VPC-Z1190X crashing when switching graphics

Just got my new Z-series laptop last week and I discovered one bit of annoyance. I can crash the laptop consistently by simply using the "Dynamic Hybrid Graphics System" switch.

Here's what happens:
- Push the switch over to "Stamina" mode
- Reboot the system
- Push the switch over to "Speed" mode
- Screen flashes, goes black, then the system crashes instantly and powers off. Sometimes it reboots, but most of the time it simply shuts down.

It can also be reproduced by the following
- In "Auto" mode, reboot the system when running on battery power (Stamina mode automatically selected)
- Plug the power cable in (hence triggering a switch to "Speed" mode)
- System will crash

I was wondering if anyone else had this issue? I'm using the stock drivers (188.80) that are available from Sony's site. I'm watching the hybrid drivers thread and hoping to test out new drivers as soon as they come out.

(oh, and Sony support was completely unhelpful, of course)

If I boot up in "Speed" mode and switch over to Stamina mode, there is no problem, though Aero turns off when I'm in Stamina mode. However, booting up in Stamina mode would mean that the system would crash whenever I switched back to speed mode. A definite annoyance as it means that I have to manually select Speed mode whenever I reboot on battery power to prevent a crash when I plug in to AC power.

Anyone have any insight into this?

 

Hi, MooRogue!

I'm sorry to say that you appear to have a unique problem. I've never seen anything like this, and I've just repeated your specific tests with no negative outcomes.

Good Luck!
Mark

Sent from my iPad

 

Same here, no crash with the Z11FHX/XQ doing the scenario you highlighted.

I did have one crash so far and I think it was thermal related

 

hmm... rats. Just me then. I'll start with wiping and restarting with the system recovery, get rid of some of the trial/bloatware and see if that works better. I hope it's just some obscure driver or OS issue rather then a hardware problem.

I jumped right into the Z without wiping it first. Then I started reading about how almost everyone here had wiped and restarted. I had just gotten everything to where I wanted it too

 

I think it should be required that if you're having weird issues that you've never seen reported before, and you did a clean install, that you first try the factory install to see if it happens there. At least 95% of the bizarre issues I've seen have been on clean installations, so it looks like it's not as simple to get the Z up and running from scratch as one might hope (I'm sure it's an issue with what drivers/apps Sony is making available for download).

 

I HAVE the exact problem. Ive tested it many times it always crashes. It is a big annoyance. Im thinking of bringing it to sony store