VGN-SZ and Windows 7, looking for advice

Hello,

Just installed windows 7 on my vgn-sz650. I have ran into a couple road blocks.

1) I keep getting an error window that says "The installed battery may not be properly connected... ...Click "OK" to enter hibernatemode". I don't get this error with vista. I get the error with the AC plugged in or running off the battery.

2) Can't get the FN keys to work.

Anyone have experience with installing windows 7 on a SZ series?

Many Thanks,

esoin

 

This thread might be helpful to you.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=336895

 

Thanks rachuk. That's definitely helpful.

 

were u able to solve the battery check utility issue?

 

I haven't tried fixing it yet. But here is what I think happen.

I installed windows 7. I never got the battery error till i began installing vista drivers from the sony.com.

My guess is one of the system drivers I installed caused the battery error. I'm going to re-install windows 7 and pay close attention to which driver might be causing the error.

Before installing the sony vista drivers, the default windows 7 drivers were behaving pretty good, perhaps I can live without some sony vista drivers, for now. It would be nice to get the FN keys working. Hopefully the thread posted above can show me how to get it working.

 

the sony battery check utility is bundled with sony notebook utilities so if you install all the utilties from the sony utilties you will have this issue

 

Jim, thanks for letting me know. I won't install the sony notebook utils when i reinstall win7.

fyi, Windows 7 found the drivers for sound, wifi, and ethernet automatically.

thanks again and have a great weekend


--Update
I went into "Uninstall Programs" and uninstalled a few things:

1) Setting Utilities - still got battery error
2) Power Management - still got battery error
3) Sony Utilities DLL - no battery error

 

If it helps; i simply un-checked the ISB battery program from starting at start up and that fixed it.

 

I did as you suggested and disabled ISB battery program. Works like a charm!

Out of curiosity, have you had any luck with the FN keys? Which sony vista driver provides that functionality?

---Update
Nevermind, that info is detailed in the above link/thread.

 

Just curious if you're using the 64-bit or 32-bit of Windows 7? I'm using the 64-bit and can't install the firmware parser driver because the only 64-bit one I could find says this update is not for your computer model.

 

i'm using 32bit...sony doesn't natively support 64bit but if you do some searching someone posted a link with vaio 64bit drivers

 

When installing the Sony software for SZ VAIOs after instailling the Windows 7 Beta, be sure to install the Sony Notebook Control Device Driver - this will enable the FN keys and S1 and S2 keys, as well as Wireless Switching!

 

hey guys quick question! i've installed win7 on my desktop and i'm eager to install it on mys SZ as well through upgrading vista sp1. is it possible to uninstall win 7 from "programs and features" like when you install a new service pack?
or the only way to get rid of win 7 would be through formating?

also how is the option of makeng a new partition and installing win 7 there and see how it works without risking my laptop? has anyone tried?
(SZ is my main computer so its very important for me)

 

I partitioned my large D drive on my SZ using the Vista Disk Management tool to create a 35Gb E drive. Booted with the Windows 7 DVD and installed to this E drive. Now, when the SZ boots, you have the choice of Windows 7 (default) or Windows Vista. Both work fine. Use VistaBootPro (within Vista) to change the default. I keep shared documents on the D drive (photos, documents etc) so they can be shared between the two.

And the best thing: if you want to get rid of Windows 7, you just delete the E partition from within Windows Vista using the Disk Management tool. You will be able to merge the partitions again afterwards, but you'll probably need 3rd part software for that. You can also use VistaBootPro to remove the entry for Windows 7 from the boot menu.

 

First, I spoke too soon: on my SZ with Windows 7 Beta, the mute and volume up/down keys do not work. All the other FN-combos, the Speed/Stamina switch, and the S1 and S2 buttons, do work, however.

Another option instead of partitioning your drive is to install a virtual machine like Virtual PC 2007 (free from Microsoft), and then install Windows 7 inside the virtual machine. You can also try to shrink your main drive using Disk Manager to 'shrink' your drive to create a new partition. Unless your disk is optimized, however, chances are it won't give you enough space.

I also partitioned my drive to install Windows 7, using the free EASUS Partition Manager 2009 Express. It took a long time, and there's always the risk with partition software that something will go wrong and kill your drive (happened to me in the past when I tried to merge two active partitions - big no no!). But it worked very well for me here.

Do not under any circumstances install Windows 7 Beta on your main machine as an upgrade, because it deactivated August 1!

 

I shrank the existing drive as outlined above on my SZ791, I was able to get ~ 60Gb to create a new drive on. (I did ghost the drive before hand for a backup) I then installed Win 7 x64 as a clean install on the new drive to create a dual boot.

It does work, but 64 bit drivers are scarce.

 

Volume keys will work if you disable UAC in Windows 7. But then, you lose the desktop gadgets for some reason. You win some, you lose some! I think we may need an updated VAIO Event Service from Sony. Expect it in 12 - 18 months.

 

thank you for your suggestion i will try to install win7 on a new partition as well . . .

 

just somthing else about merging two partition in vista: its not possible to simply merge two drives but you can delete one of them and then choose extend for the other partition to automatically use all the free space.

but the thing is as i said before this is my main pc and i'm a little hesitant of messing with partitions although i know most probably it will work flawlessly

 

hey guys! i am now happy runner of win 7 on my SZ

its much better than vista! faster and a lot more eye candy here and there! only problem so far is that i cant get FN keys to work and my biggest problem is that win7 cant see vista partition so every time i start win7 i stuck with just 20gb hard drive! any suggestions?

ps. i installed win 7 on a newly created partition with 20GB free space.

 

Further discussion Re installing Windows 7 on an SZ is here. So you should be able to fix most of the Fn key issues.

And yes you can't see your Vista partition in Windows 7. Thats why I shrank my Vista partition and created a "middle" partition, available to both OSes, where I keep my photos, documents etc

 

thanks for your response