Hi there everybody, I have succesfully upgraded my Vaio VGN-AR31M to Windows 7 64 bits. I wanted to upgrade as I do a lot of video editing with my machine and I want to take all that the processor can give out of my Vaio.
I did a lot of research before proceeding, did read a lot.
First of all I wanted to upgrade the RAM of the machine to 4GB but I saw in the SONY support pages that the maximum RAM available for this notebook was 2GB. I then came across this link where some people say they have successfully upgraded the RAM for a Vaio AR-41 to 4gb using 2 Kingston DDR2 667:
http://readmystuff.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/can-you-upgrade-a-sony-vaio-vgn-ar41s-to-have-4gb-ram/
Went on and bought the 2 RAM memories here:
http://www.avenidadelcomercio.es/Componentes/Memorias/Memorias-Portatiles/KINGSTON/2853706-Memoria-p...
Installed them while still using Vista Home Premium 32bits and it was showing 4GB through Panel Control -> System, everything was working as intended, I knew the system was showing that, even though it was really only using 3GB. I could verify this using Everest Corporate Edition.
I wanted a clean install of Win7, so before proceeding I created the 2 Rescue DVDs through the Vaio Data Rescue program.
Next I bought and installed Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits from zero. I installed Partition Magic to recover the hidden partition of the principal hard disc (I upgraded my AR31M with another bigger additional hard disc when I started doing video editing) some 10gb as I was not going to use anymore the rescue partition. I then joined both partitions of the principal hard disc and installed Win7.
Then, following this magnificent link I followed radiofreeeurope instructions and changing some download links to my model, this is what I did, and the links for them:
Original radiofreeeurope link -> http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=344027
1) Install Windows 7 from your installation disc
2) Install all updates through Windows Update
3) Open the 'Device Manager': click on 'Start', right click on 'Computer', select 'Manage', select 'Device Manager'.
4) In the 'Other Devices' section, right click on 'Unknown device' in the list, select 'Update Driver Software', select 'Browse my computer for driver software', browse to your 'SFEP DRIVER SONY_8.0G_8.0.0.1' installation file folder, click 'OK', then click 'Next' and let Windows update the driver.
It tells me the driver won’t be changed as the previous version was already updated, I just leave the link in case somebody else might needed:
SFEP DRIVER SONY -> http://dls.update.sony.net/pub/oth/64/EP0000140021.zip
5) From your 'Sony Shared Library' folder, run 'setup.exe' to install, then let Windows reboot.
Sony Shared Library -> ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/ORIGINAL/SONY_SHARED_LIBRARY_5.3_5.3.0.11240.ZIP
6) From your 'Setting Utility Series' folder, run 'setup.exe' to install.
Setting Utility Series -> ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/ORIGINAL/SETTING_UTILITY_SERIES_4.3_092Q_4.3.0.14120.ZIP
7) From your 'VAIO Event Service' folder, run 'setup.exe' to install.
VAIO Event Service -> ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/ORIGINAL/VAIO_EVENT_SERVICE_4.3_092Q_4.3.0.13190.ZIP
😎 From your 'VAIO Control Center' folder and run 'setup.exe' to install.
VAIO Control Center -> ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/ORIGINAL/VAIO_CONTROL_CENTER_3.3_092Q_3.3.0.12240.ZIP
9) Your Eject, Mute, Fn Keys should now be working correctly and you can use the 'Vaio Control Center' application to assign functions to the S1 and S2 keys.
10) From your 'Vaio Camera Capture Utility' folder, run 'setup.exe' to install.
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Downloads/SO/A/CCU/SOACCU-01363010-UN.exe
11) From your CHIPSET driver folder, run 'infinst_autol.exe' to install the 'Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility', then let Windows reboot.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18052/a08/infi...
12) From your RAID ARRAY driver folder, run 'iata86enu.exe' to install the 'Intel Matrix Storage Manager', then let Windows reboot.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17882/a08/IATA...
13) Open the 'Device Manager': click on 'Start', right click on 'Computer', select 'Manage', select 'Device Manager'.
In the 'Other Devices' section, right click on 'Controladora de dispositivo de almacenamiento (Mass Storage Device)' in the list, select 'Update Driver Software', select 'Browse my computer for driver software', browse to your Memory Card folder, and install the TI-PCI drivers.
http://dls.update.sony.net/pub/oth/64/EP0000140007.zip
14) From your NVIDIA driver folder run 'setup.exe' to install the NVIDIA driver, then let Windows reboot. Right click on the desktop and use the 'NVIDIA Control Panel' to configure your display settings.
http://dls.update.sony.net/pub/oth/64/EP0000146244.zip
15) From your AUDIO 1 (Sigmatel) Vista driver installation files folder and run 'setup.exe' to install the Sigmatel driver and Sound Reality Control Panel.
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/Original/AUDIO%20DRIVER%20SIGMATEL_5.0Q083QDS_6.10.5921.0_LOGO.ZIP
16) From your AUDIO 2 (Realtek) Vista driver installation files folder, run the downloaded exe file to install the Realtek driver, then let Windows reboot.
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownType...
17) Ethernet Intel Pro/100 already updated by Win7 if not look in the intel download center
http://downloadcenter.intel.com
18) WiFi Intel Pro/3945ABG already updated by Win7 if not look in the intel download center
http://downloadcenter.intel.com
19) MODEM already updated by Win7 if not look in the conexant download center
http://www.conexant.com/support/md_driverdownload.jsp
20) BLUETOOTH already updated by Win7 as I saw it works perfectly in my case I did not updated it with the link given by SONY
http://dls.update.sony.net/pub/oth/64/EP0000140176.zip
21) I did not install any driver for the TOUCHPAD as it works perfectly OK through Win7 and it gave me some problems (the keyboard stopped working) after installing the Synaptics drivers
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/ORIGINAL/POINTING_DRIVER_SYNAPTICS_10.2A_10.2.7.0.ZIP
22) From your CAMERA driver files folder, run 'DPInst64.exe' (64Bit) to install the Ricoh driver. The 'Vaio Camera Capture Utility' should now be working.
I got this driver from the old set of drivers taken from the VISTA Recovery Discs, the camera model is RICOH sony model number VGP-VCC4
23) From your TV TUNER installation files folder, run 'setup.exe' to install the AVerMedia driver.
24) Open the 'Device Manager': click on 'Start', right click on 'Computer', select 'Manage', select 'Device Manager'.
In the 'Other Devices' section, right click on 'Unknow device' in the list, select 'Update Driver Software', select 'Browse my computer for driver software', browse to your TV TUNER folder, and install the AVerMedia M115S MiniPCI Hybrid DVBT drivers.
25) That's about it. Your Sony Vaio should now be fully operational under a clean install of Windows 7.
Finally from
http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/updates/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-AR31M
26) Install VAIO Entertainment Platform Update(Converter)
http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/info/info.aspx?l=en_GB&url=VAIO/Updates/EP00001...
27)and VAIO Entertainment Platform Update (Expander)
http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/info/info.aspx?l=en_GB&url=VAIO/Updates/EP00001...
28) and finally VAIO Update 5 in the hope that SONY would be offering updates sooner or later for 64 bit machines
http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/info/info.aspx?l=en_GB&url=VAIO/Updates/EP00002...
Everything in my VAIO works as it should be, but I only have one problem and I ask for help here. Now in Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits, I go to Control Panel -> System, and it shows 4GB (3GB usable). I could also verify this using Everest Corporate Edition. I have entered the Phoenix BIOS version R0200J6 and it shows the same and doesn’t let me upgrade to 4GB of RAM.
I have seen in this link http://communities.vmware.com/thread/93922?start=15&tstart=0
Through the middle of the page that you can edit the BIOS, but I don’t know what file to modify, does anyone know if it is possible to update the BIOS RAM to 4GB and most important question, HOW?
Many thanks in advance
Ignacio (Spain)
