Official Vaio FW Clean Vista Install Guide

I am trying to set up vista 64 bit on my FW11M, everything works apart from the bluetooth.

The hardware is not picked up in device manager, and when I run the installer (us 64bit Broadcom Bluetooth DriverBRDBLT-15487200-64.EXE) the tray icon appears briefly when the installer is still running, but with a green cross through it.

Following that, still no hardware in device manager, the broadcom software is installed.

Any one had any luck on this? It would be a shame to go back to vista32 when everything else is fine

 

The file "BRDBLT-15487200-64.EXE" worked on my FW11M with Vista Ultimate x64. I had issues OTOH with the SD card driver exectuable which installed only partially, but eventually managed to install it correctly by rerunning the file a number of times and playing with the compatibility mode settings and running it as administrator. Don't know what exactly what triggered the solution in my case, but if you can't make it install properly through the executable check the initial post on this thread where there's information on how to extract the driver from the executable. That way you can manually install it...

 

Thanks for the reply, I guess I will give the 64 bit one more attempt...

Can anyone confirm if the bluetooth is actually picked up in device manager prior to running the driver file? It isn't on mine.. but perhaps thats as it should be. I also tried a generic 64bit broadcom installer (from somewhere on sony site) and it complained "no hardware".

Thanks for everyone helping on this thread

 

Ok, I give up....

Whatever I do, the bluetooth is not detected. Any driver files just say "bt not present"

Fine in 32-bit.....

 

If there anyone who could extract Sony Notebook Utilities?
Could you guys please share me because I bought Sony FW notebook from japan and they don't support download for any drivers. I have installed every driver from sony esupport US and just left Sony Notebook Utilities. I can extract every files except that one.
Thanks in advance.

 

What you are asking someone to do is to effectively pirate copyrighted software and as such you are violating the terms of use of these forums. Expect to hear from one or more of the forum moderators. They won't allow such requests.

Gary

 

Hi,
I bought Sony Vaio from Germany with german Vista and the I formatted c: without creating recovery disc. I screwed up, because I forgot this.

Model name: Sony Vaio FW11e

I installed x64 and 32 bit Vista ultimate, but I can't get my Vaio fully working. When there was x64 installed, I couldn't install the wireless, I got error, that the drivers aren't compatible with x64 and some other problems were too (smart network, av, S keys...)

Ok then, I switched to 32 bit, and now Smart Network always "stopped working" and my S1 and AV keys still aren't working. I really don't know what to do, that everything would worked well?

I downloaded drivers from vaio-link.com (link -> 3×w.vaio-link.com/downloads/preinstalled/preinstalled.asp?site=voe_en_gb_cons&c=0&s=VGN-FW&m=3337), but they aren't for x64. Even on the 32bit Vista I can't install them all! In device manager I still have "unknown device", "SM bus controller" and some sort of "... base component" shown as they aren't installed. How to install them?
I tried manually to extract drivers (from vaio-link.com) and then via device manager updated them but I get an error, that there were no drivers found for any of this device, although I extracted all the drivers in the list from vaio-link.com

Is there any option for me to have installed x64 and all compatible drivers, including utilities. Should I download drivers from esupport.sony.com and for which Notebook, because mine isn't in the list...

Thanks for all help, I owe a beer

 

Sorry if what I request is wrong. But what I understand is that SNU is free software for every vaio FW user and can download from sony vaio website. ( sony don't sell it ).
I own a sony vaio FW laptop. So i think i can use that software legally. But there is just one problem. that is sony japan don't support it. So i request here.
Sorry!

 

"Sony Notebook Utilities" with capital letters is the name of a Sony driver combo for Sony FW laptops (contains Vaio Control Center, Vaio Event Service etc), I assume the misunderstanding here was because it could be interpreted as just about any Sony notebook utilities The 64-bit version is available here under "Notebook Control and Utilities" for FW170. This version may not necessarily be 100% compatible with all FW models, however on my FW11M everything works except for the OSD:s for Caps/Num/Scr Lock and Fn+F7...

 

You installed all the drivers and utilities from that side you pasted for your FW11M and everything works fine? Because my FW11E isn't that much different and I would like to try. You don't have any "unknown devices" in device manager? S1, AV and Smart network works?

Thanks

 

Yes, virtually every software/driver on that page worked fine for me, I only had some trouble installing the SD card reader driver but managed to get it working in the end after reinstalling it a number of times. However, some have had other issues as you can see from previous posts here like the bluetooth driver not working etc...

 

" A standalone Vista DVD with SP1. It can be downloaded, a retail copy or from another computer, as long as you have a valid product key you'll be golden. I recommend that you use the version of Vista that came with your FW because you already have a valid product key that will work for Windows activation. For example, if yours came with home premium, use a home premium DVD (your product key will work with either the 32 or 64-bit versions.)"

Where would we get one of these? and a valid product key? when you say downloaded, is that in the legal sense? I just got my vaio, would the key be in listed in the notebook?

 

I owe you a beer, everything works as it should and on x64. I appreciate.

 

Yes, you can legally use it, no question. But as it is copyrighted software, no one here can legally provide you a copy. I realize it is a technicality, but the ONLY legal way for you to obtain it is directly from Sony. The terms of use for these forums do not allow sharing of any copyrighted software, no exceptions. And even asking for it is grounds for a slap on the wrist from the moderators.

Gary

 

How come Sony's instructions seem so much simpler? are one these out of date?

http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/...EM_1_1&dialogID=18090877&stateId=0 0 36301849

 

See this http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/support-info.pl?template_id=1&info_id=141&2

 

Thank you for creating this tutorial. I just got my FW290 yesterday and will be trying to perform a clean Vista 64-bit install.

 

Hi strontium87,
My FW290 will be come soon in next week. If you perform a clean Vista install successful, please share.
Thanks

 

Hi

This was massively helpful, many thanks!

I now have everything workong and installed, all fn buttons work with OSD and sound as do the media keys on the speaker section.

One thing though..

Looking at my device manager I see this:

> Other Devices
- Base System Device
- Unknown Device
- Unknown Device
- Unknown Device

These only appeared AFTER I installed bluetooth. If I uninstall bluetooth I am left with just the Base System Device.

Odd...everything else is workong fine, any ideas? My model is VGN-FW21E.

Cheers

 

What is the purpose of installing the following?

Vaio Firmware Extension Parser
Sony Shared Library
Vaio Notebook Utilities

I was thinking about doing a clean install, and wanted to get rid of all the unneeded software, including any Sony Vaio software. Are the above necessary to operate your computer?

 

Vaio Notebook Utilities contains among other things Vaio Control Center and Vaio Event Service, necessary for full functioning of the multimedia and FN keys. I think the other two mentioned utilities are necessary as well and definitely not bloatware...

 

You need them for proper operation of the function keys and power management.

If you look at any of the clean install guides this is clearly spelled out. There are certain auxilary applications, beyond just the drivers that you need. And the sequence in which these are installed can be VERY important.

Gary

 

Need help guys.My Model is FW11E (UK).I download all the relevent drivers from the web.
I just did clean install but there is still one unknown device on my device manager

 

Hi guys,
just performed clean install of Vista Ultimate on VGN-FW245J/HC. Everything works perfectly except that I need to get Intervideo WinDVD somehow from the recovery discs, anybody knows how to do that?

 

I assume you can't do it through the Recovery center utility? If not, check this post...

 

Well, when I start Vaio recovery disk it says something similar to "Installing drivers and programs" so I'm just afraid that it will eventually re-install all that crap that we don't want so I cancel the installation, should I actually wait and see what happens?
but actually bgd, thank you, I looked at your post with MOD names and found that I can extract windvd from MODJ-121003, I'll try it tonight and we'll see how this will go.

MODJ-121003: InterVideo WinDVD

 

Actually can't figure this one out. There is no such MOD number on my recovery disks, so how to extract or "look inside" those mods? I assume I can't use universal extractor for this...

 

Well, that's what I made the mod2wim script for So, here's how you could try to find WinDVD with the mod2wim script:

* First, extract mod2wim.zip in the system root directory and run c:\mod2wim\mod2wim.bat as administrator (right-click -> Run as Administrator)
* Next, if you're using recovery disks as source, set the Recovery disc drive letter with the option "S: Set Recovery Volume", otherwise leave it as it is.
* Next, select the option "1: Copy & process MOD files", this will copy and patch all *.mod files to c:\mod2wim\wim\ so that they become regular *.wim files.
* Next, select the option "5: [Un]Mount patched files", this will mount all *.wim files in the wim\ directory.
* Next, open up a regular Search file window and search for the string "windvd" inside c:\mod2wim\wim\ and its subdirectories (i.e. temporary mount points)...
* If no file name is found, select the option "Search in file contents" below the search results to search for the same string inside the mounted file contents...

 

Followed your instructions but all I get is only wim files, no log or info files, what am I doing wrong?

 

Did you mount them with above mentioned option 5? If so, you should have a folder for every .wim file inside the wim directory...

 

I have empty folders alongside with the .wim files

 

This is what I get, folders are empty inside. Am I missing a step? Also, I do use 64 bit Vista Ultimate should teh procedure be different?



I actually tried installing the WinDVD from Vaio recovery center, but I get famous error 502 or 505, Sony support was (imagine) useless on that.

 

No, I use Vista Ultimate 64-bit myself, so that's not an issue. I suppose you are running mod2wim.bat as admin (right-click -> Run as administrator) as that's necessary for the script to run as expected? If so, then probably the imagex driver has failed to install. Go to the imagex32 folder, righ-click on wimfltr.inf and select Install, then rerun the script.

Btw, the files you should search for are "setup.ini", not log/inf or anything else I wrote before...

 

Ok my model is Sony VAIO FW11E(UK).I Did clean install today. Following drivers are needed to completely install. I upload them to the web. Some drivers are generic and some are modded (ATI VGA). Everything works well & tested.

Intel Chipst Driver
Intel WiFi Driver
Intel Matrix SATA AHCI Driver
ATI Mobility VGA Driver
Realtek Sound Card Driver
Realtek HDMI Sound Driver
Conexent Modem Driver
Ricoh Card Reader Drivers
Marvell LAN Driver
Alps Pointing Device Driver
VAIO Control Centre 3.0
VAIO Event Service 4.0
VAIO Power Management 3.0
VAIO Sony Shared Library 5.0
Sony Firmware Extension Parser

 

Thank you bgd, I finally extracted WinDVD. Cool tip - you can extract .WIM image files with 7zip! This is what I did after using your script.

Turns out I still have long way to go in setting up Blue Ray, currently regular DVD movies playback is of much better quality than BD movie played on my VAIO, does anyone has any experience or advise on how to set up BD playback and sound?

 

Yes, 7Zip can open the files once they are patched into regular .wim files. The only issue is when you want to access or search multiple .wim files at once, that's why I added the mass mount feature in the mod2wim script...

Btw, I just realized that a smarter way to search for a specific utility than what I earlier proposed is first to search for file names with the string you're looking for, i.e. "windvd", then if nothing is found, simply select the option "Search in File Contents" located below the search results, which will search for the same string but instead of in the file names it will search inside all the file contents...

 

Sorry if this has been asked, I looked through but didn't see it. Can I install vista and then SP1 or does the vista disk need to be a SP1 disk?

 

Why does the semi-clean guide exist if this is better? There has to be a reason why people do a semi? Is it just because in the semi clean method you don't need a Vista disc?

 

Precisely.

Gary

 

Is a new product key necessary or can you use the one shipped with your vaio? If one doesnt need a new key, how hard can it be to borrow a vista cd?
Semi clean install is overated!

 

You can use your factory installed(Activated) product key. Use ABR (Activation Backup and Restore tool/Thanx Orev for this tool) to backup your original product key.Keep it in safe place (Such as USB Pen Drive)

 

I've got everything working on my FW245 except bluetooth. Drivers are installed, I can see them in "add/remove" feature but can't make my Vaio discoverable or find other bluetooth devices (such as my cell phone)
Do you guys have any thoughts/suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated!

I did clean install of Vista ultimate (64)

Thanks.

 

Hi.

Wireless switch is on?

There should be a Bluetooth icon in the system tray. Right click on it and choose Open Bluetooth Settings.

If the icon isn't in the system tray, search the Start menu for Bluetooth, choose the Bluetooth Devices search result. Make the FW discoverable in BT Settings, then add your device.

You can also open Bluetooth Devices from the Control Panel.

As long as the switch is on, it should work.

Also, it looks like there's a newer than original BT driver on Sony's support drivers page.
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFW245J

Regards.

 

Anyone tried this on an fw21z?

 

My friend do you get the sony.wim file from you recovery disk also?
I need it in order to put 64bit vista to my FW21Z that has only 32Bit so my own sony.wim 32 bit image is uselles for me to upgrade to 64bit.
I would appriciate if you could put this file in a server for download.

 

According to this thread, a lot of people have been having the issue where some FN keys dont work after a CLEAN install and driver installation. In my case, the volume works but there is no on screen display. The brightness (FN f5 and f6) doesn't work at all. The rest seem to work, i even get on screen display for numlock and capslock which i think i didnt used to get when i did the semi-clean install.
Has anyone found a solution? I installed Sony Shared Library (without a confirmation of installation, just seems to end), Sony Notebook Utilities and Sony Firmware Extension Parser.

SOLVED! Ok I chatted with Vaio Support and they solved this for me. When they suggested what to do I thought they were just trying to log off and get rid of me. I gave it a shot anyway ...and it worked!! The solution involves the following 3 steps:
1. Go into your BIOS (F2 at the Sony screen) and reset to default values (option located on the Exit tab, make sure to save changes).
2. Reinstall Sony Notebook Utilities and restart.
3. Reinstall Audio driver... yes, the Audio driver.

I don't know if the 3rd step is necessary since it doesn't make any sense but that is what the tech support person said and that is exactly what I did. Hope this helps in case you have the same issue!

 

Ok, so I recently got a FW21L and after a day or two decided to do a clean install of Vista. I followed the guide and after a large amount of fiddling with the Bluetooth and memory card reader drivers and the Vaio event services installer I finally got everything to work (including Fn keys), or so I thought.

Before I go on I shall just mention the problems with the driver and event service installations. The Bluetooth driver was a pain but not too hard to get working. The memory card driver was the most problematic I have ever come across. Every time I went "Update Driver" and pointed Windows to where the driver I wanted installed was it just gave the usual "These drivers are not applicable for the device" or whatever message. So I then resorted to using the "Have Disk" option located by taking a different route through the messages. Having located the driver and clicked "Next" Windows started installing and then immediately presented me with the blue screen of death. Windows clearly didn't like that. I repeated this "Have Disk" procedure several times to see if a restart would make any difference...nawt. I was getting pretty desperate so decided to uninstall the current memory stick driver, some sort of host controller. Once this was done I tried the "Have Disk" method again and if I remember correctly got the blue screen of death again, however upon restarting Windows it finally installed properly and now works!!! I guess none of you have had this problem otherwise you would have mentioned it. Strange since I followed the driver install list to the tee (not that it should make too much difference).

As for the Vaio Event Service installer this was also a pain. I downloaded it from the Sony website and kept on trying to install it after installing SSL and SUS with restarts but it kept on coming up with a list of errors after the install. When I restarted the Fn keys still didn't work. I used Windows Restore to restore to a point before I installed SSL and tried again...same errors. I then went back to the Sony website to realise I had downloaded the 64bit installer...oops (I'm using 32bit Vista). I downloaded the 32bit one and started again. When it came to Vaio Event Services I still got the same errors at the end of the install. At this point I was out of ideas and restarted the laptop. When Vista booted up the Fn keys worked. Yay! Seems that error message isn't really a problem.

Now for the new unsolved problems...first off my webcam does not work. There seem to be no specific Sony drivers for it and Vista installs its own "Sony Visual Communication Camera" drivers. The device says it is working but no program can see it. Do other peoples webcams work after a clean install?

Second problem...has anyone tried using the HDMI audio after a clean install? I connected my laptop up to my AV receiver to try a bit of 5.1 Crysis the other day. The AV receiver can tell my laptop is connected via HDMI but the laptop just says "No connection detected" or "Please connect HDMI cable", I can't remember the exact message, and as a result no sound comes out of the AV receiver. I have searched other forums and they suggest you need to install the Realtek HD drivers, I did this as a matter of course upon clean install but they don't seem to help.

The final problem...after already having played Crysis at 1280x720 or 1280x800 (can't remember) on my laptop I decided to play it again the following day. The thing is the next time I went to play it the 1280x? resolution was gone and now I can only select 800x600, 1024x768, and 1600x900. I have traced this problem back to the ATI Catalyst thing as it no longer shows the 1280x? resolution as a possible one even for the Windows desktop. Where and why did the resolution disappear? It's so frustrating. Luckily I made an image of the C drive using Acronis after having installed the drivers and programs so if I get desperate I can just resort back to that and the 1280x? resolution should be back, but I would rather find the cause of the problem in case it should happen again.

If anyone has any ideas on the solutions to my problems, or has experienced them themselves, please reply! Any help is much appreciated.

 

Olz, you have way too many problems after the clean install, therefore I suggest you retry the installation. Download all the drivers from http://esupport.sony.com/ before you reinstall a clean copy of vista. Don't use the drivers from your recovery disks. I suggest you install in this order: Intel Chipset, Video, Audio, Sony Shared Library, Sony Firmware Extension Parser, Sony Notebook Utilities, wireless, and then everything else. After that, if you have problems with your FN key, i can help you. I didnt have any other problems besides that when I completed the process. Please note I did this on a vaio SR which shouldn't be very different from the process you need to do for the FW.

 

totono, I hear what you say but as I said I followed the exact instructions at the beginning of this thread and still ended up with difficulties in installing various drivers. As for your SR being similar...I'd be surprised, it may be a VAIO but it's a different model. I had a FZ before this FW and none of the components are made by the same people (memory card reader/writer, graphics card, bluetooth, wi-fi, audio, modem) hence the drivers are different. Doing a clean install on the FZ (even XP) was a cinch compared to the FW for some reason.

I'm not bothered about the problems I had installing the drivers, I was merely pointing them out to others. All the drivers apart from the webcam are installed and work (for the usual applications) fine.

If you are suggesting I start again totono does that mean to say you have tried HDMI audio and your webcam and both work? If so then I may consider another clean install...just to see if it has any effect, but that is more of a last resort.

 

Hi guys,

What about the Alps Pointing Drivers for x64 Vista?