Vaio A type. A190 - Page 2

Thanks for the bit of advise, but you are wrong. I have a VGN-A190. It did not come with bluetooth.

I have done my homework. If you buy the VGN-A190 retail, from CompUSA, Circuit City, J&R, or anywhere preconfigured, it does not come with bluetooth. It appears if you order it direct from sony, you can get the bluetooth option.

This may be enough evidence for you.

http://www.wrigleybum.com/bluetoothsm.JPG

You will notice my laptop does NOT have the bluetooth Icon like yours.

I have taken my laptop apart and noticed that I can probably add bluetooth using these sony parts.

180555411 - Bluetooth Module
A1058407A - CABLE,BT ANTENNA

Both of these parts can be found at http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/web/index.jsp

I can also buy a new plate that will have the bluetooth icon

468244901 -SE1 LENS PANEL CTO (with bluetooth icon)
or
468244911 -SE1 LENS PANEL CTO (without bluetooth icon)

I am going to go for the upgrade and try to do it myself. But maybe you could help me out. I do not have the software or the drivers for this feature.

Could one of you with a bluetooth enabled laptop send me the software/driver package for bluetooth?

I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, if anyone is thinking up upgrading their hdd to a 5400 80gb or a 7200 60gb, I think it is pretty easy. I could easily take some pictures of the insides and show you how to open up the laptop.

It took some digging, but I found a german site that had the information.

http://user2user.info/forum/notebook...asc&highlight=

If you follow the pictures, you can see how to get at the hard drive.

Hi,

Mine is actually a A170 CTO. I configurate the same as A190 but with 40GB HD and 256MB Ram only. Because I am switch the HD to 60GB 7200RPM and 1GB ram.

But... I have call Sony's 1800 # and the sales rep says the A190 is with bluetooth installed.

BTW,

Can you provide picture and directions (which screw to take off) for switch HD. I have follow the link, but I can't read German...
Thanks

oh ok... i actually have the a117s, which may be a british equivalent... but i supposed that all 17inch a series lappys come with bluetooth.... ??

i also dont have a bluetooth logo on the front.... just a discrete blue light when it is enabled in the way that i mentioned....

hmmmm....

krlock

sony website also says the a190 comes with integrated bluetooth... dont be fooled by the lack of logo on the front.... check the LAN box like i told you....

can anyone else confirm that the a190 is available without bluetooth??

krlock

Why does'nt anyone believe me?

This is what I own.
CompUSA - http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...936&pfp=BROWSE

J and R - http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=3981334

Best Buy - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....3&type=product

You will notice that none of the specs for these units mention bluetooth.

PS - I got my bluetooth parts in today - I will be documenting my install and hopefully putting up a post that will show everyone how to open up an A190. Maybe not to change the bluetooth - but swapping out the HDD.

Update - I got in my bluetooth module today from sony. Part numbers

180555411 - Bluetooth Module
A1058407A - CABLE,BT ANTENNA

It was a snap to install - whole process took about 15 minutes. (I have got it down how to open up the laptop).

Once I turned on my laptop - the Blue light appeared on the front. At first I had a problem with the bluetooth as I did not have any software to install or drivers.

I followed the instructions here http://www.jonsguides.com/bluetooth/index.html and installed the IBM universal driver set.

I am happy and proud to say I was able to add bluetooth to my Sony Vaio A190 without a hitch. I took pictures of the process and I might document how to swap memory from the location under they keyboard, change hard drives, or add bluetooth.

If you follow the same instructions and you are using windows xp, you might need to manually add the drivers. This is easy - you can follow the instructions here after you have done the main install - http://www.jonsguides.com/bluetooth/manual.html

Hi,

I am about to swap the HD and upgrade the memory. Can you prpvide the pictures on which screws to remove before taking off the notebook case? Thanks in advance.

@ silversaver,

You can check out a thread on notebookreview.com:

http://www.notebookreview.com/forums...?TOPIC_ID=3589

There I described how to exchange the hard drive. Good luck!

Thanks for the input

This A190 is way slower than my ZD7000 with 3.2Ghz and G05700. Anyidea?? I swap to a 7200RPM HD and 1GB ram and still uncomparable with my ZD7000. The only good is higher resolution screen..... For gaming, the ZD7000 is better....

I've listed all of the part numbers if anyone still needs them here:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread...839#post469839
-s