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FS550 Recovery Media Kit

post #1 of 14
2/8/05 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
Sigh. I got home and quickly took XP Home off of my VGN-FS550. Only to find out that Windows XP drivers are only partially available through the Sony Support site. Should have known. Their instructions tell me that I should have created a Recovery Media Kit before doing the install. Can't they just provide some decent drivers????

Could anyone either post the drivers? or host the Media Kit? I'm not sure how big it is.

Otherwise I guess I'm off to Best Buy again to have them fix my "mistake".
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post #2 of 14
2/11/05 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
*BUMP*

So I spoke with Sony Support this evening. Unfortunately due to my oversight in failing to create a Recovery Media Kit, Sony would like me to purchase the DVD for $18 off of their site.

Silly me for assuming that a manufacturer would provide the needed recovery materials free of charge. I'm really tempted to return the thing. I know that sounds stupid over $18 on a $1500 laptop, but it's the principal of the matter. Going to sleep on it.
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post #3 of 14
2/13/05 at 1:14am
They do provide the needed recovery materials free of charge, you merely have to click on "sony recovery wizard" and "create media", two mouse clicks...

and im assumed you reinstalled xp.. and deleted the 4-6gig partition, they didn't put it there for the heck of it.
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post #4 of 14
2/13/05 at 2:27pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the bashing.

I still think it's silly to not include a $0.50 disc with the needed materials, and then charge $18 for it. Everyone except Sony seems to. What happens when your hard drive completely crashes? Anyways, I ordered the disc.
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post #5 of 14
2/13/05 at 4:22pm
When your HD completely crashes, if you have made the back ups then you are fine. i wouldn't sweat it too much, most companies seem to be doing this these days anyway.
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post #6 of 14
2/14/05 at 1:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonr800
Thanks for the bashing.

I still think it's silly to not include a $0.50 disc with the needed materials, and then charge $18 for it. Everyone except Sony seems to. What happens when your hard drive completely crashes? Anyways, I ordered the disc.
Actually, of the major manufacturers, being HP, Compaq, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway, Emachines and now even some dells, do it this same exact route.

And they put it on the partition for ease of servicing, do you have ANY idea how many end-users systems I have had to fix, and needed the "$.50 cd" and they all had either lost it or my favorite "they must have forgot to put it in the box because i never got it." Now it is alot more convenient because if needed, they are always there.

If you are a "power user" and decide to reinstall the OS then you should be aware it is done this way, i mean it isnt like when you first boot up the pc you have messages popping up "SONY STRONGLY RECCOMENDS CREATING YOUR RECOVERY MEDIA NOW-WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO SO"?

but obviously, they just put that there for the hell of it.
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post #7 of 14
2/14/05 at 1:46am
thats a crock of shit. there is no excuse for sony not to include preloaded drivers on a disk. every computer company i've ever dealt with has. Their trying to charge 18 dollars for it is dispicable
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post #8 of 14
2/14/05 at 10:06am
Actually it is a smart marketing move for machines with XP Home. Since it is a PITA to do a clean install of XP Pro, most home users wil simply pay SOny the extra money to save themselves the hassle.
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post #9 of 14
2/14/05 at 12:55pm
Well, not that this helps you in the least bit, but Dell and IBM are pretty outstanding when it comes to being able to download drivers for your notebook. Of course, IBM no longer ships an O/S disc with each notebook, but that's less of an issue. You can always easily find and download all the necessary drivers, in my experience.
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post #10 of 14
2/16/05 at 3:41pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreadie
Actually, of the major manufacturers, being HP, Compaq, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway, Emachines and now even some dells, do it this same exact route.
I'm dandy with them not including the Windows CD or even a recovery disc. However the drivers are not offered online either. There's really no excuse for that IMHO. All the other manufacturers you listed at least offer that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dreadie
If you are a "power user" and decide to reinstall the OS then you should be aware it is done this way, i mean it isnt like when you first boot up the pc you have messages popping up "SONY STRONGLY RECCOMENDS CREATING YOUR RECOVERY MEDIA NOW-WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO SO"?

but obviously, they just put that there for the hell of it.
That would have been helpful had I booted Windows to start with. I started, saw it was XP Home, and stopped the boot. I'm not saying Sony is totally to blame for this. I definitely have my share of the responsibility for not following their SILLY procedure.

On a side note, the $18 disc I ordered is BACK ORDERED with an ETA of 60 days.

I'll be making a trip to Best Buy to see if they have one or if I can burn it off of a display model. If not it'll be returned.
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post #11 of 14
2/17/05 at 12:43pm
Thread Starter 
After a quick chat with a manager they let me burn the needed materials. I brought my own DVD's. Had to stand around for an hour or so, but it beats 60 days.
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post #12 of 14
4/9/05 at 6:19pm

VGN-FS550 Drivers

If you go to this web address http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-li...eType=Original
you will find all the drivers you need and of course you will be able to burn a CD, thus having them for the future.
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post #13 of 14
5/19/05 at 5:17am
It seems i'm at least the fourth person in this forum to have exactly the same problem.

as an aside, sorry for what must look an awful lot like thread spamming... i posted, *then* thought to read through the old posts...totally my fault.

anyway, i wouldnt have a problem with the recovery partition except that 1) i need all the harddrive space i can get for work, and im also on a strict budget 2) when i booted into windows, it definately did not ask me to burn the recovery disks, or i would have and 3) the drivers on the website quite frankly suck. I spent 7 hours at work today trying to get it all back together again.

I guess its off to best buy for me....on laundry day too
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post #14 of 14
5/24/05 at 3:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreadie
They do provide the needed recovery materials free of charge, you merely have to click on "sony recovery wizard" and "create media", two mouse clicks...

and im assumed you reinstalled xp.. and deleted the 4-6gig partition, they didn't put it there for the heck of it.
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