I rebuilt my main desktop a few days ago and ever since I’ve not been able to connect to it with Remote Desktop. I click connect from the other machine and the buttons grey out for a moment before they reset. No error message is displayed. Checking the event log shows a number of Application Popup errors relating to RDPDD.DLL.
It turns out that this is caused by the latest NVidia drivers - which of course I downloaded and installed on rebuilding the machine, the only fix at the moment is to add this to the registry:
If you close the new Sony Vaio Z series laptop while it is running in Stamina Mode (using an Intel GMA 4500MHD chip) it WILL NOT wake the screen up when you resume from standby.
This video shows my new Sony Vaio Z (VGN-Z11VN) running the XP downgrade drivers version 6.14.10.4953 dated 21/05/2008 from Sony. The same happens when using the latest drivers (version 6.14.10.4980 dated 25/08/2008).
Note the “beep” noise when I press the volume function buttons; the machine is on and working (it’s visibl e on the network) except the LED screen isn’t on. The only way out is to reboot it - I’m getting very good at Windows-U-L-Down-Enter to Shutdown without being able to see the screen.
I’ve posted about this in the forums, but no one has an answer - and Intel don’t offer email support for this chipset. Does anyone know how to fix this? Using the Nvidia card is fine, it’s just the Intel chip that causes grief.
I love my Sony Vaio Z. It’s a wonderful bit of kit - exactly the power/portability ratio I wanted. It has enough grunt to play the odd game in “Speed” mode while giving 6 hours of battery life on wireless in stamina mode. Not to mention to gorgeous 1600×900 LED screen and the built in 3G wireless.
I have one problem with it and it’s a failing of Sony’s decision making rather than any particular problem with the kit. Sony disable the Intel Virtualization Technology in the Core 2 Duo on all their Vaio machines. I’ve seen no valid rationale for this other than “We don’t support VT on the Vaio range.“ This is absurd since all the Core 2 Duo chips feature Intel Virtualization Technology and I can’t imagine how having it switched on would adversely affect Vista or XP (the two Operating Systems Sony officially supports).
If this were a consumer laptop I could understand - but it’s specifically targeted at business users. In my business I make extensive use of both Microsoft and VMWare’s virtualisation systems - both of which run much faster on hardware that has the VT functionality enabled. There are a goodnumber of people on various forums spitting blood about this issue so I’m not the only one complaining.
There is light, of sorts, at the end of this tunnel. Since Sony have done this before on other machiens in the Vaio series, people have managed to re-enable VT by using BIOS editing tools to flip the right register. Unfortunately it requires intimate knowledge of the BIOS - knowledge that we won’t have until Sony release a BIOS update that can be reverse engineered. If we’re very lucky Sony will make amends by releasing a BIOS update that allows us to enable VT in the BIOS interface proper.
The worst part of this is that we (Vaio Z owners) didn’t know that VT was disabled until after we bought the machines. I know a number of people have returned their units and bought Toshiba or Dell machines that haven’t been crippled by the vendors. Sony advertised a Core 2 Duo Mobile processor, they didn’t mention in any literature that they’d be disabling bits of the processor for no reason.
Sony, if you’re reading this - please give us control over the entire processor and let us enable VT.
I’m rebuilding my new Sony Vaio Z with Windows XP, and as usual there are a load of tweaks I need to make to the OS before I feel “at home” again. Since the fingerprint reader software on the new build has an annoying habit of popping up info balloons on every boot - regardless of how often I click them - I felt the need to Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips in Windows XP.
Much better.
And sorry Vista, I tried, I really did. I liked how your hot-swap driver support meant I could switch between stamina and speed modes without a reboot, but I hated your poor network performance against my NAS (even with SP1). Maybe I’ll try again on the next new laptop. Oh, and Sony? Thank you for my XP downgrade CD and drivers. Lovely.
It looks like my experience of awful customer service from iRobot’s UK service center, Domotec, was an anomaly. Either that or the spotlight of publicity, combined with my emailing a number of iRobot’s senior management caused someone to ensure policy - and warranties - were being properly applied.
I called Domotec’s service number this morning, after checking by email that they were definitely the authorised warranty centre for Roomba’s sold by the iRobot UK store. A very helpful and friendly lady answered the phone and on hearing my description of the problem offered to send out the replacement cleaning module for me to fit. No quibbles, no fuss, just an immediate acceptance of the problem and offer of an entirely satisfactory solution.
So I can recommend the Roomba again. Just be sure to clean it after EVERY use, not just every 3 times like the manual says!
I’m lusting after the new Sony Vaio Z Series which doesn’t come out in the US until mid-August, and I’ve no idea when it comes out in the UK. Annoyingly, while the US site allows you to configure your system from scratch - including putting in dual solid state drives - Sony UK limit us to choosing from three prescribed models, none of which contain quite the match of processor and storage I’m looking for. Continue reading ‘Sony Vaio Z Series’
I can’t remember when I first played with a ZX Spectrum. I know I must have come to the party relatively late since I was only 4 when it was released, unlike Chris who was old enough to have one at launch. This weekend he rescued one from his mum’s rubbish bin, complete in the polystyrene box it originally came in and with mint condition manuals. It even has the guarantee certificate, an unopened demo cassette and the 1982 Edition of the Sinclair Software Catalogue! Continue reading ‘ZX Spectrum nostalgia’
Having ditched Freeview for signal quality reasons, it’s time to talk about getting the satellite cards to work under Vista Media Centre - something that until MS release the “Fuji” update is not as trivial as you’d think! Vista’s tuning architecture doesn’t understand DVB-S (or -S2), so can’t natively tune satellite cards, so we need to “trick” Vista into believing that the satellite card is actually just a standard DVB-T (Freeview) card, albeit with many more channels. Continue reading ‘My 1080p HTPC: Freesat with Vista’
When I originally built my HTPC, I used 2 Freeview cards. Each Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T500 has two Freeview tuners in one PCI card. By installing two of these (and with some registry tweaking) it is possible to build a device that can record/watch 4 Freeview channels at once.
Out of the box the Vista Media Centre GUI is only capable of setting up 2 tuners at any one time. This is odd since the underlying tuner architecture is actually quite capable of using as many tuners as you can fit in the machine. Your limiting factor, really, is the speed you can push the data to your hard drive. Continue reading ‘My 1080p HTPC: Multiple Freeview Tuners’
As I mentioned in the last post, I’m running the Media Center (yes, that’s how they spell it) interface from Vista Ultimate to drive my HTPC. Out of the box Vista Media Center (VMC) is capable of playing DVDs and MPEG2 broadcast content - such as the output of a Hauppauge DVB-T or DVB-S TV card. What it can’t do is play the more esoteric formats such as DivX, XVid and hidef containers such as the Matroska (MKV) files. Continue reading ‘My 1080p HTPC: The Software’
About
Howard is a geek, a gamer, a company director and sometime surfer. He watches a lot of American TV. He lives in Winchester with Lindsay and two cats, and currently contracts for the largest software company in the world.
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