New Z Series VPCZ12C5E

Hi All

First off my first post on here! i have been looking at these forums for about a month now as i have just bought a new Sony VAIO Z Series laptop.

Reason for joining and this thread. I have the Z Series VPCZ12C5E laptop, 500GB HDD and no optical drive.

I would ideally like to reinstall the Operating system as im rather picky as to how i have my computers setup! and i would also like to make sure the install is CLEAN! - Clean Windows 7 Pro 64bit and as little VAIO software that i can get away with all functions of the laptop working.

I would also like to loose the recovery partition as i will need all the space i can get!

I have also heard that the driver re installation can be a bit of a pain??

Can anyone give me any info on this for this p[articular laptop....im not sure if it makes any difference but its a UK spec laptop.

Many Thanks

Nick

 

The driver install isn't too painful, it is just that there are 3 times as many compared to other laptops. There should be a list of required apps / bloatware in a thread here a few pages back. As a general rule, everything is required except for a very few listed as applications in the download section.

 

^Which means there's not much point for a clean install. Just uninstall the few applications you don't need.

 

Thankyou for the replies, completely understand regarding the reinstall.

Can i just clear up that there is not set order in which to reinstall the drivers / vaio software??

Nick

 

Don't forget to make recovery DVDs - especially if you want to delete the recovery partition(which is not recommendable - only 13Gb). There's a ton of threads with guys who thought they don't need it and now are crying. There is some dependancy (VGA & audio needs Sony Shared Library etc).
The easiest thing to do after a clean Win 7 installation(no drv needed) is to install Vaio Care(from Sony support site) and run Reinstall App&Drv and pick exactly what you need from the list. You need to have the recovery partition untouched though.

 

well i havent deleted the recovery partition but i have reinstalled windows. I have managed to reinstalled all of the drivers so i have no yellow ! in device manager but none of the keyboard function keys work, the hybrid graphics switch isnt working and the VAIO control center doesnt have any options to control the backlit keyboard.

It might be that i did not install the shared libraries and the setting utility series programs first?????

Anyone have any ideas on this?

I still have recovery partition and also backup DVDs, i have also imaged the drive with acronis home image

Nick

 

I made a list for you guys here since you both asked.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...uys-help-me-some-questions-2.html#post6837961

 

E14 - Many thanks i will give this another go....i take it i can install VAIO Care, VAIO control centre (has backlit keyboard config in here) and VAIO update anytime AFTER the list you made in the link?????

The one thing i noticed after installing from fresh is that the vaio control center didnt have backlit keyboard options or special button entries. I did install this first before the drivers though....

Nick

 

vaio control center is part of notebook utilities on the list, it requires the shared library and firmware extension parser to work properly. you can install vaiocare or vaioupdate any time after installing those 3.

vaio update doesn't work very good according to the forum members here, so I didn't bother to install it and try it. it just scans the download page for updates periodically, vaiocare has a feature to check too. the latest nvidia driver isn't even on the z12 page, its on the z13 page so it would probably miss this update.

I didn't try vaiocare either, if you install it let me know what you think of it.

 

ok thanks for that, i will give this another go tomorrow i think!

Thanks for your help so far

Nick

 

Just want to say a big thanks to E14, im just coming to the end of the driver installation and all is working fine! backlit keyboard, hybrid graphics, fn keys!

Awesome!!

Nick