My Vaio SR190 Windows 7 install experience and walkthrough.

I know that we really don't need to have a million threads on the subject, but I haven't seen many SR tutorials. If this stays open, maybe it will help other older SR owners when they upgrade to Windows 7.

What you need before you do your upgrade:

Firmware Extension parser

Sony Shared Library

Sony Notebook Utilities

Optional items:

Webcam software

Synaptics Touchpad drivers

Fingerprint Scanner driver

I installed Win7 Pro as a clean install. I have a 320gb drive that I formatted and partitioned into 3 parts, 40gb for the OS, 5gb for the pagefile and the rest for a storage partition.

I use the storage drive to put all of my user-created files. That make it easier for me to locate an item and makes backing up my personal files alot easier. I think it also reduces fragmentation on your OS drive.

Proper management of information is key in having an easy to manage computer.

I know that it may seem like a hassle to do a clean install, but you are only going to do this one time. Might as well do it as a fresh install and not an upgrade of a buggy and bloated Vista install.

I Installed Win7 (took about 20 minutes). After setup and activation, I installed these items in a specific order:

1) Firmware extension parser
2) Sony Shared library
-reboot-
3) Sony Notebook Utilities
-reboot-

After reboot, I get an error that the Vaio Mode switch does not initialize and that I should reinstall software. I don't use the feature, so I head to the control panel and uninstall it.

I uninstall the following Sony programs that are already handled by windows:

Vaio Mode Switch (Don't use it)
Vaio Power Management (Windows does that natively)
Vaio Control Center (personal preference - unnecessary to me)

At that point, Windows has already grabbed some updates and I install the video card driver (ATI for me). You might have the fingerprint scanner in that batch of updates also. Go ahead and include that.

-Reboot-

I then installed my optional hardware programs:

1) Webcam program so I can show my mug to my friends and scare their small children.

2) The Synaptics touchpad driver from Sony. It is written for the Sony hardware on my machine, so that makes sense. I use a mouse most of the time, so I disable the touchpad when I'm at home. You need to drivers to be able to do that.

3) The Upek scanner program from Sony.I don't use it, but if i did, I would intall it from the Sony site for the same reasons as #2

-reboot- (I reboot often to prevent Windows from getting too wonky on me. it is Windows afterall.)

Check Windows update and see if there are any updates for your machine and do those updates.

-reboot-


At this point, and with the exception of the Vaio Mode buttons, you will have a nice working Win7 SR machine.

I would recommend that you get a disk imaging program to save the state of your machine with your OS and all of your base drivers and updates. I don't use Windows System Restore and if you have Windows Ultimate or Pro, you will dread using the built in imaging program. (When it says that the operation may take between a few minutes to a few hours to complete, they really mean hours)

Norton, Acronis and Paragon are good choices if you are made of money, but I have used Macrium Reflect Free since Vista and it works just fine for what I want it to do. Find it here: http://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp

It has a very small learning curve, but it's worth the learn for what it gives you back. There are other free versions, but I'm just detailing what I use.

When you have a starter image, you are free to experiment with your new OS without having to spend the time it takes to reinstall Windows and do the initial updates.

Time to set your base install = up to an hour
Time to restore an image with the same install = 15 minutes tops

I usually keep up to 3 incremental images of my OS partiton that build on the previous one:

1) Base install image
2) Base install + programs that I always use and my tweaks to the OS and programs.
3) A revolving image where I reload image #2 and incorporate programs that I have learned to use and love since developing a core set of programs and tweaks. I like trying new software, but I hate having junk littered throughout my system. Image #3 lets me clear the sins of the past and still have the things I like. I do this about every 3 months.

Having a 3 tiered set of images helps in the event that you or someone you know screws up your PC and you don't feel like dealing with the hunt for rogue programs and drivers. I keep a copy of the install packages for all programs that I use. When I need to drop down a tier, I update the installs with the latest versions so I always have an up-to-date system.

As mentioned before, I keep my user-generated files and downloads on the non-OS partition so I don't have to worry abut losing my files when i need to restore an image. I suggest you get in the habit of doing the same.

A few second-tier programs that I use:

Image resizer power toy - right click image resizer

Klite codec pack and Xiph directshowcodec for OGG, Flac, and Theora - With some OS tweaking you can use Windows Media player to play DVD's and VOB's without having to install a different program.

Revo Unistaller - more comprehensive than the Windows uninstaller and a startup manager.

Defraggler - The built in defrag utility is a bit slow.

It's been a long post, but I hope the information is helpful.

 

Thank you. This will help me alot.

I will install from my Window 7 RTM. I really love W7 alot. I am using it now on my desktop.

I will install it on my SR430 this weekend.

One question, will those 5 custom button thing work? Its from the ATI software right?

 

its actually from the notebook utilities, and it does work.

i installed rtm on my sony vaio sr490 and everything works

 

I just installed w7 on my SR too, nice to know im not alone

About the mode switch problem you had, I ran into that too, the solution is to run the mode switch program in windows vista compatibility mode, see this thread for more info: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=387376

E: Also, how do you mess around with synaptics, I read on this thread you can disable the touchpad w/ drivers, where is the option for that?

 

You said Win 7 pro so are you the special cases like big businesses or whoever that can receive the final or official version of W7 or you are using the RTM version?

Btw, thanks a lot for this nice thread

 

Thanks for the tip on the Mode Switch. I personally never used it, but that will be helpful to those that do.

When you install the synaptics driver and open up the "mouse" control panel item, there is a tab at the end called "device setting" You can disable the touchpad there.

 

Not special or trying to brag. It was available from the school where I work for download under the MSDNAA program.

I put that bit in the tutorial so people would know the version for reference.

 

I dont know if you point this out, is it OK to activate your Window first after an install and then do the image backup?

I believe for MSDN subscription, you are allow 10 activations. That why if you do the image AFTER the activation, you only have to do activation once.

Good idea? Does it work this way?

 

Out of curiosity why did u make a separate partition for your page file? I thought it was proven that it makes no difference unless its on an additional drive.

ALSO: Is this a windows 7 32bit install?

 

a free alternative to a disk imaging software is clonezilla

http://clonezilla.org/

 

Yes, it is recommended to do your activation first, make sure your whole OS works and that no drivers are failing then create an image of your disk for backup. That way you don't have to activate every time you restore your computer from your backup partition.

 

So yours 's the official version of Win 7 pro that Sony's gonna release?

 

how did you disable the touchpad? i dont have the option to do it in device manager

 

Force of habit.

It's a 32 Bit install. Sony didn't really consider 64-bit when this model came out.

 

RTM should be the same version. I got it from MSDNAA.

 

Ya I realized that it was a sr190 so my 490 shouldnt have a problem with 64bit. Just gotta grab myself another RC CD key lol.

 

Hm... for some reason I think my windows 7 on my Vaio reduced the battery life. I currently have a 3470 HD with a P8600 (2.4ghz)... Does anyone else notice a reduced battery life after installing W7?
Addendum: It is a 64-Bit W7 RC.
Also I am using power saver option at 50% brightness (which is what I normally use).

 

Thats odd seeing as windows7 should be better at power management. I'm wondering if maybe windows and sony battery programs are competing with one another? I.e. some sort of odd mismatch and or confusion going on.

Also i hear that windows battery timer could be wrong. To get the best estimate you should let your system drain itself to zero from full. Either using it or letting it sit there (be sure to disable screensaver and auto power off)

 

I just finish installing everything on my SR430 using my W7 RTM and everything works!

I just follow post #1.

After install, I go to Device Manager and see 2 missing things:
1. Base System Driver - thats the Magic Stick for Sony. Perhaps MSFT doesnt like Sony?
2. Fingerprint Sensor - just install the driver and the software

I am amazed it pick up most things. Even prompt for my wireless connection and prompt me for my bluetooth mouse right after install.

It is worth it using Window 7. Vista is terrible.

 

How did you determine there is worse battery life? I'm coming from a Vista install, moved over to Win7, and it seems to be I can pull more minutes on battery than when I was in Vista.

 

Can I do all of this thread with the RC version of Win7? What happens when get offical from Sony? Do they send a disc or what?

 

From the letters in my box, sony will ship you a copy of win7 as long as u pay shipping and handling... come on, they gotta make money somehow.

Other than that, just got my SR, god this screen is nice. gonna go ahead and install win7 after class at 5. Hopefully i'll have everything up and running.

 

Ok so I got 7 up and running with all the functions of the laptop working too. The only difficulty came with installing Sony Notebook Utilities because it gives u an error saying it can only be run in vista and u can't run it in vista compatibility mode. So I used universal extractor
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
to extract the separate installers in there.
Once you do that you'll have a bunch of folders with 3 or 2 letter names. They're abbreviates for the Sony utilities like SEC = Sony entertainment Center (or something like that) They tell you their names as soon as you launch the individual setup file. I had to do this in order to get the function keys on the machine working.

This was all for a Vaio SR490.

Any questions just post here or pm me. I check here regularly.

 

Hi bro, i tried to extract the 64bit sony utilities using the universal extractor, but it said error extracting, anyone can assist? trying to find all the latest 64bit drivers for win7 but always problem.

 

What is the error? You're downloading the Vista drivers, right?

 

i downloaded the vista64 drivers for sony vaio sr499 from the usa sony esupport.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNSR499DEB

can anyone try? been fiddling the whole day.

Sony Notebook utilities

 

Weird, i downloaaded the vista ultimate ones and uni extractor worked just fine on it. It took awhile (about 10minutes) but it did it just fine.

I doubt drivers between individual 4xx series are that different so i'll recommend using the SR490 drivers. They worked for me.

Ok so i still have my extracted install files for the Sony Notebook Utilities. If someone could give me a website that i could upload them too I might be able to help you out.

 

I have finishing install everything on my vaio laptop! all fully functional just like vista counterpart.

 

Congrats, ok as a quick summary as to what i did. I literally followed this guide. As for Sony drivers that didnt work (only one was Sony Notebook utilities) i used uni extractor to extract it and install the individual setups for it. Thats it really.

 

yup. it seem tat vaio software for SR work across all SR range. tested for me though.

 

Just received my new SR430!! and planning to install win7 RC on it. Just wondering is there any difference between the drivers for different SR models or would the ones linked in Altdotweb's first post be ok? Thanks!

 

Thanks! Definitely bookmarking this thread for when I upgrade to W7. +rep

 

I'd recommend getting the drivers for your model seeing as the OP had a 1 series SR and you more than likely have a 4 series.

 

How did you get HDD protection to work? as i can't get mine to turn on and give warnings/stop the HDD, im on a SR41M
Thanks

 

I'm trying to install Windows 7 Pro (RTM) onto my computer, and I can get to the "install now" part fine. The problem comes just before installing Windows 7. For some reason I get a message that I am "missing a CD/DVD drive device driver", and to "insert a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive into the computer", and I can't continue any installation without it. I'm quite confused by this since my CD/DVD drive works fine, so wouldn't that mean that I already have the driver for that?

All help is greatly appreciated. I just want to get Windows 7 onto my computer ASAP cause I am sick of Vista!

Thanks

 

sorry for double post but can anybody help?

 

Have you guys tried install the 64 bit version of windows 7? how has that turned out?

I just got my copy of windows 7.... so frustrated with sony saying that our model (sr-190) isnt support... that is such bull. They dont want to get off their lazy to help thats all.


Thank you

 

I know, it's bull. I wonder if the drivers from another model in the SR series would work. Do anyone know by any chance?

 

I am going to be installing windows 7 with the drivers from the 290 series. I thought I had read that would work. I will post my experience.