FZ18 - Questions.

[jesnche]

Hi!

I have bought a FZ18 recently. I have a few questions and I hope somebody can help me.

First of all, I want to remove Vista of my vaio to install Windows XP but I'm not able to find XP drivers. I called to Vaio Support and they told me that only exists Vista drivers to my Vaio model. It's posible to remove Vista ?

Otherwise I have burned the three restore DVD's using Vaio Restore Utiliy. If I drop the original partitons, This DVD's can restore them?

And the last question, How long will the battery last?

Sorry for my poor english. Thanks a lot to read this post.


Bye!

[MattWilson]

Hi!

I have bought a FZ18 recently. I have a few questions and I hope somebody can help me.

First of all, I want to remove Vista of my vaio to install Windows XP but I'm not able to find XP drivers. I called to Vaio Support and they told me that only exists Vista drivers to my Vaio model. It's posible to remove Vista ?

Otherwise I have burned the three restore DVD's using Vaio Restore Utiliy. If I drop the original partitons, This DVD's can restore them?

And the last question, How long will the battery last?

Sorry for my poor english. Thanks a lot to read this post.


Bye!

You can install XP but you will have to find all the drivers manually as your model is Vista only. They shouldn't be too hard to find on the manufacturers website though.

You can delete the recovery partition but i personally do not recommend it as you may have an optical drive failure and will not be able to recovery it.

As for the battery life, sony are yet to release that information on the website so you may want to conduct your own tests to gauge it.

[jesnche]

My battery has 90 minuts, more or less, of life. It's normal?

When I try to start my vaio with a XP SP2 CD, after the installation process loads and I choose to proceed the installation, The process told me thant he can find my HD. Any ideas about it?

XP Drivers for motion eye, sound card, ... Where can I find the manufacter of this items? I have found graphics drivers in nvidia webpage. About it, it's true that if I remove Vista of my computar I will lose the warranty?

Thanks for your answers.

[MattWilson]

You need the SATA drivers and a USB Flopy drive to install XP on your machine. Don't know what your controller is so i can't find the correct drivers for you.

As long as you have the recovery disc then your warrenty is safe. If you return it to sony for any reason you will be required to replace the orignal OS.

Motion Eye drivers might be a problem. You need to find the name of your sound card etc. and search for the manufacturer to find the correct drivers.

[Blencogo]

I don't think this is going to be easy as the FZ-series has new hardware that has been designed for Vista only.

I am reluctant to offer advice because I do not believe you will end up with a fully functioning computer running XP.

It doesn't help that the Specifications section of this site is so out of date it doesn't even mention a FZ18 - is it a European Model?.

All I can say is if it was me ...............

I would go to the Sony USA download site which lists the Vista software and drivers in detail. This will allow you to identify the manufacturers of the hardware and to look for suitable XP drivers if they exist.

For example:-

Marvell® Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
Texas Instruments® Integrated FlashMedia Controller
Intel® 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller Driver
SigmaTel® High Definition Audio CODEC
Conexant® HDAUDIO SoftV92 Data Fax Modem with SmartCP
Alps® Pointing Device Driver

Etc. Etc.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFZ160E&UpdateType=Everything

You cannot use these drivers but they will point you in the direction of the ones you need.

My strong advice is DON'T DO IT - This is a Vista Notebook designed for use with Vista only.

[jesnche]

Thanks for your advices Blencogo and Matt. It's strange, I can't find my model in clubVaio and neither in Sony USA Download.

It's a new model, maybe Sony doesn't update these sites yet... Anybody with a FZ18 who has the answer?

[MattWilson]

Thanks for your advices Blencogo and Matt. It's strange, I can't find my model in clubVaio and neither in Sony USA Download. 

It's a new model, maybe Sony doesn't update these sites yet... Anybody with a FZ18 who has the answer?

Where did you buy your model?

The only FZ series i have seen are either 11's or 19's?

[jesnche]

I have bought my Vaio in SonyStyle ( www.sonystyle.es ) you can see here

[MattWilson]

I have bought my Vaio in SonyStyle ( www.sonystyle.es ) you can see here

Its very interesting that they change the model numbers from country to country. I though it was only america that had different numbers.

Can you do this and see if it still says the same model number because i am very interested now:

C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Control Center\VCCSystemInfo.exe

and you will get a window that has your model number in it. Does it still say FZ18?

[jesnche]

Yes, my Vaio model is VGN-FZ18M. In America, Does Sony use a different number for this model?