Official Windows XP on FW190/290 Guide (with HD replacement)

Official Sony FW190 XP Drivers:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFW190&SelectOS=7

Many of us still prefer Windows XP to Windows Vista. After searching this forum and posting in several threads, I was still left with many questions about putting XP on my FW190. I finally did it and everything works great except some of the FN keys which there still isn’t a solution for. A friend of mine bought a FW290 and I was successfully able to install XP on his 290 as well, it’s a bit more complicated, but if you follow these steps, you should have a fully functioning FW190/290 with Windows XP by the time you are done. Thank you to PhilFlow, as I used his guide to XP on a Vaio Z as a basis for my guide.

Step One - Changing the Internal SATA Hard Drive (Optional):
Need: Small Phillips head screw drive, notebook SATA hard drive

1: While I was configuring my FW190, I knew I wanted a 7200rpm hard drive, but Sony wanted $99 to upgrade to the cheapest 7200rpm hard drive, which happened to be 200GB. I knew it would probably be a generic brand hard drive, so I decided to buy a hard drive aftermarket. For the same $99, you can buy what is arguably considered the best notebook hard drive currently on the market, the Western Digital Scorpio Black Edition, 320GB 7200rpm hard drive with free fall sensor. I bought this drive for $99, and I basically got a 160GB 5400rpm drive from Sony for free. If you are looking to upgrade your hard drive, I recommend this drive.

Hard Drive Information:
WD Scorpio Black (With free-fall sensor) (320 GB, 3 Gb/s, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM)
Model #: WD3200BJKT
http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=477

Purchasing the Drive:
Buy.com is the cheapest place to buy the drive ($97.24 at the time of this post, with free shipping).

Product Link:
http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...0-rpm-16-mb-internal/q/loc/101/208503752.html

Click on the link below to get an additional 5% off the drive.
http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp?prid=84773074

Click on redeem coupon, then place the hard drive in your cart, and the discount should be applied to the hard drive.

2: Another product you may need to purchase is a small tool kit. I purchased this kit from Amazon and the smallest Phillips head screw driver worked perfectly ($8.49 at time of this post).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BDDG8Y

3: Actually changing the hard drive is pretty easy.
1) Flip your FW on its back, the hard drive is located on the bottom left hand side. You’ll need to remove one screw here and take off the hard drive panel.
Image

2) After the panel is removed, there are three screws which need to be removed. Gently take these three screws out.
Image

3) Once the three screws have been removed, gently slide the hard drive cage all the way to the left. This will disengage the hard drive from the FW and allow you to remove it.
Image

4) There is a plastic tab on the back of the hard drive between the two screws. This tab allows you to pull the hard drive up out of the laptop, but be carful and only pull it up just enough to pull the hard drive cage out on an angle to the right because there is a piece of metal that goes into the laptop when you slide the cage to the right in step three that will bend if you pull the hard drive cage up too much. The tab itself can be seen clearly in the picture in step five below.

5) Once you have the hard drive cage outside of the laptop, there are four screws which need to be removed, two on each side. Remove these screws, then put in your new hard drive, and screw the new hard drive into the cage.
Image
Image 2

6) Reinsert the cage into the laptop, slide it to the right to cleanly engage the hard drive into the laptop, screw in the three screws which were removed in step two, and then screw back on the hard drive panel, and you should be all set.

Step Two - Slipstreaming SATA Drivers
Since the FWs have SATA hard drives, Windows XP cannot recognize them natively. Luckily Sony provides the SATA drivers, but you will need to create yourself a copy of Windows XP with the SATA drivers on them to successfully install XP. Slipstreaming SATA drivers is not difficult.

Needed: Copy of Windows XP, the Sony SATA drivers from the site above, nLite, CD/DVD burner

1) Go to the Sony drivers site linked at the top of this thread and download “Intel® SATA Driver for Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System” under the “Hard Drive” category.

2) Unzip the drivers to a folder of your choice.

3) Download and install a copy of nLite (it’s free).
http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

4) Create a folder on your hard drive where the slipstreamed version of Windows is going to go.

5) Insert your Windows XP CD into your ROM drive and open nLite.

6) Click Next on nLite
Image

7) Click Browse, and select your ROM drive or folder with the Windows install files, then when you are prompted, select the folder where you want the files to be copied (the folder created in step four) and nLite will begin copying your files, the process should only take about six minutes.
Image
Image 2

8) When complete, just hit “Next” on the “Locating the Windows installation (top left corner)” screen, then hit “Next” again on the “Presets” screen so you end up on the “Task Selection” screen. On the “Task Selection” screen, click on “Drivers” so the red button to the left of the word turns green, and then also click on the “Bootable ISO” button if you want to burn this as an image when completed, then click “Next”.
Image

9) On the “Drivers” screen, click on “Insert” and then “Single driver” and then scroll to the folder that you unzipped the Sony SATA drivers to in step two and double click on “iaStor”. You will be prompted with a list of drivers, in “Textmode drive” select the second to last driver on the list, “Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI” and then click OK and then click “Next” and click “Yes” to start the process.
Image
Image 2

10) When complete, you’ll be left with a burnable ISO. Burn the image and use that disk to install XP on the FW.

Step 3 - Installing Windows
Insert your Slipstreamed XP disc, and restart your laptop. When prompted to boot from CD, click any key and then proceed to install Windows. You will not need to hit F6 to install SATA drivers, they will be automatically loading during the installation.

Step 4 - Installing Drivers (FW190, for FW290 see below)
I suggest you download all FW190 drivers from the site listed at the top of this thread, and give them all their proper names. For example:
Image
You do not install them in the order I have them in that folder, those are simply in date order based on when Sony released the drivers.

Order of installation (FW190):
01) Intel Chipset Driver (Motherboard) (08.18.08)
Restart
02) Realtek High Definition Audio Driver (09.11.08)
Restart
03) Conexant Modem Driver (Modem) (08.18.08)
04) Broadcom Bluetooth Driver (Bluetooth Wireless) (08.18.08)
Restart
05) ATI Graphics Driver (Video) (09.19.08) or Intel Graphics Driver (Video) (09.10.08)
Restart
06) Intel Wireless LAN Driver (Wireless LAN) (08.20.08)
07) Sony Visual Communication Camera Driver (Camera) (09.11.08)
08) Marvell Ethernet Driver (Network) (09.11.08)
09) Infineon Trusted Platform Module Professional Package Version 2 (Security) (08.20.08)
10) Ricoh SD Memory Stick Media Driver (Memory Stick) (09.05.08)
11) Ricoh Memory Stick Media Driver (Memory Stick) (09.11.08)
12) Intel SATA Driver Registry Patch (Hard Drive) (09.11.08)
13) Ricoh SD Memory Card Reader Writer Driver (Card Reader) (09.11.08)
14) Synaptics Pointing Device Driver (Pointing Device) (09.12.08)
15) Sony HDD Protection Driver (Hard Drive) (09.12.08)
16) Memory Stick Icon and Settings (Memory Stick) (09.22.08)
Restart
17) VAIO Update Software (Vaio Update) (09.22.08)
Restart
18) Sony Notebook Utilities (Notebook Controls) (09.22.08)
Restart
19) Windows Update

One thing I did notice between the FW190 vs. FW290 installations, the Battery Care Function (BCF) will not install without the .NET Framework, and I wasn’t even aware I didn’t have it until I did an XP on FW290 install because I did each Sony Utility driver separately. So after you do Windows Update and install the .NET framework, look at the last step of the FW290 install below, and you want to use UniExtract to unzip the Sony Notebook Utilities .exe so you can install the Battery Care Function separately on the FW190.

Step 5 - Installing Drivers (FW290, for FW190 see above)
Installing on an FW290 is a bit more work, but there are no issues with the installation except your choice of video driver if you have the ATI 3650, which I will explain below in the video driver section. The FW190 and the FW290 are exactly the same in every way except the video card (ATI 3450 vs. ATI 3650), the screen resolution if you chose FullHD (1920x1080 vs. 1600x900), and the BD-Writer. So, all the FW190 drivers work great on the FW290, but they won’t install as easily.

I don’t know why Sony does this, but if you double click on an FW190 driver on the FW290, you get prompted that the driver doesn’t match your machine. Sony has a little system checker prior to allowing the install to run, and if your system doesn’t match, it cuts off the install. What you need to do is download all the FW190 drivers and manually unzip the files from the .EXE’s that Sony gives you on their site. This is easy, just takes a little more time.

1) Download and install UniExtract:
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract

2) I suggest you create matching folders, and unzip the FW190 drivers into a folder labeled FW290.
Image

3) Open UniExtract, in the top box labeled “Archieve/Installer to extract” click the “…” and navigate to the FW190 drivers on your hard drive, and double click the .EXE of the driver you are extracting. The “Destination directory” automatically fills itself with the same folder that the original driver is in, click on the “…” and change the destination to the folder you created for the FW290 drivers, and the folder corresponding to the driver you are currently extracting, then click “OK”. UniExtract will scan the driver, and then give you a “Wise Installer Extraction” Extract Method option, leave it on the default “E_Wise Unpacker” and click “OK” and UniExtract will extract the drivers.
Image
Image 2

4) Complete step three for all drivers downloaded from the Sony site listed at the top of this post. Some drivers take longer to extract than others.

5) Once all the extracting is complete, go into one of the folders and this is what you will see:

Image

Inside the “TEMPEXEFOLDER” is the actual driver, but don’t delete all the miscellaneous files you see right away. The file “INSTALL_INI” is very useful, if you open it with notepad, you’ll see a line labeled “EXE_Name” in the middle. This line tells you which file in the “TEMPEXEFOLDER” to double click on to install the driver. Usually it is just setup.exe, but sometimes it is something random.
Image

06) Once you have all your drivers ready, install them all in the same order as listed above for the FW190. When you get to the video driver, if you have an ATI 3650 card, you either have to use:
1) P108617.EXE which is the driver for the 3650, fully functional, but it’s only the driver, you will not have the ATI Control Center program. This is what I did on the 290 install I completed about a week ago and it worked great.
http://dellstudio.jeroenzelle.nl/ATI Display Driver/P108617.EXE
2) You can use the DriverHeaven ModTool. Basically you download the latest Radeon Catalyst drivers, and the ModTool extracts what is needed for the ATI 3650, which is listed on the supported chipsets page. I assume you would get the ATI control center with this method, but I have not tried it, so post if you have success with it.
http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php

Order of installation (FW290):
01) Intel Chipset Driver (Motherboard) (08.18.08)
Restart
02) Realtek High Definition Audio Driver (09.11.08)
Restart
03) Conexant Modem Driver (Modem) (08.18.08)
04) Broadcom Bluetooth Driver (Bluetooth Wireless) (08.18.08)
Restart
05) See Above in 6 of Step 5 or Intel Graphics Driver (Video) (09.10.08)
Restart
06) Intel Wireless LAN Driver (Wireless LAN) (08.20.08)
07) Sony Visual Communication Camera Driver (Camera) (09.11.08)
08) Marvell Ethernet Driver (Network) (09.11.08)
09) Infineon Trusted Platform Module Professional Package Version 2 (Security) (08.20.08)
10) Ricoh SD Memory Stick Media Driver (Memory Stick) (09.05.08)
11) Ricoh Memory Stick Media Driver (Memory Stick) (09.11.08)
12) Intel SATA Driver Registry Patch (Hard Drive) (09.11.08)
13) Ricoh SD Memory Card Reader Writer Driver (Card Reader) (09.11.08)
14) Synaptics Pointing Device Driver (Pointing Device) (09.12.08)
15) Sony HDD Protection Driver (Hard Drive) (09.12.08)
16) Memory Stick Icon and Settings (Memory Stick) (09.22.08)
Restart
17) VAIO Update Software (Vaio Update) (09.22.08)
Restart
18) Sony Notebook Utilities (Notebook Controls) (09.22.08)
When installing the Sonly Utilities for the FW290, after extraction with UniExtract, each Sony utility is in it’s own folder, I don’t remember why now, but I had a problem with the main .EXE, so if you have a problem as well, you can install them one at a time, they each have their own setup.exe in their folder, there is no specific order, I just installed from top to bottom. And remember, the Battery Care Function (BCF) will not install until the .NET framework is installed.
Image
Restart
19) Windows Update

There you have it, the long but worthwhile way to get Windows XP on your Sony Vaio FW190/290.

When complete the laptop should be fully functional except for the FN keys, the only working FN key will be your mute button. If someone comes up with a way to get the FN keys to function, I will gladly update this guide. If anyone has any suggestions that would make this guide better, please post.

Enjoy!

 

nice job

 

back up your vesconfig.ini from vista (sony event service directory)
copy it to the xp version (overwrite the installed one)

then restart the event service or the complete system..

u should have more working fn keys now (not only muting sound)

for brightness control look for my other posts =)
for av control buttons (left, right, play, stop etc.), install the sony av mode button tool

 

snowengineer, i did what you said. when i copy the vesconfig.ini the FN brightness controls show up, but don't allow me to actually change the brightness, it just shows me the brightness is on full. the lcd FN key now works, and the S1 button now works, the zoom FN key still doesn't, and the AV mode button still doesn't do anything, but hey, better than nothing.

my left, right, play, stop etc worked before, but they only work when watching a movie. i wish they worked with winamp.

 

Hi Essential,

I did well with your Guide. Thanks a bunch man. It was life saving. However I am missing few drivers...See if you can help.
AUDIO DEVICE ON HIGH DEFINITION AUDIO BUS
VIDEO CONTROLLER
VIDEO CONTROLLER ( VGA COMPATIBLE)
ALSO ON DISPLAY PROPERTIES I CAN ONLY GO UPTO 1024X768 WITH 16BIT OR 32 BIT COLOR. POSSIBLY I NEED AN UPDATE THERE TOO.

Please suggest................Thanks in advance

 

I'm considering following your guide and have begun taking apart each driver's exe, but I'm concerned with what you said about the BD-R writing capabilities. If the FW 190's didn't have that capability, and I follow these steps, will I lose the ability to burn data to bluray discs?

 

I just finished getting XP on my new FW290. I now have triple boot, Ubuntu x64, Vista x64 and XP.

Here's how I did it:

Starting with an XP SP3 install CD, I used Driverpacks.net to slipstream the 'text mode' SATA drivers into the XP boot CD. (They have the latest drivers all pre-packaged and ready for download from their site, no need to extract drivers from intel downloads)

Driverpacks also has the option of putting the latest OEM drivers for SATA controllers, Intel chipset, Intel or ATI graphics (incl Control Center), Realtek sound, Intel/Atheros wifi, and Marvell ethernet into your XP CD so that most things are working on the first boot. (Having the network connections up from first boot is great as it means you can get online straight away!)

Then I used RyanVM integrator to slipstream the latest windows updates (post SP3) into the XP CD and create a bootable CD.

Install XP.

Install Sony software:

• Drivers for Ricoh Card Reader
• Bluetooth Software
• Sony utilities (extract and install separately, some cause problems e.g. wireless control switch)

It is possible to install the FW190E drivers directly in the FW290 without extracting them, this is done by 'tricking' the model check, open in notepad the following file (this file will not exist until you have tried and failed to run a Sony installer at least once):

Code:

C:\windows\model.txt

On my FW290 this contains one line of text:

Code:

Model = "VGN-FW290E"

Keep this file open in notepad and change it to:

Code:

Model = "VGN-FW[B]1[/B]90E"

Then start the Sony installer, click on next, and you get the "License Agreement".
Now switch to notepad and save model.txt then immediately switch back to the installer and click on "I Agree" and it 'should' proceed.

Dual/Triple boot is quite easy to get working, I'll write that up when I have time!

 

Sorry I haven't checked this thread in a while. What are you system specs, what video card are you running? If you have an ATI, the driver I posted should have been fine, if you have Intel onboard use the Sony official and everything should be fine.

The audio device I can only think is the HDMI audio output. Sony posted an official driver which was in the link above, that should have installed. Since it didn't just go to "Windows Update" and it should be listed under the "Hardware" section after you scan for updates.

 

The drivers have nothing to do with the CD-R writing capabilites. The FW-290 actually comes with a different BD-R drive (superior drive) which is why the writing capability is different. Windows will autodetect the BD drive, and the firmware will be the same if you go to XP, so you won't notice a difference, your drive will still do everything (read/write BD/DVD/CD) as long as you have the software.

I was just commenting on how the 190 and the 290 are basically the same computer, so people don't have to worry about using the 190 drivers, they work fully, it's just the video driver that takes an extra step.

 

Hi Essential,

I did put in Intel Chipset Drivers from FW190 on my FW290 with XP to make everything work but my Blue ray DVD player will not work via InterVideo WINDVD for vaio with current/max display settings of 1600X900. I can only go upto this with 32 bit of Color.
You suggest any solution???????????????

 

Hi,

I followed your guide to installing XP on my new FW 390J. Everything was installed correctly, except that some of my function keys don't work (increase/decrease brightness and zoom in/out).

I don't care about zoom in/out. I just need to get the LCD brightness to change.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

I'm unable to install the chipset drivers on my FW290. When I use the uniextract method, I get an error saying that the setup is a "bad image", and when I use the model trick method, the installer begins, but never finishes. I installed a clean copy of XP sp2 onto the system. Also, unlike a previous poster, my model # was actually 190J, not E, would that make a difference as to whether or not I'm able to do this?

 

After weeks of searching for ways to make the fn keys work for brightness, I decided to drop it, and just use the ATI CCC to change the brightness and contrast. Hopefully, someone in the future will figure out a way to get the fn keys to work for brightness

 

Just install the one from Intel site. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...OSs=164&OSFullName=Windows Vista* 32&lang=eng

 

Which version of XP did you install on the FW-390J, 32bit or the 64bit version?

Please let me know