FW11E downgrade to XP

guys for brightness problem i have at least a solution with a software. i installed Radeon Omega Drivers 4.8.442 (Catalyst 7.12) which can be found at http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati_winxp.php i installed it and gave a shortcut to adjust brightness by software down - up control + f5 and f6 combination. as i said its adjusting brightness by software , it can not set stupid sonys stupid lcd hardware. probably this will not save from battery life but at least i can reduce brightness and save my eyes from looking to max bright screen. best wishes from turkey

 

please can you tell me how (after omega drives are installed) system identify your video card ?

thanks you

 

hi sorry for alter reply. i was without net. its the same , name of video card did not change in device manager. i had already installed drivers from your package which u had given link here in previous posts. omega drivers just install a software and come near clock so you can manage properties of your card. and set brightness

 

one question
if i make a second partition and install vista and xp together ,and if i decrease brightness in vista , then if a restart and open xp , will brightness be in the same level or reset to default ??
if not so , i can use vista just to adjust brightness

 

I think it is not possible , because I think "brightness setting" is part of Vaio SW , not adjustable HW setting (like on CTR monitors ) .

 

Hi and thanks for the nice downgrade discussion.
I have two questions if you could help me.

1.
Have you got almost everything to work on xp(almost everyone should be satisfied)?
I read somewhere that someone had problems with getting the screen to the
correct resolution(1600x900) is that a problem?


2.
I was going to buy this computer tomorrow but the thing about being locked in on vista bothers me. After going through all this trouble would you have bought another machine or are you still happy?

 

hi
in xp the problems are
fn keys working without brightness keys, so you can not control lcd ahrdware brightness

and webcam works as vga 640*480 instead of 1.3 mp

i advise u not to buy this one and buy smth which has complete xp support.

 

Thank you all!

yesterday I received my FW11ES laptop. At first I called VAIO technical service, no help at all, just time wasting.

Then I discovered this post, I followed all your indications, specially gore.m, and now I have XP running 20 times faster than Vista.

Thank you again,
Gerardo

 

Sony has just posted the OFFICIAL XP drivers for FW models.
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFW190&region_id=1

The link is for FW190. If your model number is different, just type in your model number on the top right hand side.

Not much there for now but no doubt that they will release the complete drivers as XP is now officially supported.

 

Thanks you !
I hope Sony Vaio EU will follow US branch office with FW11E and they give us all drivers .

 

hello
I found way how to get ATI Catalist working , in HW settings is my FW showing HD 3450 .

Follow link http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php

 

seems that all of the drivers have been added at the link that hendra posted.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFW190&region_id=1

 

Hi all,

I followed all your instructions and I successfully installed XP with all the drivers provided here. However, my VGN-FW11E gets a blue screen whenever it hiberns.

I have "solved" this problem uninstalling the modem. It is not a problem as i don't use it, but there would be better solutions.

Best,
Gerardo

 

Have you tried original driver from link above ? (I mean sony site)

 

hi one question..
is it possible that the above posted link to xp drivers can work on a FW11M...also???
And the most important the utils for the FN keys???

 

Not at all .
I downloaded and I have successfully installed drivers for modem , bluetooth , wifi and Intel drivers . You can not use the rest of SW for different FW models - it doesnt work .

 

too bad, then ill just have to wait.
I would love to use xp on my FW, and it does, except the brightness keys. So im thinking if those keys really matter, or if it is no problem to work with xp but without fn keys.

 

This is personal question .
I didnt use FN keys etc - when I have Vista on my FW ...

.. and I dont have any problem with XP/FW right now , I work , watch TV / DVDs , listen music on FW without any problem ... when screen seems to me too bright I simply push LCD bit backward .

 

Yes...thats right..but when the battery gets low..or is almost empty..does the screen automaticly changes the brightness??
Because i hate looking at a dark screen..but too bright is also not the best for me.

 

No, it doesnt .
When battery gets low (you can see it in tray) green diode gets blink and you have very short time to link FW to electricity . If you can not or you dont want to link FW , notebook falls to sleep .

But this is maybe part of windows settings .

 

Ok, i think in a few weeks ill try to get xp running. Because now i don't have any time.

 

Hello everyone,

I found your topic on the web, it's the most interesting i found!
(Sorry for my french accent)
I'm trying to downgrade a SONY VAIO VGN-FW11L to XP.
Thanks to your help end thanks to nLite i made a bootable DVD with WinLite plus ICH9M drivers.

But when i try to bott with the DVD the pc restart.

Could you help me to find where i made a mistake?

THANK YOU!

 

What you wrote is not too much .. UH

If you are talking about installing XP from DVD , go back in this topic and check everything you are doing right - including mistakes of all before .

All you have to do is prepare XP installation from original XP (not any cutted off or already slipstreamed version ) with ONLY one Intel driver - one which you need .

 

Thank you for your answer.
I didn't had time to do that last week-end... I go back to try it today.
I'll give you somme news.

Thank you

 

hi everyone.
i have a fw11e too and i want to downgrade it to xp.
can someone plz post the pack of drivers that works well with this model?
thks

 

Hello again,

I'm so sorry... but i'm not done with it....
Impossible.
I have tried with many authentic Windows XP installation discs... but nothing to do.
If i put the authentic disc in my Vaio, put it "on", the "Boot on CD" question appears, I type on a key to boot on the CD, the installation begin... and then after many seconds and many things installed there's the blue screen... it's "normal".
Then I go on with nLite, add the ICH9M Driver, make a bootable iso and burn it on a CD.
I put this CD in my Vaio, put it "on", the "Boot on CD" question appears, I type on a key to boot on the CD, the message "The installation software is looking for your hardware configuration" for less than a second end then nothing... the Vaio reboot. Not an only begining of any installation...

I have tried many things, but i'd never obtained a CD that begin installation on my Vaio with nLite... Where i my mistake?

Great thanks to you if you could help me..... I'm going MAD!!!!

 

It is strange you can not run installation from slipstreamed CD .

1 Are you sure CD medium is OK or burn process was finished OK ?
2 Are you sure you have inside FW ICH9M- E/M SATA AHCI and you have choosen ICH9M- E/M SATA AHCI ONLY ?

 

Hello Gore.m

Great thank you for your answer.

1- I'm sure sure sure that the medium is good and the burning process too i have tried with CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW....

2- in nLite i choose add driver, then i choose the intel ICH9M- E/M SATA AHCI
and i do nothing more.

I burn the cd and that's all... a problem with nLite?
Or a difference between FW-11E and FW11L?

 

You can try to check your model (with Everest for example) if you have there ICH9M- E/M SATA AHCI .
If yes , I dont have an idea . :-/

Maybe try to go into bios and chose DVD as first boot device .

 

Hello,

I'm really going mad by now!
Noway to intall xp!
The SATA controller on my Vaio FW11L is a ICH9M- E/M SATA AHCI, see the Everest report :

I've maid the slipstream about 40 times...
I'm fed up with it!
Always the same error: the pc reboot 0,5 sec after the begining of the install... whereas the original WinXP installation dic works well until the "classic" BOSD error for SATA drive.

It seems that it's a nLite error...?...

Any help? :cry:

THANK YOU

 

Have you tried to change BIOS settings to DVD is first boot device ?

 

Hello Gore.m

Of course yes, the BD-ROM is the first boot device.

 

OK
You can try to slipstream AHCI driver included on Vaio Support site http://rapidshare.com/files/150530752/TEMPEXEFOLDER.rar.html

If it doesnt help , you can try older nlite versions (I can check which version I have used) and you should check slipstream process again .

1/ open folder where is XP (FULL XP , NO ALREADY SLIPSTREAMED , FULL COPY OF DISC - with magic iso ) installation stored
2/ open it and add intel driver and sellect only one which you need
3/ finish and burn on good medium

nlite is adding only driver , so if driver or nlite is wrong installation should have same running as without slipstream , if it doesnt there have to be anything wrong with item 1 .

 

And for the FW11M, of most hw i already found the drivers, but i miss the applications for the FN keys...which i hope will be released soon by Sony.

 

The guide on this topic was great.
I slipstreamed a service-pack as well.
Problems occure with installation when the Cd/DVD is not bootable, so after slipstreaming try it first on another computer. The collection of drivers mentioned on this site are sufficient for my FW11e
The only thing remaining is the Fn keys. The laptop seems 50% faster so its worth the effort. Thanks a lot.

 

I did a clean install of XP on my FW190, everything is great, but what audio drivers are you guys using?

Thanks.

 

You should use original realtek driver from official vaio site linked above .

 

Do the drivers of the FW11e also work for my FW21E?

 

which link are you referring too? the official Sony link for the FW-190 doesn't have an audio driver.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFW190&region_id=1

 

Anyone know if it is possible to turn off the tap to click feature on the touchpad under xp. I tried the driver from the synaptics web site and also he one from Sony. But the feature to do it under mouse in the control panel is not there.


Wanted to note that the driver for xp and windows is to.tally different. the one for xp is synaptics and the one for windows is alps

 

sure they are identical Except for the size of the HD and the Blue ray-player

 

Any news about driver for Keyboard and Webcam?

 

Just for everyone's information, I've succcessfully applied the XP downgrade process for the FW11E to the FW21E. So far no problems and running smoothly. The driver archive linked to in the FW11 thread works fine, and all buttons are working. This is for the 32 bit windows ... currently I'm attempting to upgrade this to a 64 bit XP, and scouting round for all the corresponding 64 bit drivers. Will post if I can get this to work.

 

how about for my FW21 L? the FW21 E (which works with the same drivers according to dakyri above) seems closer to the FW11E; they have the same processor etc, whereas the FW21L has the P8400 processor. will it cause me problems if i use the same drivers? i'm feelin nervous about goin ahead with all this....

thanks for your help

 

hey guys, i was wondering if those drivers would work for the fw235 as well? (the ones posted on the sony site)

 

dear dakyri,
do any HWs work fine? every FN keys and webcam (1.3 MP) and etc.? which link you used?

 

I have good news for brightness keys under XP. Try brightness control utility located in http://www.ookii.org/software/

I've tried this under Vista and it seems to be able to adjust LCD brightness (not by using gamma)

 

That program sounds interesting, but i get a "An error occurred querying supported brightness levels: An unknown error occurred, error number 0x13d" when i try to start the program! Anyone else get this?

 

I have fw11s notebook. I've tried this utility both in vista and XP. It works for me.

 

hello!
What about the thing that my Sony VAIO FW11E notebook's BIOS doesn't let me to change my SATA connection type from AHCI to ATA or Compatibility?This is a reason why I can't boot with Windows XP.
Can anyone help me?
Is that a way for booting Windows XP to create a boot CD with nLite?
thanks gore.m for the drivers