VAIO Z shutdown problems, plz help!

hey guys

i have a vaio Z, its not a US model as i dont live in the USA, its a VPCZ138GG

heres the specs from my home market translated into english
VPCZ138GG/XQE1 - Sonystyle.com.hk
december 2010 model
8gb ram
core i7
256ssd
no blueray

i'm really happy with the unit except around 50% of the time it wont shutdown, go to sleep or standby mode, it just hangs, then crashes then reboots

Its been like this since the day i got it, ive googled high and low for a way to fix this and ive found nothing.

does anyone know how to fix this or do i have to send it back to sony? i had to save up for a while to afford this and replace my 2009 Z so im super keen to get this thing working right?

thanks in advance

s

 

Does it crash every time you try to shutdown/sleep? Does it crash with a BSOD and, if so, have you checked the error code to see why it's crashing? You could also try reinstalling Windows to see if that fixes the problem.

 

thanks for replying Jake

it happens like every second time i send the machine into sleep mode, it doesnt blue screen, just the monitor gos black, and the green power light stays on, then eventualy it just reboots

i dont know where to check for an error code if there is one

like i said the machine is factory standard with windows 7 64bit factory install and no special software, just office, ie ..etc

ive tryed sending it to sleep with a bunch of apps open, and also closing all the apps and sending it to sleep and i get the same problem

i can re-install it, but i would prefer not to as its a PITA bringing back all my data

 

Check the event log to see whether the details of the crashes are being reported there.

 

ok

i think i found the error

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

- System

- Provider

[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}

EventID 41

Version 2

Level 1

Task 63

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2011-01-09T22:00:45.713605700Z

EventRecordID 31611

Correlation

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8

Channel System

Computer cellservices3

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-18


- EventData

BugcheckCode 159
BugcheckParameter1 0x4
BugcheckParameter2 0x258
BugcheckParameter3 0xfffffa800727ab60
BugcheckParameter4 0xfffff80000b9c510
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0

 

Here's a KB article related to that error but I'm not sure how helpful it is.

The only thing I can recommend is a reinstall in case there's a driver problem but I can understand why you might want to avoid that. Perhaps someone else can offer advice.

Good luck.

 

thanks for your help Jake..

might have to send it back to sony

 

Why not try a restore or uninstalling any software you've installed first? It doesn't sound like a hardware issue to me.

 

ok,

i'll backup my emails and such and give that a go later today

thanks for the help...

fingers crossed!

 

I had the exact same problem, but over time I had installed unofficial drivers, modified my hardware, etc etc....... I backed everything up, did a clean restore using the default Sony restore dvd's. It fixed all my little problems and little gremlins.

 

can you give me a rundown of the unofficial drivers you installed?

 

I have the exact same problem with my Vaio Z. - It constantly crashes if it left to on standby for a while. It also have a problem shutting down.. It goes to the "shutdown screen" and stays there forever untill you have to hold down the power button to get it to shut down.

It also have a problem with crashing while watching videos in Firefox webbbrowser, screen goes black, sound stops. and you gota restart the comp.

Also lately tasks like excel, Word / powerpoint have become problematic, suddenly the excel program stops responding, making the computer in the end to crash.

Anyone got any ideas? I really do not want to reinstall the computer,

I've not tweaked or anything, I've only used the system as it was delivered, only downloading a few torrent movies / starcraft 2 games..

regards
Heaty

 

yeah thats exactly what im experening

my machine is stock too

 

hey. i have also had this problem with the factory installed setup. it went away after a while though. it initially appeared to have something to do with GPS being set to On in the smartwi tool. But then I changed my type of sleep mode from the normal hibernate to Hybrid Sleep (low power sleep), and now that doesn't ever happen again. green light - > orange light -> green light. no problems, no blue screen warning on next reboot etc.

simply Enable Hybrid Sleep in your power options (for each of the 3 power schemes). on for both plugged in and battery. 6 times.

i bought my Z13 same time as you, except from sonystyle usa, which was built in and shipped from japan.
the specs are in my profile

 

Wow, I am having 2nd thoughts on buying the Z.

 

^Yes, you should buy one of the laptops that don't have any problems. Here's a link to them:

http://

;-)

 

I have a VPCZ138GG too. I wouldn't rush into a complete re-install, but note that the seller may have a "swap for a new one" policy that is active for only 7 days, like I had. Your problem sounds like a software issue, I would seriously consider trying system restore, it's worked fine for me on occassion. Also run Vaio Care to clean up your system and registry. If this doesn't work try booting off a Windows 7 64bit repair disk that will do a system scan and automatically fix errors. To do a fresh system rebuild IMHO is like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly.. One more thing, get yourself a HD imaging package, I use Acronis Home 2011. it only takes 15 minutes to mirror 50GB of stuff and is an invaluable safety net.

 

How about digging through the logs in event viewer to try to actually identify what is causing this? Usually it's a software issue...and more specifically a rogue driver.

Virus could cause this too...downloading "torrent movies" might be a good way to catch a virus.

 

I recently had an issue where my Z wouldn't shut down at all occasionally and I discovered it would only happen if I still had my external hard drive plugged into my USB 3.0 Expresscard. Event viewer is probably a good place to look around like mentioned earlier.

 

powercfg -devicequery wake_programmable
powercfg -devicequery wake_armed

 

thanks for your advice, the laptop runs pretty lean, its only the emails that would need a backup, and a few documents, i'll give the repair disk/fix errors a go.. for now ive taken to running in stamina mode 24/7 and not letting it go to sleep or even turn off the screen if the lid is closed

the laptop was bought in hong kong, i am elsewhere in asia now, warrenty may be an issue here

i posted the error log on page 1 on this thread, as for a virus, maybe, but its been doing this since day one when i got it out of the box before any software was installed

nothing is plugged into the USB ports, however another issue the unit has is if the USB ports are not used for a while, say a few hours, you plug a device into them and it wont recognise untill the machine is restarted, the only usb device i really use is a logitech headset for skype calls

im sorry, im not sure what you mean here

.....
apart from this issue i think the Z is a great unit, ive been using Z's for a while now and they have always been great, its a real shame this one has some issues because i had to save up to buy it and i was really looking forward to going SSD, as i lost 2 hdd's over the course of ownership of my old model z26

 

Hey your modus operandi (avoiding shutting down) coupled with that USB issue does seem to warrant a clean re-install as you only have minor backups to perform anyway. If you suspect malware, I recommend you download Prevx3.0 which is free and very good at quickly scanning and finding spyware. If it finds something you can purchase a licence but I found it so efficient I now use it permanently.
BTW I checked out the HK Sony Style link and nearly fell over at the prices for Z138/9. Feel lucky you don't pay what we do in Australia for the Z series... the difference is disgustingly (for us) huge.

 

yeah looks like thats the only option for me, i made some recovery disks today so i'll give it a go tomorrow

i am australian btw, i just live in asia, when i figured out how cheap the sonys were in HK i stoped buying them in australia, HK, Korea, and Japan all have very low prices, however only the HK ones have english keyboards/software, they are basicly australian machines, they even come with the triange aussie plug, plus they have world wide warrenty. Let me know if you want one sent over, i send over 2-3 a month for my mates back home, im sending my dad a core i5 S series tomorrow. actually thinking of starting a little ebay store to send them back to australia as the interest is pretty high. my z138 cost me like $2200 aussie, i think they run like 4k+ at home now

 

ok downloaded Prevx3.0 found 0 bad files, virus's, or malware

btw, gotta love i7 + ssd + 8gig of ram, scaned every file on the hdd in 1min 4 seconds

 

1M 4S? It didn't scan the whole system. SSD's are fast, but not THAT fast

 

Believe me it IS very quick, my boot drive is 50+ GB and it takes about 3 min to scan mine. It's also good at finding malware that others seem to miss that's why I recommend it.
On the subject of Sony pricing policy, it's evident that Sony views Australia as good for some price gouging of us Ozzy suckers! How else could Sony justify a 34% difference ($1.5k) in the price of an identical Z138! - Maybe the cheaper ones don't start and stop as well ..lol
I have two Z notebooks now and will probably buy the next model with USB3 if I like the specs. BTW I'm based in Perth so if you have anyone local that needs any advice or assistance with your exports you can email me at [email protected]