Instructions for a Vista clean install on an FZ190

Gary,

Thanks for the quick reply, ok i will make the restore DVD's and go from there. But there shouldn't be any trouble in using a installing a different copy and serial number of Vista from the one on the restore DVD? I mean there won't be any conflict with the restore disc software/drivers? One question about your instructions as well, on step 5 you instruct to download the drivers from the Sony website. Aren't these drivers already on the restore DVD's you made? Thanks Again.

Chris

 

There will be no conflicts. I am a Microsoft Certified Solutions Partner and used a copy of Vista I got from that program.

I suggest downloading the drivers for two reason's. First you get the most recent versions. And second, the inidvidual standalone installers seem to work better than using the driver install process from the restore DVD. I don't know why. I initally started using the DVD but a couple of the drivers installations gave me weird errors. So I stopped, restored a ghost image I'd made of the "virgin" install of Vista with NONE of the drivers and then used the ones I had downloaded. I had NO issues at all with those. So that's what I recommended to other folks to do.

Gary

 

Gary,

I got my vaio yesterday, made restore DVD's and am trying to use DBAN. The program boots but when i try to run it by hitting autonuke or pressing enter, it looks like it is about to start wiping then immediately says " DBAN finished with non-fatal errors, this is usually caused by discs with bad sectors" Is my HD bad in this brand new computer or is DBAN hitting a snag due to the SATA HD or the fact that I am trying to write over a protected "Hidden Restore Partition" You expertise is much appreciated. Very Frustrating!!"

Chris

 

I know its got to do with this stupid hidden partition! I got Kill Disc to work but I don't know how to remove that hidden partition. It does not show up in the windows install. What can I use to remove this thing????

 

Sorry, for the late reply. I was at a client's site in Detroit all day today. I have never used DBAN, so I can be of know help there.

First do you REALLY need to get rid of the hidden partition. Is the extra 7 gig REALLY worth not having that extra little bit of "insurance" by keeping the hidden partition? I mean, what happens if you loose the DVD's you just created, or one becomes damaged?

Ok I've done my warning bit and if your answer is still I don't care I want that 7 gig, then I suggest you find a copy of BootIt NG. I believe they have a trial version. I bought a copy because it is a great "toolkit" to have around. It will allow you to resize, move, delete partitions. It also has the capability to create a boot loader menu that will allow you to have multiple partitions with a different OS in each and select which one you wish to boot. It can even hide any combination of partitions from the one that boots. I have an old IBM laptop we use for demos. It has two hard drives in it with XP, Win98, Win2000 and Win2000 server. at boot time I can select which OS I want and it hides all the other partitions. I also have a couple of data partitions. One or more of those is also hidden from certain OS's. It's really slick.

I HAVE NOT TRIED THE BOOTLOADER PART WITH VISTA!!!!!!!!!!!! I did use it to repartition my hard drive for my Vista install. I just did not install the optional bootloader part.

Gary

 

Legand! Worked like a charm! Yeah I'm a little OCD and just like to set up my PC myself the way I want it...not how Sony wants it...lol My only concern now is that I am wondering why DBAN was saying that there may have been bad sectors in the disc and that is why it would not work. I should return it immediatly if that is the case. How can I know for sure. What is the most reliable to test for this and ensure there in nothing wrong with my harddrive? Any way to check it before I go installing Vista again? Thanks for everything!

Chris

 

A copy of SCANDISK, and old DOS app would work to test it. There are any number of other "exhaustive" disk test/verification apps out there. Just do a google search I am sure you can find something that will do what you want. I don't have any suggestion from my own "toolkit", oh wait there MIGHT be something in BootIT NG, I don't have my copy here, but I sem to remember it does have some sort of scan capability.

Gary

 

Holla Gary
I got my FZ 190 today. The thing is that in your instruction, it states that I can obtain driver from my restore cd. OR did i misunderstood and the drivers are the one that available at the esupport website? THanks

Dan

 

Just found "HD Tune" looks like it will do EXACTLY what you want.

Gary

 

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that you can find them in BOTH places. However, I had better luck installing the ones from the website. For some reason, some of the ones on the Recovery DVD gave me odd errors (but appeared to install anyway). Being paranoid as I am ESPECIALLY with drivers I dropped back to a ghost image I'd made BEFORE applying drivers and tried the ones from the Sony Support website. Those worked GREAT. In addition some of them were more up to date than those on the DVD. Bottom line, go with the ones from the website.

Gary

 

Were you able to find that article? It sure would be nice if folks could use this trick with Vista!

Gary

 

Gary
I have finished install Ultimate and loaded all the updates. Apparently, I ran into this problem "Media Foundation Protected Pipeline EXE has stopped" when i played music. Did that happen to you?

Thanks, Dan

 

Yes, I did have it happen, but only one time, right after I had installed a third party codec and listened to some music using Windows Media Player. I assumed it was related to that and uninstalled the codec. But doing a Google search on "Media Foundation Protected Pipeline" I latter found other folks who had the same problem. I also found some heated discussion on this module. It is part of the "deal" Microsoft made with the RIAA apparently. It has a bit of controversy surrounding it as it seems to be some attempt to force some DRM on us. I have not seen the error again.

But I also found a simple workaround should it rear it's ugly head again. Winamp. I use Winamp anyway for most of my listening and it does not load the "Media Foundation Protected Pipeline" engine at all.

I don't think this error has anything to do with our clean install process. Like I said, I only saw it once and just now used Windows Media Player to listen to an entire album without the error at all.

Gary

 

hey everyone,

i desperately need help on installing a clean version of Windows XP on my VAIO VGN-FZ190N4. i would appriciate any hint or guide. thank you veeery much indeed.

 

Please start another thread, or join the one already started about this topic. I relay don't want novices getting confused by any cross pollination of XP and Vista questions and answers here. The potential for disaster is too great if someone thinks a reply about XP was REALLY a reply about Vista and vice versa.

Besides there is a thread with all the info you seek already here on this forum.

Gary

 

Hi, I'm new to this forum (just found it yesterday) and I'm amazed at the high tech knowledge of most of the people here.

I'm planning on getting an FZ190 in the following weeks and this thread is like heaven.

What I'll need to do is to install a clean version of Windows Vista Ultimate (thanks for the guide by the way).

My problem is that the Vaio will come with spanish versions of all the software and drivers on it, and my objective is to install Vista Ultimate in English. Based on my previous experiences with several laptops and desktops from all kind of brands and integrators is that O.S., Software and Drivers in different languages don't talk well to each other.

Is there a way to get a copy of all the software and driver installers from the restoration DVD of an english-version FZ190?

Thanks in advance

 

You can download ALL of the drivers from the Sony support site. The URL is in my document. But there are some items you will need from the Recovery DVD. I believe you can order the Recovery DVD's directly from Sony.

Gary

 

Ok I'm trying to restore my PC, but apparently the backup I made doesn't work. I used the blue ray RW disc that came with my laptop (Fz-190). Um, what can I do now?
Nothing is currently wrong with my computer, I just uninstalled a lot of the crapware that you stated was useless to me, so not really a big deal.

I just wanted to redo my backup on a DVD-R disc instead, so I was going to restore everything to the way it was, but thus far it won't let me.

Also, if I call Sony up will they mail me the Vista Business discs? How the heck am I supposed to do a clean install with no vista discs!? I have a vista ultimate upgrade that I downloaded online about 6 months ago, perhaps I can get them to mail me the vista ultimate upgrade discs?

I have XP discs, I might just redo my whole laptop with XP, who knows. But I do know that I don't like all the bloatware crap thats on my laptop right now. I just don't want to deal with all the driver issues if I install XP.

 

If you want to get back to the "out of the box" state and start anew just power off and then back on and then hit F10 as it starts up. This will cause the machine to boot from the "recovery partition".

But how is it you know that the "backup I made doesn't work"???

No Sony will NOT send you any disks. Period. End of story.

Gary

 

Did you ever locate that article???

Gary

 

What exactly is a clean install of Vista? One without lots of software preinstalled by Sony?

 

It is one with ONLY the software you want to install. It gives you complete control over exactly what is done. The instructions I provided show you how to install Vista, the sony drivers you need and the sony applications you need for thing slike power management, function keys etc. I also highlight some of the other app that might be useful to install like Roxio for example.

Read through the doc for details. Link is in my signature below.

Gary

 

hi gary,i went through your guide twice.i understood almost 89 to 90 %. i have some doubts .
i tried to partition my hard drive of fz 140eb to 40 gb other drive.it was damn slow and at end of it i had to deal with bootmanager failed to load or something like that.i used my system recovery disks (made on your instructions.it fixed the problem.now i am worried that if i format again will it cause any further problem.
i have iinstalled vista on completely screwed up desktop without any driver issue.so some vista install experience is there with me.
i have following config.
c drive 140 gb
d drive is memory stick
e is sd card reader
f is dvd writer
g is virtual drive
h is my new partiotion of 40 gb and
i is recovery partition.
now i have back up my files with network drive on new vista pc.
so shall i just pop in vista install disk and go ahead with on screen prompts?
i have removed majority of crapware from it but still i have 70 processes running and vista ultimate pc is running at 53 processes.thats why i am going ahead.
also if i screw up somewhere,can i just put my recovery disk and get vista premium plus crapware?
kindly guide
sorry for long post

 

I am just a bit confused. C: is 140 gb. What exactly is G:? And what is H: is it an external drive or a partition on the hard drive???

Do you have a 180g drive and you have split it into two partitions (C: and H ? (Well three actually with the recovery partition.)

Why is the recovery partition showing as I:? It should not be visible to vista at all.

Here is my suggestion. First backup any data you might have to a DVD. Next use the recovery disks and get this think back to its original out of the box state. This will wipe THE ENTIRE HARD DRIVE CLEAN! All partitions will be removed and you will be back to a C: drive and a hidden recovery partition.

Next you can go two ways. Use some tool like Acronis, or Partition magic or BootIT NG (I prefer the latter) to delete the c: partition and create the two new partitions you want. DO NOT TOUCH THE RECOVERY PARTITION IN ANY WAY. Don't make it visible, don't change its type just leave it alone. Then start the clean Vista install process.

Option #2. Without repartitioning at all, just start the Vista Install process. When you get to the point where it realizes there is a Vista install already there you will see an option that will allow you to delete the existing C: partition. (The hidden recovery partition will not even show up here.) Go ahead and delete the existing C: and create a new one of 140g. Leave the rest unpartitioned for now. Complete the Vista install and then use the Vista disk management facility to partition the remaining space.

Leave another message if this is not clear or you have further questions.

Gary

 

thanks for quick reply.my hard disk is 200 GB,it was 150 to 159 GB when i got it.
G is Virtual drive to mount the iso files.then h is new partition made with acronis disk director.I Drive was visible when i had put the recovery dvd in it..

i will go ahead with data backup,i will send all files across to my desktop with sync toy and another i will also make dvd for data.also i wanted to make C drive of around 40 GB right during installation process.how do i do that?
i have got all drivers listed under original section of sony support page.or i use original recovery dvd's driver?i am going to do option 2 which seems to be easy .my experience with acronis is pretty bad on this notebook.i tried both the programmes for disk image and disk director
both of them screwed up.thanks to recovery dvd's i was saved.and on other hand same downloaded acronis files are working perfectly on my old compaq pc like charm.
is it something to do with slow hard drive ,can you recommend me other disk imaging program?

thanks a lot.
Dr.Pratik

 

OK, I see the I: drive was the DVD drive. That makes sense now.

This should help:
Installing Vista Screen Shots
At Figure 5 you'll want to delete your two partitions (DO NOT DELETE THE RECOVERY PARTITION IF IT IS VISIBLE HERE!!!). Then, since you want TWO partitions, select the "New" button and it should prompt you for the type and size of partition you want to create. I would ONLY create the 40 gig one at this point leaving the rest unpartitioned for now. Create this 40 gig one as an NTFS partition if it asks you what type. Then proceed with the rest of the install. After you have Vista running with all the drivers & apps use the Disk Management app in Vista to create your second partition for your data.

You know, it just occured to me that you might be able to just delete the first partition and leave the second one (your data one) in place. This will accomplish two things. First, it will save you from having to copy your data back on to the data partition. (I would still sync the data to your other machine first though JUST TO BE SAFE!!!) Then create the new C: 40 gig partition and install Vista. This should cause the data partition to be the D: drive. If you wait till after Vista is installed and create the data partition, it will be labeled as H:

That is covered in my document. I say there to use the drivers from the support page and apply the UPDATED ones too. Make sure you get them ALL before you start. Also DO NOT FORGET the part about copying the SATA driver from your EXISTING Vista installation before you start. You will want to use that at the same point (figure 5) where you create the partition. Note the icon there that says: "Load Driver". I'd suggest you do that BEFORE you create the new 40 gig partition. Using the driver this way should speed things up a bit. Make sure you read through my document, print it out and follow it step by step. It's pretty detailed. Also don't forget there is info there on obtaining one of the axillary applications you will need from a Sony FTP site. That app is NOT on the support page. Again go through the entire doc and make an inventory of all the files you need. Make sure you get them all BEFORE you start.

I like BootIT NG but it is NOT particularly user friendly. If you understand partitioning it is a great tool. When you initially run it it will want to install a boot file manager for you. (That's for dual booting multiple OS's.) Just tell it "no thanks", and it will proceed into its maintenance mode.

Gary

 

hi gary, did all file transfers,made another recovery dvd.
then i took final step,put my vista dvd in it and went till sata driver load page.it takes lot of time ,i tried twice with different locations for vista to look into,but no use.
is it normal or strange?
how many processes are running in your vista ultimate machine.mine runs around 50 with norton internet security and my laptop with many tweaks and service disable,t runs with 60 -64 processes.
shall i go ahead with vista sata driver?

 

Sorry, but I am not following you at all. Did you delete the partitions and create the new one? If so, did you let also tell it to format the partition, that can take a long time. I forgot to mention to tell it to do the QUICK format. It is a lot faster. What did you do at the SATA load page? Did you point it to the driver my document says to extract from your existing Vista install? For me to help you with this you need to give me COMPLETE step by step info as to what you did. I can't read between the lines. What "takes a lot of time"? Be specific. You "tried twice with different locations for Vista to look into"? What does that mean, again be specific.

Is this a count of processes right now? If so, I assume you went back to the recovery disk and reinstalled after attempting the stuff mentioned above. I have no clue what the last question is asking me. "Shall I go ahead with the Vista sata driver?" What are you asking me here? Are you asking if you should do a clean install? Are you asking if you should install the SATA driver on your running Vista instance? Again you need to be more specific.

I am certain we can get you through this process. Lots of other folks have followed the instructions and accomplished a clean install.

Just document what you have done and write back, so I know where to begin helping you out.

Gary

 

I have not done any partitioning changes on hard drive. vista is installed on 139 gb main ‘c’ partition.
Other H partition is 39.9 GB,i did not delete any partition.
For drivers ,i have followed your instructions,i have made a cd of C System driver folder.
Also i have downloaded all original and updated drivers from vaio support page.
Also i put the intel sata driver taken from c system drivers folder on my flash drive. Also i have dowmloaded driver .exe on it.Then the driver file is also on a cd but i know i cant put in a cd when vista dvd is inside.and i lauched my vista dvd setup and went till where to install vista,
At that page, where it shows all available partitions, it shows current vista install partition and my H partition. There at load driver option, i showed the usb flash drive, where driver file was there. it takes lot of time when i show the place where to look for driver file. Maybe i should disable the show only required driver option.i will uncheck the checkbox. I pointed it to driver taken as per your instruction.

I am sorry about being not specific about the steps. It takes lot of time, i mean it takes at least five or more minutes to get anywhere. It just keeps scanning for driver which is there. Then i give up.and by different locations, I mean i had those driver files on my flash drive.second time i pointed it to H partition to look into.i am sorry about not telling exact thing.
Now i will just put that driver file taken out as per your document and on second flash drive, i will put another driver files.

Last question about Shall i go ahead with vista sata driver?
I mean can i skip the load driver option.
I did not restore with vista restore dvd,i launched the vista install from running system. My system did not boot from DVD .i launched it from computer auto play option. So i did not do the restore.
I remember without removing all Sony crap, i had around 90 to 93 processes running, then i went through the various vista processes, and disabled lot of it. Also i had uninstalled as much as i could. Then i got the current 60 63 processes.
thank you.

 

Ah, OK. First you will NOT be able to do a clean install by launching the DVD while Vista is running. That will never work, you MUST boot from the DVD. That may also explain why the driver search is taking a long time it may be seraching in other places including the interntet. I just am not sure.

I suggest you look at my document again and specfically at step 6, where I burned those files to a CD. I am not sure if the "load driver" option will work with a memory stick. I am CERTAIN it will work with a CD when you get to step 8. You are going to skip step 7 because your have already partitoined your drive, but in step 8 after you load the driver (from a CD not a stick) you are going to delete the C: partition and create a new NTFS one and QUICK format it. Then proceed with the install. The SATA driver is the ONLY one you will need to use from the disk created in step 6. The rest are going to come from the ones you got from the Sony Support site and put on the memory stick. I see that you were worried about not being able to use the cd from step 6 while the Vista DVD was in the drive. You do NOT have to worry about that. The Vista install process is smart enough to allow you to pull the DVD out and install the CD to load the SATA driver. After it completes loading that driver you just take the CD out put the DVD back in before you proceed.

I am not sure what you meant by this: "Also i have dowmloaded driver .exe on it." What is driver.exe??

You MIGHT be able to skip the load driver option. I don't know I have not tried that. I suggest folks NOT skip that step, the Intel driver is more "optimized" than the Vista one. And I don't know if there are any issues changing drivers AFTER Vista is running. Bottom line is you want to be using the Intel one when you are finished with the clean install.

Gary

 

oh it was my stupid spelling mistake.i mean to say i have downloaded the intel sata driver file as .exe file from sony site.i will install with intel sata driver.going to start wirhin minutes now.i will get online from my pc .
really appreciate your help and guidance.
thanks gary.

 

OK, the .EXE file won't do you any good if you try my instuctions for installing it at step 8.

Gary

 

Thought I'd check back and see how the install went.

Gary

 

its been a perfect ride,thanks to garry.he has written a perfect guide.follow the guide.its perfect thing required to get a clean install.i highly appreciate your help.thank you very much.

 

gary,

the clean install of vista was successful, however looking at my apps and drivers disc from sony's site and my (1) DVD of backup leads me to think that i'm missing a dvd or so based on what i'm reading.

I created the back up using vista 'back up' app which only backed up the following files to 1 dvd: 1x restore icon, 1x bin file, 1x autorun and 1 file folder that has less than 6mb(i actually just looked at the file size, should've checked prior). I still have the actual recovery partition on the hd itself.

my questions:
1.can i still recover specific programs from it?
2.Can i still make recovery discs?

thanks for your help in the other thread btw.

<edit> another "oops" i realized is that I do not have a disc with the 'launcher' program in it.

 

So you don't have the 2 DVD Sony Recovery set? That was the first thing you needed to do. At this point you have two options. Find someone who has those DVD's and get a copy. Or try rebooting your laptop and as it restarts hit F10, which will start up the recovery process from the hidden partition. I have not tried that, but I believe it will bring up a menu and allow you to restore the machine back to it's "out of the box" state (bloatware and all) OR create the 2 DVD recovery set. I am pretty sure it does not jump right in and restore the machine but I am not certain of that! I have not ever invoked the F10 recovery. If it does not offer the option of creating the DVD set and you cannot obtain the set from anyone, then you will have little choice except to go ahead and restore the machine back to the "out of the box" state, make the DVD set and restart the clean install process.

Bottom line is you must have that set. You can't complete the install without it. All of the items in the table on page 6 that are marked "Software Tab on VAIO Recovery App" come from this set. The two critical ones being: "Sony Video Shared Library" and "Power setting update". But the PX engine and Bluetooth are also rather important as are WinDVD and Roxio.


Gary

 

much appreciated Gary! need to consider whether or not a few of those programs are THAT important. Still, you do recommend having those recovery discs anyhow correct?

edit:
so i tried the f10 method and was provided 4 options:

1.window system restore
2.vaio hardware diagnostic
3.restore c: drive
4. rescue data: detects data which can be saved on the internal hd when windows does not start and saves data to removable media.

the 4th one caught my attention. Is that option the one you are referring to where it'll create the recovery disc on dvd's?

 

Yes, they are the only insurance policy you have if the hard drive were to completely fail after the warranty runs out and you need to return the machine to it's out of the box state, for instance if you wanted to sell it.

They are also, as you have found out, the only backup for several applications on the FZ machine. I am afraid you really need "Sony Video Shared Library", "Power setting update" and most likely the "PX Engine". The bkuetooth one will be essential as well the moment you have a bluetooth device.

I know it's not a pleasant prospect, but I think you are better off biting the bullet now and creating them. Doing it latter will be much more painful because of the data you'll need to backup and resote as well.

Gary

 

wow, thanks for the quick response. you responded before i could finish editing it.

 

Oops! Sorry!

No option 4 is not it. Sadly, the option I had been led to believe was there is not. The only way to make the DVD set now is to use option 3. Then create the DVD set. And start the clean install process again.

To get to the app that creates the DVD's, click: Start | Help & Support/Backup & Recovery | Launch VAIO Recovery. Then the sixth item in the menu on the left will be “Create Recovery Discs”.

Gary

 

no worries, thanks a bunch.

gotcha, going to start the process. will be back in a few hours(hopefully) for an update!

 

Hey ScuderiaConchiglia,

hate to be a pain but need to ask you yet another question.

Per your instructions on step

11a. Sony Shared Library - installed to C:\prgram files\common files\sony shared...

where can i find this shared library?

I have the 2 DVD recovery set, 1 c:/windows/drivers and the apps and drivers cd downloaded from sony's site. am i missing something else again? thanks

 

No you aren't missing anything. Look at the tables right after step 19. They specify the item name and the actual source file for each item. The ones that list a file name as the source are the drivers and files you downloaded from the Sony Website. The one you asked about is in the file: SOASSL-10555400-US.EXE

Gary

 

ah, thanks! almost done...

 

Great success! much thanks again ScuderiaConchiglia. Once I realized your intended purpose for the tables it made things a lot easier.
Great tutorial! Now onto downloading the windows update.

 

Will this work with a vaio n365 e/b? I have a brand new one and am wanting to get rid of the bloatware right of the bat.

 

Sorry but I have no clue if it will or not. Most certainly you could not use it literally as it references files specific to the FZ series machines, but as a general guideline it might be helpful.

Gary

 

Just a bump to let folks know I have revised the clean install document. Not much help for all of you who have already used it, I realize. But it does have some new info on the specifics of partition manipulation while installing Vista and info on moving the Documents, Pictures and Favorites folders.

Gary

 

Hey thanks for the guide. I have everything working wiht a couple of issues

1. AV mode is not working. Is there a specific software that i missed? I have VAIO AV mode launcher with installed and in the setting it has 3 applications in the order Windows media center, intervideo windvd BDm VAIO camera capture utility.

2. When ever i boot up the computer, the brightness goes to the highest level and i have to manually decrease it.

Any help will be great.

Thanks

 

1. What DVD and Video card do you have? Blue ray or standard DVD? Intel or Nvidia Graphics?

2. Right click on the battery icon in the system tray. Select "Power options". In the left pane you will see "Adjust the display brightness". The rest should be obvious.

Gary