VGN SZ and Windows 7

Hi! After successfully upgrading bios to enable VT, I'm noticing some issues with Win7 and my vgn sz280p. The s1/s2 buttons do not work, the video card switch does not say anything when switched (in vista and xp i get a notice to reboot in order to switch graphics cards), and the FN-F1 to F7 keys do not work properly. FN-F1 does not work, F2-F4 (audio controls) work although nothing shows in the screen and no beep, F5-F7 (contrast and LCD/projector) do not work. FN-F10 and F12 also do not work, even FN-Break (delete).

Anyone here using vgn sz and windows7? How did you resolve the buttons issue? I tried installing the vista drivers but they wouldn't work (most of them).

Also, what upgrades have you guys done to a vgn sz laptop? RAM, CPU? I believe I can upgrade RAM from 2GB to 4GB but not sure if the bios will take it. And I'm not sure if I can switch from core duo to core 2 duo.

Other than these few issues, I believe this vgn sz laptop performs good with windos 7. This 3yr old laptop of mine outperforms my other cheaper laptops that I bought a couple months back.

Thanks

 

follow this link and reinstall
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=428140
all my fn keys and power management and s1/s2 keys everything works...

 

That thread is for a VGN-SZ780, OP is askign about an VGN-SZ280P. They are computers from different eras. the 280 was originally a WinXP machine, with may have later had an available upgrade to (32 bit?) Vista. The 780 appears to have been natively Vista, and also probably uses a more modern chipset.

My assumption it is easier to get drivers for Win7, for the newer hardware that had native Vista support.

OP, I am running Win7, and I haphazardly applied a bunch of Sony driver and software updates. Some of my stuff works, some of it doesn't, and I didn't document the process. I think my next strategy is to install Vista and do an in-place upgrade to Win7. Normally I avoid anything but clean installs, but I'm thinking if I can get all of the functionality working in Vista, Win7 might just copy over the driver settings... (I have a vgn-sz250p, but I swapped the processor and have kind of a hybrid vgn-sz340p.)

 

The SZ series follows a logical line, only a few minor changes were made along the way.

 

This is a very superficial analysis.

 

Not really, many of the drivers and software are the same.

For the most part there was only 2 base equipment sets on the entire SZ line. The other changes were either cpu or camera (which changes a few times). The rest as minor accessory changes.

Even Nvidia graphics cards were only a generation apart, and use a very similar driver.

When trying to get Win7 64bit running, I scoured much of the SZ lineup because some drivers locked it up, some were locked to a specific model, others were not. One of the older Nvidia drivers I used was from a Sony Z, the mouse driver was from an SZ230 (I think), the Battery checker software was from an SZ4. The flash driver was from a Fujitsu, as was some of the camera drivers I experimented with. At one point I was even using a Toshiba driver for something.

Computer hardware doesn't change radically without a makeover.

Just because Sony bundles these drivers for each model differently doesn't mean the drivers are actually different. They have used the same flash driver for years, the same touchpad driver for years, the battery checker system has only been released in 4 (?) versions. The IO driver is actually pretty much the same as it has been for many years.

I spent hours and tens of installs getting mine to where I was happy with it. Just because it's newer did not make much difference really.If you are really determined, find the hardware ID's and look them up, you will be surprised at how many things share similar hardware.