Sony vaio SZ Japanese to english?

Its not hard to convert one to english. You mainly just need an english version of XP Home/Pro and the drivers for the laptop. Once you have these, reinstallation should not be difficult, just make sure to install drivers in the right order.

I have not done this (Japanese > English) but I have installed Chinese Windows XP onto systems that had English, there was no problems that I encountered.

If I were you I would stay clear of Sony in Japan. They are terrible. I live in Tokyo and purchased a new FT50B 2.5 months ago for 230,000 yen from BicCamera. You can install english OS on them. But, as stated earlier you have to do it in a certain order. And, unlike the US sony sites where they tell you what order to do a fresh install of the OS in. They say they do not support that here in Japan and do not even offer the same courtesy to their customers on their own home turf no less!. Now, You can probably follow the US instructions for it and be ok.

But, it is a giant pain matching up the japanese drivers/software. I was going through the process but have not been able to complete this as of yet. Because, I had the laptop for 1.5 months and during Golden week it died. Now, something shorted out the power management module on it. I sent it back to Sony, they sent it back to me. 3 weeks later it dies again!. Now, they are coming to pick it up this Sunday.

I grilled them on what they did to troubleshoot this issue before. And they admitted to me that they dont know what caused it before and simply reset the module and sent it back to me without a doing a proper diagnosis. So, my conclusion. A new model laptop starts showing power issues and they cant be bothered to look into it properly and flog it off back to the customer. I wasted my money with them and the minute I get this thing back it is going up on yahoo auctions at a loss of probably about 70,000 yen.

Thanks Sony. But not all is lost. I control IT purchases for certain parts of our business. I will ensure and fight tooth an nail that we do not purchase another piece of Sony kit for any sales person that jumps up and down wanting one because it looks cool. I made the mistake of going against my better judgement and buying Sony. If I were you i would go down the lines of Toshiba. I just did an english conversion of an OS on a dynabook a few weeks back with no hickups.

Just my experience with them.

I don't think it would be that problematic to install English onto what was a japanese system. Look at dynamism, they sell Japanese SZ models with english OS on it. That has to show that its definetly not impossible.

As for tokyotechy, uhh please add paragraphs and stuff to your post. Its harder to read the way you are posting.

Sounds like you got a bad service, whether that applies to all Sony repairs, I honestly don't know but I doubt it. I've read good service repairs and bad ones, not just with Sony, with lots of companies. And if you never want to use Sony again, thats your option but keep in mind that other companies can have this type of 'bad' service as well, just its uncommon.

Sorry Lyshen,

But it is problematic. Unless you have tried it you can only guess. As I stated in the previous post. The US site hands out instructions on what order to install a fresh OS on. So, what order to install the drivers in to achieve a proper working unit. If you do not do it in this order things go flakey.

The Japanese site. DOES NOT even have these instructions. And, a call to Sony support here in Japan will get you a. We do not support doing that answer. So as I stated in my earlier post. It will probably work if he follows the US instructions on the Japanese unit.

I had not got around to rebuilding my unit as of yet because it has been broken for 20 days of the 3 months I have had it. That is I did not get around to rebuilding it to the US document. I did however have a go at slapping the drivers on in what was to me a logical order. But, was unable to get the sound drivers to be detected for whatever reason. So, next time when it comes back I will sell it. But, I suggest others try to use the US document to give theirs a nice new install.

To the original poster. Once you get the english OS on it I would stick the MUI on it as well. You can then get a Japanese logon account back incase you want to use it in both environments.

So my other point being is that Sony are not as helpful here in Japan as they are in the USA so he can expect to go at the conversion without even a silly pdf saying what order to slap the drivers on.

I am sorry, but for a Japanese manufacturer to offer such a doc to foreign clients and not even on their own turf. That is just sad. So yes, my choice will always be Toshiba for our company. It is a well known fact that Sony is consumer electronics company and not a business one. To support their products in a business environment is more of a pain than others.

And that is why I said in the earlier post. This is MY experience so it is pretty obvious that not everyone's experience will be like this (in regards to service) but in regards to supporting their laptops. Yes it will. They have always been finicky with new OS builds. Ask any support person. Oh, sorry they are really easy if you want to use the default bloatware that they try to get you to install.

I understand how you would you feel frustrated with their lack of support.

Which does bring up a good question I have... Has anyone ever tried calling Sony US for support on installing a foreign OS, like XP Chinese or whatever version?

Sorry to the original post once again,

I just spent 20 mins trying to find a link to the doc on the sony site but it is a bit of job searching their support area. I came across it through some other vaio forums one time. So no longer have the link. But, it was there.

Ya, calling US support is a good option. But, I strongly suspect we will get a sorry dont support that model over here answer. As, for example, mine is only available here in Japan as are many others.

One thing I had started to do before it went bust also you may want to try. Before going through all the hassle of installing a new OS. Install something called VMware, get a demo if you can, and it will allow you to install multiple Virtual machines on your system. The bonus of doing this is you can fille with driver installs in a virtual way. So, you do not have to render your laptop unworkable while you play with the setup. Once you achieve an ideal working model within VMware.

Then apply that procedure to the base operating system.

It may or may not work. Just another thing to try I guess.

I bought my SZ in Taiwan, at the official Sony shop. They installed an English OS on it as a replacement for the Chinese version. They originally wanted to add an extra $2-300 for it but eventually installed it for free it as part of the deal. It seems to be an official version because it fits the label on the bottom and I could register it et all.

What worries me is what to do if I have to re-install the OS. The recovery OS on the machine itself is the Chinese one. I did receive a recovery DVD but it is obviously something they burned on the spot and I would be warry trying to recover my system using that one. Normally I would try out the recovery options/DVD but here I just don't dare and I am waiting the moment I really need to do so to confront the problem.

BTW - what does Tokyo means by "shortening the power management"? Does it have anything to do with changing the spec related to the fan trigger? I have this problem of the fan going on wild at a relatively low temperature and wonder if maybe there is something wrong with the system they installed or the sequence of drivers they used or something.

Getting support from Sony is not easy because there is no Sony laptop support in the country where I live and anyway the machine does not come with an international warranty (which is a shame). Calling in Taiwan, or writing, is a bit hopeless because of their limited English (and my more than limited Chinese, not to say completely nill Chinese). I am trying to get support from Sony Singapore now but not sure if they will attend to my desperate needs.

I`m in tokyo too. Where is the best (cheapest) place to get a sony SZ?

Ramaswamy,
For ur fingerprint reader, u need to install Protector Suite GL 5.3.
for the shutdown freeze problem, theres a hot fix available. pls refer this link
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=46619

Just a guess but is "Protector Sweat GL 3.5" Japanese software? If so you might need to set your "Default Language for non-Unicode programs" to Japanese to get it to install. That won't change your menus or anything else to Japanese and you can probably set it back after you've finished installing.

I've run into a few Japanese programs that required that.

What I really wanted to ask though is.....How do you like your SZ? I've looking for a notebook

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...kv-ewsUV7IMVfA

I keep waffling on whether to go cheap and low-powered for web and email only or something with a 3d card for possible work (I do realtime 3d stuff). The SZ is on my shortening list.

I have a FS92S, japanese model
I installed English Windows XP
The hotkey (FN), audio and modem drivers of the DVD Recovery didn't work.

I had to download american drivers from this site:
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/Vaio/Original/
And

Take a look here too:
http://esupport.sony.com/EN/osmig/xpclean.html


But i have a problem to install Vaio Applications
The sofware that installs Vaio Applications don't load,
because DVD Recovery don't recognize my note like a Vaio.

Sorry about my bad english

Some programs that will not install on the vaio unless it is the same region, like japan. Just for the same reason I could not run the yahoobb software on my english pc, without tricking it. You were able to install english xp, see now if you can install the japanese vaio apps. It should work. As far as the english vaio apps, i am sorry you are probably out of luck.

--k1tty

hi ramaswamykn,

I am suresh, living in tokyo. I am from TN, india.

Wud like to buy vaio sz.Can I go for japanese vaio sz and install english windows xp. Did u succeed in installing english os. If so which one is good owner made or standard stuff.please reply, I am in confusion.

suresh

thx K1tty
I'll try

Suresh

It depends how much do you want to spend, the aplications etc.

If you want to see the models:
http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Business...t/S/index.html

But if you buy Owner Made in a store, you don't receive card points ( from Yodobashi or Bic Camera for example ) because they use the site to do the request.

ken-ichi san,

thank you.

vaio sz premium looks good for me.

is it possible to install english os without any issues(driver problem etc).
for eg, if I partition my system and load english os (without removing japanese os) will it work.
finger print sensor,
bluetooth,
motioneye,
dvd drive,
wlan,
all these will work without any issues ?

any idea ??

Thanks in advance
Suresh