sony Vgn-fe890

What are people's thoughts about this new model?

Is anyone currently using one?

Any pros/cons?

If you want to upgrade to the Xbrite-Hi Color screen, does that change the color of the case from grey to white?

 

I saw the preconfigured N/H in the store yesterday and it's gorgeous. Love the new grey case.

The 890N/H is on special at CompUSA through the weekend I think. It's $150 off - $1399. It's online at their site. I liked it oh-so-much better than the white one.

The store model has a 160GB 4200rpm hard drive. I understand this sort of speed isn't too uncommon in big drives and isn't too slow when you run benchmarks on it. However, it's a SATA drive so you can change it out as far as I know.

I really liked the bright screen, just like the one in the white model. However, I am kinda confused about it too. When you look at either CompUSA or Sonystyle, they say the preconfigured ones are Eco-brite, which from what I've heard is not the dual lamp model. But the 880 and 890 in the store were both bright enough for me to think they were dual lamp. And if you CTO, it doesn't mention ECO-bright as an option, just plain TFT or hi-color. I might have to give them a call, except people often say that reps give them bad info.

One thing I liked is that when CTO, you can add an additional year to the warranty plus make it on-site service for about $150 - I like this better than sending the notebook off never to be seen again.

For the most part, the feel, including the touchpad, speakers and the keyboard were just the same. The gray finish seems like maybe a metallic coating on plastic??? Felt like it would hold up much better than the white which is very dirty in the stores.

 

I ordered 890 CTO yesterday. I actually asked three of their customer rep. All of them had different answers. One rep. said that the web-site white-gray designation is mis-leading. It is a gray color no matter what. Then I called again. Another rep. told me that hi-color one is white. She actually confirmed that from her manager. Then, I called again to order. another rep. told me that she was not sure. I like the gray one too. I am sure that I will find out in 2-3 weeks(when I get mine).

 

If I CTO one of these, I am going to email and ask what color it is with the specs I specify. If they tell me it's gray and I get white, I'll be mailing it back. If I'd wanted the white one I would have bought one months ago.

It looks like the white/gray designation is for the camera. Since they don't list megapixels it's hard to tell. Although I don't know why they'd put a white camera in a gray notebook. It's a mystery.

EDIT: Hmmmm....I looked into it further and it looks like the Hicolor is white and the ecobrite is gray. I looked at the spec sheet:
http://www.sonystyle.com/intershopr...ents/specifications/VGNFE890CTO_SpecSheet.pdf
and it lists the following:

Seeing the gray one in the store that was quite bright leads me to believe that the FE's ecobrite is far brighter than the ecobright that comes on the terrible Sony C screen.

And someone on a photography forum said:

http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-695.html

I would buy the gray hicolor if it was available, but after seeing it in the store, I'll take the gray over the hicolor option.

 

I spoke with someone from Sony on the phone yesterday and was told the Xbrite-Hi Color option meant that the bezel of the computer, around the LCD, was white while the bottom portion of the notebook (including keyboard) was still grey. I'm guessing it must be a two tone kind of look but, based on what others have said, maybe I was misinformed.

He also said that the Hi-Color has 2 lamps (like the AR series) while the Eco only has 1.

 

I really hope so... since I'm paying a premium for a customized FE, it better be configured the way I had wanted it to be. I called SonyStyle customer support to check on my order. The rep said that its in production now, but they will contact the production department to verify what color the unit is. I have a reference # and told them that I want the order cancelled if the unit's casing is indeed white. If the bezel was white.. that's fine, as long as the outside isn't white. Shouldn't be considered customization if I can't get the XBRITE-Hi in Grey + a GeForce 7600.

 

I bet it's the case, not the bezel, that's white. A white bezel would be kind of weird, a little like the ugly Inspiron E1505s. I also think, since that would be a new look, that they would have posted photos of it on the site. Guess we'll have to wait til someone gets one. You would think that they could offer photos of the options, wouldn't you? Or at least have customer service reps that know the story.

The Sony FE ecobrite in the store was sitting next to the Sony VAIO AR190G which I can see from the CompUSA website is hi-color and I would say that the FE screen was at least 50% brighter than the AR which had a sparkly screen. The rep and I were discussing how bad the AR's screen is. Actually, I have to qualify that, I didn't mess with the AR so I don't know the brightness setting, so take that for what's it's worth.

I will say that the FE was brighter than any other notebook in the store. I would really have thought it was hicolor from the looks of it, but it's not.

Small update: I looked around the Sonystyle online England store and learned two more conflicting things. One is that they do show different models of the gray FE with different color cameras - which does mean that there are white and gray cameras. However, it wasn't consistent with the screen type. Some hicolor screens have white cameras, some gray. This was in photos only, no text about it. There is also a 3-D flash presentation called Product Tour and in the upper right you can click on entertain - it shows a white FE like the old kind and a gray one. So, I still don't have a solid answer, but at least we know the cameras come in white and gray.
White camera: http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowPro...31H&site=voe_en_GB_cons&category=VN+FE+Series
Grey camera:
http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowPro...41S&site=voe_en_GB_cons&category=VN+FE+Series

 

I purchased this model loaded with Vista Business on Tuesday morning, so I've had it about a week. I was a previous Sony user. I had a four year old VGN-R505GL which uncermoniously died on New Years day after four years of virtually problem free performance (it was sad and tragic day). I shopped around A LOT and purhased a HP Pavillion DV6000T running XP, but had to send it back due to a persistent high pitch whine (see other threads on this site before buying a new pavillion notebook as they go into the "HP whine" in great detail).

My initial impressions of the new FE890 are as follows:

Overall it's a solid computer. It doesn't have as many bells and whistles (lightscribe drive, quick play buttons, etc) as the comparably priced HP models, but I'm counting on better performance since it's a Sony. It also doesn't have a jog dial navigator or any other scrolling capbility on the touchpad like my old Sony had, and the new HP's, Gateways, or Toshiba notebooks have--which is somewhat annoying. It does have external volume buttons though, although not the "quick play" capabilities. The screen is extremely bright and the color looks great. The screen is somewhat shiny, but not as shiny as the HP's, which I like, as it reduces glare.

Vista Business is okay. I had to have it as I need to use my unit to connect to my office via remote desktop, but I wish it had more of the "media center" functions for personal photos and videos that Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate have.

However, a WARNING -- THIS NOTEBOOK CURRENTLY HAS NO WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY TO SOME NETWORKS (and NO connectivity to mine!)

I've already been on with tech support for many hours today on this issue. Sony put an Intel PROWireless 3945 wireless LAN in this unit, and there is apparently a conflict with a Vista update that I downloaded on Thursday (as that's when the wireless stopped working). This conflict results in the operating system constantly disconnecting and disabling the wireless LAN, so for right now I have NO WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY. I managed to get the wireless working after two hours on the phone with tech support by rolling back to an earlier system restore point before the cursed update, but only an hour later, I lost wireless connectivity again. I was assured by my COMPUSA tech support guy that Intel will be releasing a VISTA compatible driver soon. The Intel website says that they will have an update driver in the 4th quarter of 06, so they seem to be well overdue to release one. Here's hoping they do it soon because I didn't buy a "portable" notebook to have to stay tethered to an ethernet cable all the time.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm sorry I don't have more to offer about the hardware aspects of this unit--most of my time since purchase has been spent trying to get used to Vista.

 

The Sony FE870E/H has a 120GB 5400rpm drive. I think I may pick up that model, though I haven't had much luck finding one yet.

 

The FE790 and the newest model are pretty good notebooks that do just about anything you'd want them to. Plus they have some of the best screens out of any notebook company.

 

If you are happy with Windows Media Center, the FE790 is a nice machine. And it's priced very competitively.

 

I picked one up a few days ago and I'm not pleased with it. The screen ocassionally blacks out, almost like a power surge. No BT or IR was on this one. I randomly lose my network connection for no apparent reason. I just loaded Office 2007 Ultimate, Divx, and a few other 3rd party programs.
2GB ram, 160gb drive, T5600 processor. Purchased at Costco and will be returned shortly.

 

Well, finally received my Built to Order FE890 and it is indeed not charcoal gray. More like a pearl silver white color casing with white keyboard. Definitely not a white camera.

Since I had this laptop engraved, I was unable to cancel my order from SonyStyle. Although I'm not too crazy about the color, the laptop runs great. Fast & quiet. No wireless disconnects as some have reported. Still trying to get use to Vista OS.

I ordered it with the T7200 (2Ghz) with the X-Brite Hi Screen & Nvidia GeForce Go 7600, 2GB memory, 120GB HD along with a whole load of preloaded crapware.

Here are some photos of my customized VGN-FE890 frm Sonystyle.com

 

What is the main difference between FE790 and FE890? Is it only the OS?

 

Both seem to have the same specs.
I believe that the FE7xx Series is XP and the FE8xx series is Vista.

 

and the fe8xx has more options for graphics.

 

Just got my yesterday, I'm satify with performance so far. One thing bothers me is getting raining picture quality from the motion eye cam....does anyone getting the same thing?

FE890 don't come with window vista disc? I don't find it in the box? only registration code but no disc..?!?!

 

Honestly, OS aside, there isn't a difference between the two.

 

RedSensiStar -

How does Oblivion play on your FE790G? I have never played or seen Oblivion, but understand it needs some power to run.

Thanks

 

I just ordered a FE890 built to order, and I got the bluetooth option.
I want to use a bluetooth mouse instead of the built in mouse pad. Can anyone suggest a good bluetooth mouse and how well do they work with my setup?
Thanks

 

I'll suggest the Logitech V270. Been using it for my SZ370 & it is very good.

 

Also i was wondering if I made the correct choice in processors.
My FE890 is configured with a T 5600 1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo processor a G force Go 7600 video card, 2 G memory, 120 G HD. Now I am wondering if I should have gone with the T 7200 2.0Ghz processor? Is the T 5600 processor an OK match for the 7600 video card ?
Thanks in advance.

 

If the vista expirence score can be trusted (i'm not sure because i haven't ran 3Dmark06 yet) then your choice of cpu should be a good match for the go7600. Mine has the t5500 and the gpu is still rated lower 4.4 vs 4.7

 

I have the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000. It works very well. It is a little pricey, though, but worth it in my opinion.

 

Any experience with battery life?

Sony Customer support says anywhere from 20-40 mins per cell. And since its a 6 cell battery anywhee from 2-4 hours seems vague.

 

I get around 3-4 hours. My settings are lowest brightness, 7200rpm hdd, and wifi on on the standard battery.

 

Hmm--my notebook was just left on, not doing anything, not even online--and it went from 95% to 55% in 1 hour...it was in the default "optimized" setting though...not sure what that is as I havent played around with it enough...

I still cant seem to find a way to get the battery meter to show me how much time is left instead of just percentage of battery life left...

 

Is there a 256MB dedicated memory video card option for the geforce 7600 or all they all 128MB?

 

Sadly there is no 256mb setting for the Sonys. They are only 128mb.

 

Has anybody installed XP onto their FE890 yet? From a hardware/price standpoint this laptop perfectly fit the bill for me, but I had no choice but to order it with Vista which I have no interest in. I ordered a spare 160GB 5400RPM SATA drive from a 3rd party to install XP onto and I plan to do that shortly, but I'm not sure how many devices, if any, aren't going to work properly under XP since there are no specific XP drivers available on their website. I REALLY wish they offered both OS options with this laptop, or at least provided XP drivers for it on their website.

 

azntiger1000:

How does the FE-890 do for CS:S? That's one of the main reasons I'm thinking about this notebook...

 

Somebody did post up some XP drivers that should have worked with FE890s but I'm not sure. I haven't had the time or go to format my computer. Besides I've been using Vista for a while now and the more I use it the more I love it. So definitely give it a chance.

You're like me I play CS:S too. It works perfectly. No lags/no errors/no nothing. I've played with up to 32 people in a room and no lag so you should be fine with the FE890. I got the highest graphics card they could offer at the time which was 128mb Geforce 7600.

 

Hmm, I haven't found that post yet. Looks to me like the FE790 is VERY similar and should share many of the same drivers, so I'm pursuing that path. I've already started configuring the Vista installation as close to my liking as I can get it, but I'm having a really hard time growing fond of it. Not to mention I have a few dozen essential programs that may or may not work under Vista, some of which will never have Vista updates available and can't be replaced. Bottom line, I'm going to keep my 100GB drive with the Vista installation on it and continue to test with it, but in the meantime I want to try to get this thing configured as an XP machine.

 

Damn, I was afraid of this but wasn't sure. Even though many Vaios share identical components, the installation file checks to see if you have the appropriate model before it will even let you install it. The GO 7 series NVidia drivers on the NVidia website also refuse to install with the FE890 under XP. If anyone knows of a way to bypass the model checking feature embedded in the Vaio driver/update files please let me know. I'm hoping Sony may have a hidden switch that causes the file to disregard the model and force an install. Barring this, it looks like I'm dead in the water which really sucks. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that would prefer to install XP on the FE890.

 

I finally found that post and I downloaded all the drivers and utilities for use with XP and the FE890. So far I've only had the chance to test out the NVidia driver and it worked like a charm, which is farther than I got prior to locating these files. I'm optomistic that the other drivers and utilities will work, and it looks there are drivers for every device in the laptop, including Bluetooth etc.. If anyone else wants to use XP with their FE890 instead of Vista, you can download the drivers here: ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/Original/. These is apparently Sony's European FTP site. Just download the two FE3 zip files. You will also find files here for virtually every model VAIO.

 

Where did you get your 7200rmp hdd? I don't see it as an option on the sonystyle website...did you install it aftermarket?

 

Let me know if ALL of your functions are normal. I've heard some people had troubles with the camera/bluetooth so after you do the install let me know if it works =). Much appreciated.

Oh yea the 7200rpm was an aftermarket thing. Sorry I forgot to mention that. I didn't want a 5400 or a lousy 4200rpm hdd so I went to newegg and bought a 100gb 7200. When I bought the computer off of sonystyle.com I picked the cheapest hdd they offered.

 

Grrr, that's exactly where I'm at, everything else eventually got installed (no small effort I don't mind saying), but those two devices are problematic. The camera says it's installed properly under the device manager, but it doesn't work. The Bluetooth driver that was provided does not install properly, even though it says it does when you eventually cancel out of it. It's left as the only device (UGX) in the Device Manager that is not installed properly. I've been starting to post around for alternative drivers, which I've heard there are. If I make any progress on this front I'll post it here, and conversely if anyone else hears or knows anything please let me know. These two devices aren't critical, but they were the two "goodies" that I was looking forward to having built in with this new Vaio.

Everyone knows Newegg rocks, but a company called Drive Solutions is also an excellent place to purchase hard drives and other upgrades for your laptops. Not only are they generally at the forefront with stocking the largest/fastest 2.5" drives, but they provide a fairly current upgrade list so you'll know which drives (and other components) will work with your particular model and their pricing is about the same as Newegg. Their ship times, customer service, and return policy are all top notch, in many cases even better than Newegg. Admittedly, they don't have a list for the FE890 published just yet but if you email them they'll tell you which drives you can choose from. Not every 2.5" drive works in every Vaio, the smallest differences are sometimes enough to make a drive not fit properly, so be careful if you're shopping elsewhere. Of course you can always use Drive Solution's to check which upgrades are compatible with your laptop and buy the component from Newegg or somewhere else.

For anyone wanting anything larger and/or faster than an 80GB drive, 5400 RPM drive with your new Vaio, take the free 80GB option from Sony, and use the money you'd save from upgrading through Sony and buy your drive from Newegg or Drive Solutions. For example, you can take the 80GB 5400 RPM drive with the Vaio, and for LESS than you'd pay JUST to upgrade your Vaio to a 160GB 4200 RPM drive (4200 RPMs is the only 160GB option on Sony's website), you can buy a 160GB 5400 RPM drive from Newegg or Drive solutions. Then you've got two drives, for less than the price of one, and the larger drive will be faster than what you can get from Sony. This is what I just did and I installed XP on the 160 and kept Vista on the original drive (technically I bough a 100GB from Sony because to me it was worth paying $30 to go from an 80Gb to a 100GB). Similarly if it's big enough for you, you can buy a 100GB 7200RPM drive from Newegg as AZNTIGER did, which you wouldn't be able to get through Sony.

 

are you absolutely sure about this ? where can i find exactly about this info ? because I almost bought the FE890 versus Asus A8J which has a 256Mb Geforce ! Also, please someone make a full review for FE890 with pics !

 

I am almost 100% positive that they only offer 128mb. I know this is a weird thing because most company out there offers more than 128. So I don't know why Sony decided to use that. I am assuming because of its compact-ness or power issues or what I'm not 100% sure. You should be able to see the Fe890 reviews and pictures in the notebook forum review section. =)

 

http://www.notebookreview.com/revie...astBrandID=13&currentPage=0&callingPage=&cmd=

see for yourself ! nothing buddy

 

Oh I'm sorry. I made a review for the FE890, but I guess NBR didn't post it up. I'll have to send them an email about it. Sorry about that. I'll let you know when it is posted.

 

great ! cannot wait for it. thanks !

 

Mostly so there is a permanent record of this somewhere, this rather lengthy post is a journal I created while getting XP running on my FE890. If it helps just one person, it's been worth it. I realize that a lot of the stuff in here will be repeats of information posted elsewhere, but hopefully folks will bear with me for that.

Good luck if you give this a try.
========================================================
First thing. Make a set of Vista recovery DVD's. There are CRUCIAL, because during the XP install you lose access to the recovery partition. At least I did. Your mileage may vary, but why take chances. I found these recovery disks essential to regain access to Vista. By the time you're done, you will have a fully functional dual boot, but it takes a bit of tweaking the boot options to get there.

There's a bunch of stuff you need to download. I created a folder c:\fe890 to hold everything.

Go to ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/ORIGINAL/ and download FE3_DRIVERS.ZIP

Go to http://www.sysinternals.com which will redirect you to somewhere at microsoft.com. Look in the Files and Disk Utilities for something called Junction. Download it. Unzip it and run it, and use it to disconnect the link between "c:\documents and settings" and c:\users. Delete "c:\documents and settings" and make absolutely sure it's totally gone before you proceed.

If you have the Nvidia 7400 Go graphic chip, head to http://www.nvidia.com, and download the 94.24 drivers. You can try others, but I found these worked just fine. Select the download drivers option from the top menu, select graphics, Geforce 7, and Windows XP / 2000 to get the ones you want.

Download vistabootpro from http://www.vistabootpro.org. Install it, you'll need it in a bit.

The next download is crucial for getting sound working. Follow these steps to the letter to get the file we care about. Google for "STDAUD-01108005-UN.exe". One of the links (fourth of five for me) has the following text in its description: STDAUD-01108005-UN.exe(4.97 MB) - note file size in parens. Hit "translate this page", and let it load. There's a line of text at the top: "Sound Card Driver promotion procedures _ Version 5 .10.5067.0" and a button immediately on the right of the text. Its got two glyphs on it, one looks kinda like a 'T'. Hit this,and it should download STDAUD-01108005-UN.exe to your system. You may need to hammer a bit on this, that server is in China, and not the world's most reliable.

http://translate.google.com/transla...v=/search?q=STDAUD-01108005-UN.exe&hl=en&sa=G

is a link directly to the translated page.

Credit where credit is due, BTW. k01b01 from the first page google shows found this file, so major props go to him.

At this point, we're ready to go.

Install XP. You MUST, I repeat MUST make two changes during the install operation. Firstly make sure to use the C drive as is, do not reformat. Secondly, when choosing the directory, do not install in C:\WINDOWS, put it someplace else. I used C:\WINXP. It'll whinge at you about two OS's on the same drive, you can ignore it.

Reboot, you should wind up in XP. If it whinges about being unable to create profiles, stop. In any case you need to boot from the vista recovery dvd to get the dual boot working, because XP destroys the ability to boot into Vista. So boot from the recovery dvd, when you get the list of options, the first one should be repair startup. Select that, and let it do its stuff. Reboot, and you should wind up back in Vista.

Run Vistabootpro. Hit the manage button, and then check the Add New OS entry. Call it Windows XP, set the OS type to Windows Legacy, and the Boot drive to C: Apply the settings and reboot. You should get a menu that allows you to select either vista or XP - if they both work, you've got dual boot up and running.

If you had the complaints about profiles above, make sure "C:\documents and settings" is really gone, delete the C:\WINXP (or whatever) folder in it's entirety, and restart at the "Install XP" stage.

Assuming XP is happy, it's now just a case of driver work.

Video first.

Can't help if you have an Intel graphics chip, I have the Nvidia 7400 Go. I had success using the 94.24 drivers from Nvidia, with one minor tweak. You'll be doing a fair bit of this, so get used to it. The inf file doesn't support the 7400 Go in the FE890 directly, but it's a pretty simple change to make. Navigate to wherever the 94.24's got unwrapped, for me it was C:\NVIDIA\Win2KXP\94.24. Find the inf file, it's nv4_disp.inf. Double click it, and it'll pop open in Notepad. There's three instances of the string DEV_0222 in that file, change them all to DEV_01D8. The last one describes the video card, change whatever's there to "Nvidia GeForce 7400 Go" - that'll make the display look correct in Device Manager.

Run Setup in that folder, let it do its stuff, and reboot to XP. Once you're back to an XP desktop, check that you can get to 1280 by 800, that'll mean your driver is good.

Wired Ethernet.

At this point, you need to unzip the FE3_DRIVERS.zip file somewhere. I unwrapped it to C:\FE3_Drivers. With this done, right click My Computer, select manage, and hit the device manager entry. Tons of yellow Question marks! Select the Ethernet Adapter one, right click on it and select update driver. Hit "Not this time", next, install from a specific location, and next again. Select Search for best driver, check the "include this location" and browse to C:\FE3_Drivers\Drivers\Network2. At least Network2 worked for me, your mileage may vary if you get a different network chip. Try Network1 if things fail. Let the thing rip, and you should have a working wired Ethernet.

Wireless Ethernet.

Even easier. Navigate to C:\FE3_DRIVERS\Drivers\WirelessLAN in explorer and run the iProInst.exe program there. I did a full install, you may be able to get away with just the drivers.

Just to confirm status, at this point we should be down to three yellow qustion marks in device manager: Mass storage controller, PCI Device and SM Bus controller.

Mass storage controller is the built in memory stick. Drivers for this guy live in C:\FE3_Drivers\Drivers\FlashMedia. Same deal as the Wired Ethernet: right click the question mark, update drivers, navigate to the correct place and voila.

Sound would be a real problem except for that file downloaded above. Again, the following steps in this order make it work, or at least they did for me. Start by going to "C:\FE3_DRIVERS\Drivers\Audio\UAA High Definition Audio Class driver" and executing the kb835221.exe file in there.

After doing this, the hardware wizard pops open. Go through the usual drill, and when it asks for a driver location, point it to C:\FE3_DRIVERS\Drivers\Audio\WDM. For reasons unknown, it couldn't find a couple of files for me, it kept looking in some other directory. Keep on pointing it back to C:\FE3_DRIVERS\Drivers\Audio\WDM and it should eventually get happy.

The hardware wizard will now go completely off the deep end, since a bunch of new stuff shows up. Just let it run its course, and by the time you're finished everything should be good except for one item: the "Sigmatel High Definition Audio CODEC". That'll have a yellow exclamation point, and be showing an error: unable to start (code 10).

At this point you run STDAUD-01108005-UN.exe that you downloaded earlier, which will make the exclamation point go away, and after a reboot you should have sound. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the mute and volume control buttons above the keyboard even worked.

Once the sound card is done, the modem shows. This is a trivial install: same drill as wired Ethernet, drivers are in C:\FE3_DRIVERS\Drivers\Modem

SM Bus Controller.

Installing this provides a hint as to where the Intel video drivers are. Look in C:\FE3_DRIVERS\Drivers\Chipset, there's a single executable: infinst_autol.exe. Run that, and after a reboot the SM Bus Controller is fixed. Watching the progress of that executable, I saw references to GM945, which may be something to do with the intel video. No promises.

Finally, the camera. I have no idea what got this working, but the one
app that really needs it (skype) found a camera and appears to do the
right thing.

Ta Da. You should now have a fully functional system running XP.

 

For those with the Intel Graphic video card, try these drivers it worked for me on the fe890 on Windows XP Professional

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver

The Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver contains support for the following Intel® Chipsets:

· Intel® 945G Express Chipset

· Intel® 945GZ Express Chipset

· Intel® 946GZ Express Chipset

· Intel® G965 Express Chipset

· Intel® Q963 Express Chipset

· Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

· Mobile Intel® 940GML Express Chipset

· Mobile Intel® 943GML Express Chipset

· Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset

· Mobile Intel® 945GMS Express Chipset


http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con...FullName=All%20Operating Systems&lang=eng

 

Hi DGNUF,

That's an awesome compilation that got me in business and got rid of my frustrations with getting XP onto my VGN-FE890 (Piece of crap).

I am not doing dual-boot. I just removed Vista and installed XP.

My remaining problem is that the CD/DVD drive doesnt work. While the drive is recognized, no matter what I put into that drive, I don't see the contents neither does it auto-run.
I tried removing and re-adding the devide from the device manager with no success. Are there special drivers needed ? I don't have any DVD writing software installed yet.

 

Hey Guys, I received a used VGN-FE890 for work which naturally had Vista on it. In my buisness we use a lot of software and some of those programs do not work with Vista so I put XP pro on not too long ago. I was able to resolve all the driver issues except two: PCI Device, and Video Controller (VGA Compatible). The video I could care less about about, however I have been working on the laptop without the touchpad working the whole time. I really want to get it resolved and so far have unable to do so. Anyone have this problem or know a fix for it.

In the device manager I do not see a mouse and pointing devices section. I have tried other alps drivers and what not any help is most appreciated.

 

Correction now, fixed the Video controller, now just the PCI device, and touchpad still not working.