SR series - Alternative Control (on/off) for devices

I recently did a fresh install of my operating system, and I wanted to do away with all the sony software. But I wanted to still be able to turn off devices without going through the nuisance of going to device manager and disabling stuff.

So I created a GUI for Microsofts devcon.exe utility. It's pretty basic, and is hard coded to the devices in my SR130N, but should work on similar models that have the same devices inside.

If anyone is interested in using it, you can download devcon.exe from MS @ (woops, I can't post a link to it yet... need 15 posts. Google devcon.exe)

Attached is the GUI I created in visual C#. I'm by no means an expert, I actually learned as I went along in creating the GUI. I plan to add some more functionality to it, like loading the hardware ID's from an external config file, and not having them hard coded in so anyone can use it on any PC. As well as moving it to the systray... Soon as I get some time.

For the time being it lets you disable the DVD rom, Bluetooth, the camera, SD card, 1394 port, modem, LAN, WLAN, and the biometric finger reader. It puts all devices in D3 state, in which they shouldn't use any power - conserving battery life.

currently, devcon.exe need to be at c:\ for the GUI to find it.

If any visual c# experts want to make changes to it, let me know, and I'll give you the source.

 

Cool, I may try this. Is this the same thing as what the Vaio power Management software does, though it only disables a few items. I'm wondering if it will work side by side with the current Sony software. Is going into D3 state that same as disabling the device from Device Manager manually?

 

Yeah, D3 power state is what a device goes to when you disable it in device manager. which is what devcon does, but from a command line prompt.

The GUI just makes it more user friendly and easy to disable/enable the devices in our laptops.

attached is a image of what the GUI looks like. The buttons in green are the only 2 device i keep on in my laptop.

 

So basically i can get rid of that stupid sony smartwi utility that eats up a bunch of memory?

AWESOME

 

i know that u have an SR but is there a way to add WWAN to this so i can use it on my Z? I want to completely rid myself of the smartwi utility.

BTW i downloaded devcon from microsoft windows and used your GUI and tested out each button on my screen and it worked with no issues. If possible, if someone could add WWAN button to GUI that would be awesome!

 

i can add it for ya, if you go to control panel, go to the WWAN device, and click details, then choose 'hardware ids' from the property box and paste the values it gives you here.

ex;
USB\VID_044E&PID_3017&REV_0218
USB\VID_044E&PID_3017

(those are the bluetooth hardware ids)

 

so ive been reading here that people like disabling devices on their laptop to save power....does the dvd drive actually draw power even if its not in use?

 

I have no clue.

but sony's power management app disabled it, if you set it too.. but it would annoyingly repower and then power down every time you woke it up, or changed from AC to battery power, even though it was disabled in both profiles. And it would notify you with a tooltip on the systray icon every time.

 

I tried your app and coudn't get it to work. the x64 exe said it wasnt compatible, and the x86 exe crashed as soon as it started up. vista said it "stopped working". any ideas?

 

hmm, I'm not sure if devcon even works on 64 bit OS.

if you open a dos prompt, and go to the directory where devcon.exe is (c:\) and type devcon, does it display a list of options with the appropriate switches? if it crashes running devcon.exe, then I guess it's not compatible on 64 bit os.

if it does work, try a command like 'devcon status *USB*' (w/o 's) to list all the usb device on your computer. if that works, then I guess my GUI needs fixing for 64 bit os.

 

@s.prime

I just came across this thread board.iexbeta.com/index.php?showtopic=72587

it says the IA64 bit version on microsofts site if for intel Intels Itanium, and that a version that is compatibale with amd and core duo 64 bit cpus can be found in install cd of 64bit xp on the following path:

\SUPPORT\TOOLS\SUPPORT.CAB

I'll take a look and see if i got any iso of winxp 64 and if i can locate it for ya.


edit: I found a version of win xp 64 bit, and extracted devcon.exe from the cab file. it's attached. give this version a try

 

If I disable the DVD drive, I'm still able to eject it with the eject button, though. Does this mean it's not truly off?

 

I noticed that same thing. It differs from how sonys app disables the cd/dvd rom, but if you go to device manager, and look at the power state, it will say it's current power state is D3 - which supposedly means it doesn't use any power.

 

Hi

I just private messaged u the hardware id's for the wwan

thanks

 

ok that version works. I put it in c:/ and tested it with devcon status *usb* and it worked. Your gui however is not controlling the devices. I turned off a couple devices and checked them against device manager and thier power status didnt change, its still reading D0.
you think my hardware id's are different?

 

Strange...works on my Z without an issue

 

Give this a try. If it doesn't find a device upon startup, it will gray the button. So for me, WWLAN will be gray, but for you it shouldn't (hopefully).

 

It's possible they might be different. You can try the latest GUI in my previous post, and if it doesn't find the hardware ids below, the buttons will be gray and won't do anything.

Code:

        String sDVD_ID = "*MATSHITA_DVD-RAM_UJ862AS*";
        String sBT_ID = "USB\\VID_044E&PID_3017";
        String sEYE_ID = "USB\\VID_05CA&PID_183E&MI_00";
        String sSD_ID = "PCI\\VEN_1180&DEV_0822&CC_0805";
        String sFW_ID = "PCI\\VEN_1180&DEV_0832&CC_0C00";
        String sModem_ID = "HDAUDIO\\FUNC_02&VEN_14F1&DEV_2C06&SUBSYS_104D1700";
        String sLAN_ID = "PCI\\VEN_11AB&DEV_4354&CC_0200";
        String sWLAN_ID = "PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_4232&CC_0280";
        String sBIO_ID = "USB\\VID_147E&PID_1000";
        String sWWAN_ID = "USB\\VID_1410&PID_212&MI_00";

i just copy and pasted this from my c# code, so just ignore the strings and lables (and the extra \ in the hardware id), but see if your hardware id's are different by going into device manager, select a device, click properties, then details, and then selcect hardware ids in the property drop down.

 

ok, I just noticed while using while trying your latest version that the program only works if I choose to "run as administrator". -doh!
I retried with the original version and now that is working when run as administrator also!!

the only exception is my dvd drive which isnt working because it has a different hardware id:

Code:

IDE\CdRomOptiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________1.70____
IDE\Optiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________1.70____
IDE\CdRomOptiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________
Optiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________1.70____
GenCdRom

Also I noticed that if you keep your device manager open while toggling a device, it will refresh and show the device disabled. - pretty cool.

 

I'm working on making the program load button labels, and the appropriate hardware ids from a external text file. then everything can be customized to peoples specific hardware.

I started it, but i need to take a break, or i will be up all night, obsessed, until i get it to work lol

 

thanks man. keep up the good work.

 

Something weird is happening between the code between the two versions; as you have stated something custom to allow user to input their own unique hardware ids would be great.

For instance, if the first GUI you did everything is either a soft white to represent "off" or green to represent "on." All of the buttons worked for me.

Now this new GUI u did the following has changed; DVD, BT, EYE, LAN, and WWAN are all "grayed out" and i can't do anything with them. However if i let the Vaio power management toggle the DVD on/off for instance; then the GUI for DVD will light up "green" but the GUI won't allow me to do it.

Thanks again for the help on this; i'm no big programmer but i can read through C++ ok if you want me to take a look

 

Sorry, It doesn't do anything on my Z. I have 64 bit Vista Ultimate, extracted the AMD64 version of Devcon into my windows folder and c:/ root, but devcon_gui doesn't 'switch' the devices, only it's own lights. Devcon also tells me that enabling or disabling devices fails when I try so from an elevated command line... Am I the only one having this problem?

 

Releasing the code would be good then someone like me might be able to put together a tray application that sits down near the clock the config should be able to sit in the app.config file, but i guess what you want to do is create a simple XML config file that stores the button label, hardware id, and default state, you should be able to create a dynaic control collection on your form to display the buttons, have a right click menu from the task app would be the nicest option

what apps does this replace exactly? just one or multiple?

 

I have Z, so this won't probably work 100% for me, but anyway - alternative control for Sony devices is just great great!

Hope we can develop universal config for different models

 

I like the Sony GUI for the BT, WWAN, WLAN, Modem switching and LAN indicator. Can't we revese engineer that program in any way so we can keep the lan indicator, and mod the program into having a cdrom switching capability? Also, maybe someone who stil HAS the capability of switching the cdrom drive through vaio power management can tell us if the warning of 'cd/dvd drive power is switched off' balloon has it's own process, or that it is a module of Vaio Power Management...

 

I'll post the code later tonight when I get home from work. I'll zip up the whole project for ya, just don't make too much fun of my coding, as I'm learning as I go

 

Sony's application does everything via ACPI (I'm pretty sure). There are people out there that can reverse engineer it, and write their own applications. It was done for the Asus EEE when if first came out... but I haven't the slightest clue how to.

 

here's the source if anyone wants to play around. You can also download visual C# 2008 express free from microsoft - for anyone that doesn't have it.

I had just started to play around with making it load an external config file, so there is the beginning of that function in the source, but it's not finished or being called.

 

any updates on this?

 

I don't see any, do you?

 

nice idea!

Luxferro, could you implement an ini file for ids? So we can change it according to our machines without any code intrusion. It didn't work on SZ at all.

 

He did. (Partially). Please read his post on page 3:

I have some spare time, so I'll try to find some information about the switching through ACPI. Probably most of it is in the Sony Network Tool folder, in the .dll's. If we can call them in some way...

 

Strange - on my Vaio Z the program immediately gives me a "program stopped working" message.

Description:
Stopped working

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: devcon_gui.exe
Problem Signature 02: 1.0.0.0
Problem Signature 03: 493f5153
Problem Signature 04: System
Problem Signature 05: 2.0.0.0
Problem Signature 06: 47577deb
Problem Signature 07: 39ed
Problem Signature 08: 394
Problem Signature 09: System.ComponentModel.Win32
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.6
Locale ID: 1033

Any ideas? The program file was unzipped to the C:\ drive directly and doesn't work when being run as admin either.

 

are you running a 64bit OS? if so you need this version.

 

No just regular old 32-bit Vista Business.

 

Hi I know it is little off topic here, but under the assumption that you did a clean or semi clean install OS. Did you able to get the Hotkey(FN+F3) to work? My hotkey is not working after semi clean.

 

for the full row of fn keys working under ms-vista:
1. sony shared library (SOASSL-A1298203-US)
2. sony dynamic library (SOASNU-1298604-US)
3. event service for basic fn (SOAVES-01302701-US)
4. smartwi for fn-F1 (SOAOTH-00000002-US)
5. notebook control device driver for s-keys (SOAOTH-00445800-US)
(6.) optional a smartwi update is suggested to reduce CPU utilization (powermanager.exe - search in the forum)

 

Thanks Luxferro for the great idea, I took the opportunity you gave us to slightly modify the design to suit my taste and changed hardware IDs to match my TT. TT post here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=344005&page=97 thanks again

 

Great application, thanks for developing it and sharing it!

It works great on my SR290 w/Vista x64!

 

Phil, any chance you could modify one to work with my laptop? the only item that doesn't work is the dvd drive. my hardware id looks like this:

Code:

IDE\CdRomOptiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________1.70____
IDE\Optiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________1.70____
IDE\CdRomOptiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________
Optiarc_DVD_RW_AD-7910S_________________1.70____
GenCdRom

 

Hopefully both work

Luxferro original design is here http://philch.free.fr/files/DevconSRoriginal.zip

My design http://philch.free.fr/files/DevconSR.zip

Let me know if anything does not work

 

omg they both work great and I like your design. thanks so much!!

 

Great, have fun

 

Phil, could you modify Devcon to work with VAIO G,
from TZ work: DVD, MS, SD, LAN, Modem.
from TX work: DVD, Modem, WLAN, Biometric.
VAIO G don't have: 1394, WWAN

VAIO G:
Biometric
USB\Vid_0483Pid_2016Rev_0001
USB\Vid_0483Pid_2016
Bluetooth
Bluetooth\tosrfbd
Bluetooth\00040006
Bluetooth\00040004
USB\Vid_044ePid_300dRev_1915
USB\Vid_044ePid_300d
root\Bluetooth_com
Bluetooth\00040007
DVD
USBSTOR\CdRomMATADVD-RAM_UJ-852S_1.71
USBSTOR\CdRomMATADVD-RAM_UJ-852S_
USBSTOR\CdRomMATA
USBSTOR\MATADVD-RAM_UJ-852S_1
MATADVD-RAM_UJ-852S_1
USBSTOR\GenCdRom
GenCdRom
MS
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0592SUBSYS_8208104DREV_11
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0592SUBSYS_8208104D
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0592CC_088000
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0592CC_0880
SD
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0843SUBSYS_8208104DREV_11
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0843SUBSYS_8208104D
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0843CC_088000
PCI\VEN_1180DEV_0843CC_0880
Modem
HDAUDIO\FUNC_02VEN_14F1DEV_2C06SUBSYS_104D1700REV_1000
HDAUDIO\FUNC_02VEN_14F1DEV_2C06SUBSYS_104D1700
MDMGEN336
LAN
PCI\VEN_11ABDEV_4363SUBSYS_8208104DREV_12
PCI\VEN_11ABDEV_4363SUBSYS_8208104D
PCI\VEN_11ABDEV_4363CC_020000
PCI\VEN_11ABDEV_4363CC_0200
WLAN
PCI\VEN_8086DEV_4222SUBSYS_10508086REV_02
PCI\VEN_8086DEV_4222SUBSYS_10508086
PCI\VEN_8086DEV_4222CC_028000
PCI\VEN_8086DEV_4222CC_0280

 

Rather old thread, but I figured out why this error occurs:

devcon GUI expects to find devcon.exe in the default path, so if it cannot find it in C:\ or c:\windows\ (or one of the other default paths), this error pops up.

I previously extracted everything to it's own directory. One fix for devcon GUI would be to try looking for devcon.exe in it's own current folder, and to trap this error (and respond with something somewhat more descriptive!)

 

Was this ever finished? I thought someone finished a version of it that would look at an external txt based file to get the hardware ids from.
I thought I had downloaded this version for use with my Vaio Fw-180d
But I can not find it.......I had forgotten to back it up.

Thanks for your time
Michael