I did a semi-restore using recovery discs with SZ

I tried to do a clean install at first. After spending hours trying to find the correct drivers and patches, I just couldn't get everything to work properly.

I decided to do a system recovery using the recovery DVD's.

It will give you the option to remove the system recovery partition which takes up 7GB.

Important Notes:

- This was done using a USA model SZ series.

- If you decide to keep the recovery partition, this method will not work for you.

- In this case, the system will be restored directly from the partition.

1) Insert DVD 1 and restart your notebook.

Select this restore option, and choose to remove the recovery partition.

After you finish the whole process, it will ask you to reboot into windows. I removed the disc from the drive at this time.

It will then ask to to insert disk 1 to finish installing the rest of the software.


At this point, this is all of what has been installed so far...




It will also create a shortcut to the recovery program in your start-up folder to resume to recovery process.

2) Delete this short-cut and reboot your computer before proceding to the next step.





It then brought up this tool...





3) I clicked reseal and rebooted.

Now I can insert disc one and install whatever I want using the application and driver recovery utility.

At this point the only things I had to install were the fingerprint software, wireless switch utility and the bluetooth software.





If you are having problems with Plug and Play, check the following registry entry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion DevicePath

The value shoud be %SystemRoot%\Inf and of type REG_EXPAND_SZ.

Mine was set to a path with multiple entries and the type had also been changed to REG_SZ.

Changing this key back to the value above solved all my device driver problems.

If you are not comfortable using the Registry Editor, I have created a registry file which will make this change for you.

You can download the file here:
SZPlugPlayFix.reg

 

Seems almost like a clean install, but much easier!! Everything is working, switches, camera, etc...

 

nice to know that. its like a semi clean install but made easier. i think i'll try doing that when i get it. i'm no IT student or something so i don't know how to do a clean install with all the drivers working correctly. thanks!

anyone tried this already?

 

so you're able to switch off bluetooth with the wireless utility? i've tried installing the utility but i cant get it to run properly.

does the harddisk protection utility work as well?

thanks

 

Exactly, it was a real pain in the ASS to do a clean install. I was pretty close, but I just couldnt get everything working 100%.

Plus this would be great for people who dont have an extra copy of Windows XP professional.

 

How much disk space do you think you saved by not installing the recovery partition? I may look into doing this...

 

The recovery partition is 7GB

 

yeah I can switch off the bluetooth using the wireless switch utility, and yes the hdd protection is also working.

Did you do a clean install, or did you use the recovery discs?

When I tried a clean install, the wireless switch utility was one of the main things I couldn't get to work...

 

i did a clean install and i didn't know u can install the like from your 3rd screen capt till i saw this thread...

i have a 110 but i need xp pro, also tried making my own recovery disc

 

have anyone tried doing this already?

 

so where did u find the fingerprint, wireless switch, and bluetooth software utilities?

 

From the program located on #1 of the recovery discs, shown in my last screenshot.

 

I also performed the partial restore and have gotten back all the utilities and wireless switching stuff I couldn't get to work before... Much happier now...

Don

 

Can you tell the difference in speed or noise after reinstalling the windows??

 

It seems the wireless switching utility has been a common problem with clean installs.

 

Where is the startup folder where the link is created that you must delete?

 

In your programs list. I updated the guide to better explain.

 

thANKS A TON MAN!! very clear now what to delete: ) Im gonna do the whole thing now and let you know how it turns out!

 

Be careful!

I did this and now no peripherals that connect via USB will install correctly! The OS doesn't get installed cleanly. I canno use iPod, external HD's, or Wacom tablet.

 

My external hd and mouse both work fine. I have done this twice on two different SZ160s and everything works fine.

 

Actually, This was an error on my part. I apologize.

I just redid the format and it worked flawlessly. There however was some confusion with the System Prep Tool where you click "reseal". That popped up on my system the same time it asked for the 1st disc to complete the installation. When I did it the first time, i clicked reseal then and it messed something up (Plug and Play was screwed).

I waited a little longer this time and after around 15 seconds it disappears. Then I continued with the normal instructions and it worked flawlessly! I noticed that when I resealed this time it mentioned something about the Plug and Play, so that had to of been my problem. I hope no one else runs into that, it's really caused me a lot of aggravation. It's not fun to install 20+ programs and realize you have to format and do it all over again.

Thanks for the help!

 

I can understand, I went through the exact same issue when atempting a clean install.

Glad everything is up and working.

 

Everything is working good EXCEPT:

my FN keys and the s1/s2 hotkeys are not working: PLEase help!

 

Thats strange, this guy had a similar issue and seems he got it fixed.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=44542

 

I tried to merge the hidden partition using partition magic and it gave error and would not boot....So I decided to try your method with my restore disks. It worked flawlessly and all items work.

Thanks

 

Glad to hear, I screwed up my Sony FRV25 by trying to merge both partitions a few years ago.

After that, I'll never use partition magic.

 

I have a couple recovery disc questions for SZ users.
1.) How many DVD (or CD) discs did the recovery tool take to create the recovery discs on an SZ160 (or any other SZ if known)?

2.) Also, what DVD media did you use to create the recovery discs? Brand, speed and type (DVD+R, DVD-R, CD-R)

I picked up some Memorex DVD+R but it says 8x on the box and has a warning inside about lower speed drives needing firmware upgrades before using the media. The SZ drive writes DVD+R at 4x. The Memorex info noted dvdrwservices.com and that 2.4x and 4x DVD+/-R writers need a firmware upgrade to be able to use some newer high speed media (wont write any faster but will allow the drive to use higher speed compatible media). I wonder if the SZ needs an update as there wasn't conclusive info on the sites.

3.) Did you upgrade the SZ with all the latest updates from Sony support website before you created the recovery discs? Did you wait until after or maybe haven’t installed any updates at all?

4.) Is there any way to test the effectiveness of the recovery discs? Since I wont need them until there is a problem I would like to know they were created successfully.

Any insight about creating the recovery discs is appreciated.

 

1) Two DVD's

2) Sony DVD+R's 4.7gb 1x - 8x. I believe the recovery process writes at a slow speed to ensure reliability. The burn process seemed like it took forever.

3) No, and I don't think it matters.

4) If there are errors, the recovery process will let you know.

 

The recovery program specifically mentions it will not work with dual layer media (which would theoretically hold everything on a single disc). And I think it burns at 1X as well, since like xprohx I also found that it took forever despite using fast media (although the progress bar at least indicates the time for BOTH DVDs, not just one.

 

I found a new problem. I had problems with plug and play devices before, and they had seemed to go away for the most part but now I am still having problems with plug and play! The devices should automatically install themselves but instead they open up an "install new hardware" window which asks if you want to search for drivers, but they should be automatically detected and I should never even have to deal with that window.

There is SOMETHING missing with this installation process. Maybe a couple files, but something is definitely missing. It may not affect most users, but this plug and play thing is KILLING me. It pretty much disables that device from being installed period. When it does that I cannot install the device at ALL.

Let me know if you guys have any suggestions! I hope we can get this all sorted out, because this is just depressing.

 

I had a lot of driver problems when I did a fresh install. It turned out that when installing one of the drivers from Sony (not sure which one, might have been the camera) it updated my registry and set a faulty devicepath (where Windows XP looks for drivers by default).

I found the solution on the net.

Check the following registry entry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion DevicePath

The value shoud be %SystemRoot%\Inf and of type REG_EXPAND_SZ.

Mine was set to a path with multiple entries and the type had also been changed to REG_SZ. Changing this key back to the value above solved all my device driver problems.

Hope this can help someone else as well.

 

Thanks xprohx, that was very helpful. I'm going out to get different discs today.

What media did you use (speed, brand)? Did you perform the updates before or after the recovery discs? Thanks for the help.

 

Strange, my mouse and hdd both work fine.

If you have a windows xp cd, try using repair mode to reinstall windows. That way you wont loose any of your data.

 

This is excellent BlackG35, I'll try it tonight - picked up an SZ120P/B yesterday. I too had problems with a clean install, with various switches not working (in particular the STAMINA switch) and hangs on shutdown. After a few hours of fighting I gave up and did a full restore, and then uninstalled the worst of the bundled software. That seems to have worked out fine so far, but in the past I've seen Norton and Roxio junk cause trouble "from beyond the grave", so I'd prefer to avoid them entirely.

I'll report back later with my findings.

 

Thanks for reporting on Roxio, didnt know about that. But Norton not only in Sony but many other notebooks has shown its true spirit of hogging the notebook completely. Ill try the same when I get my SZ120P/B.

 

I don't know if there are particular issues with the bundled Roxio stuff, but their software has screwed up the ASPI layer on my machines before.

 

It comes in a package with a bunch of stuff installed. Just like Norton . Did you uninstall both of them?

 

I uninstalled everything with "Roxio" in its name, and manually cleaned C:\Program Files afterwards.

 

You're a god among men. It's so hard to find any help on my situation, but you my friend, have solved it.

Thanks SOOO much!

 

Good Work, Halmstad.

 

No problem. I was in the same situation so I know how frustrating it can be. I'm glad this worked for you as well.

 

May I suggest we sticky this? Or compile a list of nice fixes to a lot of this "odd" errors?

 

Yes, and a complete "how to" in doing a clean install using the recovery discs.

 

All done, no glitches so far, great! USB and Bluetooth appear to be OK.

With the system still clean, I thought I'd run a few benchmarks, so I installed the latest nVidia drivers (84.21) and got the following results

PCMark04: 5169
3DMark01: 12961
3DMark05: 1902

That's with all devices switched on, and I haven't touched any settings yet; I think the results are in the right sort of range for a first pass.

 

yeah thats a nice idea

i hope someone would sticky this. very helpful

 

I went ahead and added the info the guide, so that no one else goes through what tmaynard went through...

 

here is a wild suggestion.

Did anyone register and checked out the Club Vaio ?
You will notice there is ""Support"" tab and when u click on it, you'll see the Download area block where you can download drivers and updates.

Somewhere in the middle you will see "Preinstalled Drivers and Utilities"
and inside you'll see "Original Drivers Package"

Now.......what if someone installs a CLEAN (not the recovery discs) Windows xp2 sp2 on the laptop AND installs that package over it..... would it work ? or do those packages contain '****' already as it states that these are the 'same' drivers on the recovery disc


(i am unable to try this myself btw)

 

just another semi recovery on my sz110 to xp home then upgraded to xp pro and everything seems to work fine so far... all utilities and drivers still work. only prob i had was with shutting down or restart, but with KB909667.exe patch fixes it.

i also tried to run a recovery with a set of sz120 disc but it didn't work cause it has a model check on it. i even tried to figure out what image is xp and move it to a sz110 recovery disc but still didn't work

 

club vaio and vaio link seems to be for uk vaios. i tried to register with my serial but it didn't let me. is anyone else having probs trying to register for those sites?? can anyone confirm this?

 

I just got the Sz120 today and I'm planning on doing this during the weekend. This sounds like something really easy to do. Does this so called semi restore only remove the partition on the hard drive? What are the differences between this and the clean install of XP?

Thanks!