Iphone

Question: I have a Sony VAIO VGN-B100B notebook. The system was running so poorly, that I recommended to the user that Windows be re-installed. Since Sony didn't ship a recovery CD, and since the recovery partition had been deleted quite some time ago, I simply re-installed Windows XP from my volume license media CD (which I have done with all of my computers over the years with no problems).

Well, after the hard drive was formatted (and data backed up of course), and windows re-installed, I went to sony.com to download the drivers for the laptop. Everything seemed to install just fine. The video driver, the NIC driver, sound card driver, etc. The problem was, even though I installed the Sony VAIO applications (which I downloaded from the sony site), none of the laptop function keys worked. I couldn't switch to an external monitor, or dim the screen brightness or adjust the volume. Since I couldn't switch to an external monitor, the docking station was fairly worthless (at least to use an external monitor).

I have contacted Sony tech support twice. The first time they told me I had to spend $20 and buy their recovery CD...which they of course don't ship with their computers. The tech support agent told me that the drivers and utilities on the recovery cd were different than what the download site offers. I didn't believe him, but I bought the recovery CD anyway. The cd came, and I tried to use it, but when the autorun feature kicked in, it told me that I couldn't use this CD with this computer. I tried to manually launch the VAIO utilities program, but nothing happend.

I contacted Sony tech support again, and the agent kept telling me that I was trying to "upgrade" the laptop and that it wouldn't work. I told him I wasn't upgrading, just simply re-installing the SAME Operating system. Eventually, it came down to the fact that I didn't use the "Sony" cd to restore my OS. And since I used a regular Windows XP CD, I cannot use or install the Sony VAIO notebook utilities software...even though I could load all the other drivers just fine.

So, after spending hours backing up, re-installing the OS and all the applications and data for the user, it looks like I have to start all over again and re-install using the Sony recovery CD if I want the function keys to work.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem? I am so angry at Sony for this design and the lack of decent technical support. All of my other non Sony laptops work just fine using a regular Windows XP CD re-install.

Iphone

Well.... I think it should be preserved for entertainment and information value