New SVE1711X1EB - £899 for a Headache ?

[pepperhouse]

I am NOT a novice and have had a sony before so I expected to have to uninstall/ workaround loads of junk software, but everything about this is horrendous at the moment. E.G. Even after a full recovery, vaioshell won't work so can't read the manual, etc. and evrything takes eons to open, if at all. Even though I finally got it to update. 'Sony Care' ? it didn't exist (literally, as it won't open). I now have 3 options - 1) Try recovering directly from recovery discs to see if that improves matters 2) Totally erase the drive and begrudgingly instal a new copy of windows, then do without the sony drivers I'll lose in the process or 3) Take it back to PC World (I'm within my 7 days)  demand my money back and buy a nice cheap Samsung instead ! What would you do?

P.S. I tried to send this directly to Sony's complaints department but the button link for 'send' didn't work, either !

[Blencogo]

Hi pepperhouse and welcome.

The decision is of course yours, but I would return the Vaio to factory configuration using the instructions "To Recover from the Recovery Area" in your Recovery Guide here: -

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/manuals/consumer/4426910111.pdf

After updating the Microsoft and Vaio software, you can then either simply disable running services you don't require (so you can re-enable them again if you get it wrong) or uninstall software you don't require (once you are sure what you are uninstalling and certain it is not required for basic computer use.

[pepperhouse]

Hi Biencogo - I had already done the recovery from the recovery area which you suggest (without any improvement) when I posted (hence my frustration) and the issue is not 'unrequired software' at this stage, but inability to decide whether or not various installed software is required.This is  due to functional issues. E.G. I would very much like to explore various sony instals and options  via the  'sony care' sidebar, but  if it either won't open at all , or has huge blank areas when it does, or if I keep getting error messages such as 'viaoshell is missing'  I'm not going to get very far. I even tried downloading the  'instruction/ operational manual' directly from the sony website (to my other PC - the one I'm using right now, whilst recovering the Sony again, this time directly from the discs I made, to see if that works better than from the recovery area). Perhaps you would be so kind as to try to download this yourself, too, (zip file ae9d100111) and let me know what you think of it ?

[Blencogo]

Hi pepperhouse.

Thanks for explaining the situation.  I can't get the .ZIP download to extract either.  Have you tried going to Start -> All Programs -> VAIO Manual?  The manual is usually preloaded on your Vaio.

However, I doubt if anything in the manual is going to help and I can't see any updated downloads that will address the issue.

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SVE1711X1EB/updates

If it was me, I would probably take it back to PC World and ask for a replacement but you may wish to phone Vaio Support and see if it is a known issue that can be fixed simply.

You are trying to contact Vaio Support - not Sony Support?  If you go here: -

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/contacts

Click on "Vaio and Computing and enter your Vaio's Serial Number.  You will be offered Phone, an email proforma and (when available) chat.

[pepperhouse]

Thanks for trying, Biencogo, but I'm afraid you are only following in footsteps already well-trodden by myself. The vaio manual in start menu merely tells you that it must be 'updated' before it can be read - and the update which  follows is as unreadable as that which both you and I have now read. Also visited all the other links you suggested - and more - before resorting to first recovery ... but to no avail. (e.g. the email proforma 'send' button doesn't work and I'm blowed if I'm going to spend a fortune to be fobbed off on the phone). Hence my 'let off steam' posting. To be honest, I rarely yell publicly unless I have exhausted every other means of research and course of action, and my plaintive cry was more to shame Sony than anything else, as I think it's just a case of very bad software design and configuration at the initial programming stage  (they really need telling that sometimes 'less is more') and poor follow-up support,  if you know what I mean. I just wish they would give folk  the option to recover just windows and essential drivers and then choose what they want from the 'extras' - or at least spend less time on treating us all like kids who need a complete program to 'help us to connect to the internet', etc.or filling up every toolbar with 'special offers' - and more time on just getting the important stuff to work first time ! Thanks again for bothering, though 🙂

[pepperhouse]

Update - Just thought you'd like to know that the recovery using the discs I'd made earlier was an improvement on that using the recovery partition on the drive - finally managed to get a readable manual downloaded and vaiocare working, albeit slowly. Still got loads of issues (e.g. bits of uninstalled progs such as Mccafee still popping up all over the place and running slower than my previous sony laptop ) but am working on it .....