WINDOWS 7 Install on VAIO TXN27N

I wanted to share my experience with upgrading my TX to Windows 7. Like most others on here, I got sick of the performance issues and instability of Vista and thought I would give Windows 7 a shot. It couldn't possibly have been any worse.

I did a custom install/reformat using the Windows 7 Pro Upgrade version and did not need or use any vista or sony system disks from my old version. EVERYTHING NEEDED FOR THIS INSTALL CAN BE FOUND ON THE SONY ESUPPORT WEBSITE FOR THE VGN-TXN27N MODEL.

My laptop is fully functioning including all of the hotkeys, AV mode, SmartWi switching, brightness, volume, etc.

The key to the install is the order in which you apply all of the drivers and sony utilities. I did not install everything from the Sony site. I only wanted the items necessary to make the machine function as intended. Things like power management, etc were omitted.

I jumped into the deep end of the pool here and did not do any system backups, etc. prior to performing the upgrade. Since I was reformatting my drive anyway, I did not see the need for it.

I installed drivers and updates from SONY as delivered. I did not use UNI Extract or unpack any of them.

Thanks to everyone who posted on these boards with their Z and F upgrades. Even though the TX was a little different and the software is different, many of the steps and sequencing is similar.

1) Off load all files to a flash drive or external hard disk
2) Insert Win 7 CD and restart the machine
3) BOOT from the WIN 7 CD
4) Choose custom, advanced, reformat the main partition
5) Proceed with install after quick format. The system will unpack files and install the OS. Make sure you download updates from the internet as part of the install so that you will be current on WIN 7.
6) WIN 7 initializes. Choose laptop name, region, timezone, etc.
7) Connect to wireless network. I am broadcasting WPA2 secured. Enter password to connect to network.

As part of the windows installation, all video drivers and most hardware devices were recognized and automatically updated. The only things that did not work were the hotkeys, UPEK Fingerprint sensor, flash dirve, and AV mode.

I decided to buy the upgraded WIN 7 version of the UPEK software rather than searching for drivers. They might be out there but it was $19 for the newest version and that was not an issue for me.

I also decided at this point to turn UAC Off since I have to install a ton of drivers and I did not want all the warnings.

Reboot where promted in steps 8-19.

8) perform Windows update. It will search for all updated drivers and any software updates for the OS. I applied 13 important updates and 6 optional updates. Most of the optional updates were newer drivers for my hardware.
9) install Sony Firmware Extension Parser Driver
10) Install Sony Programmable I/O Control Device Driver
11) Install Sony Processor Patch
12) Install Sony USB Registry Patch
13) Install Original Texas Instruments PCI7411 Flash Media Controller Driver
14) Install Original Flash-Media Driver Registry Patch
15) Install UPEK 32bit Protector Suite software update
16) Register fingerprints for Protector Suite (optional)
17) Install Original Novatel EVDO Wireless driver
18) Install Wireless Switch Setting Utility
19) Install Wireless Switch Setting Utility Update and reboot


At this point, I had no ! left in my device manager. All hardware devices were regitered, updated, and functioning properly.

Now we will install all of the software and drivers for the hotkeys and AV mode. I had alot of trouble with this sequencing especially for the smartWi program, and unless everything is completely updated prior to that install, you will get errors on SmartWi. I also experimented with different versions of SmartWi for windows 7 and in the end, it was just not fully compatible. This resulted in about 6 or 7 passes at this upgrade.

20) Install Original Sony Shared Library and reboot
21) Install Sony Utilities DLL Update and reboot
22) Install Original Sony Notebook Utilities and reboot - Includes AV Mode, Hotkeys, Brightness, etc
23) Install Original Sony SmartWi connection utility
24) Install SmartWI PRL Updater and reboot
25) Install Adobe Reader 9.0 or current version
26) Activate Sprint wwan offer - must do this to activate connection utility. Since I had my sprint wwan account already active, select the option for already have active account.
27) Connect WWAN and verify connectivity
28) Install antivirus software - I am using AVG since it is lite on the system and noninvasive like norton or mcafee
29)Turn UAC back on to low - warn only if software promts changes - do not dim screen (optional)
30) reboot

This worked for me, and I hope it helps anyone looking to upgrade their TX. I have noticed marked improvements in speed and no crashes going into and out of hibernate with my WWAN connected. This was a massive problem in Vista for me.

Mileage may vary on your model and I cannot guarantee your results, but I am extremely happy to be rid of Vista. I think you will probably agree.

Good Luck!

 

Bravo! Thanksfor posting this.

I have a semi-retired TX but was concerned that it would be too old to get the hotkey and multimedia keys working.

Kendall

 

I have the same VAIO but in my case the procedure does not fully sucessful possibly because I installed Russian version of Win7 Ultimate.

My procedure is the same in general but with some changes for drivers and Win7 options.

I have no unknow device in Device manager. Everything including keys, power management, BT A2DP, Instant Mode etc works except two minor issues those I want to discuss.

The issues with my Win7 on VGN-TXN27N are:
a) Intel Graphics - brightness limitation after changing from Battary to AC power.
b) Lid Open control does not exist on VAIO Control Center.

I will go into the details later because the main reason of this post is to find/discuss possible solutions.

So let me first to describe my procedure briefly.

Drivers:

d.0) Intel Graphics - results are the same with the lates available on Intel.com and with the driver installed by Windows Update so let it be Windows Update.
d.1) Realtek Audio - ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/WIN7UPGRADE/7UPG_AUDIO_DRIVER_REALTEK_6.0A - 6.0.1.5886.ZIP
d.2) Card Readers - from ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/VAIO/ORIGINAL/TX5_DRIVERS.ZIP
d.3) Alps Touchpad - ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/VAIO/ORIGINAL/ALPS_TOUCHPAD_DRIVER_7.107.505.102.ZIP - for scrolling etc
d.4) Toshiba BT stack - lost the original link on Toshiba web site but it's easy to google the version 7.10.16. Provided full support for A2DP etc. Solution for 30 days evaluatoin easy to google also.
d.5) EVDO modem driver - Sony eSupport - VGN-TXN27N - Software Updates & Drivers

Utilities:

u.0) Original TX5 pack - ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/VAIO/ORIGINAL/TX5_UTILITIES.ZIP
u.1) VAIO Control Center - ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/WIN7UPGRADE/7UPG_VAIO_CONTROL_CENTER_2.2U_2.2.00.12180.ZIP
u.2) VAIO Power Manager - ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/WIN7UPGRADE/7UPG_VAIO_POWER_MANAGEMENT_2.5U_2.5.0.06250.ZIP
u.3) SmartWi - Sony eSupport - VGN-TXN27N - Software Updates & Drivers and Sony eSupport - VGN-TXN27N - Software Updates & Drivers - following the Original procedure
u.4) UPEK Protector Suite - ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/WIN7UPGRADE/7UPG_PROTECTOR_SUITE_QL_UPEK_32 5.9 - 5.9.2.5739.ZIP

Clean install procedure (some key changes from the original one)

00) Make Vista Recovery DVD's (2x - just in case)
01) Boot from Win7 DVD, delete all partitions on HDD, clean install. My Win7 is Ultimate Russian so it has Russian locale and UI by default. I think this is the reason of some of my issues and the main reason to change the installation procedure.
02) Windows Update - including drivers and English UI (!!!).
03) !!! Change Russian to English everythere in the Regional Settings - system locale, UI etc, copy to system accounts etc !!! Without this step I have some problems with text messages related to the hot keys.
04) Install SonyUtil DLL, Sony Shared Library from u.0, reboot
05) Install Setting Utility Series, VAIO Event Service from u.0, reboot
06) Changed Regional Settings (systel locale, UI etc) just for the current user from English to Russian, reboot
07) Install Battary Checker, HDD Protection, AV Mode Buttons from u.0
08) Install VAIO Control Center u.1 and VAIO Power Manager u.2, reboot
09) Install drivers d.0-d.5, reboot
10) Install SmartWi u.3, reboot. I don't have access to EVDO but it helps to switch between WLAN/Bluetooth
11) Install UPEK u.4
12) Install Instant Mode u.0

After this installation I have everything works fine except the tho issues listed above the procedure decsription.

The Intel Brightness issue details are: I'm using 100% brightness for AC power and 30% brightness for battary in Power Options.
Turn on on battary - brightness is 30%. Sleep, plug in AC power, wake up. Screen is dark (30%) but Brightness control shows 100% and there is no way to increase up to the maximum level until restart. Could be BIOS bug. Just in case I have R0054N3 (from TX5). Any idea how to fix the brightness limitation after changing from battary to AC power?

Lid Open - does not have this option in VAIO Control Center with the listed VAIO Power Manager. The issue is likely with this Power Manager. It is possible to have this option available in VAIO Control Center with the VAIO Power Management from u.0 package but in this case there are some issues with Power Management with Russian UI so I decided to use the u.2 Power Management package to have other options fully working with Russian UI. Tryed some other Power Management packages - the result is the same (No Lid Open Control). Any Idea how to get it works?

Finally I could say I'm very happy with Win7 on TXN27 but it would be great to fix both the listed issues