topic Re: fz11m freezes randomly in PCs & Accessories

fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:10:16 GMT

Hi guys,

I have a FZ11M.
Problem is that it freezes when i leave it idle. That might happen sometimes after 10 hours, sometimes after 20 hours and sometimes after 3-4 hours. It happens randomly.
FZ11M stays idle (no processing, cpu is almost 0%) and the screensaver gets activated. So most of the times i find the laptop frozen (displaying the last image of the screensaver)and i can only shutdown the laptop with the power button(pushing it until FZ11M turns off)

Any clues what might be wrong?

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

rich912 — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:23:56 GMT

Hi cptbill,

Have you tried deactivating the screen saver (set to none) and setting your power options to turn off the display after a set period?

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 06:48:41 GMT

tried that too, same thing. FZ11M freezed after 10 hours.
Tonight i tried to run hot cpu tester software which pushes the cpu to its limit and performs a series of tests. There was no problem after 5 hours of running hotcputester.

I will perform today the memory test on Vista. But i am running out of ideas.

My worries are what will happen if i send it to the vaio service. Will they be able to find the problem??

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

rich912 — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 09:58:33 GMT

Hi cptbill,

This is going to be a difficult one to narrow down but Event Viewer may possibly hold some clues.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs > System

Look for any red exclamation symbols that have a time stamp corresponding to the freeze. You could also have a look at the Application logs.

Before Support will even agree to collect your machine they will usually ask that you carry out a full system recovery using the recovery media. If you are unable to track down the cause of the freeze this may not be such a bad idea anyway.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

clyarwo — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:00:18 GMT

Hiyah, I read on a forum somewhere about a problem ith Vista when the laptop goes to sleep or gets into a low power mode and on re-awakening things stop working. There was a hotfix that I downloaded for mine and it cured lots of issues.

I don't have the link to the hotfix page on the Microsoft site but it's called "Windows6.0-KB938979-x86" so you should be able to find it on their site.

It fixes loads of other Vista issues as well and my system has been working a lot better since installing it.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:46:23 GMT

I am back.
On the last days i have fully restored the laptop to factory image .
Problem is still there.
The event viewer doesnt log any problems. All devices on device manager are working ok.

My next step was to upgrade the nvidia drivers(from Vaio web site). Problem still there. Then i installed all the critical patches for vista(and the one Chanandler told me) . Problem is still there. Today i am performing a Vista memory check.

I really cant understand the nature of the problem. Drivers problem? Hardware problem?
I will perform a few more tests before i contact the Sony support.
I wish i could install Xp to see if the problem appears with different OS.
That would help me to understand if its a hardware or software problem.

PS: Its so unfair to see my gf's FZ21M to be online for at least 3-4 days without any problems.
Damn it.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:51:28 GMT

I also changed the screensavers. It doesnt matter what screensaver i will choose, the laptop freezes after some hours displaying always the last screensaver image.
Also i noticed that (depending on the screensaver i have choosen) my laptop gets really really hot. But if it was an overheat problem FZ11M would normally die/freeze/explode/whatever when i run the hotcputester utility. But the 5hours hotcputester was a success.

I dont get it 😕

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

CG12 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:48:01 GMT

Hello,

I have a FZ11M and I am so dissapointed !!! My Vaio freezes randomly, especially when I use WMP 11. Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-tgwJt6cp4 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbmfIOOklq8 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxF-LF634I8
I sent this problem to the Vaio support and the answer is: NO ANSWER, just bla, bla, bla!!! Finally, I decided to sell it and buy a new Vaio FZ31Z, next month. Maybe this time, I'll be a lucky guy !!!

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:52:34 GMT

Hello,

I have a FZ11M and I am so dissapointed !!! My Vaio freezes randomly, especially when I use WMP 11. Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-tgwJt6cp4 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbmfIOOklq8   or  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxF-LF634I8
I sent this problem to the Vaio support and the answer is: NO ANSWER, just bla, bla, bla!!! Finally, I decided to sell it and buy a new Vaio FZ31Z, next month. Maybe this time, I'll be a lucky guy !!!

You mean that you sent your laptop to the Sony service and they didnt fix it??
Or you emailed them?

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

CG12 — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:40:47 GMT

In fact, I just emailed & called them (the Vaio service it seems to be very poor, here in Romania !)

Regarding this Vaio I have a few problems:
- Freezes randomly
- Blue screen with ”Memory Parity Error”
- A few folders burned with Roxio are empty on the final DVD disk.

They dont know what is wrong with my laptop and told me to make a complete recovery or to play mp3 files using SonicStage instead of Windows Media Player before sending to the service !

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:35:57 GMT

Anyway i opened a new case from the e-support webpage and waiting for an answer.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

frunns — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:02:24 GMT

Oh damn, I'm not the only one. This happened to me during christmas, got my laptop back from repair (faulty key on the keyboard) and all of a sudden BSODed on me, saying something about memory parity (as previously mentioned). After that it just started freezing up, repeating half a second of sound (of what was playing at that moment). And it's occuring in both Vista and Ubuntu. At first I thought it had something to do with playing DVDs, as it actually were in the beginning, but just today it froze up a few times when using a torrent-program in ubuntu... And I don't really dare send it back to the repair center either, they'll just end up not finding any fault or just blaming it on me...

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:20:24 GMT

Hmmm...weird things with FZ11M.
Anyway at the moment i have opened a case, they replied to me to and told me to test the laptop using safe mode.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

frunns — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:28:06 GMT

yeah, they told me to use recover and reset my comp, but I think it wouldn't matter as the problem should be hardware-related, as it occur in multiple OSs...

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:14:10 GMT

I am VERY dissappointed with the vaio support.
I am doing whatever they tell me on the case(number 2829858 if anyone cares) i opened on e-support.
The worst part is that they keep asking me the same questions like :is there an external hardware connected?
I have opened the case from 4th of January, i have an unusable laptop and cant believe that e-support keeps asking me the same things.

Something new i noticed is that on the "problem reports and solutions" of vista i can see many many "video hardware error" something that never happened before.

Here is an image: http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/cptbill/fz11m.jpg

I think its probably a vga hardware problem. So on earth do i have to do to have a workable laptop?? How should i convince them to pick up my laptop to repair it??

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

frunns — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:22:42 GMT

well... the e-support really ain't that good. the phone-support however is quite nice, and the actual repair time as well. the problem as I see it is, can you replicate the error? I sure can't on mine at least... however now it might be gone, haven't occured in a long time.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

dragsan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:27:00 GMT

Hi
I got exactly the samo problem with FZ 11 E
It was very annoying so I sold it 3 weeks after purchasing it and now I got a AR61M

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

cptbill — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:16:40 GMT

well... the e-support really ain't that good. the phone-support however is quite nice, and the actual repair time as well. the problem as I see it is, can you replicate the error? I sure can't on mine at least... however now it might be gone, haven't occured in a long time.

I has been a month since i opened the case on e-support.
Yeah i noticed that their e-support is bad since they tell me to do the same things over and over. In order to reproduce the problem, they have to switch it on and leave it idle doing nothing. It will freeze after some hours.

dragsan was it exactly the same problem? What i have noticed on my problem is that the laptop freezes when the processing usage is low (for example 1-2%). Which means that a screensaver might have been activated (or energy saving mode) and the laptop freezes after some hours. While working on the laptop, it never has frozen.

At the moment i found out a solution to my problem: running a task that keeps the cpu busy. For example folding@home which is set up to run at about 6-7% cpu usage.
I know that this is not a permanent solution but i am desperate. I paid €1200 for a laptop that i have rarely used and now i am trying to convince Sony support to pick up the laptop for repair.

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

dragsan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:34:57 GMT

Yes, mostly it happened by low cpu usage
But sometimes however it happened as I was watching a movie or surfing on the internet

Re: fz11m freezes randomly

Thalamus. — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:22:52 GMT

Hi cptbill,

hopefully Sony Vaio Support should be in contact soon..