Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *part 4*

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Recovery Discs Stuff Missing?

Are you saying that Gandalf & you had some value added software in your OEM OS and some of those are not available from Vaio_Care > Recovery & Restore > Select Programs or Drivers to reinstall?

If so then that would be a step to add to the Vaio_F Series Custom OEM clean install guide: before doing it, check if all the software you want are available on the disc #1. A workaround could be to extract the .mod files as explained in the article.

I would call your Sony_support & ask for a link to download them or they should say which .mod to extract or send a complete set of recovery discs.

One possibility is that if someone burns the recovery discs from an F that does not have the full OEM recovery partition because of formatting or installing a generic Win 7 OS, then some stuff will be missing.

Could other people insert their recovery disc #1 & report if some value added software is missing? Could you check also via ASSIST?

Joe Vaio Care Recovery & Restore looks very different on my F.

Also coming back to the hardware diagnostics... it's there but not completely, only 2 options.

I created my recovery discs right after I got my F, because of the wise words you spoke in the first ownsers thread

The missing files must be on the recovery discs because when I do a factory reinstall all those program and the crapware are back

[Joe Bleau]

This was discussed to death. Go to page 1, post 1 & click on previous threads links. There, use the Search this Thread feature top right of the pages: fan noise. You can also do a general search on the very top of this page. Try: Vaio_F Series fan noise.

I ran a battery of tests yesterday (including battery life optimization tests ) & can make my F fan run more or less 700 rpm faster or slower @ idle depending on cr@p running in the background & +/- 500 rpm just by selecting or NOT thermal strategy > Performance or by selecting the Performance power plan which prevents the CPU to go in the power saving LFM mode when doing light taks. I'm preparing a long post on how to make your F noisier, it will take a couple of days. Meanwhile as a teaser:



"Because the fans on my F12 seem to always be running pretty high and it is louder then any laptop i've ever seen" - Did you ever saw/heard an other powerful quad core i7 laptop? With great power comes great heat & fan work. BTW there is only 1 fan to do all the cooling needs.

Just curious, did you do a fresh install or the fresh start option? Because the fans on my F12 seem to always be running pretty high and it is louder then any laptop i've ever seen. Also have you ever noticed the high pitched ringing tone that comes and goes from the fan? You can really only hear it in a quiet room but it does get quite annoying. Sony support was going to send a contracted technician (who was like 100 miles away!) to my house to fix it, but when I talked to him on the phone he said Sony told him to replace the entire motherboard and all, so i told him forget it and canceled the service. I'm hoping it goes away on its own

[Fishon]

do you guys have any informative benchmarks on the laptop cooler?

Actually the fans stopped working and I had to send it back for repair or replacement. They were really nice about it and paid for shipping. Should have it back in a few weeks. The fans can be set really high if one wishes ( I never set it that high), so any benchmarking with a good fan should be similar.

[John_WA]

Just curious, did you do a fresh install or the fresh start option? Because the fans on my F12 seem to always be running pretty high and it is louder then any laptop i've ever seen. Also have you ever noticed the high pitched ringing tone that comes and goes from the fan? You can really only hear it in a quiet room but it does get quite annoying. Sony support was going to send a contracted technician (who was like 100 miles away!) to my house to fix it, but when I talked to him on the phone he said Sony told him to replace the entire motherboard and all, so i told him forget it and canceled the service. I'm hoping it goes away on its own

Hi vtecvaio. Judging from everything I've read here since I joined the forum around 5 months ago, I am considerably less knowledgeable about computers than most of you.....so no, I did not do a clean install and I did not order a fresh start unit because the Costco models are all sold everything pre-installed and I did not have that option. There has been much discussed here about clean installs and what software to keep or not keep so after I get used to this notebook I plan to either do a clean install or start disabling or uninstalling the things I won't need or use. That said, I do not have any of the issues you ask about and as I stated, I use my notebook in a very quiet home environment. Maybe you should possibly reconsider changing the motherboard, although I am probably the last person here that you should listen to for technical advice. After all, I came here because it is I who needs the advice!

[JefDeLathouwer]

Joe Vaio Care Recovery & Restore looks very different on my F.

Also coming back to the hardware diagnostics... it's there but not completely, only 2 options.

I created my recovery discs right after I got my F, because of the wise words you spoke in the first ownsers thread

The missing files must be on the recovery discs because when I do a factory reinstall all those program and the crapware are back

It looks the same as yours over here but I have more option at the diagnose submenu.

Could you list the programs missing? Note that I updated the screen capture, if you select all programs & drivers, I have 45 & 17 respectively.

Like Gandalf said, my software recovery submenu looks completely different and I can't count them automatically, It looks the same as Gandalf's screenshot. But I have more options at the diagnose submenu. I have to via Vaio recovery and I have +/- 60 programs (Arcsoft is missing) and 15 drivers.

[John_WA]

do you guys have any informative benchmarks on the laptop cooler?

I believe I have the same NZXT CRYO-001B RTL notebook cooler as Fishon and I love it. It has 3 fans and infinite fan speed control. I have it set somewhere near the middle of the range and I can hear a soft whoosh of air movement. If I move it all the way high, the air movement sound gets louder and there is also a soft and low hum. Neither is loud enough to be objectionable to me. Since I've had the F12 on this cooler, the F12 fans never seem to cycle up to high speed so I guess it's doing it's job. I should probably add that I haven't stressed the notebook very much in the two weeks that I've had it. It's a pricey unit ($70 from New Egg) but seems well built and full-featured and I'm happy with the purchase. I have used (and still have) several other units of different brands but none of them are large enough to fit my F12 and none of them seem as well-built or as quiet as this one. As for benchmarks, I've never done any and wouldn't know how to!

[Joe Bleau]

...I have +/- 60 programs (Arcsoft is missing) and 15 drivers.

I PM'd you guys some links but for the benefit of others:

1- WebCam Companion® 3 Software Sony eSupport - VPCZ1190X - Software Updates & Drivers

2- Works w/ 64-bit contrary to what pages says: ArcSoft Magic-i™ Visual Effects Software Sony eSupport - VGN-Z690 - Software Updates & Drivers

[edween]

I believe I have the same NZXT CRYO-001B RTL notebook cooler as Fishon and I love it. It has 3 fans and infinite fan speed control. I have it set somewhere near the middle of the range and I can hear a soft whoosh of air movement. If I move it all the way high, the air movement sound gets louder and there is also a soft and low hum. Neither is loud enough to be objectionable to me. Since I've had the F12 on this cooler, the F12 fans never seem to cycle up to high speed so I guess it's doing it's job. I should probably add that I haven't stressed the notebook very much in the two weeks that I've had it. It's a pricey unit ($70 from New Egg) but seems well built and full-featured and I'm happy with the purchase. I have used (and still have) several other units of different brands but none of them are large enough to fit my F12 and none of them seem as well-built or as quiet as this one. As for benchmarks, I've never done any and wouldn't know how to!

Actually the fans stopped working and I had to send it back for repair or replacement. They were really nice about it and paid for shipping. Should have it back in a few weeks. The fans can be set really high if one wishes ( I never set it that high), so any benchmarking with a good fan should be similar.

but do you guys have any test in temperature from idle and load?
cause from what i know the cyro lx fans are placed at the very top of the cooler while our intakes/vents are at the very bottom of our laptop so the overall vents dont really line up

[Joe Bleau]

do you guys have any informative benchmarks on the laptop cooler?

I ran some in my Costa Rican F lab with this DIY cooler made with 2 sticks & a desktop fan found in my bodega + a piece of tape & an empty Tic Tac mint box. Fan speed is controlled via a small switchable voltage AC/DC adapter: 4.5, 6, 9 or 12v. Are you interested in the benchmarks?

[meefer]

Alright, Crucial C300 popped in, clean install from recovery discs, hand-timed boot in 30 seconds with 7 startup programs. Vaio Care says 28-29 seconds.

Ran CrystalDisk 3.0, very happy except for the 4K random reads and writes, which was a lot slower then shown in reviews.



Loving the power and speed so far. But it's only hours old in this incarnation. 28-30% RAM taken up with 4GB. This is more powerful then my desktop (Q6600)!