New Laptop freezing

[Woodenhorse]

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???

[hldomster]

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.

[kee-lo_]

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.

[Woodenhorse]

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.

[kee-lo_]

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?

[seb21__]

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

[Woodenhorse]

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

[seb21__]

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

[kee-lo_]

Definately one for VAIO-Link

[HITS-UK]

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.