Sony Vpcz1 (vpcz12ahx) Suddenly Freezing

^I'm not disagreeing with you but I would think if it was a design/driver problem more of us would have this issue.

I have never had my Z freeze once. There are 4 others in my office with new Z's and can't say I've heard anyone complain either.

I run office 2011 and a host of other apps but no adobe stuff. Chance the others here with freezes are using cs5?

I beat the crap out of my z...movies...gaming...speed or stamina mode it's flawless. I have to believe there's another issue at play.

 

So far I had my notebook freeze only once but that is probably not related to anything you experience. I had only IE open and email. I could still move the wireless mouse but keyboard wasn't responding and the HDD light was on solid. My notebook unfroze itself after one minute. I don't have the stock SSD's installed.

 

Right I've had a few freezes that lasted a few seconds...I guessed it was garbage collection or two much disk activity...but I've NEVER had my Z just lock up. Sounds like more than a driver issue to me. Do your event logs show anything?

 

Which Z's are you and your people using?

I'm using the VPCZ12AHX

Please advise,

 

Maybe it's an issue with RAM (????) Did you try reseating them, or using one stick at a time?

 

I'm on z112gx/s there are couple others with those and a couple with z122's.

 

I finally got around to trying this...I pulled both chips and swapped them with eachothers port.

(Last night).

Started the computer up, today, in SPEED mode...Took about 15 minutes for a freeze.

)(*&#()*&%)(*#&%*&%**(#&%

 

Even with single sticks? That's too bad

 

Did NOT do single sticks, as yet...Will try that later on today....But now that I think of this, doesn't Windows have a way to do a memory test to ensure my memory is good?

 

I answered my own question: WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC is a tool that is built into Win7. It says my memory is perfectly function. Nonetheless, I'll try single sticks tonight....

 

You could also try Memtest86+ Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool that is a bootable CD. Just let it run for several hours (if it doesn't freeze up). If memtest86+ shows errors it doesn't not necessarily mean the memory is really defect (some Chipsets are not 100% supported that is why it shows sometimes were aren't any). But with memtest86+ you have a good stress test of your computer without going through the OS.

 

Update: No further freezes in Stamina mode. Continues to freeze in Auto or Speed mode, but less frequently that eucalifornia (1-2 times per day on average)
Config:
VPCZ117GG, 8GB, 256GB SSD:
Win 7 pro (factory install), NOD32 Antivirus, MS Office 2007, Maple 13, Google Chrome, Thunderbird 3.13, VLC Media Player, Media Player Classic, Lyx 1.16 / MikiTex 2.8, Cute FTP 8 Pro.

 

How can it be a memory fault, when the problem occurs only in Speed mode ?

 

Are you by any chance using firefoxÉ
Well, I just saw this thread and feel I should tell you my story.
I have a Z that would lock up just as you mentioned, every day or two.
I did extensive troubleshooting, drivers, power management etc.
I also reinstalled the OS (Win 7 pro x64) and removed every single extra program that Sony installs. None of this helped the problem.

However, a series of events led me to do a reinstall and not install Firefox. Since then I have never had a freeze. Install it again...freezes. Re install the OS and don`t put on firefox, no more issues.

Firefox was and still is my favorite browser. IE8, eventually stops working on the Z. WHy.... no idea. SOmething to do with the dcom settings.
I now use chrome (still like firefox better and use it on my workstations), and have no issues.
My bet, is that some dll from firefox, is just plain incompatible with the Z`s.
Now if I could only figure out how to not get extended characters....´

 

Well you could try to find out if it is a hardware issue memory/CPU or not.

 

I don't have Firefox, though I do use Thunderbird.

 

w8 this have something to do with windows
download
Windows6.1-KB2265716-x64

 

Nope.

No Firefox.

Never installed.

 

I guess you have to send it to Sony and hope they'll find the problem.

 

have you try KB2265716 from windows?

 

It's too early to tell, but I installed this hotfix, yesterday, and have been running with both screens (HDMI) in SPEED mode since...About two hours worth of usage....

....so far, so good....

I'm hesitant to call this the solution, just yet....If I get through the entire day without a freeze, then this will look very promising.

 

&%@k....

Guess the first three letters.

I'm way overdue on this post...Machine froze up about 30 minutes after the post below.

Sony called and their tech is coming tomorrow...Said he had been waiting for parts...WHAT PARTS, I asked? They haven't even been out to see the computer and they want to replace parts!!! He said it was a new hard drive & memory. I told him he could come out and see the computer, but that he will not be replacing the hard drive...He's welcome to change the memory...But not the hard drive.

Computer works perfectly in STAMINA MODE. If there were a hard drive and/or memory problem, they would manifest themselves regardless of the video-card setting (I'm guessing).

I'm just not optimistic that the person coming to look at the computer 'gets it'.

 

I'm equally sceptical that it can be SSD or memory for the same reasons, but you could clone your SSD with clonezilla or something similar and restore the image to the new SSD and see what happens, just t prove it. I've used clonezilla a few times and it's pretty easy to use. Otherwise, if you don't let them change the SSD they might not help you much further. At least that way, it would rule out the SSD or RAM officially as the cause.

 

UPDATE: Sony tech came yesterday. Nice guy. He replaced the memory before doing anything else.

Rebooted the computer in SPEED mode...Computer froze within five minutes.

He wasn't sure if the video card was separate or integrated into the motherboard. Accordingly, he ordered a new cooling fan (?) and a motherboard/video card.

ETA? Who knows. At least a week.

Back to STAMINA mode....

 

I'm willing to bet that a replacement motherboard/video card fixed the problem.

 

Well, I have a Sony Z VPCZ128GG. I get those freezes also, I fixed the issue however, uninstall the NVidia driver, and just use the Intel one. Cool hey? I guess I need to take my laptop back, and for them to replace my motherboard.

 

One of the other threads indicates that new video drivers are in beta, so perhaps you should wait and try them when available. Actually you can get the beta version now if you can't wait.

 

This is like the STAMINA alternative...It works, but minimizes the functionalities and capabilities of the computer.

 

ETA on the parts arrival: Cooling fan (still can't figure this one out) arrives on the 28th. The motherboard on the 29th.

 

I have same problem too. However, when I use my laptop with VGP-PRZ10, it's never happened. I am still using official drivers.

 

eucalifornia let us know as soon as you get this problem sorted

 

Any update eucalifornia ?

 

Just an short note:
Vaio Update installed a new BIOS the other day and I decided to switch back to Speed mode to check if it had made a difference. Well, I'm probably tempting fate by posting this, but so far, no more freezes.

 

Update: The end of September came and went. I called into the Sony hotline: 2397687646 or 8002822848

Digression: The 239 answers much faster...

...With my "event ID" last week, only to be told that one of the parts (fan or motherboard--I didn't ask which) was on 'back-order' until the end of October (now).

VERY mad.

So, I sent a letter to Sony's President (NA) Phil Molyneux. I'm hoping that the escalation of the problem, to his level, will (somehow) bring about the resolution of this matter, much faster than then end of this month...If I waited until the end of this month, I could easily get told that there is another 'backorder' that I would have to deal with.

I didn't want to chance it.

As hindsight is 20/20, what I should have done is returned the laptop to the store for another machine...But then again, I could have gotten the same problem as (clearly) others have this issue as well.

I am, for the first time in over a month, running in SPEED MODE (as of the beginging of this post) to (like Rob), tempt-fate. I do not know if I got the BIOS update, but I decided to give it a try anyway...

Will update as it becomes available.

 

Just to say, I have not had a freeze since upgrading the Bios.

eucalifornia: did you upgrade the Bios ?

 

Strangely I'm having this problem as well... on a Vaio F11S1E with Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.

:-S

It's the exact same problem you guys are describing, minus the stamina/auto button part since this laptop doesn't have that.

In my case the freeze is completely random, I can go on for 2 or 3 days without any freeze or having 2 or 3 a day. I'm doing nothing special, just browsing and mail. Sometimes this also happens before logging on or after a wake up from sleep.
Like you, my fan will start spinning up faster and being louder, when this freeze happens I have no choice but to hard reset the computer.

I also have other 3 things to to this:
First, sometimes when I start Windows the screen will be in very low resolution, if I reboot it will go back to normal.

Second, this started to happen on the 6th of this month exactly, before that everything was fine, checked that with reliability monitor.

Third, I get the felling this has to do with Windows/nVidia drivers. Nothing happens if I stress the CPU/GPU and no memory errors are found both with Windows and Vaio Care software. Yet if I use the verifier.exe command to stress test the drivers only (software stress only, nothing on the hardware is stressed) I get a blue screen regarding the nvlddmkm.sys driver.

I'm going to install that hotfix you guys mentioned and if it happens again I'm going to install Linux and keep using it for a few weeks. If the issue doesn't happen in Linux then the problem is with Windows and I'll probably just remove Windows and keep using Linux. If not then it's some hardware rubbish. We'll see.

 

It's equally likely that some third party driver (such as perhaps the NVIDIA one you referenced earlier) could be to blame, or perhaps even some sort of software, such as your AV software (though that's less likely). I would first boot into Safe Mode and see if the problem persists when fewer drivers are loaded and less software is running. If not, you can fix this problem.

 

I can't do that since the freeze is totally random and unpredictable. I can go days without a freeze and then suddenly get a freeze out of nowhere.
I'm also curious about the fact that both my laptop, a F11, and this models, Z12, share the same graphic card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU.
Maybe that in conjuction with some driver/Windows flaw is causing these freezes?

The frustrating with this problem is that there is no way to find out what's going on... :-|

EDIT: I got the freeze again so the update did nothing. After the freeze I got a black screen at the next logon and then the computer rebooted itself.
I'm going to install Ubuntu Linux 10.10 on a second partition and use it for a while to see if the same problem happens. If it does then it's a hardware issue. :-(

EDIT 2: I was trying to install Ubuntu Linux on a new partition and the exact same kind of freeze happened during the install, so it's definitely a hardware issue... god damn the mother****** piece of ****.

EDIT 3: http://www.theonion.com/video/sony-releases-new-stupid-piece-of--that-doesnt,14309/ :-DDDDDDDD

 

You mean this one?

Sony eSupport - VPCZ12AHX - Software Updates & Drivers

 

I had to send mine for repair. It's being looked at, later this week I might have a response on what was wrong with it.

 

I had this issue over a couple of weeks. Suddenly froze and/or random shutdown (no bluescreen, just turned itself off and on again).

I was close to returning mine before I tried removing some of the startups programs, namely Zone Alarm Pro.

This immediately did the trick and it has been working perfect several months later. See my previous posts.

 

Not the same issue I'm having, in my case both restoring Windows to it's original state or using Linux to completely isolate any problem with the OS has no effect. I'd still get the same issue regardless of the OS or programs installed.

 

Sorry, I'm not sure. Vaio Update ran automatically and said it had upgraded the Bios. If you know how I can check, I will. Since then I have not had a freeze.

 

I see the hang/freeze also. I have upgraded the BIOS and graphic drivers but I still see the problem. It almost always happens with stamina graphics. It appears to be hung but it really is not. If I wait long enough, sometimes several minutes, it always comes back. I was rebooting until I decided to wait it out and found that the freeze is temporary. As matter of fact it seems that only the display is frozen. I had a background task running during one of these freezes and it still processed while everything appeared locked.

 

Dear Oscar2,

I just found your advise in this forum......I have this problem since long time and I think since I add. the ram to my Sony, please let me know how to re-seat the rams.

thank you

 

did you find out which bios update did you? this maybe could solve my problem...

 

What is your current bios version?
The latest is R3030C3.

 

i am having you same problem........did you find solved the problem with the bios update.....? is your laptop working now?
please let me know.

 

this is what I have...........R3030C3.....EC Version K2020C3

 

now I am not have the kind of frequently shutdown and restart since I reseted the bios...
I am using the laptop in stamina mode but if I don't use it for 5 minute it get frozen.........and at this point am lost again.....but at least the situation is getting better.