Drivers after installing to windows 7 64 bit from vista 32bit

[milanpanchal]

Hi there,

I bought VAIO VGN FW31M about 1 year ago and I want to install windows 7 in it. Basically the time I bought my VAIO, it does not fall under free upgrade. I got windows vista 32-bit in my laptop and I want to install windows 7 64-bit. I know for a fact that because of vista 32-bit I won't be able to upgrade 64-bit windows 7 that is why I will have complete new installion of windows 7 64bit and I am willing to buy that as well. I have confirmed that my CPU is 64X so I can install that.

But to do that, I have so many questions for which I need someones help, because in sony's website they says they can't guarantee anything and probably some of the things might not work.

If I install 64 bit windows 7:-
1) I want to know if my web cam, Blu Ray disk writter, bluetooth, wireless driver and other things will work or not?
2) What about the hotkeys includings volume and others?
3) I have checked in VAIO download that most of the 64bit driver are available to download, but will they work fine?
4) In addition to that, it only shows VAIO smart network 32 bit only in windows 7 download tab, is there any 64-bit version of the same available?



In short, I need a feedback to know if I go for complete new installation of windows 7 64 bit in my VAIO, what are the ways that I can have everything working as as it is currently apart from new OS?

As I am not really an expert, a step by step guide will be a great help.

I greatly appreciate any feedback, information and guidelines that may be provided to me by you.

Cheers
Mac

[Blencogo]

Hi Mac and welcome to Club Vaio.

If you switch to Windows 7 64-bit you will lose all the preinstalled Sony software and this cannot be recovered from Recovery Discs or by download. You will need to buy a replacement Blu-Ray player software etc.

You may have to look in the download pages for the FW5-Series Vaios to find any missing 64-bit drivers and utilities. Look here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/preinstalled/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-FW5

Hopefully, someone with your model will need to confirm everything works with Windows 7 64-bit. I do not think the installation is straightforward and most people seem to have some problems with getting everything to work.

[dk00]

Same problem with my AW11Z, no upgrade by Sony. I bought and clean-installed the 64-bit Win7. Installed the "Windows 7" updates from the Vaio support site, but I did NOT try any of the Vista64 drivers (which are provided by Sony "unofficially"). Hotkeys, battery, wireless, graphics, bluetooth work fine, that was the easy part. Some non-critical customizations maybe missing (e.g. the power mode "Vaio optimized" but the Windows7 power mode works fine). Next step for me is audio and wireless streaming. I'm missing the 64-bit Realtek audio drivers, can't find them on Sony's web sites and am not sure the latest drivers from Realtek's site will work (as OEMs make customizations). Any help or pointers?

As already mentioned, you won't have the pre-installed software, which includes some useful apps (webcam, video playback/editing, adobe acrobat & photoshop, blu-ray playback/writing, Vaio recovery center). Also note that Windows 7 installs generic drivers for some stuff which you may need (e.g. mem card readers).

My experience so far: 64-bit Win7 is fast, looks much better on my Vaio/Graphics, was worth the trouble. The clean installs get rid of some pre-installed crapware, at the expense of some useful and expensive-to-buy pre-installed software. Given some issues with drivers and software (e.g. broadcom's bluetooth driver update is a 2-step process), it's not trivial and it is time-consuming (at least for a non-expert user like me).

[milanpanchal]

Hi Blencogo,

Thanks for your response.

As I am really newbie atleast for installing OS and I am not sure what to do.

Please find below the available drivers on vaio support:-

•7UPG_Battery Checker Utility 32 / 64 bits 08/12/2009
•7UPG_Setting Utility Series 32 / 64 bits 08/12/2009
•7UPG_Sony Shared Library 32 / 64 bits 08/12/2009
•7UPG_VAIO Control Center 32 / 64 bits 08/12/2009
•7UPG_VAIO Control Color Setting 32 / 64 bits 08/12/2009
•7UPG_VAIO Event Service 32 / 64 bits 04/12/2009
•7UPG_VAIO Power Management 32 / 64 bits 04/12/2009
•7UPG_VAIO Presentation Support 32 / 64 bits 04/12/2009
•7UPG_VAIO Smart Network 32 bits 04/12/2009
•Setting Utility Series - 5.0.1.10300 32 / 64 bits 30/12/2009
•VAIO Content Metadata Intelligent Analyzing Manager - 3.6.1.12010 32 / 64 bits 14/01/2010
•VAIO Content Metadata Manager Settings - 3.6.0.09240 32 / 64 bits 14/01/2010
•VAIO Content Metadata XML Interface - 3.6.0.09080 32 / 64 bits 14/01/2010
•VAIO Edit Components - 7.2.00.11160 32 / 64 bits 14/01/2010
•VAIO Event Service - 5.0.2.03030 32 / 64 bits 25/03/2010
•VAIO Original Function Settings - 2.0.1.10290 32 / 64 bits 14/01/2010
•VAIO Update - 5.0.0.12080 32 / 64 bits 14/12/2009
•WinDVD BD - 8.0.20.169 32 / 64 bits 14/01/2010
Driver
•7UPG_Alps Bluetooth driver 32 / 64 bits 57.74 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Audio Driver (Realtek) 32 / 64 bits 98.01 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Audio Driver (Realtek) HDMI 32 / 64 bits 8.8 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Ethernet Driver (Marvell)_32 32 bits 357.89 KB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Ethernet Driver (Marvell)_64 64 bits 416.86 KB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Graphics Driver (ATI)_32 32 bits 106.37 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Graphics Driver (ATI)_64 64 bits 110.5 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Graphics Driver (Intel)_type1_32 32 bits 25.29 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Graphics Driver (Intel)_type1_64 64 bits 26.3 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Wireless LAN Driver (Intel)_32 32 bits 2.14 MB 22/10/2009
•7UPG_Wireless LAN Driver (Intel)_64 64 bits 2.72 MB 22/10/2009
•Audio driver - 6.0.1.5886 32 / 64 bits 139.66 MB 27/10/2009
•Intel Sata driver registry patch - 080619a 32 bits 371.24 KB 27/10/2009
•Intel Sata driver registry patch - 080619a 64 bits 371.24 KB 27/10/2009
Firmware
!A VAIO computer may come equipped with various optical disk drive models. Please check the Device Manager first to make sure that the firmware you want to install is applicable for your VAIO.
•BD-Combo Drive Firmware BC-5500S-VN - 1.78 32 / 64 bits 2.22 MB 30/12/2009
•BD-Combo Drive Firmware UJ130A - 1.02 32 / 64 bits 1.76 MB 30/12/2009
•Blu-ray Drive Firmware UJ230A - 1.11 32 / 64 bits 1.77 MB 25/03/2010
•SuperMulti Drive Firmware AD-7590S-VN - 1.7b 32 / 64 bits 22/03/2010



Can you please advice me how do I really install windows 7? or else if you can send me some links through which I can get proper guidelines.

Also, Do I need to install everything of 64 bit from the VAIO update mentioned above or I have to select specific things? - This update is particularly for my model only.

What else I need to install apart from the things which is available from VAIO update? Trust me I don't know how it gonna work but I am trying to figure out what will work and which won't. What are the other software that I have to install and how do I get them?

I am sorry probably I am asking you too many questions but I wanna make sure when I perform installation, everything should work.

Cheers
Milan

[milanpanchal]

Dear DK00,

Thanks for your feedback.
I know for a fact the windows 7 64 is much more faster than vista and that is why I would like to have 64bit win7.

Can you please give me some feedback on what is not working on your vaio and what are the essential softwares you bought?

Can you please advice me how you managed to get your webcam, video playback/editing, blu-ray playback/writing working?

Did you mean windows 7 will install drivers for memory card reader?

Thanks again for your feedback.

Cheers
Milan

[milanpanchal]

Dear Blencogo,

In addition to above questions, can you please reply me if there are any companies, who can insall everything for me including missing drivers, softwares?

Thanks a lot.
Cheers,
Mac

[heavenhell]

Hi pal! I own a VGN-FW31M too and I've installed win 7 64bit. To tell the truth I regret doing that because it demands lots of hours to re-organise your notebook. Sony provides only some basic drivers and moreover some of them will not work...I'm trying at the moment to fix power management problems and to find some important software like Blue ray player etc. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't do the upgrade..

[Blencogo]

Hi Mac,

As I said, I have not upgraded a FW-Series to 64-bit and so I do not know what will and will not work. I see that there are some drivers missing from your list like the SD Card slot driver - you will have to use the Original drivers from the FW5-Series Vaios.

As I said, a clean install of Windows 7 64-bit is not an easy task and should be avoided unless you know what you are doing. As far as I know, nobody is offering to undertake to perform a clean install of any sort on Vaios - the job is too fiddly when not supported fully by a Sony Upgrade.

Have a look at some users guides here - they are from a US website but you will see that they use the Drivers from the FW5-Series.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=429623

Is there a particular reason why you need the 64-bit system? The easy way forward is to buy an UPGRADE version of Windows 7 and install this. You will then only have to find a couple of drivers and you will keep all your pre-installed software like the blu-ray player.