Unable to use Recovery Disks or install Sony drivers

[juliaatsony]

I had to replace the original hard drive as it was faulty (I believe it also had a boot sector virus).

I created Recovery disks and everything went fine - however I cannot use them to restore the Vaio because of errors - either before the process will start, or on one occasion half way through Disk 2 !

For now, I have installed a plain copy of Vista Home Premium from my own disk, though I'll need to edit the product key to get it activated.

However, more worrying I cannot install drivers for the following items:

Ethernet Controller

Base System Device

SM Bus Controller

Unknown device

I have searched the section of the Sony support website and found drivers, which I unzipped but I don't know how to install them as there is no installer and the "Add New Hardware wizard" or "Update Drivers" wizard doesn't read the files.

Please can you assist me as soon as possible.

Regards,

Julia

[Blencogo]

Hi Julia and welcome.

Right-click on the downloaded .ZIP file and choose 'Extract All' from the menu. Choose to extract the files to somewhere you can easily find them (like C:\Drivers).

If there is no Setup.EXE file, you will have to install the drivers from within Device Manager: -

1.  Find the device in Device Manager with a yellow error ! mark next to it and double-click on it.

2.  Go to Driver tab and select Update Driver.

3.  Select Browse my computer for driver software.

4.  Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.

5.  Select Have Disk....

6.  Select Browse....

7.  Browse to the driver file (in C:\Drivers\) and point to the folder with the driver's .INF file for the driver you are trying to install.

8.  Next ..........

9.  If you get a warning screen, select "Install Anyway".

10. Close & Re-Boot

Come back if you cannot identify which driver to point to.

[juliaatsony]

Thanks for your reply.

However, when I try to do the "Update Drivers" option it says it can't find any software for that device. Because the list in Device Manager bears no relation to the Sony drivers website I have no idea whether I've downloaded all the right drivers and whether I'm identifying the correct ones when doing the above.

Every other computer I've setup or helped to setup has had a website which gives drivers with their own setup program which automatically installs the driver and it's easy.

I don't have much experience with Sony laptops, but this frustration and confusion isn't a great start.

I do hope you can help me further to identify which drivers I download for each of the items listed in my initial posting.

Regards,

Julia

[Blencogo]

Hi Julia,

What is your Vaio Model?

[juliaatsony]

It is VGN-FW11.  Sorry I didn't include it in my original posting - silly me ! 😞

Regards,

Julia

[Blencogo]

Hi Julia.

The Ethernet Controller should be straightforward - it will appear in Network Controllers in Device Manager and the original driver is listed as 'Ethernet Driver'.

The Base System Device is almost certainly the Memory Card Driver.  You need to install all THREE  'Memory Card Reader Writer Driver Ricoh' drivers.

The SM Bus Controller is probably part of the Intel Chipset Driver - try installing this.

You will find the Original Driver under the Preinstalled Driver & Utilities here: -

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VGN-FW11E/updates

Not too sure about the 'Unknown Device'.  Can you give us the Device Instance ID?

You can identify devices by their 'Device Instance ID' - see this link: -

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-find-unknown-device-drivers-by-their-vendor-device-id/

If you cannot identify and devices, list the Device Instance IDs for us and we will see if we can help further.

[juliaatsony]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. It's taken me a few days to find an opportunity when I could log back onto the computer to checkout the details.

The Ethernet driver seems to have correctly installed itself - what is left as unidentified in Device Manager is "Network Controller".

The Intel chipset drivers had been downloaded by me but refused to be recognised by the device called SM Bus Controller.

I was able to remove the unidentified item called SM Bus Controller by downloading the Media Card Ricoh drivers as you suggested.

The unknown device remains and I'll get you the info - what would make sense is to export this section of the Device Manager as it would give you any technical info needed to resolve these remaining queries - but I can't see the option in Vista (I've done it regularly in XP).

My most immediate concern is the built in wireless isn't installed and I can't see how to rectify this - at the moment, I had to supply the user with my own wi-fi dongle so she can access the web as she relies on wireless rather than cable. Without a corresponding entry in Device Manager that I can identify, I have no way of resolving the issue, which is so frustrating.

Every other manufacturer I've dealt with has an installer that you download and this takes care of everything easily and quickly and without any queries - this is my first experiencing manually trying to setup drivers on a Sony - and not a great start (though it's great to have your help I wish I could be self-sufficient !).

Unfortunately I've just lost my connection to the Vaio using Log Me In - before I had a chance to get the Device ID you mention ! Will try to reconnect soon.

Regards,

Julia

[Blencogo]

Hi Julia,

Try installing "Wireless LAN Driver Intel" from the preinstalled drivers downloads.

This should fix your wireless problem and also sort the Network Controller error.

[juliaatsony]

As soon as I can reconnect I will see if I did indeed download it before.  If not, I'll do so.

.... but I need to clarify how to intall it.  Do I right-click on Network Controller, choose Update Drivers and browser to the download ? If it doesn't work, can you advise what I do next ....

This is all so cryptic and seems to involve too much guesswork and "hoping for the best" than I've ever had before when setting up drivers for computers - and I've done lots and lots of them.

Regards,

Julia

[Blencogo]

Hi Julia.

If you do a clean install of your own operating system, you will have the same problem with driver installation with all makes of computer.  I don't think Vaio is any different.

Follow this guide for installing drivers: -

1.  If the driver downloads to your computer with a file extension ".EXE", just run the .EXE file by double-clicking on it to install the driver.

2.  If the driver downloads with a ".ZIP" file extension, right-click on the .ZIP file and choose 'Extract All'.  Choose to extract the driver files to somewhere you can find them easily - like C:\Drivers.  Explore the extracted driver folder.

3.  If the extracted driver folder contains a "Setup.EXE" or "Install.Exe", run the .EXE file by double-clicking on it to install the driver.

4.  If the driver folder has any other .EXE file (such as DPInst32.EXE), come back here for advice.

5.  If the downloaded driver or the extracted driver has no "Setup.EXE", but has an Installer file ending ".INF", then install it from within Device Manager using the 'Have Disc' method as described above.