HELP downgrading VGN-N38Z/W to XP!

[phalaris]

Hi everybody,
It was a difficult decision for me to choose Sony VAIO as there were other laptops from comptetitor brands which came with XP. But I stumbed upon this link:
http://www.vaio-link.com/os/xp/downgrade/index.asp?site=voe_en_IE_cons
and I trusted Sony's professionalism that nothing would go wrong. But actually, when I got my laptop, registered it and tried to enter the details it didn't work. According to tech support they don't support downgrades for this series of laptops. I guess since it "only" cost me 1k euro it's not nearly as important as the business laptops. Nice start.

So now I'm relying on the goodwill of fellow VAIO owners for advice. I need a full list of drivers and their whereabouts before I can downgrade to XP. I guess the main ones are the floppy disk SATA drivers for the XP install and the network card drivers.

If anyone has any experience with downgrading any of the laptops in this series (N31X and N38X) please any advice you can give me is really appreciated.

[p1Aep]

I've downgraded to XP and used the N1_drivers and utilities and everything is working great except for the sound. I've installed all the Microsoft updates and still nothing. What am I doing wrong? It seems the N1 drivers aren't working...any suggestions?

Thanks

[p1Aep]

the only yellow question/exclamation mark in Device manager is PCI device...I'm not sure what this is exactly or how to fix it...any suggestions on my sound or PCI device?

[Blencogo]

Hi p1Aep,

Have you installed KB835221.

XP Does not support High Delinition audio - you need to install KB835221 before you can install the Realtek Driver.

You will find it in N1_Drivers\Audio\UAA High Definition Audio Class Driver\KB835221.EXE

Just run the .EXE file then install the audio driver by running the .EXE

N1_Drivers\Audio\Setup.EXE

[phalaris]

Hi p1Aep,

Have you installed KB835221.

XP Does not support High Delinition audio - you need to install KB835221 before you can install the Realtek Driver.

You will find it in N1_Drivers\Audio\UAA High Definition Audio Class Driver\KB835221.EXE

Just run the .EXE file then install the audio driver by running the .EXE

N1_Drivers\Audio\Setup.EXE

 

Yes, basically do the above.

After you install the Realtek drivers you will most likely get an error message like this when you start up your computer:
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4207/errorbd0.png

This is Realtek specific error. You must download yet another hotfix from microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=74AD4188-3131-429C-8FCB-F7B3B0FD3D86&displa...

Everything should then work fine.

[Picky88]

Hi there

I am another convert from vista to xp, Ive installed all the drivers utilities and everything works fine, except the icon for the memory stick duo drive is missing. the icon for the SD card slot is there, I found a reference to it in the registry, anyone know how to successfully change the registry key so that I can see an icon for the memory stick duo drive? I tried copying the registry key for "Icon" from the SD card folder to the Memory stick folder in the registry but it did not work.

Thanks guys,

Picky

[jayhatchell]

Hi im having a problem with the SM Bus Controller and the Audio divice on high definition after my downgrade from vista on the n38z to xp pro sp3 all the othe drivers worked fine from the n1 but i cant get the audio or sm bus working every time i try install the audio driver i keep getting an error message also i cant update the drive from the device manger no window will open when i click update driver can any one help me

Thanks

[jayhatchell]

Hi im having a problem with the SM Bus Controller and the Audio divice on high definition after my downgrade from vista on the n38z to xp pro sp3 all the othe drivers worked fine from the n1 but i cant get the audio or sm bus working every time i try install the audio driver i keep getting an error message also i cant update the drive from the device manger no window will open when i click update driver can any one help me

Thanks

can anyone help please ive been trying the last week its starting to wreck me head now lol

[Blencogo]

Hi Jay,

Have you installed the Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for high Definition Audio (KB835221 or the newer KB888111) first? XP does not recognise HD Audio devices without the hotfix. Install it and the sound chip to be recognised and you can install the audio driver.

I attach the hotfix to the bottom of this post: -

[jayhatchell]

Thank you much appreciated!!

[jayhatchell]

Everything is working sweet now thanks again!!!