VGN-FZ11M go from vista to XP, mission impossible?

[Cantstandya]

Hi, I recently bought a new FZ11M vaio and im happy with it except the fact that it has Vista.

Judging by other ppls posts it seems Sony made it really hard to install XP on their new laptops. Ive read that many users lose the built-in-camera function, which I have no need for at all.

Anyone got some advice for me? I cant find the drivers for the SATA harddrive to load before I start installing XP because it doesnt detect the hitachi drive. No drivers on hitachi website.

I liked vista alot untill the fact i started to run heavier programs and games. Performance is horrible on games/programs i should have no problems to run. Even battery time is pathethic with Vista.

Help me out guys, really regreting not finding out if it was possible to put XP on this Vaio Model before I bought it....Even the damn seller told me i can put XP on it just burn the backup CD´s (which Ive done).

Appreciate any help.

PS. There are no drivers whatsoever on the sony site for this model, its really pathethic. And I know Sony wont care if I mess up installing XP, but im not concerned about that. DS

[Blencogo]

Hi Cantstandya and welcome to Club Vaio.

I am sure this will become even harder as new hardware is included which will only work with Vista.

As you say, there are no XP drivers or Utilities for the FZ-Series. This is a problem because things like the SATA driver are supplied by Vista from its generic toolbox and the specifications are not detailed enough to find the manufacturer. However, on a one-by-one basis you should be able to track down most XP drivers. Similarly, without XP Utilities, none of the special keys, power management, camera etc are ever going to work properly and as there is not a similar XP model, this is going to be a long term problem.

I think you are going to have a disappointing laptop if you change to XP. My view is that we are going to have to accept Vista when XP support ceases, so we may as well find ways of improving performance now.

[Cantstandya]

Thx for your reply. Thats the answer i was expecting too. Its just these many annoyances with Vista...

I expected to run World of Warcraft on this pc, which is impossible, even with everything on lowest setting the charachters run choppy, like skipping a frame or two.

Next is the USB support. If I connect my brand new USB-harddrive Vista takes like 3-4min to notice it before I see it under My Computer.

I would happily give up the camera, mediabuttons, etc only to get win xp on it. Right now i feel like crap for ever buying this laptop, was a bit of an impulse buy but never expected this poor performance out of it. Who to blaim, Vista with bad drivers or Sony not letting me install XP.

Ill see if i can get any replies in other forums asking for how to track down sata-drivers. I didnt buy this laptop just to surf the web and check my email, which is pretty much the only thing i can do atm.

[MattWilson]

I expected to run World of Warcraft on this pc, which is impossible, even with everything on lowest setting the charachters run choppy, like skipping a frame or two.

Give it a couple more weeks and you will have new drivers for it. At the moment they are only BETA as the graphics card is so new. Then it'll play just fine.

[Cantstandya]

I really hope so, if i cant get wow to run fairly smooth on medium settings i just might sell this laptop and go back to desktop computers.

Come to think of it maybe the graphicscard 8400M GT is some really low budget card and im wrong to expect it to run world of warcraft.

[MattWilson]

It is an amazing card just needs some official drivers and it'll be fantastic!

[arj-st]

As I can see on your other posts, you have solved the problem with XP. Can you give me the way to do this? I am just on the beginning of the path you have done already. I have installed XP and it is naked now...

[Thalamus.]

Hi arj-st

welcome to Club vaio..

Have you seen Blencogo's post here ..?