I've seen many posts from people who want to use a traditional 2.5" HDD in their new Z11 laptops instead of the DVD/BR drive. I have a working solution.
I picked up a Lenovo Ultrabay III adapter for a W510 I had on order and subsequently canceled after 2 months of delays in shipping.
The DVD drive is attached via a micro-SATA connector. If you haven't seen one before, here's a comparison to a regular SATA connector .....
I was running an FW and noticing huge percentage drop when I would hibernate and leave it unplugged overnight, sometimes it would be about 30%. However the percentage would always remain 30% lower then when I powered it down for a while so I figured my battery life was not affected overall and that the battery indicator was wrong. Well it turns out that I was wrong, I can usually squeeze out 2 min per percentage if I leave my computer idle and allow the screen saver to popup while on battery. However after the 30% drain overnight I noticed my overall battery life was affected severely, with 1 overnight on hibernate session my battery life went from on average 2 min per percentage to 1.33 min per percentage.
Possible Solution:
Turn on battery care function on the Vaio Control Center and set the custom setting at 100%. Having done this my battery during hibernate (and shutdown) overnight drops only 1-2%.
I was looking on ebay for accessories for my new Z and came across these drives. Would these work as direct replacements for our DVD drives?
NEW Blu-Ray Drive for HP laptops - eBay (item 170491173520 end time Jun-24-10 18:54:19 PDT)
On my one year old Dell XPS M1530, with Blu-Ray CD drive, the CD drive stopped working.
It used to work but I haven't used it in a few months. I've tried 3 different data CD's (not a Blu-Ray movie DVD), & they all had the same error.
In My Computer, when I double click on the CD drive, I get another window that says to insert a disk & it ejects the disk that is in the drive
I've discovered my display driver has stopped working and frequently crashes.
Can i get a download link and replace it for Inspiron 15R (N5010)
how to replace the disk in a vpcz1 ?
View 8 Replies View RelatedI have Z570N/B with LCD size 1366 x 768. Can i replace another LCD with 1600 x 900?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI used to buy the sony Z's a couple of years ago and at the time they only offered slower small drives.
I could replace those with faster 7200RPM drives in larger sizes. Then when they started offering larger drives,
it was still cheaper to buy it with a stock 5400RPM drive and buy a larger 7200RPM drive seperately
My Vaio Z11 laptop came with a German keyboard layout (QWERTZ), as I purchased it from Austria. I'm using English as the input language and I sometimes have trouble remembering where some punctuation marks are.
Can I replace the keyboard? If yes, how doable is that by me? If so, how? Where can I buy the replacement English Q keyboard? (Actually, where can I find spare parts for Vaio Z series?)
I know this has been asked many times already, but I am still confused about how well a large storage HDD can be integrated.
If I plut in something like the ultrabay, wouldn't the case be opened and let in a lot of dust into the system? I watched a youtube video with someone trying to do the same on an older Z.
He went the ghetto route and use full size SATA cable. At the end not only is there hole where the optical drive used to be
im searching a way, how to change the graphic card....
How to replace the 9300M GS with a 9600M GT or something that are faster.
There must be a way to speedup the graphic... and we can construct a better cooling design.
I think a faster graphic card, like the 9600M GT, is better for the laptop, because, they have more pixel pipelines and all that.
I think if you underclock the graphic card, it will be much cooler and you can play much better games... in better performance, and much cooler as with the 9300M GS.....
I wanna replace the hard disk in my Sony Z11MNB. This instruction seems to be a bit different: [url]
As new harddisk I prefer the following SSD:[url]
Any known incompatibilities?
Is there anywhere an instruction exactly for the Z11MNB? Or should I try the one mentioned above?
if I can replace the optical drive in the Vaio SR590? It's a DVDRW, I want to put in Bluray. If Bluray drops in price, and I get a slim bluray drive, can I put it in the SR590? Looking at the computer, it seems the current drive's design is a bit different than a standard notebook optical drive. Seems like it will stick out a bit on the sides...
View 3 Replies View RelatedSony Vaio vgn-ns10l
I try to boot from cd via the xp disc but receive a blue screen of death after 20 seconds or so. I guess the hard drive is locked and needs formating etc. can vista be replaced ok? do i need to worrie about chipset, and is there drivers for the sata HDD on xp for this machine?. any information on how to replace vista with xp?
I have a Vaio TZ180N laptop with a 5400RPM hard disk and Vista. The disk is incredibly slow in my opinion - especially since I use this as a development machine (perhaps not best suited for the job!!). I have 2GB memory in it, but that doesn't seem to help all that much as the system is constantly running at 90%+ memory usage.
I would like to replace the disk with an SSD disk if possible. Will this work?
I'm a novice when it comes to the hardware of a laptop and will need some advice. Are SSD drives basically compatible with the disk in the Vaio? If so, should I look for something specific while buying an SSD drive - such as a specific interface or something?
If this is possible, will this significantly improve the performance of my machine?
Is new Vaio Z can manual replace default sony ssd with 2.5' hard drive ?
If not, Can i manual replace dvd drive with second hard drive or it need special part, May it run at full speed SATA2, and can i boot from it ?
provide explanations or pics for the under keyboard removal on this Sony Vaio VGN-N150P laptop?
I can tell you that I've not found it in all the stickies... some of the models are 'close' but NO CIGAR. Google has not helped, seems like Sony has tried its darndest to BE UNHELPFUL. Even chatted with them, no joy.
Can i do a simple swap with my intel wifi card? In portland we have wimax now, so i am thinking of going that way. It would be nice to keep my express card slot free and have wimax internal. I wouldn't need a specific driver sony driver to use it would I?
View 10 Replies View Relateddo you usually use Vaio Care via ASSIST button? I found that Vaio Care does not have enough feature as other system tools on the market, as well as it runs too slowly so I decide to uninstall it and use a better 3rd party tool.
software that can take care of my notebook?
after uninstalling Vaio Care, the ASSIST button does not run anymore, I'm wondering if I can use it to execute an application.
I bought a VAIO TT couple of months back - at a time when it was being removed from shelves (in anticipation of VAIO X launch). At that time I hurried and picked up the only model that was available here in Amsterdam.
Its a TT21WN model with 128 GB SSD + Optical Drive (DVD). The SSD in use is a Samsung model - MMBQE28GFMUP-MVA (Slim uSATA).
Now ofcourse 128 GB is not enough so here is what I want to do:
1. Upgrade the 128 GB SSD to 256 GB or 512 GB if possible AND
2. Replace the Optical Drive with another SSD (max capacity possible)
regarding:
- Where can I find the SSD with such capacity and good quality
- How do I replace the current SSD with the new one (guide/manual)... is it easy/hard? Should I go to a service center instead of doing it myself?
- Is it possible to replace the Optical Drive with SSD? Again how easy or hard is it, and how to go about it?
Where and how can one buy replacement optical drives for Sony laptops and notebooks? The sonystyle site does not list them in stock. Sony parts phone support might be an option, but I fear I might be offered a model that is not compatible.
I own a 2007 vintage Vaio VGN FZ190 notebook with a drive that should burn Blu-ray, DVD, or CD. I edit video and have burned maybe 50 DVDs and perhaps 25 Blu-ray discs.
Last week, the drive began to fail to recognize blank Blu-ray media. Then it lost the ability to play burned discs, even rented commercial discs, which I tested to make sure the problem did not owe to defective media........................
someone asked if they had a temp monitoring solution for the studio 1737 as i8kfan doesnt work...
View 5 Replies View Relatedyesterday I received my XPS 16. Nice machine, BUT: the cracking speakers / subwoofer is hard to accept.
I mainly listen to trance / techno music and the cracking noise is just there. Is there any patch or whatsoever? It's horrible ;/
I got myself 5930G a week ago.
I removed all of the unnecessary programs that Acer put in (they do make decent laptops but really overbload the OS with stupidities) and optimized Vista as much as I could (which is working nicely if i do say so myself ... but I'm still considering on going back to XP SP3 until Windows 7 comes out.).
Right ... I also played Mass Effect for a while on the laptop (maxed out at native res of 1280x800 works without a problem).
Now the only thing is, I'd like to reduce the temperatures of the laptop.
The idle CPU temp is at about 52 degrees, while under load reaches about 72 degrees Celsius (which is pretty good considering the casing).
I will buy myself the ZALMAN ZM-NC2000B cooler ... but what I would also love to do is to undervolt both the CPU and the GPU.
I'm aware the RMClock is not exactly effective when it comes to P7350 cpu.
I tried to undervolt it last night, and as much as I reduced the current going to the multipliers, the temperatures remained the same under stress for prolonged periods of time.
So ... until I find a way to undervolt the cpu and get myself the forementioned cooler, I'd like to undervolt the gpu (9600m GT GDDR3)
If it's possible (and I know it is), I need to know of programs that can be used to acomplish this.
As much as I like my new laptop, it would be nice to further extend it's lifespan (even though it's brand new) and reduce the heat output.
I was also thinking on getting the thermal paste and applying it to cpu/gpu.
Although I'm not sure I want to go ahead with it as I don't want to void the warranty.
how to overclock the cpu/gpu in question without significant gains in temps.
I am currently using a HP dv2000t notebook and the entire lid is glossy and very prone to fingerprints. I am awaiting for my XPS 16 to arrive but I've read many reviews about this laptop being a "fingerprint magnet" as well.
So just in case you guys didn't know, there is a way to help treat the fingerprints on the laptop's surface / lid.
NOTE: This is by no means permanently guaranteeing no future fingerprints.
..but for those that are interested, what I do is I take car wax and I wax the glossy surface like I would wax a car's clear coat.
Personally I use Meguires NXT car wax (paste kind, not liquid wax) but any other car wax works as well .....
i was having this wierd behavior of my laptop where battery woudnt charge above 6%, ive tried most of the "solutions" on the web, but none of them worked.
-Desinstalling Microsoft's ACPI-Compliant control method battery
-Doing a vista clean install
-Restarting/Removing/Plugging the battery from the laptop with the system running and shut down, and all sorts of combinations between.
-Trying different AC (from dell, some of my friends have got some dell systems, i tried a m1330 AC)
-Tried to find a battery calibrator, but was unsuccesful, and even tried to downgrade my BIOS, but couldnt because my battery wasnt charged above 10% (thats a requisite to flash the BIOS)
NONE OF THOSE WORKED.
So i called dell, they told me to go to the BIOS, tech guys told me that the problem could be figured out there by 2 ways, it'd either:
-Recognize the AC adapter (in due case, it was a battery problem)
-Or it wouldnt recognize it (in which case, it would be a MoBo or a AC adapter problem.
Turned out it recognized the AC adapter, so next step was to send me a new battery, since i had a 6 cell battery (which the dell guy confirmed after i gave him the serial number of the battery) i expected to receive a 6 cell battery replacement, but no, lucky me i received a 9 CELL BATTERY INSTEAD, free within warranty period (system is only 7 months old) so yeah, im happy, and my battery is charging again.
Everything is fine, so i thought i would share this info for you guys.
One thing to get in consideration: The embedded battery health indicator might not indicate that the battery is healthy, since my faulty battery had 5/5 green lights when i tried to check the health but was still faulty (my new one has 5/5 health lights and works wonderful)
my problem specifically was that beer got spilled on the keyboard. after a while the machine shorted and shut off. I have a Dell Inspiron 9300, with a 1.73 ghz Sonoma CPU. i left the laptop off for two days so some of the liquid would dry out. after some problems and a dozen reboots i got into the bios, then finally through to windows.
everything was fine except that the CPU was working at a very low frequency. also the fans were continually at highest speed. the CPU was being reported between 101 mhz to 503 mhz, depending on the software. it was being recognized correctly but showing to operate at 202 mhz in the system properties panel. what was really striking is that the notebook harware software i had installed was reporting the CPU temperature as 85 C. I tried various software to manipulate the CPU frequency to no avail. The temp was a constant 85 C, although i could tell that it was not even close to this temperature since i my laptop was partly disassembled and i could feel the surface of the heatsink with my hand; it was cool.
I finally surmised that the problem was with the thermal sensor on the motherboard. it had probably shorted or got soaked and was reporting the highest temperature it could as a safety measure, thereby limiting the CPU to a very low frequency and not allowing it to throttle above 503 mhz.
My last option, save for replacing the motherboard, was to find the sensor chip, clean it, dry it and hope that it would work again.
But this is not what solved the problem. somewhere on the net i came accross a code, that when entered on an Inspiron 9100 (an older laptop, with a different chipset) would bring up the Thermal Management screen or something like that, which is certainly not accessible via the BIOS. I was playing around with the settings on a program called Hardware sensors monitor, again to no avail, when i finally decided to enter this code:
FN key + zxcvasdqwer. almost the second i pressed z, or maybe after x, the high speed fans shut off! after a short while they kicked back into operation but at a low speed, just like they were supposed to. the program hmonitor began reporting a more realistic CPU temp. i tried to play a high-def movie file and finally it played normal, without any lag or stuttering! as i played it, the fans kicked into higher mode, and the temp which had been steadily rising, began to drop. the program, and most other programs were still reporting the cpu at 202 mhz, windows system properties as well. but since it was playing a 720p video file normally, it had to be much higher than that. i did a reboot and voila!
all monitoring software are now reporting the CPU at 1.73 ghz. the system temperatures are perfectly normal, and at idle the CPU goes as low as 20 degrees C. The software Speedfan, however, is still giving an error regarding the sensor chip on the motherboard.
After trying for months to make my DigitalPersona to work with Firefox 3.5, I read on their website that the solution for HP users is "HP Personal" 4.1. I asked HP Support about it and here it is the solution...for now:
HP Customer Care [url]
I understand that you would like to know whether Digital Persona 4.1 is released for your HP HDX X18-1103EA Premium Notebook PC which supports Firefox 3.5.
I understand your concern in this regards and assure you of my best effort in resolving this issue to your satisfaction.
*****, to use the Digital Persona Software with Firefox 3.5, please download and install the latest Digital Persona Fingerprint Reader software, version 4.0.1.3749 (SP4883 for 64-bit notebooks). The download link is give below.
Digital Persona Fingerprint Reader Software (Version: 4.0.1.3749_64 A)....
I finally found where the hue and saturation setting are in the ATI ccc which nobody has been able to discover, including Dell who had already agreed to replace my screen because of the reds... gotta call them tomorrow to cancel. Am so happy with my screen now!
Anyway, I installed the latest ATI drivers from the AMD website and used the mobility modder to mod them so that they can be used correctly with the laptop vga card (although I'm sure that this option is in every version).
1) In the ccc switch to "Advanced" mode
2) At the top left where there's a menu titled "Graphics" with a small arrow next to it, choose "Desktops & Displays"
3) On the bottom left there should be a small picture of a laptop with the number "1" next to it. Right click on the picture of the laptop and choose "Configure"
4) It should now open a new screen. Just go to the middle tab "Avivo Color" and play around with the Hue and Saturation.
Here are my current settings:
Avivo Color:
Hue: -4
Saturation: 83
Desktop Properties (Also under the top left menu):
Set color correction for: All Channels
Gamma: 1.00
Brightness: -50
Contrast: 90
Nvidia apparently has a solution to the problems faced by many in their notebooks powered by GeForce 8M series, that is, to encourage the OEM/ODMs to buy their new problem free chips. Of course, this doesn't solve the issues faced by current users and there won't be any replacement for them.
Nvidia has come out with a new GPU called NB8E-SET which is essentially NB8E-SE with the new underfill. NB8E-SE is used on many notebooks most commonly advertised as GeForce 8700M GT, GeForce 8800M GS or GeForce 9650M GS. NB8E-SET (G84-751) uses the new Hitachi underfill and is clocked at 625MHz core and 128-bit 800MHz GDDR2/3 memories similar to the current NB8E-SE.
Here's a note from Nvidia to their partners :
NVIDIA is committed to providing our customers with quality products that push the edge of technology and also continuously improve product quality and reliability. To help improve the product quality and ensure smooth and uninterrupted product supply during the current “end stage” of life cycle, NVIDIA strongly recommends that customers transition to this latest revision of the NB8E-SET GPUs as soon as possible. These latest revision units utilize “Hitachi” underfill packaging material that improves product quality and enhances operating life by improved thermal cycling reliability.
Source: [url]