Vista 64 Drivers and Utility Software & Error 505

[Chemlock]

I've just got a Vaio FZ38M which comes with 4 Gig of ram. There was a reason for this involving Sharepoint Development and Virtual Servers but it's long and boring. Anyway to utilze this memory I have put Vista 64 onto the laptop.

This all works great and I found that I could get most drivers from the internet, however I can't now re-install the orginal software utilities such as Vaio Launcher, Click to Disc etc and it's really beginning to anoy me.

Every time I try and restore I get an "Error 505" message. I've tried downloading the Orginal Software pack from the Vaio-link.com site but only a small percentage of the actual software is there and nothing specific to my machine.

Can anyway help?

[Chemlock]

And.... in case anyone needs the drivers that are supplied by Sony. You can find them here (if you look hard enough on google)

http://www.vaio-link.com/os/vista/64bit

[Blencogo]

Hi Chemlock and welcome to Club Vaio.

Any change from the preinstalled Sony OEM Operating System on European Vaios that involves a 'Clean Install' means that you lose the ability to reinstall the original Sony Preinstalled Applications. What is worse, these are not downloadable and the only downloads available are updates requiring that the software be installed already.

Sony do not support x64 and you are 'on your own' if you install it - so don't expect any assistance from Sony Support. Sony have not released any x64 Utilities although many of the x86 Utilities do seen to install.

The only possible method to recover these applications is from a set of Recovery Discs (I hope you made some before changing the OS). This may be possible if the Applications you want are held in .PAC file format on the disc. Have a look at the thread in this link - it refers to an XP clean install but the principle is the same: -

http://club.vaio.sony.co.uk/clubvaio/GB/en/forum/viewthread?thread=37599

Unfortunately, if they are not in the .PAC file format, I can't help.

[Chemlock]

Thanks for your response. I thought this might be a quiet thread.

I did indeed create a set of Restore Disks as I thought Vista 64 might be a little advanced (personally I can't see the point of a 4gig laptop with Vista 32 on it). Anyway I've finally managed to restore everything to the way it should be (minus the unwanted apps).

Firstly I did find a way of unpacking the *.mod files that where in the data folder of the restore disk. It was hard work but after following the notes on this forum ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/archive/index.php/t-233256.html ) I was able to update the MOD file headers then unpack using "imagex.exe".

Secondly I mananged to run the unpacked application only to discover that the installation of Vista 64 had locked down my harddrive so that I didn't have access to the Program Files (x86) & Windows folders. This was easily fixed by taking ownership of my own hard drive and then giving myself full rights (luckily I trust myself). Unfortunatly the Restore Application even running as administrator then spawns the installations of each app as the current user so I was getting the cryptic "Error: 505: 41". This error obviously has something to do with folder access.

So to cut a long story short. You can open and use .MOD files and if you get an Error 505 from the Restore App it means you've not got folder access permissions.

Once I had folder access I could simply use the Restore appication.

The End

..........................................................

On the driver front. The standard driver downloads usually have the 64bit version with them.
Exceptions are:

Touchpad (I installed the drivers from an HP laptop that used the ALP 8 touchpad)
Bluetooth (Downloadable through the top link to the Vaio 64 drivers)
Card Reader (Downloadable through the top link to the Vaio 64 drivers)

So I'm fully 64bit and can now get on with work 😞

Thanks for the help. If anyone else wants help let me know. I'm slightly disappointed that I've not even had a response from the Sony Support guys (even if it was "We don't support that").

[Thalamus.]

I'm slightly disappointed that I've not even had a response from the Sony Support guys (even if it was "We don't support that").

Hi Chemlock,

I'm not sure if you are aware but the Club Vaio Forum is primarily a self help users forum, you would not receive a reply on the forum from Sony support..

You will need to contact Vaio-Link (Sony Support Guys) for an official Sony reply..