Hi Chris,
Out of pure sympathy for your situation and as Sony will give you no support for this issue what-so-ever, I have just spent half my day trying to get some sense out of Sony regarding this issue and finally giving up and resolving it myself I can provide the answer.
The problem is that this model (vgn-bz26v) has been supplied from factory with the wrong driver if you wish to downgrade to Windows XP.
The wireless card is an Atheros AR5B91 and so it comes as no surprise that the supplied INTEL drivers don't work.
I would mention that I had to remove the base plastics of this laptop to discover the model number as after 4 calls to Sony's technical support line (who are based in Cairo and after every single call was dropped followed by a recorded voice telling me there was as fault with the line) came to absolutely nothing.
To make things worse I am a corporate customer who for over 4 years has used Sony Vaio's when I could have gone for a cheaper alternative, but have stayed with Sony because I believed them to be of superior build quality and support.
I'm afraid to say after purchasing over 100 Sony Vaio's these may be the very last I purchase.
The website I downloaded the driver from was ; http://www.atheros.cz/download.php?atheros=AR5B91&system=2
I hope this solves your problem Chris as it has with mine, I've purchased 20 of these laptops and the issue is now resolved on all of them.
I hope somebody from Sony reads this post and decides to resolve this issue, although I believe this model is now end of line so there won't be any reason to look into it now for your existing customers will there?
This really isn't good enough from Sony, customers domestic and corporate pay a considerable amount more compared to your competitors for a Sony Vaio and mentioned above is how loyal customers like myself are repaid.
I think it's disgusting and an email from somebody at Sony would be extremely appreciated but I won't hold my breath, just future orders.
Mr S
