Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Rant

Against the Sony Advice

Aug 26, 2015 2:58PM PDT

Sony advised not to upgrade my Sony Vaio model VPCSA (AMD + Intel Graphics). I am disappointed to see the advice. My Vaio has Intel ® core™ i7-2640 CPU @2.80Ghz, RAM 8.00 GB, AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M series and Intel ® HD Graphics 3000. I do not like to end its life with Windows 7.

I ignored the advice and upgraded. First time it has problem of Windows icon left bottom corner was not function. “Go back to Windows 7” restored the Windows 7 without any problems.

After a few days second time I tried again this time it worked but finger print scanner was not working the application crashed. And another problem was the Graphics Stamina and Speed switch was also not working. I update the Graphics cards drivers and Authentic Truesuit drivers but no solution.

Third times I did clean install this time, there were so many problems of drivers such as Biometric Devices AuthenTec Inc AES1660, Modems Huawei Govi 3000 HS-USB Modem, Network adapters and Ports (COM & LPT). I could not find the drivers on the Internet and their websites I found some but not helpful.

I restored the Windows 7 again and 4th time I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. This time everything worked smoothly except the function of the Graphics Stamina and Speed switch.

During the upgrade the graphics Stamina and Speed switch was in Stamina Mode. After I upgraded I installed the AMD’s Graphics Cards Auto Detect and found no AMD graphics card. I checked the Device Manager – Display adapters there was only Intel ® HD Graphics 3000 then I switched from Stamina to Speed mode and the AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M Series appeared. The Auto Detect found the driver and installed. I think the switch is still working but there is no notice of Graphics status (Stamina or Speed) like in Windows 7.

Sony website has this information regarding this matter:
“VPCSA/VPCSB/VPCSC/VPCSD/VPCSE Series
• Systems with switchable graphics that have both AMD and Intel graphics cards will experience BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).”

I do not have this problem.
I checked the Display properties, it is Intel ® HD Graphics 3000.
I cannot confirmed these two graphics cards are functioned like before (Windows 7) or it is only one graphics card working.

Some information of both graphics cards:

AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M Series Properties – Events – Timestamp xx/xx/yyyy hh:m:s Description – Device migrated, Driver service added (amdkmdap), Driver service added (amdkmdag), Driver service added (AMD External Events Utility..)

Intel ® HD Craphics 3000 Properties – Events – Timestamp – Device migrated, Driver service added (igfx), Driver service added (cphs)

I have no idea above these information.
I do not know Sony is going to abandon all these Viao models or they are going to provide us some solution of this problem. I do not think it is a serious problem but Sony should do something about this problem.

Thanks

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Sony advice is probably because...
Aug 26, 2015 3:20PM PDT

...they knew the drivers needed for that model to work on w10 aren't available yet, but may in future.

- Collapse -
I hope so
Aug 26, 2015 4:15PM PDT

I hope so in the future this problem could be solved from Sony or some users.

- Collapse -
Nothing compared to the Android market.
Aug 26, 2015 3:28PM PDT
- Collapse -
No promise
Aug 26, 2015 4:11PM PDT

No promise at all.
May hardware is approved by Microsoft to upgrade to Windows 10. Still it runs smoothly. I think Sony may not have enough time to solve this Stamina/Speed switch problem or they are giving more priority to the new models.

- Collapse -
My prior Sony's all...
Aug 26, 2015 4:16PM PDT

All Sony's at home and office since Windows 1995 days have never had company support for any OS except the one the machine came with.

This seems to be riling folk today.

- Collapse -
Sony is losing customers!
Aug 26, 2015 4:22PM PDT

Sony is losing customers!

- Collapse -
#my
Aug 26, 2015 4:19PM PDT

My..

- Collapse -
I don't understand the problem
Aug 26, 2015 4:29PM PDT

In you own words
" Sony advised not to upgrade my Sony Vaio model VPCSA (AMD + Intel Graphics). I am disappointed to see the advice".

You purchased this Sony with Win 7.
Didn't it work? Did Sony tell you to change operating systems ?
Why would you expect Sony to waste time on creating drivers for an old laptop.

- Collapse -
The problem is stamina/speed switch
Aug 27, 2015 12:25AM PDT

I bought this Sony with Windows 7 Professional. It runs Windows 10 but the Graphics Stamina/Speed switch is not working like in Windows 7. I do not think it is hardware problem. Other Laptop brands have created drivers for their machines to upgrade to Windows 10 I think. If it is an issue of hardware compatibility then I won’t try to upgrade. For the sake of money and new Models Sony may not like to waste their time to create new drivers for their old laptops even though they are compatible hardware with Windows 10.

My PC is old but still powerful it runs Windows 10 better than Windows 7 except the Graphics Stamina/Speed switch.

Sony Vaio
Intel Core i7-2640M, Stepping J1, Cores 2, Logical 4
8 GB RAM
SATA3 ports with SSD drive

GPU Intel Sandy Bridge-MB GT2+ - Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000, 2108 MB, Current Clocks (MHz) GPU 648.6 Memory 6650, Memory Modules Size 4GB Clock 667 MHz, Type DDR3-1333 / PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM SO-DIMM

AMD Radeon HD 6630M [Sony], ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6750M/6650M/7650M, Whistler PRO/LP, PCIe v2.0x16 (5.0 Gb/s @ x16 (2.5 Gb/s), 1GB SDRAM 128-bit, ROPs 16 Shaders Unified: 480, Gurrent Clocks (MHz) GPU 100.0 Memory 555.5.

Thanks

- Collapse -
Bad customer support from Sony
Dec 14, 2015 3:42AM PST

I have excatly the same Setup and also wish that Sony provides a update also in terms of AMD graphic card becouse there are newer drivers released from AMD.

I am not running win7 just becouse of the graphic switch. There is also a issue with GPU Accleration within Lightroom 6 wich requiers newer drivers and the newer are not compatible with sony gpu switch.

Shamefull is also the lack of SATA 3 support. I have an SSD but only running on SATA2 speed becouse of the sony bios. The chipset intel hm65 altough supports sata 3 speeds.

I hope sony will start to listen to Customers more
Best regards
Domen