Sony VAIO SZ330P/B vs Bitlocker

Hi Everyone,

I bought a VAIO SZ330P/B at Christmas time in order to have a machine made for Vista...didn't get my Express Upgrade to Business until April...did the Anytime Upgrade to Ultimate so that I could use BitLocker.

I've been struggling for a couple of weeks now trying to get BitLocker in Vista Ultimate to work with no joy.

Does anyone know if this works...or is there some TPM / BIOS problem that Sony hasn't copped to that will prevent using BitLocker?

I have the most current Sony BIOS and as far as I know all of the most current Sony support files for VGN330P/B.

The Drive Preparation Tool works as it should but when you go to enable encryption the precheck fails on restart with the message

"BitLocker could not be enabled.

The Trusted Platform Module (TMP) was not able to unlock the volume because the system boot information changed.

No encryption was applied, any changes made to C: during BitLocker setup will be removed."​

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I just had the MOST UNSATISFYING call with Sony's level 2 support asking for help on this and got stonewalled because they do not support Ulimate or Enterprise (the two Vista editions with BitLocker). The Level 2 rep (Jessica) refused to answer my question on this machine and compatability with BitLocker. She said it's a Microsoft issue. I insisted on help and or more information and the result is that a customer service rep will "call me back within 72 hours on the matter".
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Any help would be appreciated!

Dwight

 

I found an article C450091 at the Sony support site...by looking up my model number VGN-SZ330P/B and it turns out that Sony says they DO support BitLocker on machines with TPM 1.2...

Then, I called back Sony mentioning the Knowledge Article and all of a sudden they say their Engineering group WILL support me...go figure!


Knowledge Article C450091


How to enable Windows® BitLocker™ encryption on computers with the Trusted Platform Module ver. 1.2.


Windows® BitLocker® encryption is supported on computers with the Trusted Platform Module ver. 1.2 after following the procedure below.

Restart the computer.
At the initial SONY screen, on the keyboard, press the F2 key.
In the Phoenix Trusted™ Setup Utility window, press the RIGHT ARROW until the Advanced menu is selected.
Press the DOWN ARROW until External Drive Boot is selected.
Press the Enter key and then press the DOWN ARROW to select Enabled.
Press the Enter key.
Press the RIGHT ARROW until the Security menu is selected.
Press the DOWN ARROW, until Trusted Platform Support is selected.
Press the Enter key and then press the DOWN ARROW to select Enabled.
Press the Enter key.
Press the RIGHT ARROW until the Boot menu is selected.
Set the Boot priority order as follows:
Internal Optical Drive
Floppy Disk Drive
Internal Hard Disk
USB Flash
NOTES:

Use the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW to select a boot device and the (+) and (-) keys to move the boot device up or down the list.
The order of the remaining boot devices can be set to user preference.
If any of the boot devices listed above are not in the boot order list, disregard that device.

Press the F10 key.
In the Setup Confirmation window, with Yes highlighted, press the Enter key.
The computer will restart automatically.

 

NO SUPPORT FROM SONY ON BITLOCKER Per "Ryan the support manager Agent ID E523"...

After much conversation the bottom line from Sony was that their knowledge base article was made available to end users as "a convenience" and does not alter the fact that Sony in no way supports functionality they do not sell...specifically they do not support features not in Vista Business or Vista Home Premium...hence no BitLocker support.

I pointed out that my purchase of the unit was based upon the unit having the "Windows Vista Premium Ready" sticker on it and that Microsoft says that pcs having the "Windows Vista Premium Ready" sticker on them means:

A Premium Ready desktop or laptop can run all five editions of Windows Vista, including all the advanced features.​

Well, the guy shut me down hard, saying that if I wanted to be sent to Legal he would do so and my computer would no longer be a support issue it would be a legal issue, implying support would no longer talk to me if I made a stink about the logo and compatability with BitLocker.

My choices were either that or send the unit in and they would examine it for proper operation with supported operating systems. If the TPM chip or mother board failed Sony Diagnostics they would replace them.



ANY IDEAS HERE? I'm feeling pretty bummed out by buying Sony at this point.

Thanks,

Dwight

 

Hey DwightAH,
I have the SZ-340P but I have yet to try out the Bitlocker stuff... but on the esupport website the newest BIOS says nothing about support for Bitlocker.


HOWEVER

On the SZ-440's newest bios DOES support bitlocker, check it out:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNSZ440N&upd_id=2717&os_id=29

Im wondering if they changed something hardwarewise or if it's all software. I thought the difference between SZ-3xx and SZ-4xx was just XP Pro vx. Vista Business. I guess I was wrong..