Very High CPU usage with Sony SmartWi on SZ 120 P/B

This was rather a surprise. For past 24 hours I was hearing my fan whirr non-stop and my CPU usage was always ATLEAST 50%, which was quite disturbing given the multitasking capabilities of Core Duo. I switched from Speed to Stamina mode/ Changed power settings but absolutely no difference. I was left with no choice but to shut down programs one by one and see which one of it was the culprit. And it was the Sony SmartWi utility (for those who haven't used it so far, its for changing your wireless options between Bluetooth/WLAN/WWAN etc.). Once this was shut down...CPU usage came down to 1-3 % which is what it ideally should be and the Fan noise reduced drastically...almost silent.

What surprises me is that the sole purpose of SmartWi utility is to change Wireless Options then why on earth would it use so much of processing power...all the time!!

I switched on/off the SmartWi utility to confirm this behavior. Everytime I switched it on, CPU would go upto 50% minimum. So finally I uninstalled it.

Now, two questions for you:

1. Anyone else experiencing the same behavior with Sony SmartWi?
2. With the SmartWi now uninstalled...how on earth do I turn the Blue light (Bluetooth indicator) off?? It remains on even if the Bluetooth network is disabled. Any ideas.

Thanks.

 

I see from another post you're a clean installer... well, the best I can offer is that the SmartWi utility does *not* do this on my factory O/S SZ160 - sitting idle the only CPU user on my PC is the task manager that's showing me CPU usage.

 

a year later...

Yes, I am seeking how to fix this issue.

If anyone has a solution let us all know!

Thanks,
Byrd

 

I just posted the following in the Pesky PowerManager.exe process? thread. I'm hopping that between the two threads, a solution will be found.

 

I did a little more playing and have found out that in order for the Fn+F1 key to work, the following three processes have to be running:
PowerManager.exe
SmartWiTogglet.exe
SmartWiToggletProxy.exe

If you only run “SmartWiTogglet.exe” and “SmartWiToggletProxy.exe” then the Fn+F1 screen comes up, but changes based on your selection are not made. It is only when you add “PowerManager.exe” that you get full working functionality.

 

When I got my txn15, I didn't like the feeling of using SmartWi; since I don't use WWAN at all (too expensive). I removed SmartWi and installed the Wireless Switch Setting Utility which has used on non-WWAN model of TX. There is also a verison for SZ. It can be foud on UK vaio web site. I'm not sure if this will solve your problem.
In fact, the Wireless Switch Setting Utility is more user friendly for users who don't use WWAN.

 

Thanks, I'm gonna look into that.

 

Thanks for the new info. It's really impacting performance on my new UX390N.

 

Well, I ended up just uninstalling SmartWi. Now I don't think I can enable the Cingular modem, but it wasn't that important anyway. I had maybe wanted to try the free trial.

After removing it, processor usage got much better. Battery life improved noticeably, too. However, performance didn't change as much as I had expected. I think the process, although running, were low priority.

Now on with the other 30 Sony installed apps that are just gumming up the whole system...

 

Just tried this on my T350 after a clean install the Smart Wi didnt work so I un installed it (I didnt use the WWAN either!). Then I went to the T250 drivers on the Sony web site and installed Wireless Switch Setting Utility. Works perfectly, it shuts off not only the blue light but also the bluetooth devices from using up resources.

 

here is a fixed powermanager.exe, just replace it in C:\Program Files\Sony\SmartWi Connection Utility

it used the cpu to "check" if the WWAN card is present, I dont know why sony would release such bad drivers

http://www.mediafire.com/?mxiba1zidzm