Vista clean install on sz330: Few questions!

Hi all

I recently faced a hard-drive crash and had to install a new hdd in my vaio sz330 laptop. As i didnt have any recovery dvd's, i tries to install Vista Ultimate onto it and got all the drivers for it.

I took all the available guidance from http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=103875 & installed each driver AS stated in this guide. Still i am facing a few problems. A few devices are not functioning and some options are missing. I seroiously hope someone will help me out.

Following are non-working items:
1. Fn Keys (None of them work)
2. The Camera & mic (Installed the utility as stated in the thread, still wont work. A folder is created, but the app wont start.
3. I am unable to +/- the screen brightness. This is really taking a toll on my battery power! How do i get this working in power management?
4. HDD protection. This too was installed same way as given. But theres no security tab in Control center.
5. s1/s2 buttons, though there is a option to configure them, wont work!
6. The stamina/speed switch wont toggle between the video cards. Dur to this, i am unable to install nvidia drivers! How do i do it now?

Also, is it possible if i order sz430 recovery dvd (it has vista, right! and the model just after my 3 series) Will it work on my sz330? or will it shoe some error? Is it possible to get drivers from it? Or can i install OS as a whole from it? I have genuine key.

Please try & help me out of this!
Thanks..

 

Everything except #2 is linked to the FN keys right?

Sony probably has something in the utility download section.

 

nope! i dont think so...

somebody pls help me out!

 

Are you sure you followed that thread exactly? It should work fine as long as you install things in the order given. The order is important...try again, but here are some tips below in bold.

 

Thanks for ur reply buddy!

Well, i got some things to work.. viz. the FN keys and stamina/speed switch and s1/s2 buttons. All these are related to notebook control driver. Funny thing is, i had installed this thing earlier too... but it didnt work. Then after downloading updates (for vista) i tried running the setup again and it did work!

Now i can change the screen brightness manually... there is no option in power management though (for both graphic cards). Havent updated my BIOS yet. Still, its fine as far as control brightness is concerned.

Similar issue with the HDD protection driver. Kep on installing/unstalling.. after about a month & 15 or so attempts, one day it finally showed up on the taskbar (out of the blue) but there was a hitch. the HDD wud freeze every alternate second even on the lowest sensitivity. Like the sensor has gone kaput! Had to disable it and after that it again disappeared! Its been like 6 days now and it hasnt appeared again. I havent done any changes. It came on its own (for 1 day) and went away! Funny!

As regards the camera, nothing is working as of now. Will def. try the driver you have provided and will post the results.

This leaves me with follo. non-functioning things:
1. Hdd protection
2. Camera
3. Brightness in pwr management (must be BIOS related)

Thanks again...

 

I wish I could get the function keys (brightness, volume) working on my SZ160, I had to reformat the HD and now no matter what I do it doesn't seem to work. I had it working before but I don't remember exactly what I did. Can anyone tell me exactly what order I have to install the updates to get it working on the SZ160?