fz11m freezes randomly

[cptbill]

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?

[rich912]

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?

[cptbill]

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??

[rich912]

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.

[Chanandler]

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.

[cptbill]

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.

[cptbill]

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 😕

[CG12]

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 !!!

[cptbill]

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?

[CG12]

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 !