Trevin Chow

Even though I got Vista to work with my Sony SZ notebook (VGN-SZ381p), my machine has still unstable due to the beta drivers I was using. 

Thankfully, Sony finally released non-beta versions of all their utilities and drivers.  Since some of the Sony utilities depend on others to be install beforehand, the install order is critical.  I just wish sony would include a setup wrapper to do the installation in the correct order. 

But since we don’t have that list, I thought it was worth giving the installation order that worked for me and direct links to all the installers.

1. Sony Utilities DLL Update
2. Sony Shared Library Update
3. REBOOT
4. VAIO Event Services Update
5. SigmaTel High Def Audio Codec Update
6. VAIO Camera & Camera Utility Update
   1. I’ve been told that this driver is only for the US models. For non-US models, go to the Sony support site and specifically search for your model to make sure you’re getting the right driver.
7. VAIO Control Center
8. Sony Utility Series
9. VAIO Power Management
10. Wireless Switching Utility
11. Texas Instruments® PCI7411 Integrated FlashMedia Controller Driver (Sony support told me this is the XP driver but works for Vista)
12. Sony® Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC2 Driver (XP driver)
13. ALPS Pointing Device (Touchpad) Driver and and Control Utility (Updated 3/2. Previously had the XP version, which worked, but this is the ‘official’ Vista version)
14. UPek TouchStrip Driver (for your fingerprint reader)
15. GeForce Go7400 Drivers
    1. Optionally you can use the updated driver direct from NVidia which is version 100.40.  You can snag it from our friends at LaptopVideo2Go.com from this link.
16. Intel GMA950 driver
17. REBOOT
18. Sony Utility Series update (updated 3/14)
19. REBOOT
20. Power Management v2.0 update patch (Added 2/21)
21. REBOOT
22. Infineon Trusted Platform Module (TPM) driver+software (Added 3/1)

Other:

• Intel Pro Wireless Drivers
  • These are available from Microsoft Update.
• Bluetooth
  • Don’t need any special drivers since the Microosft Bluetooth stack works so well. 

Notes:

• I still can’t get the FN+brightness keys to work. I’m continuing to work on this to see why this is the case.  When I was at CES, I saw SZ series notebooks at the Sony Booth where this did work so clearly I’m missing something.
  • However, the brightness can still be controlled via the Vista Mobility Center.

Hope this helps someone! 

Hallelujah! I just noticed that Sony released their driver and utility updates for Windows Vista. 

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNSZ381P&UpdateType=Everything&SelectOS=29

Update: Sony just updated the Sony Utility Series update yesterday to fix an issue with the “S” buttons that several users have reported.