hey PC users

So long story short, my powerbook crashed and I couldn't afford a new one so I had to buy a 700$ Vaio to keep me busy for some time.

So I'm basically new to the wonders of Windows Xp and the problem is that although there are speakers on my laptop, there seem to be no sound driver. When I go in the sound management section, the box does not offer me a single sound device. In the dialog box, there is no internal sound device. How could that be ?

I tried troubleshooting but nothing does the trick. I'm now getting really nervous about this PC, and before indulging myself again in Windows hate, I would like to know if one you watmm fellows could help a windows newcommer.

oh and if this is of any help, I downgraded the preinstalled Vista version To XP.

what model vaio? i am a recent ex-employee.

oh and you downgraded... included downgrade disk or your own copy of XP?

VGN-Bz31VT

I downgraded with the official XP SP2 disk included.

I think xp uses the realtek onboard soundcards, if so this should work - http://www.realtek.com.tw/Downloads/downloadsCheck.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=23&PFid=23&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

EDIT: Actually go with the suggestion below then !

well then you didn't do it properly. you didn't read the instructions, did you?

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/updates/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-BZ31VT&os=6

that was hard, wasn't it?

also, there is a driver installer located on the cd in something like CD:\\vaio\[model]\setup.exe, you should run that if you don't have ethernet.

So you0re saying I should reinstall it ?

It's would seem more an install than a reinstall if you don't have the drivers already

i am saying you have two courses of action dependent on one condition:

is your ethernet working?

NO: run the driver installer on the XP downgrade disc

YES: run the driver installer on the website

ok, I'm gonna try this, report coming soon.

it is realtek btw pete. but OEM drivers, better to stick with sony's version just in case.

are your volume and brightness hotkeys working, kanye?

  On 3/7/2010 at 1:52 AM, kaini said:

it is realtek btw pete. but OEM drivers, better to stick with sony's version just in case.

are your volume and brightness hotkeys working, kanye?

No they aren't.

I just installed successfully the drivers and did a restart. But no, it dind't work.

start again in that case.

reboot the computer, install XP, and after run the setup file on the CD in VAIO\BZ downgrade or similar

connect via ethernet rather than wirelesss*

the downgrade DOES work. your computer has the same image as every other BZ

so either you're doing it wrong or you have a DOA failure (and if sound worked under vista, it's not the latter)

*wireLESS

Try downloading http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/

I've had some great success with it recently installing an ancient seemingly brandless and model-numberless random pci modem card and almost equally antiquated creative soundcard (pre 5.1 or audigy series). You have to create an account for some reason but its free.

Most handy for you is this thing checked the Device ID on the hardware in your pc and automatically searches for the drivers for it. For some reason it can sometimes find a couple of matches but it should have some accuracy measure labeled as Reliability or something like that and there's usually one in there that's listed as 100% accurate or close to it.

  On 3/7/2010 at 6:30 AM, Space Coyote said:

Try downloading http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/

 

I've had some great success with it recently installing an ancient seemingly brandless and model-numberless random pci modem card and almost equally antiquated creative soundcard (pre 5.1 or audigy series). You have to create an account for some reason but its free.

 

Most handy for you is this thing checked the Device ID on the hardware in your pc and automatically searches for the drivers for it. For some reason it can sometimes find a couple of matches but it should have some accuracy measure labeled as Reliability or something like that and there's usually one in there that's listed as 100% accurate or close to it.

since it's already been established that kaini used to work for tech support for Sony, particularly the Vaio department, it'd probably be best to take the advice from him. as much as i know that you're trying to help, i personally wouldn't touch any software from that site as it just looks rather dodgy to me, especially coupled with the fact that you have to create an account to be able to download and use it. just smells of marketing and possible malware to me.

but then again, i would never buy a Sony Vaio or any other computer from a manufacturer as large - i know that it can be a bitch to get drivers for the stuff, which is why i always build my own rigs.

  On 3/7/2010 at 6:41 AM, oscillik said:

I personally wouldn't touch any software from that site as it just looks rather dodgy to me, especially coupled with the fact that you have to create an account to be able to download and use it. just smells of marketing and possible malware to me.

Agreed, it looks dodgy/low budget but as best as I can tell it's not. Both computers I've installed that program on continue to run at the speeds expected of the hardware in them. As for the sign up, it may not even be one you have to verify and use a real email address for but it might be. I, for some reason, did many years ago and when I installed drivermax again recently it prompted me that I already had an account with my email address and sent me a new password to login with. I haven't received any legit emails or spam actually from this place in the years since I've apparently had an account with them. Most importantly though, the aging hardware I was struggling to get working took literally about 3-5 minutes to get working using this software. Also..it could save you reinstalling the freaking o/s...

You're right though; given his direct experience with this hardware and software, perhaps it'd be best to leave drivermax as the last option if Kaini isn't able to fix this up.

  On 3/7/2010 at 7:37 AM, Space Coyote said:

I haven't received any legit emails or spam actually from this place in the years since I've apparently had an account with them.

that's the thing with these kind of operations - just because you're not getting spam from these guys, doesn't mean they haven't sold on your details elsewhere. maybe i'm too paranoid for my own good *dons the tin foil hat and pulls teeth*

the only PC i've ever bought that wasn't made by me is my EeePC, because i know the drivers are pretty easy to get hold of. Yes, reinstalling the operating system is a bitch. i'm just glad i took a disk image of my drive at a point in time where everything was fine and dandy.

yes, norton ghost/acronis/ISO/whatever is more or less essential now

windows 7 has VHDs which are even better in my opinion

  On 3/7/2010 at 8:50 AM, kaini said:

yes, norton ghost/acronis/ISO/whatever is more or less essential now

windows 7 has VHDs which are even better in my opinion

i've not messed around with that, i had heard about it and thought that the capability is pretty fucking awesome. would be interested to play about with it.

i'm using clonezilla to make my disk images

man i have 2.5GB of storage, 4GB ram, new CPU fan, and a second GPU arriving on monday

wish i could actually just skip tomorrow (oh wait, it's today now)

  On 3/7/2010 at 2:05 AM, kaini said:

start again in that case.

reboot the computer, install XP, *

 

the downgrade DOES work. your computer has the same image as every other BZ

so either you're doing it wrong or you have a DOA failure (and if sound worked under vista, it's not the latter)

 

*wireLESS

Yeah, the sound worked under Vista, the downgrade seems to be the cause of this loss. However, I don't understand how I could have made something wrong since the downgrade/recovery leaves no room for human intervention, except for inserting the disc or restarting the system.

I've been googling this problem and it appears a lot of users (including other brands such as Toshiba/Acer) have had the same problem. I guess the problem comes from the downgrade itself, excluding human error and the brand of the laptop.

i did a 'downgrade' in my vaio.

had to use the downgrade disc, then go to the vaio site and download/install a fuckload of drivers. there was a very specific order they had to be done in too.. good comprehensive instructions though.

So all the drivers have been installed successfully (I did the online install) but still no audio ! I'm losing hope.

Fuck Windows, really.

  On 3/7/2010 at 2:03 PM, the anonymous forumite said:

Fuck Windows, really.

you should've been offered the option of upgrading your machine to Windows 7 for free. you bought a new machine, they're all supposed to come with Windows 7 now and those that don't come with it have to give you the option of upgrading. out of the choice between XP and 7, i'd have advised 7...especially since you're a Macintosh user. how come you chose to downgrade to XP?

It was the deal: a little more than 700$ but you have to buy it with vista and no upgrade option. A computer of that quality with that price couldn't be missed and was clearly the best offer I could find. All the other computers had way lower specs for that price.

I downgraded because everybody recommends using XP instead of Vista.