VAIO card reader and 4GB SD cards - TX850, UX180, SZ230, SZ280 users please help

Sony uses the TI PCI7411 flash media controller to power the SD/MemoryStick reader.
This reader doesn't recognize 4GB SD secure digital cards out of the box and it is
very annoying if you have one of these cards.

I'm convinced with the proper FlashMedia controller driver, the SD port can be made
to understand 4GB cards. I have no problems with the 4GB SD card (Transcend 150x 4GB)
in my other readers even very old ones like Sandisk SDDR-88 USB external reader,
Soyo BayOne Genesys Logic GL817E based desktop card reader, and Dell E1705 Ricoh-based
card reader, as well as Canon SD300 digital elph camera, and iPAQ 2210 PocketPC PDA.

Before someone mentions SDHC (SD2.0), really it isn't necessary to have SDHC to support
4GB, but it does standardize 4GB support by introducing FAT32 filesystem support officially
into the SD spec. In effect the SDHC cards now cost 3x as much as the current SD cards
which have non-standardized 4GB support but have new packaging and "SDHC" logo. While it
is nice to have 4GB standardized, the increased price (for the same material) is not nice
and it doesn't help the Vaio either because the chances we will get SDHC upgrade are slim
to none.

Anyway I noticed people with other integrated laptop media controllers based on TI chipset
having success getting 4GB SD secure digital cards to read with newer drivers and registry
entries. These drivers are all related and the hardware design is based on reference platforms
so this leads me to believe the Vaio's media controller can be made to understand 4GB cards.
The PCIxx21 chipset is the same as PCI7411 but it has 2 PCMCIA controllers vs 1.


Forum post detailing success getting PCIxx21 (chipset in the same family as PCI7411)
working with 4GB SD secure digital flash cards using Sager notebook drivers.
http://www.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re...fm/517257.html


Forum post detailing success with getting Inspiron 700M to recognize larger capacity
SD secure digital cards using Packard Bell drivers.
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...sage.id=218308


I tried both Sager and Packard Bell drivers on the Vaio TX750 but it didn't recognize
my 4GB Transcend SD card. The drivers also behave slightly differently in that the
drive letters for the memory slots are not always available, rather they dynamically
appear when you insert the card in. I'm thinking the Sony drivers are slightly customized
and I might need Sony versions of the drivers. I went looking for newer drivers on the
Sony website and noticed that the latest version available for TX750 is 2.0.0.9 while the
latest versions for the TX850, UX180, and SZ230, SZ280 are 2.0.0.11

Unfortunately I cannot unpack these drivers as the machine checks says they are not intended
for my laptop. If any TX850, UX180, SZ230, or SZ280 users out there can help out and unpack
the files on their machines that would help out alot. When you run the install there is probably
a temp directory created with the unpacked files. It will probably be cleaned up once the
install finishes so you need to copy the folder before then.

Alternately if one of those users could test out 4GB SD card support using 2.0.0.11 drivers
that would help also.


Texas Instruments PCI7411 Integrated FlashMedia Controller drivers on Sony Support site.

TX750 2.0.0.9
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=2090&os_id=7

TX850 2.0.0.11
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=2135&os_id=7

UX180 2.0.0.11
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=2135&os_id=7

SZ230 2.0.0.11
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=2135&os_id=7

SZ280 2.0.0.11
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=2135&os_id=7

Well, I downloaded the newer 2.0.0.11 drivers and tried the SDParam registry entry. No luck getting 4GB to read. Also tried changing the SD slot to SD+SDIO and SD+MMC+SDIO using the SDSwitch registry entry. By default it is configured for SDIO. Still can't read the 4GB card.

If anyone has suggestions I'd be glad to try them.

Success!!!

The power of the Internet prevails. Someone got enough inspiration from reading
my post to discover a solution to the 4GB SD card problem for their HP notebook.

They were kind enough to update my thread with their solution and I tried it on
the Sony VAIO VGN-TX750P and it works!

Credit to goes to MFB for posting the solution:
http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh...16#post1095416
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...s.cfm?t=517257
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10468

I will simplify and update the instructions for Sony VAIO TX750 users:

1) Download the updated TI Media Card Driver (SP33416.exe) from here:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/fi...oad/23750.html

2) Run SP33416.exe
Answer the prompts and proceed with install

3) When install is done, you will have lost the permanent drive D: Memory Stick
and drive E: SD/MMC. This is ok as the new driver responds to events rather than
having permanent drives available and when you insert a memory card, a new drive
will automatically appear.

4) Insert your 4GB SD card and you should hear the new hardware ding sound and
your 4GB card will show up as a drive. I tested with 4GB Transcend 150X SD card
and it works great.

One minor caveat is the 4GB SD card is not automatically recognized after resume
from standby or hibernate. This is not that big a problem because you can just
remove and insert the card and it will then be recognized.

Before your install, you were running the Sony/TI 2.0.0.9 driver

After your install you will be running the TI PCxx21 2.0.0.6 driver dated 7/6/2006