None original winDVD install question for vgn-t2xp

[Steve755]

If I were to buy a none-Sony copy of winDVD and install it onto my VGN-T2XP, would the DVD button under the screen recognise it's existance and start the program as it did before my hard drive died? (I dont have any recovery discs and no recovery partition anymore!)

                            

[Blencogo]

What software do you have installed to play DVDs?  Your original installation would have used Vaio Zone - have you reinstalled this?  If not you will need to install Windows Media Player or something similar.  I am not sure if you can play DVDs but the button is not working or if you can't play DVDs.

Non-Media Centre editions of XP do not have the necessary Codecs to support DVD playback.  WinDVD is supplied by Sony with their OS to give the necessary Codecs but I don't honestly know if this will fix the button - it may only work with Vaio Zone.  Perhaps you should try a free Player as a first step that comes with the Codec Pack and see if this helps - try VLC Player as this will play almost anything you can throw at it.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Or you can Google for the K-Lite Codec Pack and install this.

[Thalamus. · Accepted solution]

(I dont have any recovery discs and no recovery partition anymore!)

Hi Steve755,

if  the above information from Blencogo does not help then you can purchase  a set of recovery disc's from Vaio support which should allow you to restore the Sony supplied operating system and the pre-installed applications..

To find contact details for Vaio support to purchase a set of recovery disc's for your vaio use the following link:Vaio support

[Steve755]

I think my explanation of the problem wasn't up to scratch Blencogo, sorry.

I have bought a VGN-T2XP. It didn't come with any restore discs whatsoever and suffered a complete HDD failure so the restore partition couldn't be used. It was originally bundled with WinDVD which worked great. When the DVD button below the screen was pressed, WinDVD would start.

I have installed my own copy of XP pro on the new drive but I dont have a copy of WinDVD and Media Player is as much use as a chocolate fireguard as a DVD player and isn't worth the hard disc space it takes up IMHO. So, I have installed PowerDVD which is fine but doesn't start up with the button press like WinDVD.

Its a small niggle, but a niggle never the less. The play/pause, stop and rew/ffd buttons work fine.

What I don't understand is that in the "DVD button" help files, it says you can change its use to start another program if you wish...Great!.....only this option isn't offered! So, I'm looking for a way around the problem to get this button to open PowerDVD or to buy another copy of WinDVD and hope the button opens it for me. Does all this make sense? I think I began to waffle after the second sentance LOL!

Also see this thread for a better explanation:clicky

[Steve755]

Thank you for your suggestion Thalamus. How much does a set of recovery disc cost nowadays? This is a small software niggle and doesn't warrant throwing a load of the hard-earned at it!

Other than this button not functioning, the whole laptop is tip-top and great fun to use.