SonyVaioVGN-S4XP

  • Contact: BenBacarisse

  • Brand: Sony
  • Make : Vaio
  • Model: VGN-S4XP
  • Website: unknown

Current Issues

  • Touchpad settings (i.e. none but the defaults) are usable but rather odd for the extra-wide touchpad.
  • Setting Option "SHMConfig" "true" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf would allow setting and experimenting with touchpad settings using the command-line synclient.

  • On resume from hibernation, touchpad scrolling does not always work. Switching consoles (Ctrl+Alt+F1, Ctrl+Alt+F7) seems to fix it.
  • The headphone ALSA driver (snd_hda_intel) control is named Front.

  • UPDATE: with the -25 kernel revision, it is called Headphone as it should be. Sadly, the volume buttons are now broken. They control the "Headphone" level rather than PCM which would be more useful. I have found a work-around for this.

  • There is no driver for the Sony memory stick reader (Texas Instruments PCI7420/PCI7620).

Hardware details

in Dapper

in Edgy

Installation works?

Yes

Untested

Hardware Information

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Bug #

in Dapper

in Edgy

Screen

Yes

Untested

Correct resolution?

Yes

Untested

Correct refresh rate?

Yes

Untested

3D Acceleration

Yes (with nVidia's driver)

Untested

External monitor works?

Untested

Untested

External monitor - mirrors

Untested

Untested

External monitor - extend desktop

Untested

Untested

Power Management

Battery detected?

Yes

Untested

Hibernates?

Yes

Untested

Sleep

No (SATA HD does not spin up)

Untested

Dim monitor on battery

No

Untested

Blank monitor on inactivity

Yes

Untested

Lid Close

Yes

Untested

Cpu frequency scaling

Yes

Untested

Sound

Sound works?

Yes

Untested

Correct volume?

Yes

Untested

Hardware volume switch

N/a

Untested

Headphone jack

Yes

Untested

Mic jack

Yes

Untested

Networking

Wired NIC

Yes

Untested

Wireless NIC

Yes

Untested

PCMCIA NIC

Yes

Untested

Firewire

Yes

Untested

Bluetooth

Yes

Untested

Modem

Untested

Untested

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

Untested

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

Yes

Untested

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes (but scroll area is too wide)

Untested

Touchpad - turned off while typing

No

Untested

External mouse - USB

Untested

Untested

Docking Station/Port Replicator

AC through replicator

Untested

Untested

USB

Untested

Untested

Serial

Untested

Untested

Parallel

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - VGA

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

Untested

Untested

Modem

Untested

Untested

NIC

Untested

Untested

PS/2

Untested

Untested

Additional Hardware

CD/DVD drive

Yes

Untested

PCMCIA cards

Yes

Untested

Card reader(s)

No

Untested

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Dapper

in Edgy

+ F2

Mute

Yes

Untested

+ F3

Vol. Down

Yes (but see notes)

Untested

+ F4

Vol. Up

Yes (but see notes)

Untested

+ F5

Brightness Down

Yes

Untested

+ F6

Brightness Up

Yes

Untested

+ F7

External monitor

Untested

Untested

+ F12

Hibernate

Yes

Untested

+ ArrowUp

Page Up

Yes

Untested

+ ArrowDown

Page Down

Yes

Untested

+ ArrowRight

End

Yes

Untested

+ ArrowLeft

Home

Yes

Untested

+ NumLk

Scroll Lock

Yes

Untested

+ Insert

Pause

Yes

Untested

+ Delete

Break

Yes

Untested

Other special keys

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Dapper

in Edgy

S1

Yes (but see Notes below)

Untested

S2

No (indistinguishable from S1)

Untested

Fn + other

Yes (see Notes below)

Untested

Notes

  • In the -25 kernel revision of Dapper, the volume keys control the "Headphone" level rather than "PCM" as would be more useful (as was, IIRC, what happed in the -23 initial released version).
  • Because of this bug, there is no simple way to make the volume keys affect a more useful control but I have found a solution that works for me by making ALSA rename the "PCM" control it creates "Master".

    1. Ensure you have nothing in ~/.asoundrc that will get in the way of these changes. If you have been editing your .asoundrc file you are likely to know if it will interfere!

    2. Edit /usr/share/alsa/cards/HDA-Intel.conf and replace the string PCM Playback Volume with Master (the string occurs in two places).

    3. To ensure you get a clean restart, remove the file /var/lib/alsa/asound.state (which is used to reload you card settings on startup) and remove the link /etc/rc6.d/K50alsa-utils.

    4. Reboot. You can then re-link ln -s /etc/init.d/alsa-utils /etc/rc6.d/K50alsa-utils. Of course, all you really need to do is remove and reload the ALSA drivers, but that is messy enough that I find rebooting easier.

    • There is almost certainly some simple magic I can put in ~/.asoundrc to rename or alias the PCM control so that gnome-sttrings-daemon uses it in response to the volume keys, but I have not found it. If you know, please drop me an e-mail!

  • With the sonypi module (add to /etc/modules), other Fn + key combinations can be deteted and mapped. They are Fn + Esc, F1, F8-11, E, S, D, F, B, 1 and 2 plus the Fn key on its own. Some of these are handled by ACPI, so you can program them with files in /etc/acpi/events.

  • S1 & S2. These two generate the same evets, so you can't tell them apart. In addition, each press generated two ACPI key events (or input events on /dev/input/event4) so be sure to take that into account or any defined "action" will occur twice. This is a low-level and long-standing problem with Sony Vaios.


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LaptopTestingTeam/Old/SonyVaioVGN-S4XP (last edited 2010-03-02 11:37:27 by host226-241-dynamic)