Topic: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

I hope I am not posting this request in the wrong forum?

I bought a Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E Laptop which came with Vista. I hate Vista and so I (with great difficulty and by spending extra $150) got XP installed. The problem now ofcourse is finding the drivers. So far the USB ports are working but no sound, the AV Mode button is not working, can't find the driver for the modem, and so on....

I will be really very grateful if someone can help me find the drivers for my Laptop. Also, how can I make my XP CD recognize the SATA drive (when I boot with the XP CD). This is where that guy charged me $150 but though I don;t know the details, but he certainly did not install any SATA drivers because when I try to boot with Norton Ghost or Acronis boot disk, they too do not find the SATA harddisk.


Once again, can someone please help.

Many many advance thanks.

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

morland wrote:

I hope I am not posting this request in the wrong forum?

We'll see.
If so, I can easily move this around, so fear not smile

I bought a Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E Laptop which came with Vista. I hate Vista and so I (with great difficulty and by spending extra $150) got XP installed.

That sounds like a scam to me.
AFAIK, Microsoft offers customers a downgrade from Vista to XP (obviously losing the Vista licence in the process but who cares...), for free!
You could also have tried getting a model with XP instead of Vista (they still exist, due to large demand), in case there is one with the same HW...

The problem now ofcourse is finding the drivers. So far the USB ports are working but no sound, the AV Mode button is not working, can't find the driver for the modem, and so on....

USB is supported "out-of-the-box" if you're using XP SP2.
Sound probably needs the HDA hotfix (KB888111) installed to work.
The DriverPacks will install this hotfix if it is not present.

I will be really very grateful if someone can help me find the drivers for my Laptop.

Have you already tried the DriverPacks?

Ususally it goes like this:
You slipstream them into your source using the BASE, then you install with that modified source and see what device drivers are missing, if any.
Then you report that here, along with the logfiles and your HWIDs, so we can see what's up.

Also, how can I make my XP CD recognize the SATA drive (when I boot with the XP CD).

The DriverPacks will do this.
You need to use the DPMS with Text Mode enabled.

This is where that guy charged me $150 but though I don;t know the details, but he certainly did not install any SATA drivers because when I try to boot with Norton Ghost or Acronis boot disk, they too do not find the SATA harddisk.

If you current OS does work (I presume XP got installed on the machine now? Wonder what type of guy that is who sells a preinstalled OS but doesn't bother to include proper drivers... --> sounds even more like scam), then the drivers must have been installed, else it wouldn't boot up...
Obviously, any bootable media must include the drivers themselves in order to find and access your HDDs.
Those boot discs will NOT use the drivers from the OS on your HDD to work.
If you come to think of it, how whould that work? If it cannot see/access the HDD due to lack of drivers, how whould the boot app "extract" them from there?
Same as leaving your keys in the car and slamming the door shut --> no way to obtain keys... wink


Once again, can someone please help.

Many many advance thanks.

You're more than welcome to try out the DriverPacks, if you haven't already.
In theory, that should solve most if not all of your current problems big_smile

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

Sounds like you already have the OS installed and want a "drivers only" disk of DriverPacks that can be installed into an existing version of windows.

Check out these links, it should help you use DriverPacks that way:
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=960

http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=1756

Last edited by TigerC10 (2007-08-12 04:24:39)

~TigerC10~

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

Hi Helmi and TigerC10,

Thank you for your replies.

Helmi: From your reply I infer that downloading and installing the DriverPack will solve everything???? I am not sure what the DriverPack is but I assume the URL's posted by TigerC10 will lead me straight to where I can download the DriverPack from?  Can you kindly confirm my assumption and guide me if I have mis-understood your reply.

BTW, thanks to both of you for the extremely helpful and friendly replies.

Regards.

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

Sorryyy... Ooppppss......just visited the links shared by Tiger and I could not find any link to download the DriverPack...Instead the URL's ae talking about something else??? Sorry if my post sounds silly/stupid.

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

hi

tutorial, see signature
the tute has all links.

method one makes a searchable BIG driverfolder, called $OEM$, which is what some use method one for.

The answer was 42?
Kind regards, Jaak.

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

morland, the DriverPacks can be downloaded from the main site (I have had problems with the packs when I download more than one at a time)
http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/

The links I provided explain how to use DriverPacks in a way more suited to your needs, but you should read Jaak's tutorial about how to use the DriverPacks normally (you'll want this experience for doing the stuff in the links I provided).

Last edited by TigerC10 (2007-08-12 05:25:53)

~TigerC10~

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

Many thanks Jaak and TigerC10,

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it smile   Will go through Jaak's tutorial and then will go through your link in detail. I hope I'll get past this ordeal soon??? sad

P.S
Am about to go through Jaak's tutorial but one quick question: Do I have to download all of the 11 DriversPack or ???   I understand that I will certainly be needing the DriverPacks BASE to slipstream them.

Last edited by morland (2007-08-12 11:34:00)

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

Driver issues are terribly annoying things.  It's like the thorn in the lion's paw...  Not life threatening but oh so irritating.  God Bless DriverPacks.

~TigerC10~

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

morland wrote:

Helmi: From your reply I infer that downloading and installing the DriverPack will solve everything???? I am not sure what the DriverPack is but I assume the URL's posted by TigerC10 will lead me straight to where I can download the DriverPack from?  Can you kindly confirm my assumption and guide me if I have mis-understood your reply.

Hey, if you haven't noticed it already, you're posting on the DriverPacks official forum!
I am wondering a bit how you got here if you haven't heared about the DriverPacks itself before wink

If you scroll to the very top, the link on the very left will take you to the DriverPacks many page, you can DL the required packages from there!

morland wrote:

P.S
Am about to go through Jaak's tutorial but one quick question: Do I have to download all of the 11 DriversPack or ???   I understand that I will certainly be needing the DriverPacks BASE to slipstream them.

Yes, you do need the BASE no matter what.
You can then either DL and use all DriverPacks or just pick those that you want/need.
They are categorized by general HW classes.
In your case, you will need the DPMS and you will also need to enable the option for Text Mode drivers (thet tut should cover that, too).
According to your first post, you will also want the DriverPack Sound A as well as the 3rd party DriverPack Modem (you will find that one not on the main page but in the 3rd party DriverPack subforum on this board! Just scroll down a little on the index page).

If you do not have to worry about space because you opwn a DVD burner, I suggest DLing all the packs (including 3rd party DriverPack) so you get as much HW covered as possible.
There's no downside in using them all apart from having to DL more and needing more space on the disc (ok, installation will take longer, but it would probabaly take even longer if you have to manually install all those drivers wink).

Re: Trial & tribulations - Sony VAIO VGN-FZ104E

Thank you for the reply and clarification Helmi.

I have downloaded all the drivers and can I post back for more help (with many advance thanks) once I have gone through Jaak's tutorial and the links you provided (explaining how to use DriverPacks in a way more suited to my needs).

Regards.