Guide to installing W7(64) on Vaio VGN Z

I have a Z11 WN/B - Z590. Which guide do you think works bests for me. The one in this thread or the one here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/427883-vaio-z-windows-7-bios-driver.html

 

you can use both guides. There is a simple point here:

1. First you install ALL drivers for Z (all those exclamation marks under Device Manager). I didn't follow order too much.

2. When installing utilities first you install Sony Firmware Extension Parser and then Sony Programmable IO Control. Then Sony Shared Library Rest you follow from either thread

I have VGN-Z590 with W7 64bit. Everything working fine, Fn keys in both modes, all buttons (S1,S2,eject, Speed-Stamina switch) and HDMI output without any issue (both video and audio)

Most of the drivers I have downloaded from Z890 support page, although some from Z690/Z790

SmartWi driver, I took some old version, as it does remember my WiFi/ BT setting, contrary to new one that switch off everything upon boot. No big issues, you can always install older version later on.


The same procedure I have used for reinstalling Vista Business 32bit (originally shipped) year and a half ago (and everything was working just fine).


EDIT:

Few days ago my friend had similar issues with its Z520 (W7 64 bit). Fn keys would not work after Speed-Stamina switching, brightness wouldn't work at all in Speed mode, S buttons missing from Control Panel... total mess.

What we did was the following (in the order below):

1. Install Firmware Parser v8.0.1.2
2. Sony Programmable I/O v8.0.1.1
3. Sony Shared Library v5.4.05200
4. Settings Utility v5.0.1.10300
5. Vaio Event Service v5.0.3.05060
6. Vaio Control Center v4.0.0.07130
7. VAIO Power Management v4.0.0.08240 (got it from UK site)


Please note that some of these apps will first UNINSTALL current version, so you need to install it again (like first time - uninstall, second time - install).

I did not restarted laptop until we finished all 7 steps above. Once completed, restart and voila - everything working as a charm.

Due to my experience many users have issue because they install Sony Notebook Utility (having most of these apps in one package, like bundle). For some reason this is the culprit. Installing Sony apps separately as per list above resolves the issue.

Please let me know if this procedure worked for you as well.

Cheers,
Miki

 

Hi all,

I have followed the steps to the installation multiple times for my VGN-Z11VN - multiple times on my own, another time with this guide. I reach the same problematic situation time and time again:

When I switch from Stamina to Speed, the display flashes - as expected - but then the desktop is compressed to half width, with some distortion on the right side. With a normal CRT I would think about a frequency issue, but how is that possible with an LCD screen?

Has anyone every come across this problem? How could I approach this? I am tired of not being able to use the Speed mode.

Thanks in advance and best regards,
Sven

 

I guess you didn't upgrade to the latest BIOS version right?

 

My Win 7 64-bit install on my VGN-Z570N started crashing on me every time it went to sleep, or was waking up from sleep, so I just did a clean install.

Windows "Action Center" keeps popping up in my tray and says the drivers for the Sony Firmware Extension Parser and the Sony Programmable IO Control Device are not installed.

However, they show up fine in the Control Panel which says they are working properly.

Sony's site for this model does not list these drivers under Windows 7.

Since everything seems to be working, I'm hesitant to try to install the Vista drivers...I suspect that may be what caused my problems in the first place.

Anybody else experience this?

Are there drivers that are confirmed to work for these two items on the first Gen Z's with Windows 7 64-bit?

 

You can install drivers from any VGN-Z...I would recommend you to check some of those latest VGN-Z models for drivers...

 

Tried that (believe it was the drivers for the Z870).

Received an error prompt that those drivers were not for my computer during the install.

 

You need to UniExtract them first, to remove Sony's version check...

 

I'm sorry...can you clarify how to remove Sony's version check?

 

Sure, use UniExtract to extract the actual driver or driver installer from a Sony Installer, then install like you're used to with normal drivers.

 

Hello, can you reup latest bios, please?

 

Here you go Zdravim do Liberce

 

will I get same result like here?
Thanx (Taky zdravim do Prahy )

 

Sure, it should be the same

 

Done!!!is there some Fan control?my fan is still working noisy

 

Nope, the fan automatically kicks on around 38C I think. Clean your fan, use Stamina mode and change to Silent mode in Vaio settings. But that will of course cripple the performance of your notebook. Another way how to lower your temps is undervolting. I would highly recommend to try it if u already didn't.

 

Cleaned and its better, but I broke cable to Speed/Stamina ... have somebody some spare parts?

 

i have a vaio vgn z11xn/b and i would like to install windows 7 but i am really confused.
is it possible to have a cleared up prosedure for installing windows 7?
also does really matter the version of windows?
thank you all in advance.

 

I can say that I hated my vaio Z590 before undervolting because it was very very noisy. I cleaned my fan, used the stamina mode and power saver profile.
Underclocked to 1.86ghz (plenty fast for what I do) at .925v and the fan rarely kicks in. My only regret is I cant use it with linux because the silent mode is not available. I just hope someone gives an amazing screen in an affordable laptop... I had to wait a generation to afford this amazing piece of engineering.

 

Hey ... Find this thread to be very interesting. I have a VGN-Z21 which is too noisy for my purposes and would like to do all I can to reduce the noise.

@Metsn: I hope I can ask you these questions as I really would like my Vaio to be quieter ...

You mention cleaning the fan: To do that do I have to take off the bottom cover and if so how do I do that? Can I just take out the screws and carefully bend the cover?

You also mention undervolting. I suppose that is something that is done in the BIOS, however, how do I get into the BIOS? Can't find anything about that in the manual ....

You also mention "silent mode". My Vaio is a Danish Version VCC and here the only setting I can find that seems to have to do with processor power management is in this path:

VCC -> Power Management -> Advanced -> Processor Power Management -> Policy for Cooling the Processor -> Active/Passive - here I set it to "passive".

Is this the place to do that? It doesn't really change anything, though, in terms of noise and I've been wondering if maybe the VCC installation went wrong... I've heard that because I don't use WIN 7 "Standard" but the professional version then the VCC might not work ..? Do you know if I can just reinstall the VCC without any issues?

Thanks for reading and hopefully also replying! I really would appreciate finding a solution to this!

Greetings,

Jesper

 

Hi

I did reinstall my VGN-Z recently, so it's relatively fresh in my mind.

First of all I would recommend you to do fresh install of your Vaio, using the guide in the first post of this thread, but change all drivers to the latest versions of the latest VGN-Z made from US support site (use UniExtract to extract version protected drivers), maybe except for 3G modem drivers, as they are area specific.

Also I would highly recommend to exchange your HDD for a SSD, if you didn't do it already. It makes huge difference in case of VGN-Z.

As for cleaning the fan, I did put the Vaio to small pieces, but from my experience I wouldn't recommend doing that Just buy a compressed air and clean it well with that.

I did undervolting with this guide. So no, it's not in the BIOS. It takes some time, but makes some difference

About the silent mode. You'll probably need some newer/different version of Vaio Event Service and VCC. The problem is, that if you install VES without clean install it might break some of functions, like FN keys or GPU switching. That's another reason I would recommend clean install with newest drivers and utilities. You might try reinstalling VCC only though, that shouldn't break anything (no promise )

The "silent mode" can be found under VCC/Power Management/Power Options/Thermal Control Strategy. Silent mode will cripple CPU performance, but it's great for times when you want your nb completely silent. I have Thermal Control Strategy on S2 button, so I could change it anytime.

btw... all drivers and utilities work with all versions of Win7

Good Luck!

 

Hi Metsn, I have two short questions for you.
1- After you clean W7 insatall, did you have any trouble with sound when connecting to a TV using the HDMI port? In my case (after a W7x64 clean install) image is perfect but I get no sound trough the HDMI port. I remember serching for a solution a while ago and apparently it's a grafic card (gforce93000m) driver problem. I was never able to solve it
2- What is your experience with the X25-M SSD? Did you follow an SSD installation guide? if so would you recomend it?
cheers!
R

 

Hi Metsn,

Thanks for your thorough outlines & comments to how the undervolting & cleaning & noise reduction can be done ;-) I'll look into the various ways in this and post here when I - hopefully - get through without issues...

Greetings & thanks again!

Jesper

 

1] I do actually, but I thought it is because of not original GPU drivers. It's not a big deal though, because in my case I just need to go to Control Panel/Sound and set HDMI as default (when the cable is connected). Then it works.

2] Very good I love SSDs. I have three computers with SSDs at home right now - Intel X25-M, 520 & 330 series. When I was installing my first SSD (it was a Samsung one at that time) I did follow many installation guides. But not anymore. W7 is well optimized for SSDs and after clean installation I always install original Intel SSD Toolbox, which does all Intel recommended tweaks for me. I also schedule manual TRIM once a week. I''m using X25-M
in my Z since it came out and didn't have a single problem with it...knock knock

Good luck btw...you'll never be able to make Z completely silent while doing some CPU demanding job like Sound editing. But it can became completely silent while using Word and so on... The problem is, that there's no way (at least some I would know of) how to setup, when the fan should kick in...

 

Thank you for your answers Metsn, I had already tried setting the HDMI as defult output in the Control Panel/Sound (while the cable was plugged int) but that did not work for me. I'll try installing a different driver version.
cheers
R

 

Hi again,

@Metsn: Following up on my previous post here I tried a clean install but this has caused some issues like e.g. the computer only responding to some of the function (Fn) keys and the battery charge settings not being available, nor the silent mode ...

I tried to download the drivers from the Sony US site, however, without much success. I was only able to download VPZC (something like that) files - and although extracting them with uniextract they didn't install on my computer. Maybe you have a model No. that I can search for on the Sony site?

Actually, I've reinstalled W7 several times (I have a 32 bit version - at least this is what installs on the computer) with different results for the settings and options in VCC ???? So also given your comment about the VES/VCC breaking links to FN keys or GPU I also wonder if there is a necessary sequence for installing the drivers, program features (like VCC) etc?

So far I have not installed the WWAN drivers but I don't use this so right now it is of less importance to me.

I've also tried to re-size and erase some of the drives on my harddisk (there's a C, D, E, F and G drive) but the windows 7 HD administrative feature for some reason doesn't allow me to erase a drive (like the G) or reduce the size of the C drive or transfer sizes between drives. Tried then to do it in the DOS prompt but it takes ages and I don't really know what I'm doing ... Can I ask if there is a software that makes this possible - also a complete reformatting and resizing of the harddisk?

Well, thanks for reading & I would appreciate your insights on this ;-)

Greetings,

Jesper

A P.S.: The speed/stamina switch doesn't work either ... Speed lights up but when switching to stamina nothing happens ...

 

Hi again

Well, can't help but saying that I'm in a state of being grateful! Instead of doing things as I did with my previous Win XP notebook I now followed the sequence outlined by sigma957 in the first post of this thread and suggested by Metsn in a post just above this post and now things work!!! Even better than before actually, because the "silent" mode is now available which it wasn't before.

A few notes just in case somebody else may be interested:

My laptop is a Z21WN/B.

Before starting the install I formatted the C drive. And I used a 32 bit W7 and allowed W7 to install updates more than once as it kept saying that new updates were available - 3 times I think... Don't know if this matters but mention it just in case it does.

Then I restalled exactly in the sequence outlined in the first post except that I used a newer NVidia driver and the newest files of:

-Shared library,
-event service,
-smart network,
-control center,
-setting utility series (installed the original first as the upgrade wouldn't install without),
-Power management

These are available here (language mostly in English) - didn't know exactly what to look for in the US site and these appear to be just as new as what I saw surfing the US site:

Sony : VAIO VGN-Z21WN/B-drivere | Download drivere og opdateringer for VGN-Z21WN/B

I didn't install the WWAN drivers as a small network connection dialog appeared at the top center of my screen showing that WWAN already worked before installing.

I also didn't install the 7UPG protector suite as apparently my laptop's processor doesn't support this. Nor did I install the Alps pointing driver or - yet - memory card reader drivers, nor the Realtek Audio driver. But may just do that later.

But everything appears to work Wow, this really is magnificent - I've used days trying to sort out what could be the "culprit" in my previous installations, even if I installed the drivers' Sony had placed on their support website...

Many thanks again to Metsn & sigma957! Will try out undervolting one of these days.

Jesper

 

Congratulation You could use any drivers from latest VGN-Z types (not VPC-Z, they wouldn't work properly, as that's newer generation). But as long as it's working well, let it be the way it makes you satisfied

 

I have a VGN Z570N and I have been able to get every other, device in my OC work flawlessly except for my HDMI output. I have 8GB RAM with 240GB sandisk SSD and installed the latest NVIDIA update for WIN 7 64BIT. I used the VGN Z620 Drivers and have also tried some other drivers I found online through google. nothing seems to work. my PC recognizes the TV and even lists its proper name but I can neither hear nor see anything on the TV while cloning, extending or making the TV the primary screen. If someone could give me a detailed walk through a fix I would greatly appreciate

 

Hi METSN

I have a VGN-Z690 and just bught a samsung 830 ssd. Im on Bios 4044M3. Can you help me with a quick guide on how to install it. Do i need a different BIOS?

 

Hi Eltico30, you don't need to change BIOS version for a SSD upgrade. For changing HDD for SSD, just follow the official service manual. Good luck

 

edit.. wrong thread sorry

 

Seraching whole day . Thanks Dario !!! Globetrotter wwan modem drivers win7 64 bit

 

edit: nevermind, i installed sprint smartview and that fixed the problem
see below post

 

Okay i have three issues (Windows 8 Pro 64 bit, VGN-Z540):

1. Despite that my s1, s2, stamina/speed switch, and function keys are working, my eject key doesn't seem to work. I installed everything basically so I don't know why it doesn't.
2. Protector Suite QL is incompatible with my machine. It installs okay, but when opening the program it says it isn't compatible and nothing loads in it. (win 8 pro 64 bit)
3. This might have been mentioned already in this thread (op said that he was hoping somebody would find it, but never showed how), but how do you turn off wwan on startup in vaio smart network? it always says on the next startup even if i press off before. I have a sprint one (install sprint smartview) if that matters, and won't be using it soon. I disabled both of the startup entries.

 

hi everybody
I have a sony vaio Z11VN/B, exactly like the author of this post, but on the support download page of sony I can't find the BIOS posted here

in this page i can see that the latest BIOS available is R2169M3c

Sony : VGN-Z11VN/B updates | Download updates for VGN-Z11VN/B

but in the forst post is linked an FTP page with the r2170m3 and other bios... Is it safe to upgrade to the r2170m3?

EDIT: I tried and BIOS correctly installed, following I installed the drivers suggested and now my speed mode works BUT without Fn + - screen brightness