Vaio Z11 Noise Cancellation Driver Issue

The first time it happened I thought, "Hmmm, that's odd," but now it's happened several times, including after I performed a factory restore.

I've noticed on several occasions that the sound output is not restored after unplugging the noise-cancelling headphones. Volume up and down (via FN key) have no impact. Usually, Muting and then Unmuting resolves the issue, which seems to point to a driver issue.

Has anyone else experienced this or is it (once again) just me?

 

Now that you mention it....it did happen to me a few times.

 

Have you tried a newer version of the driver?

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Stefan

 

Based on how heavily customized Sony Vaios are in general - and the Z in particular - I don't think it would be wise to try installing a generic driver onto the Z. Incidentally, there are NO new sound/noise cancellation driver updates that I could find on sony's download page for the model that are newer than my laptop: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VPCZ11DGX

 

Most of the drivers are pretty vanilla and with the exception of being wrapped in a Sony archive are the same version as can be downloaded.

Also, playing with driver versions and sources is nothing new to this community... just look at the video and storage work that's going on here.

Stefan

 

Wasn't the sound driver for the Z modified by Sony to include noise cancellation support?

 

No, it's built into the Realtek driver... I've done a clean install of the 2.45 driver and it has full noise cancellation support.

Stefan

 

Yeah, I've had that happen as well, and I've only used the headphones once!

 

I've loaded these drivers and it seems to have resolved the issue I'd reported. Note, however, for those considering this option: If you had used either of the 2 "Advanced" driver options (one of which is Surround Sound and the other I think is Theatre), those options will no longer be available with the new driver. It does seem, however, to eliminate the systems, refusal to restore sound to the speakers after unplugging.

 

Wow... yout post prompted me to go digging for those settings - man they sure do make them impossible to find. At any rate, the "Dolby Audio Enhancer" actually does make the built-in speakers sound better - cuts back a lot of the treble, and boosts the midrange. Downside is the perceived maximum volume level sounds to me to be lower... although that could just be the fact that the treble no longer drills into my head.

Didn't find the "Dolby Surround Sound" setting to actually do anything with these crummy speakers - cuts the volume levels a bit, but didn't make it sound any "bigger".

Nice thing is these settings seem to be saved for built-in speakers versus headphones, so you don't have to mess up how your headphones sound just to tweak the shrill built-in speakers.

There's also a couple other settings... DSP modes, voice cancellation, pitch, loudness equalization...