VGN-SZ360P Speed Switch Not Responding

I recently replaced the fan on my VGN-SZ360P. It was hell, I had to remove everything just to get to it. After a few hours I was able to piece everything back together. Now my Speed switch doesn't work. I need the Speed switch to use the DVI port on my port replicator to out to my external monitor. Seems like it is stuck on Stamina mode. In order to use the DVI port I need to be in Speed mode and with the nVidia graphics card. I tried to uninstall and reinstall everything. Nothing seems to work. I contact Sony and the tech told me to do a system restore. That is going to wipe out my entire computer to factory default. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

 

Under device manager when the switch is on "Speed" mode, does it show that you are using a Intel 945 graphics?

You can always use the laptop drivers from laptopvideo2go.com and see if windows still detects nvidia graphics.

Hope this helps.

 

The switch is on the speed mode, but the stamina light is on. I can only get the Intel graphics card.

 

Have you checked that the switch and the "switch cover" are in the right place?

It is very easy to have the switch cover in the wrong place when you put it together. I sent my SZ back to sony for a motherboard issue and they didn't put it back right either!

Last trip and it came back with the "lugs" broken off the back of the switch cover and I ended up having to replace the entire speaker cover! If the switch slides easily compared to the other one that could be your problem.

(In the interim I swapped the wlan and speed/stamina switch covers so I could use speed mode when I wanted!)

 

I open up the laptop and took the cover off and make sure that it is actually on the speed mode. Spoke to 2 different Sony techs and they keep on telling me to do a system restore, so that is what I am doing now. It is taking forever to reload everything.

 

I have a similar problem. I have an sz-450n/c and my stamina/speed switch also only stays on stamina (no matter where the switch is). My nvidia card seems to no longer work, or at least I do not know how to use it in the stamina mode.

I just assumed that when it stopped working that either the switch went bad or the video card itself was no longer working properly. The system works fine in stamina mode, although not with as good of a video card.

I did restore to an old backup (using norton ghost), back to a year or two ago when I knew the speed switch still worked........and it still did not work...so I do not think it is a software problem, and more likely is hardware related. I again restored to a current backup and am using just the stamina mode. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

I use my laptop with care and mainly at home, and in less than a year and a half, I have had the hard drive die and replaced it, the keyboard keys had the letters wear off (started actually with less than a month or two of use), and I have replaced the keyboard, and now the video card or stamina/speed switch no longer works.

 

Did it work? I had the same problem with my SZ after the NVIDIA graphics chip died, I had no way of booting up the laptop because it wouldn't change to over to Stamina mode (the Intel graphics) and it would never finish booting Windows with the NVIDIA graphics. But I have just managed to get it to switch straight into Stamina mode before booting... and it now uses whatever mode is set on the switch every time I turn it on or reboot it... I'm just not entirely sure what I did to make it start working.

I would say do a clean shutdown (i.e. not hibernate or anything like that, as it definitely won't switch if it's in hibernate or thinks it is, and make sure it finishes shutting down completely and turns off by itself). Then move the switch to Speed mode and go into the BIOS (press F2). There isn't actually anything you can change in the BIOS that will help with this, but that's what I did just before it started working for me. I just went in there to have a look. Then maybe try pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del to reboot it, and if the Speed mode light still doesn't come on instead of the Stamina one, go into the BIOS again and pick the Shutdown option from the tab at the end. Then start it up again. That should cover just about everything I did before it started working for me.

Hope that helps

 

That did not really do anything for me. Is there any easy way to test whether the nvidia card is working if you are stuck in stamina mode? At least that way I can tell whether it is the switch that is faulty or the video card.

 

I don't think so, as on the SZ series the card that isn't being used doesn't show up at all (in Device Manager etc). But if the graphics card was faulty, I wouldn't have thought it would just stay on Stamina mode, it just wouldn't actually work in Speed mode.

Do you get the popup message about rebooting to change modes if you move the switch while in Windows?

 

No, the message does not come uip at all when I move the switch. The light just always stays on stamina side. Perhaps the switch is bad, or one of its connections has come loose from the switch or the motherboard??

 

The light never changes until it actually changes over to that mode (i.e. when rebooted)... but the message should come up straight away. If it's not, assuming all the Sony software and drivers etc are still installed as they were when it was working, then I'd say it must be something physical, i.e. the switch.

You said you replaced the keyboard... was that actually when the switch stopped working?

If so, did you (or have you ever) removed the section of plastic above the keyboard which contains the switches?

If you did, as someone else said, remove that plastic cover again and make sure the physical switch underneath the cover is set to the correct position (and make sure it's the same position as the switch in the plastic cover before you put it back on). If it is on correctly, when you move the switch, it should feel and sound the same as the wireless switch (assuming that is working). Otherwise you won't feel or hear so much of a "switch" as you move it.

Or even if you didn't remove that bit, I think the cable from the switches etc comes out of the bottom of that, and plugs in just above where the keyboard cable goes. So perhaps make sure that cable is properly seated in it's connector.

 

I do not think it happened at the time of opening the computer, but perhaps within a month or so of opening it. I opened it up again today and looked under the keyboard and could not see anyything out of the ordinary. I did not take that panel off the first time, nor did I remove it this time. Does it come off easily? If so, how? Any other suggestions? I sprayed underneath and on top today with some compressed air as well, thinking that perhaps some dust was causing a problem.

 

Not sure if there's much point removing it if you haven't before, because in that case the switch should still be on correctly, but if nothing else is working and you want to try it anyway...

You first need to remove the keyboard, then there are another 4 screws underneath the battery which (at least some of) hold that plastic panel in place. Then I think you just prise it off carefully... I can't remember having to do anything else to get it off anyway.

As I said, when putting it back on, make sure the plastic switches are aligned with the actual switches underneath. And also there is a little ribbon cable at the top, to the left side, which you need to be careful not to squash when you put the cover back on. It should end up inside the hinge I think, where there's more room.

I would try unplugging the cable that comes out of that section and plugging it back in though (underneath the keyboard), even if you don't actually remove that section at all.

 

Its also possible to damage one of the cables when replacing the screws under the battey (almost did this myself) though I'm not sure if the ribbon that controls this function is affected - though is def one to look out for!

 

I have this same issue, but it seems as if it is a physical issue rather than a registry error?