M
mlai
OK. Just finished installing Vista x86 Business (RTM) on my TX17GP.
Relatively ok. Some thoughts on the whole process.....
First the machine specs:
Intel P-M ULV 1.2G
1.5GB DDR2-RAM
Intel 915GMS chipset
Internal DVD+RW DL.
SD/MS reader.
60G Hard Drive (7GB is a recovery partition)
So pretty standard and basic stuff.
Preliminaries:
1) Machine is not certified (no sticker) Vista Capable. So not
guaranteed to work. (But it went ok).
2) Intel 915GMS chipset DOES NOT SUPPORT DX9. So NO AERO.
3) The sound is a standard Realtek module. And it went ok.
4) None of the Sony software or driver (except the flash device drivers)
work under Vista. So don't bother downloading and installing......
What I did:
1) VERY IMPORTANT! As in any change of OS, BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM!!! I done
this via Acronis TI 10 to a USB hard disk. Took 2 hours but I am pretty
sure it is worth having for peace of mind........
2) Download the following from Intel:
Current Intel Chipset Utility
Intel Proset driver for the Ethernet. (Any one of them will do. It
is a Pro 100/VM. I followed Pro 100/VE)
Intel Graphics Driver for GMA 900. I got to the right one by
following the download pages for the 915GMS chipset. Just use the XP driver
will do as Intel does not plan on (or rather, cannot do) a WDDM driver fot
he chipset.
3) Download the Flash Device driver from your Sony VAIO support pages.
Very important. This is the only piece of hardware that Vista did not
recognise as show up as unknown device. Vista will not be able to down
update driver for this flash controller either.
4) Put in the Vista x86 DVD (Don't put in a x64 disc as the system will
not support it). And let it run. It took my system a good 40-50 mins (lost
track of exactly how long as I stepped away to do different things), after
it started copying and expanding files.
5) On first boot and after you logged in, all the devices are pretty much
automatically recognised (even the sound) except for the flash device. If
you have network connectivity, Vista will go to the update site
automatically and download several Sony PIO drivers. Nice and simple.
6) But you will need to manually install the flash device drivers from sony
web site.
7) Then I go ahead and installed Intel Chipset Utils, Proset driver for the
ethernet (the one on vista is kinda old), and the GMA900. Don't bother
installing Intel Wireless drivers and they will not install under vista.
I've tried......
8) Sound works ok by itself. But just as a habbit, I went to the Realtek
site to download the 1.53 driver for sound and it works ok. A little bit of
stuttering on startup but once the system is up, it works quite ok.
9) Sony does not have updated BT drivers for Vista yet but you can search
on the net to look for Toshiba BT Vista driver, which will point you to
download the (beta?) package for Toshiba M400. And it is working on the
TX17GP which has Toshiba based BT device. Be warned: The native Toshiba
driver will not allow you to connect to non-SCMT-S compliant A2DP devices
(bummer). And it could be a limited 30-days trial (I haven't confirmed this
yet.)
After that, everything basic works fine. But none of the hotkeys will work
because it depends on the Sony DLL which doesn't seem to function under
Vista. I have installed the packages from Sony and updated them but still
nothing works.
Otherwise, so far so good. System is not more sluggish (actually slightly
faster than) when I was using XP SP2......
Good luck.
Relatively ok. Some thoughts on the whole process.....
First the machine specs:
Intel P-M ULV 1.2G
1.5GB DDR2-RAM
Intel 915GMS chipset
Internal DVD+RW DL.
SD/MS reader.
60G Hard Drive (7GB is a recovery partition)
So pretty standard and basic stuff.
Preliminaries:
1) Machine is not certified (no sticker) Vista Capable. So not
guaranteed to work. (But it went ok).
2) Intel 915GMS chipset DOES NOT SUPPORT DX9. So NO AERO.
3) The sound is a standard Realtek module. And it went ok.
4) None of the Sony software or driver (except the flash device drivers)
work under Vista. So don't bother downloading and installing......
What I did:
1) VERY IMPORTANT! As in any change of OS, BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM!!! I done
this via Acronis TI 10 to a USB hard disk. Took 2 hours but I am pretty
sure it is worth having for peace of mind........
2) Download the following from Intel:
Current Intel Chipset Utility
Intel Proset driver for the Ethernet. (Any one of them will do. It
is a Pro 100/VM. I followed Pro 100/VE)
Intel Graphics Driver for GMA 900. I got to the right one by
following the download pages for the 915GMS chipset. Just use the XP driver
will do as Intel does not plan on (or rather, cannot do) a WDDM driver fot
he chipset.
3) Download the Flash Device driver from your Sony VAIO support pages.
Very important. This is the only piece of hardware that Vista did not
recognise as show up as unknown device. Vista will not be able to down
update driver for this flash controller either.
4) Put in the Vista x86 DVD (Don't put in a x64 disc as the system will
not support it). And let it run. It took my system a good 40-50 mins (lost
track of exactly how long as I stepped away to do different things), after
it started copying and expanding files.
5) On first boot and after you logged in, all the devices are pretty much
automatically recognised (even the sound) except for the flash device. If
you have network connectivity, Vista will go to the update site
automatically and download several Sony PIO drivers. Nice and simple.
6) But you will need to manually install the flash device drivers from sony
web site.
7) Then I go ahead and installed Intel Chipset Utils, Proset driver for the
ethernet (the one on vista is kinda old), and the GMA900. Don't bother
installing Intel Wireless drivers and they will not install under vista.
I've tried......
8) Sound works ok by itself. But just as a habbit, I went to the Realtek
site to download the 1.53 driver for sound and it works ok. A little bit of
stuttering on startup but once the system is up, it works quite ok.
9) Sony does not have updated BT drivers for Vista yet but you can search
on the net to look for Toshiba BT Vista driver, which will point you to
download the (beta?) package for Toshiba M400. And it is working on the
TX17GP which has Toshiba based BT device. Be warned: The native Toshiba
driver will not allow you to connect to non-SCMT-S compliant A2DP devices
(bummer). And it could be a limited 30-days trial (I haven't confirmed this
yet.)
After that, everything basic works fine. But none of the hotkeys will work
because it depends on the Sony DLL which doesn't seem to function under
Vista. I have installed the packages from Sony and updated them but still
nothing works.
Otherwise, so far so good. System is not more sluggish (actually slightly
faster than) when I was using XP SP2......
Good luck.