Vaio (VPCF12S1E) Windows Media Player crashes

[mebellew]

Hi,

I have the VAIO VPCF12S1E running Windows 7 Home Premium and over the last day or so Windows Media Player has started crashing when I try to launch it, with the message 'Windows Media Player has stopped working'. Helpful huh.

Anyway, having spent most of the day Googling and trying various 'fixes' I found a site that suggested performing a clean boot (i.e. disabling all non-Microsoft services from start-up then re-enabling them a few at a time). I tried this, firstly disabling all non-Microsoft services, then re-enabling the services in batches until I could pin point which service was the offending one.

I found that with all services enabled, but the Vaio Event Service disabled, WMP worked properly but as soon as I enabled it, WMP threw up the same error as before. So this isolated the issue to Vaio Event Service, which controls the Fn keys. So now with Vaio Event Service disabled I don’t have use of the Fn+F5, Fn+F6, Fn+F7, Fn+F9, Fn+F10. Fn+F2 thru F4 works but with no on screen volume display, and Fn+Scr Lk works ok.

So it’s a partial fix because I can now use WMP at the cost of loss of some functionality of the Fn keys, hence the reason I was looking for an install order, so that I can completely fix the issue.

Has anyone experienced anything like this and does anyone have a permanent fix, so that I can run with Event Service enabled and get the use of the Fn keys back?

The other thing… the fan on my Vaio was constantly on, and very loud and the air blowing out was very hot. It may be a coincidence but with the Vaio Event Service disabled, the fan is running quietly and the Vaio is not as hot. So I suspect the event service must have been using a lot of processing, causing the machine to run hot, causing the fan to be constantly running fast and loud. I’ll test this further over the next couple of days by turning the service back on and checking if the issue returns. If you think this is useful I’ll let you know if I find anything conclusive.

Regards, Mark.

Message was edited by: mebellew

Message was edited by: mebellew

[Thalamus.]

Hi Mark,

welcome to Questions & Answers..:smileyhappy:

I know the update was released back on 03/06/2010 but I thought I'd check if you have installed the VAIO Event Service - 5.2.1.05130 update..

Have you installed any updates within the last two days that may have caused the conflict.?

Does a system restore to a point before the problem started resolve the issue.?

[mebellew]

Hi Thalamus,

Thank you for the welcome.

Yeah, I did install the VAIO Event Service - 5.2.1.05130 update but it didn't make any difference. I suspect (from what I've read and been told) that the reason is that Sony drivers/services need to be installed in a certain order otherwise issues like I've been having can occur, So I'm thinking I need to uninstall certain services, such as the Event Service and reinstall in the correct order. If this is the case, what I need to know is what are the components and what is the sequence for uninstalling and reinstalling. Does that make sense?

Regards, Mark.