Vaio VGN-SZ troubleshoot

I'm hoping someone can help me find the thread for anything related to the Sony VGN-SZ series.

I own a VGN-SZ120P. Ancient but I love how compact it is.

A few years ago (about 2008) this notebook started acting up, telling me that it cannot find any camera. It always had a wizard set up pop-up for the camera and the cd rom everytime I boot.

I don't know how the Registry Wizard Repair I purchased helped but I don't see these pop-ups anymore. My CD ROM works fine but I can't use my camera. Sony won't help because my warranty was expired.

My Norton Security Suite frequently tells me the applications I'm using that's eating up the memory on my notebook. I'm not that computer literate so I don't want to touch the processes. However, I'm currently running 69 processes.

I'm thinking of upgrading my computer from XP to Windows 7. This notebook is running Centrino Duo and I don't know if it's cheaper to buy a new laptop instead. I don't feel like buying another laptop since I've grown to love this Vaio I have. Thoughts?

If I do upgrade to Windows 7, do I lose the license I have for the Microsoft Office that came standard with this laptop?


Any help will be much appreciated.

 

Never heard of that particular webcam problem - I'd reinstall the webcam drivers and webcam software and see if that fixes the problem.

I have the SZ4 and am running Windows 7 currently. There is an excellend guide here as to what needs to be installed in which order, with links to the downloads, to get everything working including the Function keys and webcam. Have a search for a thread like "SZ750 clean Windows 7 install..." - it is much longer but I can't find it right now. I know a lot of people have had some problems installing Win7 so it isn't the easiest but it is doable. However, a new laptop will be vastly superior to the SZ, such as the SA model, and the prices are not too bad these days...

 

Here's a guide - credit to the authors, and also to the original guide which is linked within the post.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...vaio-sz1-sz2-sz3-models-working-fn-s1-s2.html

 

Thank you so much! I will look into it right now!

 

Just remember that this is an old system, and that a newer machine will be superior in every way possible - have a look at the SA/SB series which is the spiritual successor to the SZ. I still have my old SZ but it is just a machine I use for playing with new operating systems, etc. rather than as a main working laptop, and as much as I still like the old dog, I wouldn't use it as my day to day work laptop again.