BleepingComputer.com: Problems with New Sony Vaio

Hello,

I have this epic piece of junk Sony Vaio laptop (brand new) that I am helping a friend set up.

There are a couple of blaring problems. Things seem to freeze up at times, I can't click at certain times and the biggest issue is that the system appears to hang and/or go at an EXTREMELY low speed during certain functions.

One example is Windows Update. I'm quite familiar with Windows Update on XP. I've never used Vista, but I would think it would be similar. I've never seen updates take this long, and these aren't large updates either.

This screen had stayed like this for almost 10 minutes. No movement on the progress bar whatsoever. Eventually it starts up and will finish but, it takes FOREVER:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p77/pia...76/DSC00177.jpg

There were other updates too, that were rather small (under 100 mb) that just froze for an eternity before finishing, at best going VERY slowly. I'm talking having to wait 20 minutes for updates that should have taken minutes.

Some of the updates required a restart at which point I could have written a couple of novels by the time it finally booted into windows after various reboots and a strange screen I have never seen before (black, dos like screen with escalating counting numbers with file names).

This computer is brand new, right out of the box from Comp USA. It looks very cool, but performs like crap. Could this be a lemon?

I've never had a brand new computer act like this, yet I've never used Vista - so I'm not sure what to think.

Here's just a few of the many errors I'm getting:

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date: 3/28/2009 9:40:42 PM
Event ID: 10005
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Sederia-Laptop
Description:
DCOM got error "1053" attempting to start the service WSearch with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{7D096C5F-AC08-4F1F-BEB7-5C22C517CE39}
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM" Guid="{1B562E86-B7AA-4131-BADC-B6F3A001407E}" EventSourceName="DCOM" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">10005</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-03-29T04:40:42.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>42194</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Sederia-Laptop</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="param1">1053</Data>
<Data Name="param2">WSearch</Data>
<Data Name="param3">
</Data>
<Data Name="param4">{7D096C5F-AC08-4F1F-BEB7-5C22C517CE39}</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>






Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Servicing
Date: 3/27/2009 8:13:04 PM
Event ID: 4385
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Sederia-Laptop
Description:
Windows Servicing failed to complete the process of changing update WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-sl-SI-LP-Toplevel from package WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux(Feature Pack) into Absent(Absent) state
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Servicing" Guid="{bd12f3b8-fc40-4a61-a307-b7a013a069c1}" EventSourceName="Microsoft-Windows-Servicing" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">4385</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-03-28T03:13:04.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>12133</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Sederia-Laptop</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<UserData>
<CbsUpdateChangeState xmlns="http://manifests.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/windows/setup_provider">
<UpdateName>WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-sl-SI-LP-Toplevel</UpdateName>
<PackageIdentifier>WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux</PackageIdentifier>
<ReleaseType>Feature Pack</ReleaseType>
<UpdateState>Absent</UpdateState>
<PackageAssembly>WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-TopLevel~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~7.2.6001.788</PackageAssembly>
<UpdateDisplayName>
</UpdateDisplayName>
<Operation>Installed</Operation>
<OperationCompleted>True</OperationCompleted>
<ErrorCode>0x800f0806</ErrorCode>
<RebootOption>False</RebootOption>
</CbsUpdateChangeState>
</UserData>
</Event>


Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Servicing
Date: 3/27/2009 8:13:04 PM
Event ID: 4385
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Sederia-Laptop
Description:
Windows Servicing failed to complete the process of changing update WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-sk-SK-LP-Toplevel from package WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux(Feature Pack) into Absent(Absent) state
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Servicing" Guid="{bd12f3b8-fc40-4a61-a307-b7a013a069c1}" EventSourceName="Microsoft-Windows-Servicing" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">4385</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-03-28T03:13:04.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>12132</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Sederia-Laptop</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<UserData>
<CbsUpdateChangeState xmlns="http://manifests.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/windows/setup_provider">
<UpdateName>WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-sk-SK-LP-Toplevel</UpdateName>
<PackageIdentifier>WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux</PackageIdentifier>
<ReleaseType>Feature Pack</ReleaseType>
<UpdateState>Absent</UpdateState>
<PackageAssembly>WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-TopLevel~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~7.2.6001.788</PackageAssembly>
<UpdateDisplayName>
</UpdateDisplayName>
<Operation>Installed</Operation>
<OperationCompleted>True</OperationCompleted>
<ErrorCode>0x800f0806</ErrorCode>
<RebootOption>False</RebootOption>
</CbsUpdateChangeState>
</UserData>
</Event>

Being a new system, you've got to be aware of the warranty, and of the time lost attempting to fix the issues (plus any time it may be out for repair).

So, my suggestion would be to backup any information on the system and proceed with a restore of the system to factory specs.
This will tell you, in short order, if the problem is hardware based or software based (the warranty covers hardware).

If the restore doesn't fix it, this indicates that the problem is most likely in the hardware. Then, either send it in for service or exchange it for a new one (depending on the reseller's return policies).

If the restore does fix it, then there's a software issue that will have to be troubleshot if it recurs.

FWIW - my experience with Sony laptops is that they are very good computers - but every once in a while a lemon will slip through and it's a genuine pain to fix it and keep it fixed.

Curious to know but i would like to know how much RAM came on this system.

I know newer computers have at least 2 gigs RAM but having less than 2 gigs on vista has caused a ton of boot and blue screen problems.

Now if it has 2 gigs worth I would at least test it and make sure that you dont have a bad module.

It has 3GB. The memory tests okay.

It seems to be working okay now. Not great, and definitely not up to my standards. If it were my computer, I'd return it.

I've finished my work setting it up and have given it back to it's owner.

If anyone has feedback regarding the event log errors I listed, I'd be curious to know what you think.

usasma, on Mar 29 2009, 06:58 AM, said:

Restore did not fix it. I'll suggest to the owner that she send it back.

You posted 3 error messages:

1 - DCOM errors. I just ignore them, as I've found that they don't significantly affect anything that I've seen. And, they're usually self-healing (check the Information items later on to see if it was successful).

2 & 3 - Windows Update errors. Seems to point to errors changing the state of the updates. Way outta my league, but I'd expect that it wouldn't cause issues with anything but Windows Updates. Microsoft offers free support for Windows Update issues here http://support.microsoft.com/