Vaio desktop - would really like to install "real" Windows out of the box...

[Bill Halvorsen]

I have the VGC-RA820G Vaio desktop by Sony. Nice machine. Originally I
thought of setting it up for some home theater type stuff, but I already
have a standalone DVD recorder, Tivo, and a cable box with HDD that does
hi-def. So the Sony will no use of the "Media Center." I record to CD and
DVD with Easy Media Creator 7.5 (and most of that is capturing old analog
audio and video). It works fine. I find Sony's "included" software - I
don't know how to describe it, I find it difficult to use and in fact video
capture won't even work unless Media Center is launched (whereas Easy
Whatever Creator works just fine having "found" the analog capture source
(composite input).

A recent experience with a system file that got corrupted reminded me how
terribly limited and fragile this "OS with the computer" thing really is.
I'm used to using XP's tools to do whatever is required to fix Windows.

However, the Sony comes with many programs I just don't want, and I don't
like the scenario where you're trying to replace a system file and get
prompted to "insert Windows XP Pro disc 2." Oops.

Sony's answer: I'm free, of course, to do whatever I want, but if I install
"real" Windows sans Media Center, from a real boxed retail version of
Windows, then they will no longer support my computer. I don't really care,
technical support is useless anyway. What makes me uncomfortable is that
they also said "your guarantee will be void." Hmmm. Well, the 1-year
Sony-backed guarantee is up, now it's on the Best Buy thing. Reading
through the information there, I don't know if a hardware failure would be
fixed or not if I installed an OS that did not ship with the computer.
This is my first experience with an OS-included computer, ever since my
first 386 my computers were used with off-the-shelf Windows.

I've researched the "drivers issue" and I think everything would be OK, with
one question mark. This computer has a propreitary tuner/MPEG encoder card,
and I can't find a driver on the Sony site. I don't use the computer for a
TV and have never even tried the tuner, but video capture works just fine as
mentioned above with Easy Media Creator.

If anyone has ever done this with a Vaio I'd like to know if all was well
with Windows and a few downloaded drivers.

Thanks - Bill

 

[pcbutts1]

Those drivers are on your recovery cd's. If you noticed there are
Application and system cd's. Most can be got from Sony but you have to talk
to upper lever techs to get them. My system was 2 years old and I was not
the original owner and I got help still. Best Buy warranty does not care
what OS is installed.

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[Bill Halvorsen]

Thanks for the advice. Don't know why but I can't 'explore' the recovery CD
or DVD's. I'll have to look into it some more, but it would be nice to have
this machine free of junkware. I know some things are safe to remove (like
AOL) but others would destroy Media Center (which is OK, since I never use
it) but might cause other problems as well.

When I called tech support about the system file problem I asked to escalate
and was told basically that it didn't matter who I talked to, the Sony
answer is to nuke and recover (and spend many hours reinstalling apps).
"That is the only way to correct such problems" was the wisdom dispensed.

Thanks again.

 

[DanS]

I have the VGC-RA820G Vaio desktop by Sony. Nice machine. Originally
I thought of setting it up for some home theater type stuff, but I
already have a standalone DVD recorder, Tivo, and a cable box with HDD
that does hi-def. So the Sony will no use of the "Media Center." I
record to CD and DVD with Easy Media Creator 7.5 (and most of that is
capturing old analog audio and video). It works fine. I find Sony's
"included" software - I don't know how to describe it, I find it
difficult to use and in fact video capture won't even work unless
Media Center is launched (whereas Easy Whatever Creator works just
fine having "found" the analog capture source (composite input).

A recent experience with a system file that got corrupted reminded me
how terribly limited and fragile this "OS with the computer" thing
really is. I'm used to using XP's tools to do whatever is required to
fix Windows.

However, the Sony comes with many programs I just don't want, and I
don't like the scenario where you're trying to replace a system file
and get prompted to "insert Windows XP Pro disc 2." Oops.

So just un-install the Sony-included programs you don't want, although
some manual cleaning may be necessary. I've gone thru this scenario with
several Dell machine's as well. Get rid of ALL worthless s/w, like
MusicMatch Jukebox......Trial versions of Norton
(anything)....Realplayer, the factory installed list goes on and
on....unfortunately.

As for replacing a system file, that has nothing to do with Sony. That IS
A feature (?) of XP. Just turn off 'System File Protection'.

From what I understand, MediaCenter is XP Pro with extra multimedia
extensions.