Installing Windows XP on SZ450

The owner of my company swears by his Sony Vaio SZ120, until it broke this weekend while he was on assignment out of state. He told me to go buy him a new Sony Vaio and be sure to not get Vista since he doesn't want to adopt that this early. So I go out and check all the stores around, the only Sony Vaios that are available have Vista preloaded on them, so I figure, okay, we have a corporate version of XP I'll load when I get back to the office. So I buy an SZ450 and bring it in to the office, and begin installing Windows XP on it. I leave the System Restore partition buy I wipe the Vista install partition.

Now, I am having a heck of a time finding any kind of drivers for this. Sony will only let me download Vista drivers. If I try and download drivers for the SZ370 components that are the same (i.e Video Card, sound, etc) that have XP drivers, I get an error that I'm using the wrong model laptop for the drivers.

Is there anywhere out there that I can get drivers to make this thing work, or should I take it back to the store where I bought it and try and exchange it?

 

Is it the VGNSZ450N or VGNSZ450NC??

 

Vgnsz450nc

 

Chipset drivers here
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scr...fessional&lang=eng&strOSs=44&submit=Go%21
Video Drivers can be obtained from www.nvidia.com

What other drivers do you need?

 

Oh yea and sound drivers -
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SO.../Sigmatel-STAC-HD-Audio-Driver-61053370.shtml

 

Let's see, I've got the following drivers so far -

Video
Audio
Wireless Network
Ethernet Network
Chipset
Wireless Switch

What I need still -
Any of the Sony Specific utilities or drivers (other than the wireless switch)
Bluetooth
Fingerprint Reader (Biometric Coprocessor)
Camera
Modem

And I left the system at work and I've come home. That's all I can remember off the top of my head, the biggest problems were the Chipset drivers and the Sony hotkey drivers.

 

These SZ3 XP drivers and utilities are compatible with the SZ4 and don't check the model of the notebook before installing so they should work fine.

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/Original/SZ3_Drivers.zip

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/Original/SZ3_Utilities.zip

 

So how did the computer break? an accident?

 

I'm not real sure. The user has been in Alaska on assignment for the past 6 months or so, and he called me up on Friday and told me that his couldn't get any more power to his SZ120, no matter what he tried. He was out of warranty, and was on his way back to the office over the weekend and wanted me to pick him up a new one.

Thanks for the links, I'll try those out and post back if I get everything up and running.

 

Okay, for some reason I can't get the Bluetooth to work, I'm not sure how to activate the Fingerprint module or the Camera, and I'm still getting a few unknown devices in the device manager -

Mass Storage Controller
UGX (I think this is the Bluetooth, but I'm not sure)
USB Device

Any more thoughts on what I should be looking for to make these items work?

Also, thanks for all of the help so far, you've saved quite a few of my braincells in the process!

 

You would have been better off just buying an SZ360 which already had XPP on it than trying to backtrack on the SZ450. Downloading any and all the drivers and software should help, and make sure to install the VAIO core dll's as part of the process.

 

Getting the SZ360 was not an option for me at the time. My boss wanted an SZ with XP, none of the local retailers had any that fit the bill. None of them expected to get any more either.

 

You could always ordered online. There are quite a number of reliable web stores.

 

Read this entire thread.

 

Agreed, and you'd have gotten support and service and not the usual retail markup.

 

The problem was timing. The boss needed a laptop immediately, since his did not work, and he didn't have the time to order something online. Believe me, if I had my choice, it would have been something I ordered online direct from Sony with a full warranty. In the end, we got his old one working enough for me to try and fix this one. I may end up having time now to just take this one back to the store and get something online that works better. We'll see what the boss wants to do.

Thanks bogart for the link.

 

I am curious about something. Hopefully, there are answers to it & it may help quite a lot of people out there thinking about purchasing the latest SZ4 series & run Win XP.

I have a SZ370P/C. I'll just make up a scenario. Let's say I buy a new SZ450N/C & a new copy of retail Win XP Pro. I wiped the SZ450's HDD & install the newly bought Win XP Pro using its unique CD key. Then I use the re-install discs of my SZ370 to just install the SZ drivers (not restore the the whole system) & utilities. I'm curious whether the SZ drivers from the SZ3 series's reinstall discs will actually install onto the SZ450 without any problems... Anyone who have tried this, please feel free to share your experience.

 

I just did a clean xp install on my sz330pb. What worked for me was to use xp pro that been updated with a ryanvm ( www.ryanvm.net) patch. The result is an xp install with all the latest updates and hotfixes, including several hard to find hotfixes that are necessary for a good result. I used the UK drivers for the sz3 mentioned above, except for the TI flash reader and flash reader registry patch which came off the US sz330 page. The fingerprint reader driver is the new one from Asus which works wonderfully on XP, and for wi fi I used a generic driver from Intel (just the driver, not pro set). Everything works perfectly, although I did not bother with the cellular modem as I have no activation.

The trick is to install the drivers using the driver update feature in device manager. In some cases it is not obvious which driver goes with which device as the descriptions can be obtuse. TPM was an "unknown device" and bluetooth was some strange 3 letter thing.

 

Oh wow Bogart,

That is an extremely handy link!
I'm quite excited...I'll have to try out these drivers. I was only just complaining in another thread that I couldn't find any help here.

Thanks! I hope these drivers will solve my frustration.

 

No problem. Here's the order in which you should install everything. #15 isn't needed if you don't use TPM. For #16 I recommend the Widcomm bluetooth stack instead of the Toshiba (search for the tutorial on this forum). #17 isn't needed and #22 as well if you don't have the WWAN antenna.



Let me know if you need any missing drivers or utilities that are not included in those two zip files.

 

wow Bogart. The list look really wonderful. I can not find any driver for Unknown USB device. I really do not know what this is. However, there is no icon in the Removalbe Storge of Memory Stick. For that reason, I guess lack of driver of Memory Stick.

In this case, could u share the drivers and uliti #12,13 and 23? Thank you very much.

 

camera, bluetooth driver


plz download link

 

Hi,

thanks to all, the hints were very good. But still i have the UGX and the Camera not working. The Powermanagement doesn´t do also..

But may by some one can help me to get the brightness with the Fn buttons and the S1 and S2 buttons working. I would appreciate help one this.

Thanks so far.

Raven911

 

I'm intending to install Xp on my SZ450N/C because of headache Vista. So telle me, if I encourage any problems???

 

I bought a new Sony VAIO model VGN-FE880E, and had a working laptop for only 2 days...heres the story:

1. Needed to use programs that did not work for Vista
2. Erased Vista partition, Installed XP Pro, programs worked, drivers did not

Sony only has drivers for Vista and not Win XP Pro.

Found some of the drivers on Sony's website in Europe others on the Intel website.

What I stil need is:


SigmaTel ® HD Audio Device Driver
Camera Drivers
Memory Stick driver


This is the MOBO info:

Chipset

Detected Chipset:
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Chipsets or Intel(R) 945GT Express Chipset

Chipset Components

Memory Controller:
82945GM/GMS/82940GML or 82945GT

I/O Controller:
Intel(R) 82801GBM I/O controller hub (ICH7M)

Thanks for all.

Ernani

 

and me camera not work

 

Thanks Bogart. Tried previous XP drivers for SZ390P but no success.
I have a SZ460N/C.
Hopefully all will work!

Previous drivers don't work unless you modify model number in text file under C:/windows.

Easier method: Download SZ4_XP Driver disc.iso here:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/temp

Has all compatible drivers for winXP for the SZxxx series. Directions included.

Thanks to chops1221 for the info.

 

i want sony SZ-450 drivers for winXP (EXE.file)

 

Can someone help me figure out what the hell device i have unknown?

It's on the USB hub it looks like

 

I believe that is your SATA drivers, which can be found in the chipset driver package. The ICH7 is the SATA controller. Not 100% sure though. Good luck!

Sam

 

You have to install the mainbord chipset driver: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2300&lang=eng.

 

Revive the old threads.
Just downgraded from Vista, Geez, XP is friggin fast.

Anyways, this driver is for the Infineon TPM Chip!