Clean install, is it really worth it? My thoughts.

As a person who has always built his own desktop computers rather than purchase a brand name one, I have been accustomed to performing clean installs all the time. Indeed what could be more efficient than a clean install where no extra software is going to bog down your system's performance? Prior to my current FW, my notebooks were all Macs. So whenever i needed to format the OS Install CD always included all the necessary software and optimizations for the laptop in question. However, with Sony laptops I have come to feel that a clean install sacrifices too much of the embedded functionality and tweaks which come with a factory restore. Having bought my FW with 4 gigs of ram, i was disappointed that the laptop came with a 32-bit operating system that couldn't address all of it. So fueled by a Captain Ahab-like obsession to get those 4 gigs (my proverbial white whale), i set out on a journey to bring 64-bit vista to my laptop. After much experimenting I found a way to do it while maintaining the functionality of the shortcut and Fn keys. I extracted as much of the software as I could from the restore partition. I even got Sony power management and the battery care function to work. I even went as far as creating a clean install guide on these forums. But for some reason I can't get it to run as smoothly as the 32-bit factory restore (which I of course streamlined by uninstalling as much of the bloatware as I could). As a mere mortal without much hacking experience, I feel like I was pretty creative in defeating the barriers Sony put up to prevent a clean install from working (of course with the help of some other posts on these forums). Now after all the installer extracting and model check bypassing I feel like I must now submit to the VAIO gods and admit that they've put together a well oiled machine, once a lot of the bloatware is uninstalled. I've created a separate partition on my HD and now run both the factory restore, and my 64-but clean install which I will continue with experiment on until Sony officially adds support for 64-bit. At that point I will order a 64-bit restore DVD. Thanks for reading.

T

 

The quest for the holy grail.

I am beginning to get very frustrated by not being able to get the function keys for brightness and AV to work, and I too miss the battery power management settings that come on the install out of the box.

Could you kindly share in a little more detail (step by step guide would be great) on how you managed to do this?

Thanks in advance from a fellow perfectionist

 

If you installed the sony firmware extension parser and the notebook utilities from the sony support website, the Fn and AV buttons should work. As for battery care and power management, I simply copied the files from the 32-bit factory restore to the 64-bit clean install (you MUST install the sony Utilities from sony eSupport first). On the 32-bit they are located in C:\Program files\Sony and the folders are ISB Utility, Setting Utitlity Series, Vaio Control Center, Vaio Event Service, and Vaio Launcher. As for Vaio power management, Use the restore CD to install as simply copying the files wont work. Hope this helps.

 

Hi Roninwz,

interesting topic. I am also kind of person who hates all bloatware/trials/demo/useless application Sony usually ships and install during first power-on. As you may know unlike IBM, Sony uses "software switches" instead of hardware switches, so that's why you need all these "Utilities". What I usually do, well at least what I did with my several Sony notebooks in the past, is that for few months I use "as it is", just uninstalling as much crap as possible. In few months, Sony (by default) always release some updates (for BIOS, WLAN, GPU....). Then I completely crash it and start with "cleanest" possible installation. I always have split partitions (C for Vista and all software installations, and D for music, movies, driver updates, and my business folders). So, even with clean install, you will still have to install (additionally) "tons" of small Sony utilities (and they always run in the background) in order to have full notebook functionality. What I also use (at least once a month) is PerfectDisk for defragmentation. I know there is huge debate is it better than DisKeeper or Vista's built-in, but this is not the topic of such discussion, I simply like this software. It comes down to your conclusion: is it faster with clean install vs. Sony's default? Maybe a bit (at least in the beginning) but nothing to shout about. So why I do this: simply to "refresh" my system. I do it once a year.

I'm using 32-bit Vista Business, and my personal opinion is that most of the drivers are still not fully compatibile with 64bit version, so that's why you don't see much of the improvement (as you suppose to).

BR
Miki

 

Roninwz, thanks for your reply, my problem is that upon installing the driver for the Firmware Extension Parser, my volume fn keys work but not the AV or brightness. My machine is a UK FW11ZU model....

Sorry to request such granular detail but can you walk me though step by step what software you installed and in what order and when you loaded the driver?

 

There is a FW clean install thread that details the specific steps needed.
But be aware that you MIGHT need to start over. There are some reports of folks doing things in the wrong order and latter getting it to work by just reapplying a few things in the correct sequence. There are other reports of folks having to start anew.

Gary

 

Ive read the thread many times and tried a fresh install following the 2 main sets of instructions in the thread, and also tried to work from the Sony website with no joy. It is making me wonder whether the UK and US models differ in some subtle way which is meaning the fn keys dont work entirely correctly. Hence my request for the explicit detail above.

Trawling through Google it seems fn keys not working is common issue across all Vaio's and has been for generations.

 

Sounds like a similar story to mine. I also made a guide on here "The 100% clean install on Vista 64-bit for the SZ" or similarly titled.

I've now reverted back to 32-bit Vista using a P1 restore CD.

 

I have suggested to a few other people to just wait till next year to do a complete clean using the 64 bit version.. That way all the drivers and small bugs will be worked out as well. Just use a flash drive a copy your important files over and then zap that thing clean in Jan some time and it will be as if it was brand new!
I used the modder and udated my ATI drivers. I ended up getting an extra boost in my Windows Experience index for it and I believe my performance has increased. By the way I am using 32 bit version of vista no clean instal but did delete what I could...

 

I am typing now from my FW with the orginal HD and all pre-installed software (I bought a WD Scorpio black to install clean on to help performance). Seems there are a number of little applications and odds and ends this has installed vs what I can achieve via clean install and loading the Sony downloads via the website.

More interestingly the version.txt files in each of the Sony apps folders on Program Files/Sony details the version and also the time of install (presume from factory). Seems the apps were installed in 2 batches and I havent looked through the exact timings, but I should be able to establish the order the Sony apps were installed in from factory....

Determined to get the brightness, AV and power optimisation sorted. Looks like a completely different version of conrol center on this machine versus what I get from the Sony website download...

 

You know, I see threads on here that say so many processes when uninstalling vs some other number when doing clean, but I have to ask: is the performance difference that noticeable? I mean, I uninstalled what I could, but I am perfectly fine with how it is performing.

And it certainly doesn't seem to be worth it from a time-spent department, since I am going to have to burn discs, extract software, and hunt for drivers just to get my machine 90% back to where it was in terms of functionality, with that last 10% seemingly out of reach (for now).

 

I don't see big deal of getting everything back to full functionality, as prior to my clean install I always downlaod all drivers and utilities and keep them to my second partition. So, everything works fine.

Another topic is as you said, "is the juice worth the sqeeze". As I said before, there is some improvement (in the beginning), but nothing spectacular. I believe this also depends on how strong your laptop is, with high end spec. everything will work smooth anyhow.

BR
Miki