VGN-A217M DVD-RW DW-D56A FIRMWARE PROBLEM

[luk4ss]

Hi. The problem is that I've used the update from http://www.vaio-link.com/vu/vu21/vu21.asp?l=en to change my vaio's firmware. I followed all the instructions and this programme announced a sucessfully accomplished mission. So far so good, but when I rebooted my laptop and tried to burn a CD-R it stopped half way through and rejected the CD. Now when I try to read any other CD or DVD it makes strange sounds and nothing happens. I have also tried downgrading the firmware with this tool http://upload.cdfreaks.com/ftools/firmware.exe
and it didn't even change the version of firmware. Same thing happens, so I have no cd-drive..
Please help!

[marcooz]

Sorry to hear about your problem.

I did the upgrade as well and fortunately I can say it worked for me on my A297XP laptop. I followed the instructions and then it asked to reboot and on the startup it redetected the drive and rebooted again. And from then on everything seemed to work fine. I haven't burnt anything on it yet though since then. Maybe I should give that a try soon.

As you already said I can't see how you can fix this apart from flashing it again or talking to support on how to restore the original one. Sorry - Good Luck

[luk4ss]

Stupid sony service wouldn't answer my phone call!!!
Bloody hell, what was this thirteen hundred spent on?

[kee-lo_]

Some days I wonder too

[luk4ss]

Not only I spent 40minutes on the phone in the morning trying to do some weird stuff with different drivers, after which nothing changed. Plus I have to pay for these phone calls, isn't this ridiculous?!?! They should phone me back for the money I paid for this piece of shit! Sorry, I'm only a bit angry, but 1300 pounds isn't really a small sum for a STUDENT! Especially when he has to pay his bills himself! I'm losing my well-established trust to Sony now!!
Then I rang them just after 5pm (lines open till 6!) and spent another HOUR or SO waiting to be transferred to an advisor!
Has anyone experienced anything like this?
Ok, enough about my problems with Sony customer care, I will wake up 8am tomorrow and wait in the queue politely, asking to be served, fuckin hell is this really how things are done nowadays? I expected a little bit more, but maybe I was wrong. We'll see tomorrow.
Maybe anyone has got a different solution? Like another way of changing this faulty firmware? Anything will do, please!

[kee-lo_]

Totally understand the frustration - it's really annoying waiting for them to answer and then they put you on hoid while they ask someone else, then they tell you to do something and call back..................... arragh

[luk4ss]

Even now I have just looked at the e-support webpage where I posted a case for this thread and since my morning phone call it's gone! How come they have deleted it? This company really never ceases to amaze me! I'm puzzled now, honestly, maybe someone wants to buy a superb VAIO, eh? 😕

[seb21__]

You can close the CASE.

[kee-lo_]

They can close the case - which is a bit annoying too.
Usually you just re-open it and say it was unfinished

[luk4ss]

The case is not there anymore, but I will post it back there saying it wasn't finished, thanks for this one lads!

[luk4ss]

No! No! No!
What a fuckin band of twats!
I cannot believe this!
I've just created a new case, spent about 10minutes typing it up all over again after which I only found out that the session has expiered! All I wrote lost, I'm losing grip now, plus when I tried to log in again it gave me a very welcoming answer:



Dear Customer,

Due to some maintainance procedures, the e-Support website is not available from 00:01 until 01:00.
Please try again later.

Regards,
The Support Team

F**K F**K F**K!

What is this supposed to be? It's 11:11pm aaaaaaaaaaa!!!
I'm really gonna throw this computer through the window in a minute if this goes on like this!