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    Upgrading Vaio Tx

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by vj_vaio, Nov 27, 2008.

  1. Qwaarjet

    Qwaarjet Notebook Deity

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    which bay adapter did you use? Is it possible to set the the 2nd HDD as the boot drive?
     
    Qwaarjet, Mar 10, 2012
    #151
  2. sky123

    sky123 Notebook Consultant

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    sky123, Mar 11, 2012
    #152
  3. zimbros12

    zimbros12 Notebook Deity

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    On my sony TZ I have no option in the BIOS to boot from 2nd HDD...
    If I could would swap the HDD > SDD ...
     
    zimbros12, Mar 11, 2012
    #153
  4. n505vx

    n505vx Newbie

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    I have a Sony VAIO TXN27N and I recently picked up a BCM70015 Crystal HD High Definition video (it's an AzureWave AW-VD920) Broadcom Hardware Decoder BCM970015 - PCIe Mini Card and tried to use it in the WWAN min PCIe slot, but I couldn't get it to power up. I put it in the WLAN card slot and now it works, but I'm out a WLAN card so I'm using a Cardbus WLAN card. Anybody know how I can get both mini PCIe slots to work at the same time? The BCM70015 is a great addition to the TXN. Video playback of Flash video and video files with VLC is much better and lowers the CPU utilization. Highly recommended.
     
    n505vx, Jul 26, 2012
    #154
  5. rob650

    rob650 Notebook Guru

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    Interesting. I would be interested to know how much that helps?
    These TX laptops are highly underpowered.
    I don't know the answer to your question, but could you get power from the WLAN card and run a wire to the WWAN card? That seems like it would work?
     
    rob650, Jul 27, 2012
    #155
  6. n505vx

    n505vx Newbie

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    The immediate impression is that for playing video files, the BCM70015 Crystal HD High Definition video decoder works very well. Usually when I play a 700 MB - 1.5 GB AVI/MP4 file, the CPU is pegged at 100%. After adding the BCM70015 Crystal HD High Definition video decoder, the CPU usage drops to about 30-50%. With flash video, there's not significan improvement, but definitely noticable improvement. The CPU usage drops from 100% to about 80%. So the flash video files play reasonable although there are still occasions when the video stops or studders.

    I recall there's a pin on the miniPCIe card that controls power, but I'll have to look that up. I was hoping that perhaps there was a more graceful solution, like a switch or something. But I can cover up one of the slots if that's what it takes.
     
    n505vx, Jul 27, 2012
    #156
  7. rob650

    rob650 Notebook Guru

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    Do you have to do anything? Like turn it on? Or just install the driver and it works when it needs to and doesn't when it doesn't?
     
    rob650, Jul 27, 2012
    #157
  8. n505vx

    n505vx Newbie

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    Nothing special. Simply plug it in, install the drivers Crystal HD Video Decoder Drivers | Broadcom and it goes to work. I think the video player software has to support it, but the big ones already do. From what I can tell VLC works with it just fine and according to Broadcom's website the following players support Crystal HD decoder: GOMplayer, Kmplayer and Media Player Classic. I think the Crystal HD decoder is specifically a video decoder and not a video accelerator, so Windows doesn't use it for anything.
     
    n505vx, Jul 28, 2012
    #158
  9. rob650

    rob650 Notebook Guru

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    Pretty interesting, thanks for the info!
     
    rob650, Jul 29, 2012
    #159
  10. User Retired 2

    User Retired 2 Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    You probably have a pci-e (wifi) and USB (wifi) mPCIe slot. So only solution to keep the Crystal HD where it is and use a USB wifi card in the WWAN slot. That's the exact formula a 2710P owner came up with given the same slot configuration in http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...wan-port-2710p-mpci-e-slot-2.html#post7335739 .
     
    User Retired 2, Jul 29, 2012
    #160
  11. n505vx

    n505vx Newbie

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    Ok, I'm going to give that a shot. I've purchased the Sparklan WPER-172GN 802.11n/b/g USB Half Mini Card from embeddedworks.net ( Embedded Works| wlan > usb-minicard > EW-WPER-172GN).

     
    n505vx, Sep 8, 2012
    #161
  12. n505vx

    n505vx Newbie

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    Confirmed. A USB mini PCIe card (in this case the Sparklan WPER-172GN 802.11n/b/g USB Half Mini Card) works in the WWAN slot. You have to install the SmartWi Connection Utility and run the TurnOnWWAN.bat in the SmartWi Connection Utility installation path to enable the WWAN slot.
     
    n505vx, Sep 13, 2012
    #162
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