Official Vaio Y 13.3 Series Owners Lounge

[S3K04]

So far soo good, all working well.

It is installed with 4gb ram, why is only 2.87gb showing?

[dmk2]

Because you installed Win 32-bit. 32-bit = 4 GB total address space. Some of that address space is reserved for memory mapped I/O with various devices, the page database, etc. On systems with dedicated graphics which don't use system RAM for graphics memory, you can typically use about 3-3.5GB depending on the system. With integrated graphics, the GPU reserves a certain amount of physical memory so the total is less.

More explanation here:

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

If you had used 64-bit, the system wouldn't have to fit physical memory, device mapped memory, page tables, etc. all into the same 4GB address space. So the only deduction from the 4GB total would be the physical memory reserved by the integrated graphics. You'd probably have a total of ~3.6 GB for the system.

[lokhor]

The screen on my Vaio Y series VPCY115FG 13.3" has been smashed. I intend to replace it myself but am having trouble getting the front bezel off. I've watched some videos on other models but this has a recessed bezel at the bottom and for some reason it will not come off any help would be much appreciated.

[dmk2]

There may be screws to remove at the bottom of the bezel. Have a look at this post:

Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

[hircus]

If i run
setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B
I get ff as return. But if i try to set a value, for example
setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=A0
I get 00..

strange..

After discussing this with Red Hat kernel developer Matthew Garrett, it appears that Vaio Y's firmware is totally messed up. The way to control backlight is to use the graphics card's native backlight control, not through ACPI, or even through setting the PCI register (not sure why *that* does not work, precisely).

The general infrastructure is in kernel 3.0, but the specific changes for the Intel i915 driver has not made it in yet; so what you can do is either:

• On Ubuntu, use Kamal Mostafa's mjgbacklight PPA. This uses Matthew's patches, and patches the userspace to control the new backlight control
• Otherwise, use the script I made to monitor the state of the (ineffectual) ACPI backlight control, and apply a corresponding value to the native backlight control. You'd need a 3.0 kernel (or a late release candidate, but why?) and cherry-pick the latest patch from Garrett from the linux-next kernel tree (he updates it periodically)

[Viktator]

After discussing this with Red Hat kernel developer Matthew Garrett, it appears that Vaio Y's firmware is totally messed up. The way to control backlight is to use the graphics card's native backlight control, not through ACPI, or even through setting the PCI register (not sure why *that* does not work, precisely).

The general infrastructure is in kernel 3.0, but the specific changes for the Intel i915 driver has not made it in yet; so what you can do is either:

• On Ubuntu, use Kamal Mostafa's mjgbacklight PPA. This uses Matthew's patches, and patches the userspace to control the new backlight control
• Otherwise, use the script I made to monitor the state of the (ineffectual) ACPI backlight control, and apply a corresponding value to the native backlight control. You'd need a 3.0 kernel (or a late release candidate, but why?) and cherry-pick the latest patch from Garrett from the linux-next kernel tree (he updates it periodically)

Wow, I am impressed that you have come up with a solution. I gave it up, sold my vaio y, obviously lost some quid on that. Will never try a sony again in my life. (hehe.. it will at least take some time to recover). I bought my self a desktop and I am scouting for a new laptop. At the moment im into the Toshiba R830, or I will go for a system76 Lemur-like one (It is sold under many different names, manufactured by clevo).
Caio!

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

DEAD LAPTOP!

So, I know the laptop was recently attacked by malwares/viruses. Then one day, it decides to stop booting.

I have pulled the HD out, with the help of another laptop I ran a malware scan and cleared whatever Malwarebytes could find. Also ran a virus scan and cleared whatever AVG could find. Put it back into my Y series and it still won't boot!

It stalls right after the VAIO screen. I get the flashing _ on the top right corner and that's it. I can still get into the BIOS screen, but nothing beyond that.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[dmk2]

Can you boot from the recovery partition using Assist? Did you burn recovery DVDs you can boot from? The first thing I would try is a full system restore. Or burn a Windows Rescue CD on another computer and see if you can boot from that.

[yv1650c]

does anybody here has increased the RAM to 8gb?

[Peach1200]

Hi everybody!

I have a Vaio Y21B7E (1.2GHz Core i3, 4GB ddr3) and i was thinking about installing a SSD.. until i discovered AHCI is disabled by default on my unit and that there's no way to activate it in bios!
..i really wasn't expecting that!

Is there any known workaround to fix this?
Am i supposed to edit the bios?

Any help is appreciated..