Sony Vaio Fn key problem

My FN keys aren't working under winXP, got a FZ21E. I've downgraded from Vista to XP using almost every drivers here -> ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/FZ19/DRIVERS but still, no software to Fn Keys to work, any suggestion is welcome.

 

Me too on FZ21M.The only problems is S1 AV MODE and FN.Any ideas?

 

There is no know solution to that. Both the FN keys and the AV mode rely on programs and not drivers. So far Sony has ONLY released the drivers. You are also missing power managment, which also relies on a program and not a driver.

Gary

 

You sure it's not the VAIO Event Service?

 

I am sure it IS the Vaio Event Service. But it is an app and not a driver and so far has not been released by Sony for XP. The only thing in the release thus far have been the XP drivers.

Gary

 

WEll, I haven't contacted Sony yet, cause my serial is not recoginzed on e-support!!

Anyways, finally I found the 8400 M GT driver for win XP for my FZ21E! Here http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15175

Missing:

- Fn keys
- Lock touchpad ?
- Sound issue, sound plays, but if i connect headphones still sends sound through laptop, doesn't isolate only to the headphones

Any suggestions to solve the above?

 

I believe the sound issue has been resolved by using a different driver. Search on this forum and the Windows forum for details.

Not sure what "lock touchpad" means.

As for the FN keys and power management issues, there is no way to solve them until Sony releases the corresponding apps.

Gary

 

I wanted to lock the touchpad while typing under windows XP, there's software in Vista named touching device or something to disable the touchpad, I need something like that for Xp. :\

 

The ALPS drivers for Vista and on XP on my old Sony both had an icon in the notification area (system tray under XP). This has an option to automatically disable the touchpad while typing. Is that what you are talking about?

Gary

 

Where did you purchased the computer! Because it's missing some component's like Sony® Shared Library and Sony® Notebook Utilities that why it's not working Im going to look for it and if I can find one I'll post It here.

 

Did you read the first message in this thread? He bought a machine with Vista on it and subsequently installed XP. Look all you want, but so far Sony has not released the Notebook utilities for an FZ series machine running under XP.

Gary

 

Yes, Control Panel (under Vista) has a Touchpad or Pointing device option, which you can enable/disable the touchpad manually as well, I'd like to have that under win XP for this FZ21, any suggestion?

Thanks for your feedback btw.

 

Are you saying you want to disdable the touchpad entirely, or do you want to select the option show in the attachment?

Gary

P.S. Just looked at Vista's control panel and there is no "Touchpad or Pointing device option". There is a Mouse option that brings up the control for the touchpad. But I don't see anything for "enable/disable the touchpad manually". All I see is what I showed in the attachment.

 

Disable it entirely. There's another option in Vista, under de vaio contro lcenter, that was i talking about as seen in the attachment, i wanted something like this for win xp

 

It doesn't exist. At least not at this juncture. None of the auxiliary applications for FZ series machines under XP have been released. This would be one of those apps. You COULD accomplish the same thing through the device manager. But with the option in the control panel applet to turn off the touchpad as you type, I am not sure why you'd need or want to turn it completely off.

Gary

 

The device manager (under win xp) doesn't provide the disable option for the poiting device, only an uninstll of the device.

I don't have that option on my mouse proporties under win xp.

 

Not sure WHAT I was thinking about with the device manager.

But do you not have a "tapping" tab on the mouse properties? My old Sony which was under XP has it. What driver are you using for the Alps touchpad under XP at this point? Was there a XP driver released by Sony for the touchpad?

Gary

 

I didn't have it... now I do, updated the driver using the XP drivers provided for fz 19, and it works. Although it's not off entirely, hope it will do the trick while I type

So now, I guess will have to wait for support from Sony to this notebook downgrade for the Fn keys, and Audio driver.

The audio driver I'm using from SigmaTel is 5.10.5511.0, for win XP. The sound works, still when I connect headphones, still doesn't isolate the sound only to headphones, but laptop and headphones. This is a driver issue yes? Or is it possible to isolate the sound using any software?

 

Great, that option should work fine for you. It prevents the cursor from jumping around if you accidentaly brush the touchpad while typing. (You might need to adjust the delay factor.)

RE: Audio, isn't there an audio driver in the FZ - XP driver set Sony recently released? It should fix the headphone issue I believe. I do know that issue was resolved by one of the folks messing with a Vaio XP downgrade. Not sure if it was an FZ owner or another series. But if you use the search box at the top of the screen (do NOT use either of the two drop down search boxes) and search for VAIO XP HEADPHONE or FZ XP HEADPHONE or even just XP HEADPHONE, you should find the thread I am talking about.

Don't hold your breath on the function keys, or power management.

Gary

 

By function keys do you mean the keys you access by holding down the FN key such as brightness etc... or the extra keys located above the keyboard (on the FZ18 that's volumes, play, stop, fwd,rwd etc...)?

Do any of those work?

I spoke to Sony who suggested the XP utils packages for the FZ predecessor the FE may work. they suggested using the latest one before they went to vista which I think is the FE39. Has anybody tried this?

Finally i cannot get my audio working with either the FZ19 or FZ20 driver packages that are available. When i try it simply tells me the hardware is not there.

I have currently gone back to Vista, but am thinking of trying XP again. But I need the brightness keys and more importantly the volume keys for the work i do.

Anyway if anyone has any thoughts about the FE drivers and utils would be great hear them!

 

The function keys being the ones above the numeric keys, but the app that controls them MAY also control the volume control as well.

Re: the audio. I don't remember which model you have, but there are folks here who have gotten XP audio to work on an FZ190 at least. Again use the search box and specifically look for FZ XP HEADPHONES.

Gary

 

i got audio working by installing hotfix KB888111.exe then looking n device manager under system devices for 'pci device' selecting install driver and pointing it at the FZ19 xp driver... this triggered of the event sequence that let me run teh sigmatel installer.

I have installed the FE39 utils and this has given me power management and some function keys work but not all. maybe there is a way of mapping keys. I have volume & mute keys but not brightness...

 

Hi, I have the same problem and I have been on Sony chat support, telephone support, and email support over the past few weeks. I believe it is a matter of drivers and I know they can fix the problem but we have to get everyone to start bugging them and not let up. It is not one of the problems they posted as a potential problem when downgrading to XP. I consider it an up grade!! And trust me I have reformatted mine 4 times and downloaded the drivers in the exact order they recommend and it does not fix the problem In fact there is no power management for the LCD at all in XP.

 

It has nothing to do with "drivers". The function keys and the power mangement are not controlled by drivers. They are controlled by applications. For whatever reason, Sony has not released those applications. The Sony Utilities DLL, Sony Event Service and the Power Management are all part of a single installer for Vista. (They also were packaged together for my old Sony which came with XP installed.) It is this application installer that you need for XP for your SPECIFIC Vaio model.

Gary

 

I have tried my shot at trying xp downgrade... Utilities package from the sony-asia website http://www.sony-asia.com/subtype/usefulinfo/asset/216869?site=hp_en_AP_i
helps some of the fn keys work. brightness and s1 avmode keys dont seem to work.

 

There are no solutions to these issues at this point. Sony has only released the drivers and none of the auxillary applications needed for this or power management. If you need those you'll need to reinstall Vista. It really is that simple, unless Sony releases the additional items needed.

Gary

 

i dont really understand why the utilities work like the drivers. i mean the whole line of of fz2**** models are practically same with little changes in them, software shoulde be ok with that too...

 

The software IS like that to. The problem is there are NO FZ models that come with XP loaded, therefore the utilities do not exist. Not sure why Sony has provided XP drivers and none of the auxillary applications (DLL's).


Gary

 

the applications from the sony-asia site are real applications designed for xp, all of them has vaio branding during installation and named like "camera capture utility for windows xp". but still they got problems.

 

Two questions:

What "problems"? And do you find applications for Power Management and the Function Keys? (The function key stuff is in Sony Utilities DLL sometimes called Sony Notebook Utilities.)

Gary

 

Hi folks. Just got FZ240E. Still can't brightness control to work under xp. I also tried to work on my headphones issue but both the pin.reg trick and drivers update didn't work for me. Any new ideas except the ones that's been floating around for past months?
cheers
pawel

 

headphones problem fixed. I re-read the pin.reg solution and eventualy fixed mine up. For brightness control I'm getting an icon on the screen (-BRIGHTNESS+), but can't get it to work at all.

 

the power management application is there as well, it just doesnt work thats the problem... and only some of the fn keys work. like scroll lock, the display, sleep.

what i meant was, they should run without problems just like the drivers, since hardware is same. but they dont, and i dont understand why. i thought maybe we are screwing something up while installing, i dont know. maybe install order is important.

 

and on fz290 there was no headphones problem, they are working properly.

actually the brightness key is struggling to work, they are not completely unresponsive, they brigntess thing appears when you use the keys but you can only move one ticks, and that doesnt change the brightness.

 

Send me a link, I'll look. I don't run XP, nor do I plan to, but I can tell you from past experience with two other Sony laptops under XP that yes the sequence is VERY important. Your report that the power management app and function key app being available for an FZ machine under xp is the FIRST that anyone has reported here as far as I know. So send me the link where you found them and I'll see what I can figure out for you.

Gary

 

Actually i found the link around here... and then looked a bit around on the website... the sony-asia website both has xp-drivers and xp-applications as two separate archives... other utilities work, like camera capture, or wireless control,

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/228191

 

I clicked the "proceed" button and then the "Agree" button. Right away I noticed this on that page:

So we are barking up the wrong tree if we ever expect the Brightness keys to work with these utilities.

Now having said that I reviewed the list of "applications" and the sequence they are listed in is EXACTLY the sequence they had to be installed on my previous Sony XP machines. So if you did them in some other order, uninstall them in the reverse order in which you DID install them and reinstall them in the right order.

But even if you do that the brightness keys WILL NOT WORK. Sony explicitly tells you that right at the top of the page after you click the "Agree" button.

Gary

 

wow thats bad... i mean it seemed i overlooked and moved to installation instructions assuming that they would not probably provide those programs with those functions missing... bummer.

anyway. so you say vista is the way to go i am gonna try that too i guess, was thinking of installing vista on another partition anyway.

 

so further research shows that, on the same site the vgn-fz1 xp applications also have the same problems, guess they are not doing any work on fixing those missing things.

 

my zoom and my S1 and AV and dvd player controls (the round thing) work. The only thing that hasn't been working yet is my brightness control. I've been using that asian website u guys were talking about and installed in the same order they posted there (pdf doc).
cheers
Pawel

ps. Just one more step away from not thinking about installing FN Vista at all.

 

What about power mangement???

Gary

 

I think it's been working for me. I was able to play around with it. I chose settings called "VAIO optimized". Is this what you mean? Forgive me I'm ESL.
Pawel

 

Do these settings make anything change when you switch from battery to AC or AC to battery? Brightness changes, CPU speed changes, etc???

Gary

 

Not sure about that, I'll check and let you know.
Pawel

 

nothing happends. Same brightness, cpu speed too.
Pawel

 

I was afraid of that. So, the issue remains... there are no function keys or power management for XP.

Gary

 

Yepp,
No F5 and F6 or power management.
Pawel

 

I tried the same. my DVD controls don't work but the volume section does. I can't get the S1 and the AV keys to function either.

 

switched back to vista :/. Watching movies under xp was a pain. That back light was too bright. All the dark colors would turn out silverish. I hope they will release comprehensive xp package for 240e soon.
cheers big ears

 

well now it seems that with sp1 for vista things are much better and less use for xp, anyway for me. So I keep the xp just incase but nowdays I am always in vista