topic Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems in PCs & Accessories

Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Vandors — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:43:52 GMT

I have got Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S laptop. The Blu-ray drive doesn't work properly. There are 2 problems with it.
1. It doesn't read DVD-ROM disk. Doesn't see it, however disk is readable, was perfectly read at my desktop computer and DVD recorder. The laptop and disk are brand new. Bought 2 weeks ago.
2. Every software that reguires more than 1 CD to be installed just one after another can't be installed on the laptop.
System stops responding after second CD was inserted. However seperetly all they were read perfectly. Problem happens every time. Tried restarts, full system recovery and so on. Disks all new and readable on desktop computer. Tried 3 different software with the same result.

Can you comment all this and verify if it is a laptop problem.

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Thalamus. — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:21:56 GMT

Hi Vandors

Welcome to Club Vaio,

I would take your AR21 back to the retailer and ask for a replacement as you have only had your Vaio for 2 weeks and a system recovery has not solved the problem..:smileysad:

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

kee-lo_ — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:59:38 GMT

I agree with Thalamus, but I'm not really suprised as they seem to have had a lot of bad bluray drives lately.

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Vandors — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:03:17 GMT

The problem actually is that retailer refused return, untill Sony confirms it is a laptop problem..
They have log of this call and it could be confirmed..

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

BartK — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:06:59 GMT

Maybe check there download section.
It seems that there are new firmware available for this drive.
That might just solve the issue...:smileygrin:

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Thalamus. — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:36:14 GMT

Hi Vandors

You may find HITS-UK's post in this thread of use..

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

apierc1 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:39:16 GMT

To my knowledge Blue Ray drives aren't able to play standard DVDs?? Standard DVDs and CD Roms are read by a red laser, and Blue Ray as sufggested by the name uses a Blue laser which allows more of the disk to be read or something, are they actually compatible? nothing I have read or heard has suggested they are.

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Thalamus. — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:43:01 GMT

According to the Specs the AR21 optical drive supports the following:

CD-ROM : 24 x Speed
CD-R : 24 x Speed
CD-RW : 24 x Speed
DVD-ROM : 8 x Speed
DVD +R : 8 x Speed
DVD +RW 8 x Speed
DVD -R : 8 x Speed
DVD -RW : 6 x Speed
DVD Dual Layer : 4 x Speed
BD : 1.6 x Speed
BD-R : 1 x Speed
BD-RE : 1 x Speed

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

apierc1 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:44:18 GMT

Hmm I wonder if it's a dual laser drive? Or maybe blue ray can just play standars discs? Interesting

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Mingah — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:49:04 GMT

Hmm I wonder if it's a dual laser drive?  Or maybe blue ray can just play standars discs? Interesting

You can see two lenses when you open the drive, so it's most likely a dual drive

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Thalamus. — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:00:28 GMT

Hi Mingah,

Welcome to Club Vaio,

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

Mingah — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:21:15 GMT

Muchos gracias!

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

rikkiblobs — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:17:00 GMT

I have exatly same problem when installing 2 cd games on my laptop DVD work perfect but any game with more than 1 cd just locks up or does not respond after inserting disc 2
i also have a problem with certain games(Half Life and Oblivion where the sound is all crackling and buzzing ive tried adjusting everything but to no avail other games and movies are fine
Has anyone got to the bottom of this cd problem yet its totally baffling me ive tried disabling norton and other software but cannot get it to work at all

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

eaglesrest — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:33:04 GMT

i have the same problem with half life 2. setting the game audio to 4 speakers seems to fix the sound, although im not sure if im missing any sound i.e. music.

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

rikkiblobs — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:21:23 GMT

with reference to the sound i manually downloaded the update for the sound card and installed it myself instead of letting auto update run. This seems to have cured my problem with the sound on all my games. The auto update must not have installed the software correctly.
Still have the same problem when installing more than one cd i have updated the drive software manually but this hasnt changed anything, But hey 1 out of 2 aint bad

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

eaglesrest — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 12:34:37 GMT

with reference to the sound i manually downloaded the update for the sound card and installed it myself instead of letting auto update run. This seems to have cured my problem with the sound on all my games. The auto update must not have installed the software correctly.
Still have the same problem when installing more than one cd i have updated the drive software manually but this hasnt changed anything, But hey 1 out of 2 aint bad

interesting. Where did you download the audio drivers from?

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

rikkiblobs — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:31:19 GMT

I downloaded them from the club vaio site in the download section and saved them into update folder and run the exe manually

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

gbh — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 11:48:27 GMT

I had the same problem, the latest firmware upgrade from the site seemed to fix the DVD-ROM problem and to get over the other problem of multiple cd's I copied the 2nd (and in the case of CMR04 3rd and 4th) onto the hard drive and directed it there to look for the other files it worked a treat, this should not contravene the copyright laws as I retain the originals. I can't say that it will work for all multiple CD set ups but give it a try first, don't forget to keep the first disk in the drive whilst it runst eh other as it always likes to return to the first. Hope this helps
Oh dear Sony, get your act together on this unit it does seem cause a few problems Flagship machine Eh!

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

@0264405400002079 — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:40:32 GMT

hi all, i am getting a 21s tomorrow and am wondering if i hook up my external dvd drive if it will install more than one cd from that. ?

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-AR21S drive problems

rikkiblobs — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:49:52 GMT

Just got hold of another brand new AR21S and it has exactly the same problem installing games with 2 cds or more everything else works fine. it must be a firmware problem with the drive(come on sony sort it out).
Out of interest i managed to install a game with 4 cds the other day the only difference with it was that the install screen was not a full page on the screen as with the others that wont load, maybe it is a software conflict somewhere in the system thats locking something in the load screens.