Working XP on Sony VGN-TZ90

I finally got the TZ90 working on Windows XP SP2. It took almost 24 hours with all the playing I had to do. Here is the only thing that is not working yet:
The AV Buttons in the front (I dont have the DVD Drive option - hence I am not sure if this is meant to work)

Definitely working:

• all drivers
• all standard utilities
• Power Management
• Hotkeys with Volume AND Brightness AND all other hotkeys on keyboard
• Wireless Switching Utility (it actually switches the bluetooth and wireless off and on - unlike previous attempts that just installed the software)

I am not sure what eventually did the trick but let me try to describe it:

I followed all the normal descriptions already in this forum of installing the VGN-TZ160C and/or TX3 drivers. It took a while but eventually they will all install as already described. Its mostly a matter of bouncing in and out of the device manager and doing manual installs. The universal extraction tool is a good help here as it helps you to skip the laptop model verification. Just right-click on any file, extract to a subdirectory and install from there


---- Update 21/07/2007
Actual drivers for XP and new Bios (RH0061N7) available here:
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/TZ1/
--------------------

I then ended up installing the Sony Utility DLL and other items randomly from either the VGN-TZ160C or the TX3. I ended up with a decent mix but I DID NOT manage to get the following working then:
- Wireless Switching (TX3 installs but doesnt work and VGN-TZ160C installs but raises an error on a WLANAPI.DLL).
- Hotkeys only worked on the volume
- several items under the Control Center were wrong

Eventually I resigned to living with this and installed my normal development tools, all service packs from Windows, etc.

Then I came across this:
Installing WLAN API for Windows XP SP2

• Install the Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0
• Install KB893357
• Install the WLAN API for Windows XP SP2

And I came across these:

• MS Fix for multi processors
• Fix for hibernation problems (not the "Bluescreen of Death" issue - see below - but another fix)

After installing these items I re-attempted to install ONLY the utilities from the Sony VGN-TZ160C. And guess what ... it all WORKS.

I hope this is what caused it ... but I am not about to attempt it from scratch as 24 hours is a LONG time.

Hibernation and Suspend Problems and Bluescreen:
The bluescreen issue is caused by the modem. The file HSX_CNXT.sys. Removing the modem driver already successfully resolved the problem here. I looked up and found the modem driver to be version 7.58. If your modem driver version is 7.58 then you need to downgrade. I am using 7.50 which I had from another laptop (G1) and that one is without problems. On Google you will find lots of different versions. I couldnt find 7.50 there but maybe someone in this forum can post a link. Otherwise a downgrade SHOULD resolve all suspend and hibernate problems.

Issues outstanding:

• AV Buttons in front dont seem to work
• I am also not sure if the battery power is indicated correctly ( I have the battery that is meant to last 12 hours but only shows 5 ) or if the battery is faulty or if I understood this wrong and the medium sized battery doesnt last 12 hours. I started a another thread on this topic.

My Sony Install Version Information for those that need to locate the difference for the utilities:
(look in the version.txt files in each directory under Program Files/Sony)
------------------------------------------------------------
Power Management: 1.9.03.10110
Wireless Switching: 3.6.00.14270
HDD Protection: 2.1.00.15140

Event Service: 2.4.00.07030
Can be found inside this download for the UX:
ID in registry (HKLM/Software/Sony Corporation/Vaio Event Service/MachineInfo/MachineID) is set to 82
Make sure that section [82] in the VESConfig.ini looks like this:
[82]
VESPowerMgr = 1
VESSuEvent = 1
VESSuPerform = 1
VESVideo = 1
VESSpecialButton = 1
VESFelica = 1
VESFnLock = 1
VESStorageProtect = 1
VESAVModeButton = 1
VESBCF = 1

Control Center: 1.1.03.10061
Camera Util: 2.0.01.02070
AV Mode Launcher: 1.1.00.04110
Settings util: 2.1.00.16040
ISB: 2.1.00.16020
WLANSet: 1.0.03.02070

Driver under Windows/System32 and Program Files/Common Files/Sony Shared:
SnyUtils.dll: 7.1.0.16040
SSO: 1.0.0.4130
Video Lib: 3.1.03.01220

Sony Shared Lib Version (see rogram Files/Common Files/Sony Shared/Version.txt)
3.0.00.10180
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Please let me know if you find out which one maybe TX/TZ160C/TZ90 Vista installs or even something else. I will update it on this thread then. To my knowledge most of these should be TZ160C.

Otherwise I now enjoy the almost fully working TZ90 on Windows XP. The buttons in front don't bother me ... but I must say one thing here: Compared to the TX and the TR series these buttons in front are of very POOR design. Nevermind the switch under these buttons that you cant get to whilst its in the docking station.

Also .. hint to all future buyers: Dont take premium black - it attracts dirt !

 

Thanks for forging the way for the rest of us (^_^)

 

Ok I installed xp and its WAY WAY WAY faster than vista. Did I say WAY faster?

Haven't installed all the drivers yet though. But I did install the chipset, video, and wifi drivers and those are working fine.

Also, the AV buttons don't work for models that have the 5400 rpm hd in place of the dvd in vista so thats why it doesn't work in xp either.

 

On battery life: how did you test it? Wifi/bluetooth on/off? Do you have an SSD or HD? Thanks!

 

I have a TZ90 with SSD and HDD. Wifi is on, Bluetooth is off at the moment. I have not let it run flat but the windows battery checker returns at maximum 5:20 minutes when I pull the plug on 100%.
Let it run down to 2:30 minutes already and it took about that long. I still think that Windows is not picking it up correctly and that it should be more (unless my battery is faulty). My Sony TX27GP has a longer battery life so far according to windows on a smaller battery. This cant be right.

 

Modem driver. Huh. Who'd have thought?

Thank you!

 

Centjie,

Are you sure thats all you installed because I followed your procedure and only installed the tz160c drivers/utils plus the windows fixes and couldn't get the hotkeys or power management to work?

The main problem is when I install the vaio event service app for tz, I get a bunch of errors. Did you see that when u installed that util?

Also, regarding the battery life, I have the medium (standard) battery and when I was running vista I only got about 5 hours so xp is reporting the correct numbers.

thanks

 

As far as I could make out during installation the key to the resolution of the Vaio Event Service is NOT the windows fixes but the WLAN API for Windows XP SP2 which in return requires some of those fixes. Up and until installation of this API I managed to only get the TX3 Event Service installed but it wouldn't function correctly, the Wireless Switcher of the TZ160C couldnt execute without saying its missing a DLL and the hotkeys only helped with the volume. (Did you get this far yet before WLAN installation?)

Once I installed the WLAN for XP SP2 I could suddenly execute the wireless switcher. I then reinstalled all the other utilities from the TZ160C and they all installed and worked.

However: I did also install ALL Service packs from the Windows Website and all OPTIONAL Service packs including all .NET Framework updates etc. that afternoon so maybe the combination of all of these things might have done the trick. Remember that Vista pre-includes most of that stuff and the TZ160C utilities are meant to accomodate Vista.

The reason I thought the WLAN API to be the key to the resolution is that the Wireless Switcher complains about missing that specific dll that comes with it until you install the API. In Vista this API is already integrated. If the Event Service or any other DLL's thereof rely on it they will have problems loading too - hence I think this is where my installation suddenly worked.

Try it ... there is no harm in installing all the service packs from the windows website and testing it with the WLAN API. It works for me ... I promise I have everything working on the TZ90 on XP apart from the button in front.

 

Its a pleasure ... the filename on the bluescreen gave it away

 

Hi Centjie,

Looks like the issue is related to .net. I installed .net 2.0 and 3.0 and some of the utils installed, but not all.

Can you list all the .net udpate syou did?

Thanks

 

.NET Framework 1.0
.NET Framework 2.0
.NET Framework 3.0
.NET Framework 3.5 (updates 2.0 and 3.0)
.NET Framework 1.1

Basically all the optional and standard service packs until the Windows Update site says nothing left. Then .NET Framework 3.5 on top of that.

Which ones didnt you get installed?

 

ok i installed:

.net 1.0 1.1 2.0 3.0 3.5 and all the windows updates, but I'm still having some issues with the following:

power management crashes
the volume hotkeys don't work (the other ones do like brightness and monitor)
event service installation complains about vesperform.dll (the specified procedure could not be found)

any ideas what else u could have installed?

thanks again!

 

If your power managent crashes then that sounds like you still have the wrong utilities installed. Did you reinstall all the TZ160C utils (including the Sony Utility DLL and the Settings Utilities Series?)

Versions (look in the version.txt files in each directory under Program Files/Sony:
Power Management: 1.9.03.10110
Wireless Switching: 3.6.00.14270
HDD Protection: 2.1.00.15140
Event Service: 2.4.00.09110 - ID in registry (HKLM/Software/Sony Corporation/Vaio Event Service/MachineInfo/MachineID) is set to 82
Control Center: 1.1.03.10061
Camera Util: 2.0.01.02070
AV Mode Launcher: 1.1.00.04110
Settings util: 2.1.00.16040
ISB: 2.1.00.16020
WLANSet: 1.0.03.02070

Driver under Windows/System32 and Program Files/Common Files/Sony Shared:
SnyUtils.dll: 7.1.0.16040
SSO: 1.0.0.4130
Video Lib: 3.1.03.01220

Sony Shared Lib Version (see rogram Files/Common Files/Sony Shared/Version.txt)
3.0.00.10180

I hope this helps ... I will update the main article in this thread aswell ...
Please let me know if you find the difference on your system. I would love to know if all of these are really on TZ160C now or if some are TX3 or even TZ90 Vista.

 

ok the power management version u have is from the tx3 drivers.

the event service I don't know where that version is.

ther tx version is 2.3 and the tz version is 3.0

where did u get version 2.4?

 

wait actually the power management version is not from the tx3. the tx3 version is 1.9.00.4120 and it doesn't work right either.

so somewhere u must have gotten some other drivers.

 

Okay. That explains it. These 2 are from the ones I asked Brett@Conics for before I received the laptop. As far as I know they are from the G1. I will have a look where I can get them for you.

Are all others the same version ?

 

Still looking for the right version utils. While looking I came across this:
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/TZ1/

Updated main article in this thread

Installed the BIOS thats available there - it worked for me !

 

That's a great find!

 

great! thanks for the appreciated guidance!

 

AWSOME WORK!! I am going to format my laptop and start over

 

Ok got everything installed.

The easiest way to do is to first install the drivers from here:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/TZ1/

Then install the utilities from the bx4:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/BX4/APPLICATIONS

then extract the tz event services and copy the vesconfig.ini to the bx4 version.

This gets all the hotkeys and power management and everything else working.

The only thing I haven't finished installing is the camera, but I never use that so thats a low priority for me.

The only issue is that the power managment app has a bunch of fields/components that aren't applicable to the tz.

Hopefully sony will release official xp tz utilities soon.

But other than that everything works great.

thanks for everybody's help on this board.

 

Wow, even the AV Mode buttons work? Great job indeed! Thanks a lot!

 

No AV buttons don't work. I have only the 5400 rpm drive and even in vista the AV buttons don't work.

Maybe somebody with a dvd drive can test it and see if it works on those configurations.

 

Did anyone else experience impossibly slow download speeds and errors from the sony ftp?

I can't seem to download any file normally from there..

 

No problems here..

 

Centjie,

How is the power management util working for you?

I'm using version 1.9.04.15260 from the BX4 and I've noticed that the "turn off monitor" doesn't work. Even if I change it to some value, like 5 or 10 min it will always go back to never.

And in the "vaio power management" tab, what are all the different settings you have?

Thanks

 

Thanks for the tips!

And I will give you the tip for the camera.

Device manager - Imaging devices - USB Video device - Update driver - Install from a list or ... - Don't search. I will choose.. - Have a disk - R5U870FL.inf

Then it will work.

You can find R5U870FL.inf from your recovery disk of TZ90 or on net as well.

 

If I install just TZ1 XP Driver, camera fingerprint driver, is there any problem?
It is the first time to use Sony notebook. I prefer clean XP install on my notebook and I think I do not need other applications. Is it possible?

 

yes, but then none of the hotkeys for volume and lcd brightness will work and the power management will be limited.

I've been using the bx4 utilities for a couple of days now and everything is working well. The only problem I'm having is the "turn off monitor" setting in the power management doesn't stick and always reverts back to "never." And of course the av buttons don't work, but they never did in vista either.

So all in all, I'm very happy that I switched from vista to xp. XP flies on the TZ with 2gb. Everything runs so much faster, especially flash and java apps and I don't notice any slow downs when running dual screen, which I did with vista.

Battery life from what I've seen is about the same as vista. I got around 5 hours in vista with the cpu throttled to 800 mhz and the lcd at level 6 and I'm getting around the same thing under xp with the same settings.

Other than the vista eye candy, I can't see any reason for running vista over xp especially given the performance boost and better application compatibility that you get with XP.

 

Can you run the benchmarks on this website and upload a review of the tz with XP. I'd like to see some real numbers from those that have switched to xp. THANKS!

 

I doubt the benchmarks will show much difference. If you look at the reviews of the same notebook but running vista compared to xp, the speed difference don't show up in the numbers. But in real world usage, its def noticeable.

I've already given you my review of xp on tz in my previous post, I don't have anything else to add.

 

bmnotpls,
following your instructions, everything works (including camera) EXCEPT microphone and lcd function buttons. any clue of what might be the reason for this?

 

Oh, and the hdd protection doesn't work either..........

 

Did you extract the vesconfig.ini from the vista tz event services and copy it over? Use the universal extraction tool from the 1st post in this thread or install the vista tz event services first, save the vesconfig.ini somewhere, uninstall it, and then install the bx event services and copy the tz vesconfig.ini over. Reboot.

Did you install the hdd protection from the bx4? If that doesn't work try the tz vista version. I know my hdd protection works because when I jarred the computer one time, the hdd protection notification came on. You also need to activate it from the vaio control center.

My microphone works fine as well. Do a windows update and you should get the latest realtek audio drivers.

 

Did you guys install the battery checker? I installed it and now whenever I plug in my battery I get a popup saying my battery isn't compatible with my computer and I should remove it. Very Annoying If I should not have installed it, I'd love some ideas on how to get rid of it.

A second minor problem is that I have one "USB Device" with a question mark remaining in the device manager. Any ideas what this might be?

 

Try installing the tz version. I don't remember which version I have but I don't get that pop up.

The unknown usb device is the felica port. Disable it..

 

Does anyone have the Felica port working (and possibly tested) under XP?

 

Did you get any kind of error message when you tried to update your bios? With me it said the bios name did not match my system name so I decided to abort the BIOS update. Did anything like that happen with you?

 

Run the install.cmd instead of winplash2.exe

 

which driver did you use??

there's drivers file
and tz1_xp drivers
tz1_xp drivers camera fingerprincts
tz1_xp drivers camera

thanks

 

I give up. I can't get the LCD brightness hotkeys to work and it seems like for some odd reason the CPU is stuck at 1.2 ghz. I'm going back to vista until Sony finally releases proper downgrade software. Any ideas on where I can best nag Sony to hurry up with this?

 

The top CPU of a TZ is a Core 2 Duo U7600 (1.20 GHz). It will only go up to 1.2 GHz?

I doubt nagging Sony about drivers will get you anywhere. They are making them, so they will be done when they are done.

 

He probably means that the CPU won't decrease the clocking if it is idle (EIST - Enhanced Intel SpeedStepping Technology)

EIST must be enabled in the BIOS (if an option is available) and only works under Windows XP if you choose "Portable / Laptop" or "Presentation" from Control Panel - Power Management - Power Schemes.

 

Precisely I would think it would work with the Sony power schemes as well though... I'll just wait for Sony to get their act together

 

Thanks for the clarification. Well, it will be at least 3 weeks until I get my TZ. I hope everything is 100% working by then.

I am allowed to dream.

 

Did you try copying the vesconfig.ini from the tz over?

For the cpu throttling try rmclock I use that in conjunction with the sony power management and that works well.

 

They are all the same...

 

Centjie, do those version numbers you list in your original post still correspod to the ones you currently use?

 

Yes, I copied it over. I also made sure the [82] entry looks the same as in the OP and I changed the registry value to 82 decimal.

I got the TZ vesconfig from extracting the files from http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNTZ160C&upd_id=2787&os_id=29

 

What version of the event services do you have?

Mine is 2.5.00.12210 from the bx4

My power management version is 1.9.04.15260, also from the bx4.