Vaio Win8.1 Ethernet Woes

Upgraded the Sony S-series Vaio laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 Pro. Since then the Gigabit Ethernet never did work. I tried uninstalling/installing the Realtek PCIe GBE drivers a couple of times - from Sony's website and from Windows Update. Doesn't seem to be a problem with the drivers though. However, the system keeps saying "Network cabled unplugged".

After a bit of experimenting, I finally managed to find the culprit. Right-click on the Ethernet connection, and select Properties. Select Configure. Under the Power Management tab, unselect "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". And just like that, the Ethernet connection came up.

Vivid Sydney 2014

It was the second-to-the-last night of Vivid Sydney, so I was expecting it to be crowded, even if it's freezing cold. Wasn't expecting the CBD to be packed. I mean, there is no train or bus service to Circular Quay. Buses stop at QVB, and trains stop at Wynyard. Most of the roads leading to Circular Quay have been closed to vehicular traffic. Yet there's people everywhere.

 

First stop for me was Martin Place. A few of the restaurants were open till late. Also have a bunch of pop-up stalls selling food and drinks. Near the end of Martin Place, I turned left and made my way to Circular Quay. There were a few displays along the promenade towards Opera House, but they crowd was so thick, I didn't go for a look anymore. At the Opera House, everyone had their tablets and phones raised, taking photos and videos of the light display. After a while, year after year, these projections start to lose their novelty.

 

I would've like to cross over to the other side and look at the lights show at MCA and the Harbour Bridge, but I ran out of time. Still have to walk all the way to Town Hall to catch my bus to Pyrmont. I'm beginning to think this will be one of the last Vivids for me.

cdundee Outed!

Was talking to a colleague at the cafeteria this morning. He mentioned that he bought a coffee machine from a deal he saw at Ozbargain. It's $69 for a Map MIA coffee machine, plus 140 capsules. Dirt cheap! And to think that he already has an Aldi Expressi machine - probably from another deal.

He was saying that at $69, it's a no-brainer. Officeworks was being ozbargained, and the website and payment system started going haywire. He was about pay for his purchase, and he noticed that Paypal had someone else's name and delivery address.

This anecdote sounded a little familiar to me, so I went back to the deal's comments section. And there it was - user cdundee talking about the same exact experience. Hello, cdundee!

Windows 8.1 on Sony Vaio VPCSD28EC

So the wife started to use her Sony Vaio again, and just as luck would have it, it broke itself. According to her, notification windows with Chinese characters started popping up. She tried escaping them away, but they kept coming back, so she powered off the laptop. When she tried booting up again, the laptop would display the Windows 7 splash screen, then hang.

We bought the laptop in China a couple of years ago. My guess is that it's actually running Chinese Windows, and the guys in the shop simply installed some translation software to make it look like English Windows. That would explain the Chinese error screens, now that the system is malfunctioning.

At this point, I have the option of pressing F10, and restore from the hidden system recovery partition, or do a clean install. You can probably guess which option I chose. My only worry with doing a clean install of Windows 8.1 is that the function keys won't work as intended anymore. Other people managed to get the function keys working properly after a clean install, but their Vaios are better supported with proper Windows 8 upgrade drivers from Sony. For the Vaio VPCSD28EC, the support page is here. The download page is pretty sparse though. Just the original drivers and applications, plus Windows 8 versions of Vaio Care and Vaio Control Center.

After installing Windows 8.1, Ethernet and WiFi are detected properly. Windows Update downloaded the Bluetooth and AMD Radeon graphics drivers. I executed all the drivers and application installers from the support page. Some installed properly, while some aborted themselves due to non-compatibility with Windows 8.1. Also installed the upgrade apps for Vaio Care and Vaio Control Center, but didn't seem to do anything. The function keys for volume control and page navigation work, but not for brightness control and sleep. It's a good thing those can be done from Windows itself.

For brightness control, an option is to enable adaptive brightness. Another option is to bring up the Charms Bar (hover on lower-right corner), select Settings, then Brightness. Or simply Winkey+I. Problem solved.