without freezing, then it is either the video card or the drivers. When I look at the driver in DEVICE MANAGER, there doesn't seem to be a conflict or anomaly.

When I'm in freeze-mode, it can happen at anytime while I'm using it.

If this tests pans out, I'll reconnect the HDMI monitor and put it back into AUTO mode. If/when it freezes, I'll try toggling the switch during the episode.

 

Tried that before. It doesn't have an effect for me.

 

eucalifornia: are you saying that when you freeze, it always unfreezes after a while ? For me I either get instantaneous (less than 1 sec) or a complete freeze and I have to reboot - however, mostly I've never waited for more than maybe a minute before rebooting.


I'm becoming convinced this has something to do with the graphics system.

1. I have not had any freezes since switching to stamina mode
2. I *have* had instantaneous (<1 sec) freezes while switching between apps, but only when moving the mouse between the large window icons above the taskbar - not when using Alt-Tab.

FWIW. I am using an external monitor (non-HDMI)

 

I'm pretty sure my lockups are different. For me, it just happens randomly, but always when using the mouse (not when typing). The mouse just suddenly stops, and then the whole machine is completely unresponsive until I reboot.

As mentioned, I also get these momentary freezes, and when that happens, if I am playing music on the machine, the music also pauses, so it's not just the display that is freezing, but I do think it has something to do with the display - maybe the drivers - but surely there should be a proper crash/bsod if there was a driver conflict or bug ? A complete freeze is more symptomatic of a hardware fault, is it not ?

I have had several cases where the display driver crashes (screen goes blank for a couple of seconds) but the system recovers and gives a message to that effect and everything continues as normal.

 

Rob: NEVER unfreezes.

Once it is frozen, it is reboot time...I may have mentioned this earlier, but when it DOES freeze, there is heightened fan noise...Normally, the fan on this laptop is nearly non-existent. During the freeze, it gets noticeably loud.

I, like you, believe it is a video card/video driver issue.

I've been running the computer without the external monitor (HDMI) now for the last few hours...I ran it in STAMINA mode for a few hours without a problem. I'll do the SPEED/AUTO tests in the AM....

 

Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant by "I was experiencing 'freezing' on a scale measured in minutes."

I also noticed the fan become louder a few times, but not every time.

Still no more freezes since staying in stamina mode.

 

I've never had the complete freezes, but I never use the nVidia graphics. My son played World of Warcraft for a few hours using nVidia and the laptop lcd with no problems.

Everything else for me is exactly the same as yours:
- Stamina mode (but driving an HDMI monitor from the VGA port using an Aluratek VGA-DVI adapter)
- Short pauses when mousing over the Aero window thumbnails

After a day of coding I will sometimes play Bejewelled 2 for a while. It also will sometimes pause while running - the display freezes, but sound continues. Sometimes I wonder if the background garbage collection of the SSD isn't contributing. The drive led will flash every second or so for a long time.

 

gerg: that's interesting.

Yes, I meant "Short pauses when mousing over the Aero window thumbnails" - my explanation wasn't too good.

I find this situation, even with the stamina mode, to be beyond belief. I just checked a few DVD movies and the motion was appallingly jumpy on all of them, and in some instances the sound was not synced with the picture (picture delayed).

I have 6yr old Acer laptop with 2GB running win7 and it's better to watch DVDs on that than this brand new 8GB core i7 Vaio - how can this be possible ! ? ! It's beyond ludicrous.

 

Does your 'hdmi' monitor have a vga input by any chance? Thus allowing stamina mode with the external monitor. I'm not saying it's a fix, by any means, but if in your case it makes the problem go away... (I'm just sayin ).

 

A note regarding the freezing problem: I have seen this sort of thing go away by re-seating the memory chips (worth a try anyway)

 

Well, I think it's about 36 hours now with the machine on constantly with stamina mode, and no major freeze - just the occasional aero mouseover instantaneous freeze.

But this is really not a good solution for me since I use it for watching DVDs a lot and they are basically unwatchable in stamina mode, which can't be right either, can it ?

 

Yeah that doesn't seem right. I haven't watched a movie all the way through on my Z11, but I did watch part of a DVD on it in Stamina mode and it ran just fine. No stutters or anomalies.

 

I continue to have problems UNLESS it is in STAMINA mode...And this (for lack of a more articulate adjective) SUCKS due to the fact that I ALWAYS use an external HDMI monitor.

I'm thinking of reinstalling the factory driver (which is what I'm running), but this is out of desperation...That really shouldn't make a difference.

I'm out of ideas and not pleased with STAMINA mode as being the solution.

PAGING SONY.

 

Your problems with DVD playback could be codec-related, I suppose. Try a different media player perhaps, VLC or Media Player Classic.

What other problems are you still having?

I use the Aluratek AVH-100F for VGA-HDMI at 1920x1200 resolution and it works well. I really don't like hearing the fan run (and speed up and down constantly) when the nVidia is enabled.

VGA to HDMI 1080p Adapter with Audio | Aluratek

 

My problems have nothing to do with DVD.

I'm not even playing a disc (of any kind).

I am just doing light email/internet/spreadsheet work when the freezes occur.

The processor is not being taxed, nor the memory...And certainly not the video card--I'm definitely not using two screens to online game or anything (for that matter) which would be graphics/memory intensive.

I'm just doing basic 'computer work'.

I've been going since 8:30 am, this morning, in STAMINA mode without a single freeze up...I get freezes in AUTO/SPEED mode.

 

Oops, my mistake.

 

It not worked

 

Reason: I have just followed your instructions. I have reconnected my external HDMI monitor. I'll let you know what occurs.

Fingers crossed.

 

Please report later

I'm sure it's ok now

 

Just to be clear: the DVD playback problem has only been encountered since I switched permanently to stamina mode. I never had a DVD problem Auto/Speed (FYI, I have WMP, VLC and MPC so I don't think it's a codec issue).
The freezing problem occurs in Speed/audo mode and happens when doing random tasks, just like eucalifornia (not playing DVDs)

Will try the fix posted by Reason now.

 

%#)*%(#@ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well...That didn't take long. About 20 minutes into your fix (REASON), it froze. It was in AUTO MODE. I tried it in SPEED MODE: Freeze within a minute or so.

Fu*king computer. Ready to frisbee-it.

Any other suggestions?

 

I understand you.. It's very annoying, especially for this price level notebook..

My computer freeze too on Auto-Speed mode before install new drivers... But almost 1 week "no freeze" after installation..

Lets wait "longrob" feedback..

BTW, you try simulate what i do...

1 - Install stock drivers.. (source : esupport-sony)

2 - Get rid of it..

3 - Install new drivers..

 

I have followed the instructions given above.

Now running in speed mode, so far with no problems (but only an hour so far).

However, when checking the Device Manager, I find that the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M driver version is now:
version: 8.16.11.8880
Date: 19/01/2010

That does not seem to correspond with the information in the link provided by Reason above.

Any thoughts ?

 

Somethings wrong...

Uninstall driver... Install again.. Your drivers seems not updated..

This is mine...

 

Please check your driver's version too...

 

have removed the driver through device manager and run the new driver install. All it does is create a data1.can abd data2.cab

Now, I can't boot at all with Speed mode - just get a blank screen

In stamina mode I have only a standard VGA driver 1280x1024 res (microsoft driver)

External monitor (non HDMI) not recognised !

Switching to Speed mode does nothing !

In Device Manager I have two "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" one of which is shown as "Cannot start"

Nightmare ! ! !

Edit: Ignore the above - the exe file on the link above does not instal the driver - you need to make a new dir and extract all to the new dir, then run setup from the new dir.

 

Did you try to install in SAFE MODE ?!.. It's important for avoid black screen..

In addition, i'm experienced a lot troubles too while install driver (Because, try in Normal Mode not Safe mode).. But finally it's ok..

 

Yes, I installed the driver in safe mode, and now I have the new version.
Here is what I did
1. Remove driver through control panel/device manager
2. Boot into safe mode
3. Extract the exe file to new dir
4. Run setup from the new dir.
5. Reboot

Device manager now shows
version 8.16.11.8992
date: 12/05/2010

So far no more freezes but only time will tell. My freezes were less frequent than eucalifornia's

 

So far so good. 12 hours with no freeze. Will leave it on overnight doing stuff.

 

Here are mine....They look just like yours.

 

Rob,

In your list, below, you show:

3. Extract the exe file to new dir
4. Run setup from the new dir.

I just ran the executable from where it downloaded on the desktop. What difference would it make if I created a new directory? Where did you create your new directory? What did you name it?

I can't imagine how this would make a difference, but am willing to give it a try.

 

The exe file that you download is nothing more than a ZIP file. When you run it, it will self-extract a bunch of files, including setup.exe. If you don't put it in a sub-directory, your desktop will be filled with all kinds of files!

You can extract the file in regular mode if you want. But once you extract all the files and setup.exe, you need to run setup.exe in safe mode.

 

That's kind of what I thought. I had it in a NEW FOLDER on my desktop.

Subsequently, I appear to have the same drivers...But (unfortunately) the same problem.

 

Same here.

The problem remains :-(

Also, the machine now takes longer to boot than my 6yr old Acer laptop that has a EIDE drive !! Even booting in safe mode takes a long time. Shows that it's loading classpnp.sys then a long pause before showing the splash screen.

 

remove/ uninstall vaio gate. that bar load much longer time.
removing the vaio gate (that bar thing) does speed up my load in time (VPCZ128GG SSD Raid0)
update vaio care to 6.1x, then check up again.

 

UPDATE: My computer only works 'normally' in STAMINA MODE.

No freezes in STAMINA mode.

AUTO or SPEED will induce a freeze within minutes of use.

 

Update from me too:
Same as eucalifornia: no freezes in stamina mode, but does freeze in auto or speed.

The big difference is that my freezes are much fewer - maybe once or twice a day - sometimes none for 2-3 days. eucalifornia: for this reason I somewhat envy you as you can take it to the sony service center and demonstrate the problem easily. I went to my sony centre today, and couldn't reproduce the problem - and I couldn't leave it with them overnight again.

 

I'm still waiting for Sony. They told me, on Tuesday, that they would have a tech contact me and come out to inspect the laptop at my place of business.

Thankfully, I have a phone number and an 'event ID'.

So far, no word from Sony.

Anyone else have any workarounds/solutions to the problem?

 

If a system restore doesn't fix this for you guys it has to be a hardware defect. My z has locked up once, no matter what I'm doing. I think looking for newer drivers to fix this is going to be a wild goose chase.

 

Of course I might be wrong, but I don't think it's a hardware fault in my case. This problem first occured about 2 weeks after buying it, and then has occurred every day (or every other day since). I *did* do a complete system restore about a month ago (major pain in the neck - took me 3 solid days to re-install everything), and it was totally fine (not problem whatosever) for about 10 days, then the same thing started again. I explained all this to Sony and they are also using it as an excuse that it's not their problem.

 

"come out to inspect the laptop at my place of business"

Now I *really* envy you.

I have a 13+ hours round-trip drive to take mine to the service centre and if they keep it overnight I have to stay in a hotel unless i want to do 26 + hours of driving in 2 days. I've done the hotel stay once. They offer a courier service to return it (at extra cost) but I once had a laptop go missing in such circumstances (I live in a near-third world country)

Yesterday I set off at 3AM so I could reach them just after they open and I stayed all day with them running diagnostics and whatever. Then I left at 5PM when they closed for a 7 hour return drive.

And to think i thought I bought the best laptop available at the price/spec.

 

Pretty much the same pattern: My laptop had a freeze about a month in; it then took another week or so before it consistently froze up every single time I turned it on in either AUTO or SPEED mode.

Totally unusable, now, unless it is in STAMINA mode.

 

What a disaster...7 hours each way to service the machine? If I didn't have a Sony Store, just miles from me, I'm not sure where I would have to bring my machine, but it probably wouldn't be close...

I paid $4,800 for mine...I (too) expect more.

 

New update: I just went to make a coffee and when I came back, it was frozen - in STAMINA mode !!! This is the first time that has happened.

 

I think this happened to me once...I think....I've had so many freeze-ups that I've lost track of the circumstance by which they happen.

STAMINA has shown good stability, but this is not a usuable mode for me as I need the extra screen.

No word from the Sony on-site tech visit yet...

Digression: I'm certain he will NOT be a Sony tech. He'll probably be some contracted technician that has general laptop servicing experience...I'm pretty certain our problem is notebook-specific to Sony....

 

Hmm anyone figured out why this is happening? faulty laptops or does every Z seem to suffer?

 

"STAMINA has shown good stability, but this is not a usuable mode for me as I need the extra screen."

I'm using an extra screen - though not HDMI - however in Stamina mode my dvd and video file playback is very jerky so it's not usable for me either, though I can live with it temporarily, so long as I don't get any more freezess in Stamina mode.

 

This is not a common Z problem, but clearsly a few people have this issue.

I think it would be interesting if the folks w/this issue could compare their configs...installed apps....etc. My gut tells me they have a hardware defect but it could also be a rogue app of some sort.

 

For the record: No viruses, no malware, Win7 Ultimate 64bit, MS Office 2011 & Adobe CS5 Master Collection.

That is it.

Literally.

Updated the SATA registry which seems to address this EXACT issue; but relates to the hard drive. Since then, users, like myself, have determined that it is a video card/driver issue.