THIS IS FOR WINDOWS VISTA 64-BIT. *For 32 Bits - please look at post #12 and above below*

My system is VGN-AW190.

There are already a couple of "guides" floating around that describe how to install a clean copy of Windows on Sony laptops.

The process is fairly simple and involves installing certain Sony software and drivers in particular order (according to Sony).

****

When I first installed Windows Ultimate, I had no problems getting everything to work EXCEPT for the following:

1) CompactFlash (JMicron JMB368 ExpressCard CF) driver is not available on Sony's web site. When inserting the card, it does not show up as a drive in Windows Explorer. After some time playing around, I figured the following 2 ways to make it work:

a. Insert your card, go to device manager and click on "scan for hardware changes"
b. Boot Windows while the card is inserted

2) SD card slot works but is not mapped to any drive. While Ricoh MS driver automatically creates a drive, there is no driver on Sony's web site that would do the same for SD slot.

Sony's support is useless to a point where they told me that the reason why my CF cards do not show up and there is no drive mapped to the slot is because the laptop does not support cards larger than 4GB (and I have only 8GB Sandisk cards) What a joke. I finally managed to get a 2nd tier technical guy on the phone who said that Sony does not provide CF drivers and that there is nothing they can do about it.

So, I reverted back to Sony's original setup, installed Driver Genius (http://www.driver-soft.com/) + a couple of other driver backup programs and did a backup of every single driver.

Then I installed a clean copy of Windows and used Driver Genius to restore SD + CF drivers. Worked beautifully and I now have 3 drives mapped to MS, SD and CF, just like Sony intended.

Now...... the best part of this post. I am making the backup available for your use. There are 5 archived parts, 15MB each for a total of 72MB. Here is the link: http://rapidshare.com/users/K7IK4H

You will need Driver Genius to simplify the installation process or you can do it yourself manually.

After installing your own copy of Windows, do the following:

1) Install "Original - Sony® Notebook Utilities" (http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...=3926&os_id=36)
2) Install "Original - Sony® Firmware Extension Parser" (http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...=3838&os_id=36)
3) Install other drivers in ANY order from here: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...90&SelectOS=36

That's pretty much it Essentially, for #3 you can use Driver Genius and just restore all drivers from my backup (that's if you have the same model). I believe brightness keys will start working only after you install Intel chipset driver, but I am not 100% positive. Forgot at which point they became operational.

Since Sony usually uses same components in their laptops, these drivers should fit other series, not just VGN-AW.

If you guys have questions, feel free to ask. It would also be great if someone could backup all their drivers on the 32-bit Vista installation.

I wish someone did that before, thus sparing me hours of searching for drivers that Sony should have had on their web site to begin with.

Other than Sony's notebook utilities and drivers, my system is 100% Sony-free

P.S. Make this topic a sticky, if you want.

Here is the list of drivers:

[most of them are Windows' default drivers that will be installed anyway]

ACPI Lid
ACPI Power Button
ACPI Thermal Zone
ACPI Thermal Zone#1
ACPI x64-based PC
ALPS-UGPZ9-BCM2046
Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Bluetooth Device (RFCOMM Protocol TDI)
Bluetooth Hands-free Audio
Bluetooth L2CAP Interface
Bluetooth Remote Control
CD-ROM Drive
Consumer IR Devices
Direct memory access controller
Disk drive
Disk drive#1
Disk drive#2
Disk drive#3
Realtek High Definition Audio
Generic PnP Monitor
Generic volume
Generic volume shadow copy
Generic volume#1
Generic volume#2
Generic volume#3
Generic volume#4
HDAUDIO SoftV92 Data Fax Modem with SmartCP
HID-compliant consumer control device
HID-compliant consumer control device#1
HID-compliant mouse
High Definition Audio Controller
High precision event timer
Intel Processor
Intel Processor#1
Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 2448
Intel(R) 82802 Firmware Hub Device
Intel(R) ICH8M-E ICH9M-E SATA RAID Controller
Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 2940
Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 2 - 2942
Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 3 - 2944
Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 4 - 2946
Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 5 - 2948
Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 6 - 294A
Intel(R) ICH9 Family SMBus Controller - 2930
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2934
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2935
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2936
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2937
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2939
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293A
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293C
Intel(R) ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller - 2917
Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 5100
JMicron JMB368 ExpressCard CF Adapter
Marvell Yukon 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Microsoft AC Adapter
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Embedded Controller
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator
Microsoft Composite Battery
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter#1
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter#2
Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
Microsoft Kernel DRM Audio Descrambler
Microsoft Streaming Clock Proxy
Microsoft Streaming Quality Manager Proxy
Microsoft Streaming Service Proxy
Microsoft Streaming Tee Sink-to-Sink Converter
Microsoft Streaming Tee Sink-to-Sink Converter#1
Microsoft System Management BIOS Driver
Mobile Intel(R) 45 Express Chipset Series PCI Express Root Port - 2A41
Mobile Intel(R) 45 Express Chipset Series Processor to DRAM Controller - 2A40
Motherboard resources
Motherboard resources#1
Numeric data processor
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
NVIDIA HDMI Audio
PCI bus
Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator
Programmable interrupt controller
Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller
RICOH OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Ricoh SD Host Controller
Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device
Standard PS 2 Keyboard
Synaptics PS 2 Port Pointing Device
System CMOS real time clock
System timer
Terminal Server Keyboard Driver
Terminal Server Mouse Driver
TouchStrip Fingerprint Sensor
UMBus Enumerator
UMBus Enumerator#1
UMBus Root Bus Enumerator
USB Composite Device
USB Human Interface Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub#1
USB Root Hub#2
USB Root Hub#3
USB Root Hub#4
USB Root Hub#5
USB Root Hub#6
USB Root Hub#7
USB Video Device
Volume Manager
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport (IPv6)
WAN Miniport (L2TP)
WAN Miniport (Network Monitor)
WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
WAN Miniport (PPTP)
WAN Miniport (SSTP)

Nice and informative inputs!

cheers ...

Hello
Yes I have got the same problem and was trying to solve long time ago and long time spending !!!
am from UK and I ve got AW11S/B and have same problem
running vista/win 7 64 bit and CF not working
I figured out that scan devices as well by my self
I was trying so many methods with drivers and nothing
So I want to ask Will this your genius working on my laptop? AW11S/B (Europe)
how to make it from your procedure ??? on 64 bit vista or windows7
Thanx

Driver Genius works with pretty much with every comp out there.

cheers ...

Nice post I must say and no wonder it got stickied. My question is you mentioned that you had backed up your drivers in that 75 mb 5 part download...but later in the post you mention those 3 sony links to get some software from...are they the same thing that you backed up? Or...am I missing something? Hope my post made sense....

Sorry for the late reply.

My backup contains EVERY single driver that was installed when the computer was shipped, but only drivers and nothing else.

The 2 links that I provided point to the Sony's utilities (not drivers) that were not backed up but are essential when installing a clean copy of Windows. The other link is to the Sony's web site with all original drivers, just for everyone's reference.

Hi,

I'm trying to do this with my Vaio AR71S , cause my Hotkeys aren't working..
but I can't find the Firmware extension parser for the AR71S.. Do I need this?

I am from in Poland. I used Your Drivers Backup and Notebook Utilities to my Sony VGN AW 11ZB and Windows 7 64Bit Build 7600. Computer works perfectly.
Previously Vista 32Bit was installed.
Driver Genius works on Windows 7 64Bit. Only warning that Backup was made on other system is displayed. I ignored it and drivers restore was finished with no problem.
Thanks for Your post and best regards.

Welcome to NBF jkolod! Glad to hear it is beneficial to your needs

cheers ...

yes, it would be great.
could someone backup drivers on the 32-bit Vista?
driver genius makes it for free

I have this Backup but unfortunately it is in polish

Host it. Mediafire is free and clean. We can decipher them.

cheers ...

http://rapidshare.com/files/25789601...91813.rar.html
MD5: DDD94019932AE717B2B02B9692D15A0A

Downloading and will look at them. Thanks for the sharing. I'll post back later.

cheers ...