So I Did A New Install Of Windows 7...

[necronx99]

Hmmm I put recovery disk 1 (of 3) in the drive and restarted my laptop.

Nothing happened.....Windows 7 started normally.

How do I get this to begin?

press f8 repeatedly while it is booting, you should get a menu to choose a cd boot

[Pseudolus]

Just before you give up

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/484317

http://www.sony-mea....download/409849

have you downloaded viao care yet? If not do so. It will then take care of most of these problems for you. It will scan your pc and work out what needs to be down loaded and the make everything ok. Always been very impressed with how this works.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Pseudolus

[Jiu-Jitsu]

An update.

I have installed all of the drivers with the exception of...

Graphics Driver Intel type 32. The computer won't support it. (probably need a better graphics card I guess)

Wireless Lan Driver Intel 32

Ethernet Driver Marvell 32

These have a document which when opened I believe give installation instructions for different machines and versions but I've no idea how to utilise them.

Edit: I haven't installed any of the applications yet as I'm not sure which ones to install.

Also for any other drivers do I need to get them from the Vista section on the Sony website?

The pointer not working properly is a pain!

Did you attempt to install the Graphics Driver by right clicking on the Setup file and choosing 'Run As Adminstrator'? Ditto Wireless LAN. The Ethernet Driver is probably installed via the Device Manager. Choosing to update the Driver and then navigating to the folder that you extracted from the 'Marvell' zip file.

As for the Touchpad, you can use this.

[jacnl2000]

Hmmm I put recovery disk 1 (of 3) in the drive and restarted my laptop.

Nothing happened.....Windows 7 started normally.

How do I get this to begin?

press f8 repeatedly while it is booting, you should get a menu to choose a cd boot

Please read the troubleshooting manual of your model at pag. 21.

Here, by repeatedly pressing F8, you do have the opportunity to recover from a hidden recovery partition on your original harddrive, so when you are stil using the original well working harddrive and have not explicitly deleted that recovery partition you do not really need to use recovery disks. However, I would not go back to the original Vista system and then update that OS to Win 7. As I see it, you will run into exactly the same hardware related driver problems. Better try to solve them now.

Edited March 27, 2012 by jacnl2000

[smokie36]

An update.

I have installed all of the drivers with the exception of...

Graphics Driver Intel type 32. The computer won't support it. (probably need a better graphics card I guess)

Wireless Lan Driver Intel 32

Ethernet Driver Marvell 32

These have a document which when opened I believe give installation instructions for different machines and versions but I've no idea how to utilise them.

Edit: I haven't installed any of the applications yet as I'm not sure which ones to install.

Also for any other drivers do I need to get them from the Vista section on the Sony website?

The pointer not working properly is a pain!

Did you attempt to install the Graphics Driver by right clicking on the Setup file and choosing 'Run As Adminstrator'? Ditto Wireless LAN. The Ethernet Driver is probably installed via the Device Manager. Choosing to update the Driver and then navigating to the folder that you extracted from the 'Marvell' zip file.

As for the Touchpad, you can use this.

Thanks Jiu-Jitsu. Touchpad is now working properly.

I will look at the other issues later today. The sun is shining so time for a swim!

[smokie36]

Just before you give up

http://www.sony-asia...download/484317

http://www.sony-mea....download/409849

have you downloaded viao care yet? If not do so. It will then take care of most of these problems for you. It will scan your pc and work out what needs to be down loaded and the make everything ok. Always been very impressed with how this works.

Hmm I downloaded this but it doesn't seem to do much at all other than try to get me to buy an advanced tool.

[smokie36]

An update.

I have installed all of the drivers with the exception of...

Graphics Driver Intel type 32. The computer won't support it. (probably need a better graphics card I guess)

Wireless Lan Driver Intel 32

Ethernet Driver Marvell 32

These have a document which when opened I believe give installation instructions for different machines and versions but I've no idea how to utilise them.

Edit: I haven't installed any of the applications yet as I'm not sure which ones to install.

Also for any other drivers do I need to get them from the Vista section on the Sony website?

The pointer not working properly is a pain!

Did you attempt to install the Graphics Driver by right clicking on the Setup file and choosing 'Run As Adminstrator'? Ditto Wireless LAN. The Ethernet Driver is probably installed via the Device Manager. Choosing to update the Driver and then navigating to the folder that you extracted from the 'Marvell' zip file.

As for the Touchpad, you can use this.

Thanks Jiu-Jitsu. Touchpad is now working properly.

I will look at the other issues later today. The sun is shining so time for a swim!

OK In Device Manager I see that I have the following working properly.

Intel ® WiFi Link 5100 AGN

Marvell Yukon 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

I've also remembered that the button at the front of the laptop to switch on/off wifi is broken.

Apologies as I don't use wifi much with the laptop now I have an Itouch.

The only real problem I'm noticing now is the keyboard alignment is wrong. I tried going into Control Panel and changing it but it only seems to offer US English.

Any suggestions?

[smokie36]

Now my laptop tells me I need to install

Sony Firmware Extension Parser

Here is what it offers by way of advice. This does not work and the advice doesn't reflect the mapping on the Sony site either. Very frustrating.

1. 
   Click to go online to the Sony website
   
2. 
   Under Log-in option2: Select your VAIO model, next to Select Category, click the drop-down list, and then click the appropriate category.
   
3. 
   Next to Select Model, click the drop-down list, click the model for your computer, and then click Log in.
   How do I find my Sony Firmware Extension Parser model?
   Click the Start button , type msinfo32 in the search box, and then press Enter. The Sony Firmware Extension Parser model is listed as the System Model in the right pane.
   
   • If you're unable to find your computer model, check the documentation that came with your computer, visit the manufacturer's website, or contact the manufacturer.
     

[*]

Click the Updates tab to look for available updates.

[*]

Click the Sony Firmware Extension Parser driver from the list of available drivers.

[*]

Read the disclaimer, and then click Agree if you accept the terms.

[*]

Download and extract the driver files

1. 
   Click Save or Save as, and then save the file to your desktop. If you can’t choose where to save the file, you’ll need to find it and copy it to your desktop. When you download files, most web browsers save them to the Downloads folder on your computer.
   
2. 
   To extract the contents of the compressed folder, right-click the folder you saved to the desktop, click Extract All or Extract Here, and then follow the instructions.
   
3. 
   Double-click the extracted folder to view its contents.
   Note
   If the folder contains a readme file, release notes or installation instructions, we recommend you read that information before starting the installation.
   

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Instructions:

Go to Start > Control Panel > Select Change Display Language

Click on Change Keyboards

Select Default Language

Select English (United Kingdom) - United Kingdom

You should have Installed Services below;

EN - English United Kingdom

Keyboard

*United Kingdom

Now, Click on the keyboard option, and click add.

Scroll to your default language and select United Kingdom Extended(you may have to select *show more* , now make sure that it appears above the original so it should appear as;

EN - English United Kingdom

Keyboard

*United Kingdom Extended

*United Kingdom

Click Ok to exit, this should solve your issue, also make sure that you have set your location and formats to English United Kingdom(This can be accessed from the region and language, follow step 1.

[smokie36]

Thanks Jiu Jitsu! That has solved the keyboard issue.

Just one other thing...what is this on my screen? Its linked to the half arrow thing at the bottom left.

[billd766]

Instructions:

Go to Start > Control Panel > Select Change Display Language

Click on Change Keyboards

Select Default Language

Select English (United Kingdom) - United Kingdom

You should have Installed Services below;

EN - English United Kingdom

Keyboard

*United Kingdom

Now, Click on the keyboard option, and click add.

Scroll to your default language and select United Kingdom Extended(you may have to select *show more* , now make sure that it appears above the original so it should appear as;

EN - English United Kingdom

Keyboard

*United Kingdom Extended

*United Kingdom

Click Ok to exit, this should solve your issue, also make sure that you have set your location and formats to English United Kingdom(This can be accessed from the region and language, follow step 1.

If you select English UK as the default keyboard the @ will be in the " key and the other way around.

To get them in the correct place you need to select the EN US keyboard.

I updated my laptop on Friday and have the same problem.

You can have many languages and keyboards but only one will be the default and you can swap between them by selecting the langauge icon at the bottom right of the screen.

Mine has EN US, EN UK and TH for Thai but EN UK is the default which I ought to change really.

[smokie36]

Keyboard issue. Solved...

Edited April 3, 2012 by smokie36