Vaio Pro 13 Fan noise, constantly coming on, keyboard backlight stays on all night

Hello fellow Pro 13 owners. I just got mine this past Sunday and while I am in my 14 day windows to exchange I want to see if others have these "issues" or if its normal. My fans seems to turn on randomly even when my lid is closed , and I really haven't installed anything except Office and one financial app (that doesn't run anything in background). The fans are loud , which that parts i understand is normal based on research. Should they be coming on so often and when the machine has its lid closed?

Keyboard backlight. I have the lid open last night (machine was plugged in) The keyboard backlight just stayed on all night. Is this because it was plugged in or is the software not telling it to dim when not in use?


Love the machine! Though wish there was a NON touch version here in US stores already, The touch screen makes whites and light grays appear grainy to me . Please reach out and let me know if anyone is experiencing this , the sony store is far and if its all software or non issues Id rather save a trip. Thanks!

 

Don't have a prop but can answer (2). If your Pro is anything like my Duo then you can set this in "Vaio control center", VCC (which is found in control panel).
In VCC, go to "mouse and keyboard". You should have a "keyboard backlight" settings there, which you can change - the default (for the Duo) is that it is "always on" when plugged in.

 

I will be sure to check that out. I think i do remember a previous Z having a setting like that. I believe fan controls are there as well. Another project may be to get a nice clean Windows 7 Pro install on the machine. I am not a big fan of Windows 8. Thanks

 

On my old VGN Z1, VPC Z2 or my S13A under the VCC you can set the cooling routine of the machine! I think on the Pro this setting will be enabled

 

Hi it is good to see that you are happy with the vaio, i bought the non touch, but it hasnt arrived yet, i had read that during the first updates of w8 it sounds a lot, after finishing them it is much quieter, by the way how does it feel? flexy? temps? any bench on the ssd i saw different benchs some with the 256 show better values than the 128 gb

 

General Windows tip (might not work for you): In power options, you can choose what happens when you close the lid. Shut down, sleep, hibernate, etc. See if changing those help to solve your problem. Note: you'll have to do this for every power profile.

 

Looking at the Vaio Pro review the first thing i immediately noticed was how tiny the heatsink vent was.....

This just seems a bit ridiculous, even if it works fine when you buy it, what about 6-12 months down the road when dirt accumulates on the fan?

 

So far I am happy with the machine. I think you will be happier , since you got the non-touch. Unless i was missing something I didnt see a non touch available in the sony store or US online store. I have to be honest as far as benchmarks I never personally run them anymore. I just use my machine for what I need to do with it, if it works good for me then that's my benchmark . There is a tad bit of flex but nothing alarming to me. The machine is sexy and sleek and still has a sturdy Z type feel to it. I think you will be happy.

On light colors whites, grays, I see graininess a little and that is the touch screen as I see that on a 1080p samsung ultrabook we have also. Where did you get the non touch? I am still within 14 days, I think I would much rather a non-touch version as touch to me personally is useless on a laptop.

 

In Europe, in Spain, I think that there is no option of non touch in Usa, i choosed it because it was cheaper near 155 Euros less, i don´t mind if it is glossy or mate , if it is a good one, touch wasnt a priority

 

I found out that the software controlling backlight is Sony Firmware Extension Parser Driver and you can change settings in Vaio Control Center, Good Luck!

 

As for the fans spinning randomnly:

Install Process Explorer from Microsoft.
View --> Update Speed (set to 5sec)
View --> Select Columns --> Process Performance --> mark checkbox "CPU History"

watch this column to see which processes are using most of the CPU over the time.

 

I just got my pro a few days ago and it did the same thing still I changed the Setting in Vaio Controls.

On thing have any of you had problems with the WIFI. My cuts off randomly and when I go to put it into Airplane Mode it Blue screens and Gives me the Intel DRIVER IRQL (NETwew02.sys) Error? Its not the router. No connectivity issues with my other Win 8 or Mac systems.

 

Download the latest Intel WiFi drivers from Intel's website. It fixed my WiFi issues which were similar to yours, Mountain_Trekker.

 

Don't know why I didn't think of that. I just assumed the drivers were up to date. Thanks pdagal. Love the laptop so far. Even though people keep ragging on me for buying a Vaio haha

 

BEFORE you read what I wrote below note that my own fix for the Vaio Pro 13 fan noise which suddenly appeared after 11 months of fan noise free usage refers to a youtube video made by Larry Blackledge , here is the link go watch it .. it puts my comments below into context and helps you fix the problem (video title on you tube is the following but don't worry for the fix I didn't replace or remove the existing troublesome fan:
"Sony VAIO Pro13, svp132 fan replacement, case removal").



I am surprised that owners of Vaio Pro 13's are getting this problem on day 1 as the fan should be in tip top condition.


So my original youtube post starts:

Many thanks for this kind sir, I was nervous about opening the laptop but I fixed the problem without replacing the fan (although for the future I ordered a fan as it seems to be the weakest link in this excellent laptop). Just as background I got my Sony Vaio Pro 13 around March 2014, it was the later version which didn't have the WiFi problem and I've never had any problems with fan noise or overheating until 2 days ago where the laptop launched into fan full speed with prolonged overheating on the underside and also with awful helicopter type buzzing noise which made the laptop almost unusable as this was a terrible distraction to others and myself. The noise would commence after starting the machine for 1 minute and then launching any application such as Skype or YouTube. I suspect that the problem was that the oil lubrication on the spindle of the fan had totally evaporated and the ball bearings were grinding, I typically used my laptop every day for an average of 2 hours and then left it on all night playing podcasts which I listened to (subconsciously mostly) for hours - this has been the pattern of usage for 11 or so months.

So the steps I followed to fix the fan noise problem for my Sony Vaio Pro 13 were as follows:

1) open the laptop as described in the video above being careful to not force anything as the plastic could snap, using one of those plastic levers used to open tablets is useful to have for this.
2) you will see the troublesome fan, focus on the fan and not the copper heat sink and without removing the fan (don't remove the fan for my fix) you will notice that it has a black circular sticker attached to the main spindle, the sticker has a center circle cut out at the middle with a small silver/white spindle dead center of the black sticker cut out hole (it's around 5mm in diameter). Now I removed the sticker taking care not to damage it but looking back I suspect this may be UNNECESSARY. Then I doused a COTTON SWAB with oil lubricant (I used U.K. WD-40(tm) although again I'm not sure if that was the ideal chemical to use), so you can use an oil soaked cotton swab or say instead a kitchen towel twisted to form a fine tip with oil on the end. REMEMBER you want the cotton swab to be wet with oil but not DRIPPING as it may drip the lubricating oil onto other components and you don't want that as damage may occur due to this.

3) With the cotton swab wet with lubricating oil simply gently circle the silver spindle in the middle of the black sticker ensuring that a modicum of oil enters the spindle. REMEMBER we don't want to saturate the spindle with OIL just a small SMEAR will do.
I smeared light amounts of lubricating oil under the sticker area but I think that is not needed. Also if you DID decide to remove the sticker remember that there are copper coils beneath the sticker now exposed, there is no need to oil those so don't do it ! If you did decide to remove the sticker put it back exactly as you found it, I used a small about of Pritt Stick(tm) to do this and it worked fine - make sure it is secure though you don't want that sticker peeling off and falling onto the components whilst your machine is on.

4) re-attach the underside of the Sony Vaio Pro 13 carefully as shown in the video above being mindful that the side with the ports USB/audio jack should be tackled first as this is like the main hinge (of the oyster clam!). The audio jack is notoriously difficult to slot into place but as a useful tip, simply plug in your head phones into the audio jack on your Vaio Pro 13 and then GENTLY pull down on the plugged in audio connector to slot it back into place. Then replace the screws and the rubber 'feet' of the laptop as stated in the video and VOILA !!! you have a (FAN) SILENT AND COOL SONY VAIO PRO 13, mine has been playing 4K Youtube videos for 5 hours straight and the fan is silent, you can't hear a thing.

Side Notes: To be honest I was surprised at the results, it's almost as if the controller for the fan doesn't start if it detects resistance due to lack of lubricant on the spindle for the Panasonic fan and then doesn't kick in until it's panic time and the CPU is at 65 to 70 degrees Celsius and then the fan is like a buzz saw / helicopter rotary blade on full steam ahead with the underside of the laptop uncomfortably hot. I'm glad this fixed it as I didn't want to make modifications to any driver configs (there are tools to do this) or go on a hunt for a troublesome app that was causing this or do a factory reset to see if it was a software problem. If your Sony Vaio Pro 13 is still under warranty and you have time then I recommend that you return it to Sony instead of following my instructions or if you are worried about taking damaging your laptop, call up Sony and ask how much it would cost to repair your unit - I'm not sure if they still do fixes for out of warranty laptops though as they sold their Vaio business last year...