Drivers and Vista. RE: VGN-FE28B

[smellslikepie]

Hi,

I currently own a Sony Vaio VGN-FE28B laptop, and I'm wanting to upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium on launch day. Unfortunately I bought my laptop a week before the 'free upgrade' period so I'm stuck with buying my own copy. What I'd like to know is; when I install Vista will everything work as expected? If i have a problem with drivers, as I'll have to reformat my HHD probably, will I be able to find them for download on the support website?

Thanks.


P.S I've already ordered the Home Premium version.

[rich912]

Hi smellslikepie and welcome to the forum.

Have you ordered an OEM Vista upgrade version from Sony? If so there should be no problems as this will include all the necessary drivers.

On the above assumption it will not be necessary to format the hard drive but you will first need to recover your notebook to ‘as delivered’ using either the HDDR recovery utility or your created recovery media prior to upgrading– this is essential to ensure a successful install – so backup your data first!!

If, however, you have ordered a retail copy of vista I strongly recommend that you wait for the necessary Sony Vista drivers and utilities to be released for download prior to proceeding with the upgrade as you will certainly encounter problems otherwise.

Incidentally, assuming that you have ordered the OEM version, I doubt that you will actually receive your upgrade CD on launch day. Be patient as they cannot be dispatched prior to 1st Feb and the process will probably take a couple of weeks to complete.

[smellslikepie]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I haven't ordered the OEM Vista Upgrade from Sony, because I didn't know I could get it through them. I guess I should have tried to look around a bit more.

I did order a retail copy and have been assured it'll reach me on the launch day. If I do install Vista when I get it how will the lack of certain drivers affect it? Is it possible that the drivers that worked for XP might work for Vista? Is it possible that Windows Vista will be able to find suitable drivers that I could use as a 'placeholder' until Sony rolls out the official drivers?

Do you know when Sony will be releasing the drivers, have they announced a date that they're aiming for?

[Resonate]

I So hope you have not paid over the odds for your new OEM, However rich is right Sony will release support come 01Feb so wait it is strongly recommended. Untill then have you tried VMWare, Download the vmware server & you'll be able to run VISTA in a Virtual machine on your Windows XP System (assuming you have XP), Without messing up your current settings to your HardDrive :smileygrin:

[smellslikepie]

I don't THINK I paid over the odds for Vista. The price EX VAT was only £50-something. So. if I download VMware, would I be able to test how vista would run if I were to install it completely?

[Resonate]

I don't THINK I paid over the odds for Vista. The price EX VAT was only £50-something. So. if I download VMware, would I be able to test how vista would run if I were to install it completely?

In a nut shell yes, read through the site on the server & it will give you the full info of how to do it I just love VMWare i always test major things just in case.

[smellslikepie]

Oh, that's fantastic! Thanks for your help. I'll definitely try that out.

[Resonate]

Oh, that's fantastic! Thanks for your help. I'll definitely try that out.

Happy Testing my friend