topic Re: New Laptop freezing Update in PCs & Accessories

New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Sun, 08 May 2005 00:08:17 GMT

Hi all
Got myself a "A317m"
Works fine apart from when playing games I get a screen freeze, sometimes accompanied with a blue screen of death and restarts.
Error logs point to the x600 ati card, driver or hardware fault.
I have tried it with 3 different games and crashed on all three, dvd's have no prob.
My questions is has anybody else had this prob, would ati drivers help (from there website) as there are no updates from sony.
How do you isolate this kind of problem, what can I do to see if its hardware or software related, not sure if I can play these games in safe mode with standard vga drivers.
Cpu temps are @ 55-60 idle????? Is this normal for a centrino 1.7

Error codes are useless as they they don't pinpoint to anything when you research them. Unless you are a TSE.

Any responses apreciated

PS I have blowed any dust out of fan/vents with compressed air, not that I think they needed it.

Is it time for RMA already???

Re: New Laptop freezing

hldomster — Sun, 08 May 2005 01:40:22 GMT

If you have had your VAIO for less than one month the I say take it back to the retailers and get a new one. If not contact VAIO Link for a repair. This is not a common problem,especially for a laptop designed to be THE desktop replaceemtn.

Re: New Laptop freezing

kee-lo_ — Sun, 08 May 2005 14:50:32 GMT

Have you tried using the Omega Drivers?
www.omegadrivers.net

Yes I know they can be a bit dodgy but they do solve a lot of gaming issues.

Re: New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Sun, 08 May 2005 19:29:36 GMT

Have had the Laptop for about a week now.
The point is it should work with the drivers it came with.
I am suspecting it to be hardware related Since it freezes after a certain amount of time ,possibly faulty ATI card so I am gonna return it.

A bit curious about these Centrino cpu's too, since they are using the new step technology and working at lower frequencies, shouln't they work at lower temps than a Prescot 3.2 for example.
I know they aren't getting the Ventilation and cooling benefits as a Desktop would provide but still 60c at idle seems way too hot for me.

Re: New Laptop freezing

kee-lo_ — Sun, 08 May 2005 19:34:48 GMT

Yes, totally agree, but Sony are VERY slow with graphic card updates, which frustrates everyone around here.

60c is a little high, specialy for idle.
Is the wireless network running?

Re: New Laptop freezing

seb21__ — Sun, 08 May 2005 19:37:26 GMT

60 degrees is dangerous for a harddisk. For a Pentium M it's OK.

Re: New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Sun, 08 May 2005 21:55:53 GMT

Yes, totally agree, but Sony are VERY slow with graphic card updates, which frustrates everyone around here.

60c is a little high, specialy for idle.
Is the wireless network running?

Wireless network is running, temps are the same switch on/off.
Checked performance in task manager and cpu usage was 0-1.

HDD 45c idle

Have used 2 diff tools which show rough same temps
One thing I find frustrating is that the bios settings hardly have anything usefull, the cpu isn't even listed there.

Fair enough if there is a driver issue (although it wouldn't go down well),but if there was how come I am the only one posting about it.

Thanks for your advice anyway

Re: New Laptop freezing

seb21__ — Sun, 08 May 2005 21:58:55 GMT

Yes, I would wish to have some features more in the BIOS too.

Re: New Laptop freezing

kee-lo_ — Mon, 09 May 2005 13:28:59 GMT

Definately one for VAIO-Link

Re: New Laptop freezing

HITS-UK — Mon, 09 May 2005 13:48:24 GMT

Worrying - that temperature and its freezing ...

That can only happen on the surface of Europa.

Seriously though I would take it back from whence it came and quickly.

Re: New Laptop freezing

kee-lo_ — Mon, 09 May 2005 13:52:40 GMT

Probably drivers

Re: New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Mon, 09 May 2005 16:15:39 GMT

Just an update
The item has been arranged for return
Sony are gonna be inspecting it in the end,since the Company I bought it off haven't got a replacement , although I am returning it to them to deal with it.

PS: If its a Driver issue I am not prepared to install drivers that Sony themselves haven't recomended or installed in the Laptop themselves, since I don't want to risk voiding the Warranty.
Whatever the Case its not for me to sort out, out of the box without connecting to the net that Laptop shold work, maybe a few updates from Sony to fix little bugs later , but not for Blue Screens of Death.
Thanks anyway Kee-lo

So I will update you guys/girls as to what the cause was.
A bit frustrating for a new High spec Laptop, but I will try and stop moaning now and hopefully become a regular here.

Re: New Laptop freezing

TW — Mon, 09 May 2005 16:30:31 GMT

welcome around

i realize you are not such a happy camper now.

do keep us updated on your case here.

Re: New Laptop freezing

TygerTyger — Mon, 09 May 2005 16:45:11 GMT


 PS: If its a Driver issue I am not prepared to install drivers that Sony themselves haven't recomended or installed in the Laptop themselves.

Hm. Kismet leaps to mind here, since Sony don't update their drivers properly, nor do they recommend going elsewhere for obvious reasons. I don't think anyone here would hesitate to recommend finding drivers elsewhere, but that's not much of a solution or an exercise in confidence :smileygrin:.

but I will try and stop moaning now and hopefully become a regular here.

You can do both you know :smileywink:. All the best guys here know when to praise and when to slate. Brand loyalty has to be earned after all.......

Re: New Laptop freezing

kee-lo_ — Mon, 09 May 2005 17:44:07 GMT

As that GTA ad used to say, you need to earn respect - true about Sony.

Hope you get it repaired soon, keep us posted

Re: New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Fri, 13 May 2005 16:29:13 GMT

Had a response from where I got my Laptop from.
They said Sony have advised them that the x600 ATI card is not compatable with the Games I have tested with it, and that I should lower the Resolution down to get some of the Games working...
The games I tested on:
Vietcong
Delta Force
Chrome
MS Flight SImulator 2004
Enter the Matrix

Apart from the Simulator all the other games are not realy graphic demanding, considering its a 128mb card I would have thought it would be ok on these games using a resolution of 800x600 and details quality settings were all tested at low/mid in the Game.
Is this what I paid for ?
Can anyone with a ATI x600 tell me what games they can play and if possible test one of the ones I just mentioned, even if its a trial version.
This is becoming very Intersting thats for sure.
Can someone give me some usefull tel. numbers for contacting Sony as I am getting someone from the NITLC to give them a call so I can confirm that its true so we can pass all this info to there site's Forums so all the IT Students in the UK can see it.
And if it proves not to be true I can get my Laptop sorted.

Re: New Laptop freezing

seb21__ — Fri, 13 May 2005 16:59:37 GMT

Instead to reduce the resolution, I would disable the display interpolation. That could solve the problem. And you could deactivate the Antializing feature. Because it would be useless without interpolation.

Re: New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Fri, 13 May 2005 17:39:39 GMT

Wouldn't that just improve the Frame Rate of the Game.
On Vietcong it was running at 40- 160 fps depending on map, and still crashed.
Antializing was allways disabled.

Re: New Laptop freezing

Woodenhorse — Fri, 13 May 2005 17:50:56 GMT

Anybody else with the A317m/s Laptop?
Would like to hear from you
Thanks

Re: New Laptop freezing

seb21__ — Fri, 13 May 2005 17:55:24 GMT

What I mean is, the deactivation of the display interpolation could increase the stability.

I mean the thing which can push 800*600 resolution to 1024*768. (only a example. Whithout that, you would have black bars on the screen, if you not use the native resolution of your laptop screen. But the stability with some games is better.