Cannot get Intel 3945ABG to work on Sony Vaio

[Guest]

computer I am running Vista RC1 on my Sony Vaio, and I am unable to get the
wireless card to work. Windows recognizes it and everything, and it is not
"disabled" by Windows' standard, but it will not work. The windows
troubleshooting says that the hardware switch for the device may be turned
off, thus not allowing it to run, but this is not the case. My wireless
switch is turned on.

Sony provides a little software tool to control the Bluetooth and WiFi, as
well as cell phone card, and it is doing a fine time of controlling the
bluetooth and cell-phone card, but it says that there is no wifi card that it
can control (it worked on XP before upgrade). There is an indicator light on
the laptop which shows when the Wifi card (Intel Proset Wireless 3945ABG) is
turned on, and it is now always off.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

What is your Sony laptop model name (e.g., VGN-A690)?

Dean

 

[Guest]

It is a Vaio VGN-SZ220.
What do you think?

-Denver

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Do you have any problems in Device Manager (Exclamation Points, Unknown
Device, etc.)? I'm assuming that you installed Vista as an upgrade to XP,
versus a clean install of Vista. While the following components might be on
your computer, your registry may not be up to snuff. Download and install
the following files from the two links given, in the following order (the
order is fairly important):


http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNSZ220&UpdateType=Original

1. Sony® Notebook Control Device Driver

2. Sony® Shared Library

3. Sony® Notebook Utilities

4. Sony® SmartWi™ Connection Utility

and

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNSZ220&upd_id=2287&os_id=7

5. VAIO® Event Service Update (09/13/2006)


The last update, while it talks about "monitors", is what got my Vaio
Laptop's buttons and function keys to finally work correctly on Vista,
including the auto-dimmer and DVD player eject button. My Wi-Fi button
works, too. After downloading, unblock each file in the file's properties
dialogue, on the General tab, and then Run each installer as Administrator,
by right-clicking on each (*.exe) file. While Sony at this point has no
Vista drivers or software, per se, the above, while meant for XP, should work
on Vista. Avoid downloading drivers from Sony that are not Vaio specific and
are for components from non-Sony manufacturers (e.g., display, network, sound
drivers, etc., as they should be Vista specific; there are some minor
exceptions, which I won't get into at this point). Let me know if you still
have problems, after trying this....

Hope this helps,
Dean

 

[Guest]

Oh my gosh, this completely fixed my problems!

Dean, thank you SO much for taking the time to post the thourough response
that you did, for it has saved me from reformatting my HD and reinstalling XP.

Thank you!!!


-Denver Root
Advanced Automation Inc.
(e-mail address removed)

 

[dean-dean]

Hi,

Glad to hear things worked out!

You might have do go through this again (D-Day 5/31/07) when Vista is
finally released for sale, depending on whether or not Sony accommodates
Vista users who have VAIO laptops preinstalled with XP. There's no peep, so
far, from Sony on the subject. So keep your list on hand....

Dean