>> Vaio Z Windows 7 Bios and driver

[aamsel]

Thanks for the link - I'm cautioned on Sony's website to have my system in "speed" mode prior to installing the driver but, as I don't have an Nvidia driver installed currently (I merely have the basic drivers that were installed with Windows 7), I am unable to do so.

Is this something I should worry about or should I just fire away?

You should have some video in speed mode just from what Windows 7 installed.
Put the switch in speed mode, shutdown completely and restart.
Do you not have any video?

[swingthis1]

I have a Vaio Z570N running vista business x32 and wanting to upgrade to Win7 Enterprise x64. any ideas of what I need to make this work?

I am not sure what generation this model is or what firmware I should get? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Scott
scottbooth02@gmail.com

[dariusnaz]

You should have some video in speed mode just from what Windows 7 installed.
Put the switch in speed mode, shutdown completely and restart.
Do you not have any video?

The "stamina" and "speed" hardware switch doesn't light up - I assumed that without the nvidia driver installed it wouldn't do so. If I put the switch in "speed" mode, regardless of whether there is a light indicator or not, and reset then I will be put in speed mode?

[aamsel]

The "stamina" and "speed" hardware switch doesn't light up - I assumed that without the nvidia driver installed it wouldn't do so. If I put the switch in "speed" mode, regardless of whether there is a light indicator or not, and reset then I will be put in speed mode?

Correct.
If you were to go into device manager in stamina mode, you would only
see the INTEL integrated video card. In speed mode, go to device manager
and you will see 2 video cards, the INTEL, and an unidentified card.

Then, in speed mode, install the new nVidia hybrid drivers. Once you are done,
still in speed mode, reboot, and go into device manager, and you should
see two fully identified cards, the INTEL and the nVidia.

You may still need other stuff to get the actual light working.

[aamsel]

I have a Vaio Z570N running vista business x32 and wanting to upgrade to Win7 Enterprise x64. any ideas of what I need to make this work?

I am not sure what generation this model is or what firmware I should get? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Scott
scottbooth02@gmail.com

You can not upgrade to 64 bit,
you need a clean install, and even if
you could upgrade, you wouldn't want to.

Several upgrades that Microsoft will not allow include
going from a lower VISTA, like Home Premium to
Windows 7 Ultimate. You can't do it. You also can
only upgrade from 32bit to 32bit or 64bit to 64bit,
which makes sense.

I personally can not judge the experience and
benefits of a new OS without doing a fresh install.

Read my posts about my experience with the firmware.
Then go read Post #2 in this thread, on the first page
by Firestone. He has it all laid out there with everything
you need to do a clean install.

[swingthis1]

You can not upgrade to 64 bit,
you need a clean install, and even if
you could upgrade, you wouldn't want to.

I personally can not judge the experience and
benefits of a new OS without doing a fresh install.

My bad, I meant clean install - upgrades never work (poor choice of words.....)

[aamsel]

My bad, I meant clean install - upgrades never work (poor choice of words.....)

Perfect!
Then just follow Firestone's Post #2 on the first page of this thread.

You and I both have the same exact model, and I am all the way to the R4
BIOS, so it should be easy for us to compare.

I have Ultimate x64 which should be almost identical to the Enterprise x64 code.
I also have Enterprise x64 here should there be any need to compare.

[dariusnaz]

Correct.
If you were to go into device manager in stamina mode, you would only
see the INTEL integrated video card. In speed mode, go to device manager
and you will see 2 video cards, the INTEL, and an unidentified card.

Then, in speed mode, install the new nVidia hybrid drivers. Once you are done,
still in speed mode, reboot, and go into device manager, and you should
see two fully identified cards, the INTEL and the nVidia.

You may still need other stuff to get the actual light working.

I went ahead and installed the EP0000208679 nVidia driver on my z550n for Win7 32-bit - the brightness slider works in both stamina and speed now. I'm going to install event services et al. and see what happens.

[swingthis1]

Do you install the bios/drivers before or after installing Win7?


Very new to this....\\Scott

[aamsel]

Do you install the bios/drivers before or after installing Win7?


Very new to this....\\Scott

BIOS = before
Drivers = after