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PC >> Vista on VAIO so far

See also: Vista Gets Annoying

Introduction

I've been running Vista for a couple of weeks now, and it's generally working well. There are, however, some outstanding issues, which will no doubt be resolved in the near future.

Drivers

1. Memory Stick reader driver [RESOLVED]

Issue

Sony have not released a driver for the Memory Stick reader (Texas Instruments PCI7420).

Resolution

I've been looking on the Sony website every day, hoping that they will have released a Vista driver for the Memory Stick reader. Even though I've read it previously, I started to read the Windows Vista upgrade information, and I noticed the following: "Most XP drivers will work in Vista. We provide Vista download drivers only if XP drivers do not work and there are no supported Vista inbox drivers." So I tried the XP driver, which I hadn't previously, and it worked fine! Finally, finish it off with the registry patch from Sony to get the nice Memory Stick icon in Computer.

2. VAIO Power Management [UPDATED]

Issue

So, you want to know the problem with the VAIO Power Management provided by Sony for Vista? It simply doesn't work. I know for a fact that I have the correct utilities installed before installing Power Management, but it just doesn't work. It's a problem because when I switch to battery power the screen does not automatically dim. Here's a screenshot of the issue:

VAIO Power Management

As you can see, there are no settings! Understandably, Sony support don't want to help with Vista issues if they can help it, but they're just being plain difficult. They've told me that it's because my notebook is designed for XP. Well, that may be the case, but that doesn't mean a utility written for Vista should not work! I continue to bug them about this...

Resolution

After a lot of search, it would seem that the issue may actually not lie with Sony. Indeed, the functionality to automatically adjust brightness is built in to the supplied version of VAIO Power Management, but it is disabled. I have enabled it, and the above screenshot changes for the better, if you catch my drift. However, it has no effect. The culprit, apparently, are the nVidia drivers, which control the dimmer functionality. I have been able to update the nVidia drivers from LaptopVideo 2Go. This has enabled a couple of extra options in the standard Windows power management screen.

Power Options

Unfortunately, it has no effect. I haven't had a lot of time to mess around with this, but I can't help feeling as if I am getting somewhere now. Watch this space...

3. Topfield TF5800PVR Personal Video Recorder [RESOLVED]

Issue

Topfield haven't yet released any drivers or software for my PVR, which makes installing/updating TAPs impossible. They are, however, apparently in development and will be available some time in May.

Resolution(s)
  1. One of the regulars (and very talented programmers) on Toppy.org.uk, simonc, has created an application called Wuppy, which provides drivers and a command-line utility to communicate with the PVR. Unfortunately, there appear to be some issues with transferring files at present, and Simon is trying to gather details about user's systems to solve the issue.
  2. It seems that there is trouble with Wuppy command-line tool. However, simonc now includes a Vista-friendly version of tfdll.dll by Aldarin. Use Wuppy to install the drivers for the Toppy, then install Altair for Windows as normal, replace the original tfdll.dll for the one provided with the Wuppy installer, and it'll work as it did with XP.

4. Brother MFC-5840CN multi-function device [RESOLVED]

Issue

Windows Vista has built-in drivers for this printer, but only for USB; mine is connected to our home network. According to Brother's Vista support information the drivers are "under development".

Resolution(s)
  1. After playing around a little, it would seem that although the drivers provided by Vista are supposidly for USB, they can be used to set the printer up on a network. In printers, click Add a printer then Add a local printer (yes, a local printer, not a network printer). On the next screen, click Create a new port, then change the type of port to Standard TCP/IP Port. On the next screen, leave device type on autodetect, then fill in the IP address of the machine. Vista should do the rest.
  2. Brother have now released original software and drivers for this model.

Applications

My only application-related issue to date is with µTorrent. I can't get UPnP working properly, even with the new beta version, which is Vista compatible. Going by what's been said on the µTorrent forums, it seems that this will be fixed when it is released.

Performance

Once I had started installing applications (antivirus, etc), the performance of my VAIO started to suffer a little. That's when I decided to give ReadyBoost a proper go, as this technology is really supposidly the best way of improving performance. I purchased a 2GB Netac OnlyDisk flash drive, and will see if this improves the situation.


 

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