SZ600 and TZ100 Series US Downgrade Disks Available

I can put up a iso of both cds if u want them, I can do it tonight.. pm me for link

 

Hi, I have a sz660 and I'm getting these XP downgrade disks on Fri... can anyone confirm that everthing runs OK after the instalation (camera, function buttons, brightness controll, etc.)? also, is any blotware installed (AOL, Norton, Office trial, etc.).
thanks much..

 

Sorry, I didn't realize they changed it. I have R0101S5 BIOS; is it okay to upload it on rapidshare?

 

Hello,

I have used the disc on my SZ650 and can report some interesting things.

1) Yes it does seem to install all the bloatware i.e. AOL,Norton,Office trials ect. dissapointing.

2) Everything does function properly with no device errors or other glitches.

3) I'm not an expert but it somehow deletes the recovery partition as I checked via disk management and it's gone.

I had already done a clean install with my own copy of XP and Sony drivers,bios update and everything works great.I decided to go back to my clean install and noticed when selecting the partition that the Downgrade OS was listed as Windows XP Home.This tells me that Sony probably took some recovery disc from another model and patched them up.

Though everything works and the downgrade is easily done,you end up with an XP Pro OS thats bogged down like Vista.

 

Thats why i want to do the dual boot, but im still trying to figure it out. I installed the xp cd's and it installed all the crap with it. Thank God i made the Vista recovery CDs, because i would've been screwed if i didnt.

 

I guess I'm not sure what the few posts above me are referring too, or maybe it's just been too long since I've used a clean install of XP like on my desktop.

I've gained about 15GB of HD space and currently have 39 processes running in XP. That's compared to the low 50's had I running on Vista. My system is snappier and my games feel more fluid when I play them with XP.

I guess I just don't see this as being a bogged down copy of XP really.

 

Ryan I agree 100% that the downgrade XP is much faster than Vista and worth doing if one doesn't want to set up a clean install.I personally didn't want to go through trying to uninstall bloatware.Did you do some uninstalling ? Check your disk via Disk Management and see if the Recovery Partition is gone,thats probably where you gained most of your HD space.

 

I did do a bit of uninstalling, but I must admit that it was far far less than I had to do with my computer brand new under Vista.

Also my recovery partition IS gone. Not much of a worry though. I've been playing with computers for over 10 years (3 desktops and 2 laptops) now and I've yet to completely destroy one to the point of having to go through a complete recovery. *knock on wood*

 

Sorry if this was answered before, but how does the licensing work for the downgrade? Do you phone in your Vista key?

 

Did it today. Everything works great. My laptop works way better than it did in Vista. And no, you don't have to phone to get the key. It's built in the disk.
Thanks, guys, for your posts that helped me get rid of the horrible Vista. I got so many problems with it that I thought of returning the notebook.

 

unid3ntifi3d: Rapidshare will be perfect

 

After I did the downgrade with P1's disks I still have one problem remaining: my microphone will not work when using Skype.

Since I've lost track of all the links that are available to download drivers for all the models, I wanted to know if Sony's TZ drivers listed here are the ones to use for a TZ198:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/TZ1-TZ2/DRIVERS

Thanks for any help.

 

Here you go:
http://rapidshare.com/files/76949783/1__BIOS_Update.rar.html

R0101S5

 

The code beginning with O still doesnt work...

 

Sorry guys havent got around to ripping the Restore Discs

Doing it now.. I guess I will put them on my server

 

Thanks!

I wait for the link....

 

tehsu, your rip will work for the sony tz ?. Thanks.

 

does anyone have the most recent promo code for the downgrade disks?

EDIT:

never mind...the code is S44Y9...found here as posted by a previous member:

http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/page.do?page=/Support/vaio_support.html&name=VAIO Support

 

I tried to the downgrade with P1's disks however, when I put my cd-key, it was not working (showing invalid key). I bought my TZ from dynamism with vista home premium. I actually put my new xp cd-key (which I bought from newegg) but it was not working. How can I do? Do I need to buy another copy of OS (vista business)?

 

I wasn't aware you need a separate XP key to downgrade? I don't think this is true. Anyone that downgraded care to explain the process?

 

I am not sure. I will order new vista-business OS from amazon and try it again because it is my only option. I think my tz had vista home premium and its cd-key did not working with downgrading xp system.

 

You don't need a key to order/use the downgrade disks.

 

my microphone also doesn't work after using the downgrade discs from sony... anyone have a solution for this? using an external mic works fine (via plugging into mic jack)

edit: never mind... figured it out. have to choose "front mic" for audio input

 

Hi there,

Are there any updated promo codes?

Thanks!

 

The latest code is C79T2 - But this chages pretty frequently, and can easily be found on the original link I posted:

www.sony.com/business/drivers

 

awesome! Thanks!

 

so i guess the real question now is, will they offer these for the tz200 series?

 

Actually from what I know, the TZ200's will have the XP downgrade disk in the box this time around to make things easier. I believe some of the SZ700 series models may as well. I'll have to double check on those.

 

confirmed. sz700 and tz200 will have xp downgrade cd in the box.

 

Yep, that should be right. My SZ791N came with a sealed standard CD case with the XP Downgrade disc.

 

The latest code is C79T2 but the website did not accept it. Maybe the code site was not updated for the weekend.

 

Pic of XP downgrade disc included in SZ700 series retail box.

 

The current code is F52B2

 

Great! Thanks! Have just ordered mine!

 

nevermind the code is A15B4

 

I filled out everything and got this error:

I'm confused as to why it's not working.

EDIT: Nevermind. Was using Firefox and it didn't work. Switched to IE and it got the order in. BTW, the current promo code is M475D.

 

Is anyone gonna post the ISO online?

 

missed the code by a couple of days, and now doesn't work...

 

They change the code weekly. You can always find the most recent code on this page:

http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/lpage.do?page=/Support/vaio_support.html&name=VAIO Support

For this week it's Q93R7

 

I live in Canada and can also confirm that they DO ship to Canada. I just received my disks yesterday.

One problem I had is that the finger swipe logon doesn't seem to work after I downgraded to XP. Did anyone have any luck on getting this to work? If so, care to share?

Thanks.

 

Q93R7 is gone. Waiting for next week.

 

download the drivers from esupport.sony.com it works for me.

 

The thing I'm having troubles with is it keeps saying I have missing information, but I filled in nearly everything but middle name, company, and address 2.

 

hey guys , recently bought a SZ750 and it does have a XP downgrade CD and i'm planning on using it but my main concern is that downgarding to XP delets the hidden recovery partition , so my question is :

can i use VISTA recovery dvd that i burned even after the recovery partition's gone ?does anyone used vista recovery dvd successfully after XP downgarde?

Thank You in Advance . . .