VGN-FZ11S Can I install Windows XP??

[shelleymccuk]

I have a VGN-FZ11S running Vista and would prefer to have XP instead (due to slow internet and particular software that it won't run).

First, is it possible to 'downgrade' to XP?
Secondly, has anybody already done this for the FZ11S?
Thirdly, what do I need to do?????

Would really appreciate any help at all!

[Blencogo]

Hi shelleymccuk and welcome to Club Vaio.

So far as I can make out, no-one has successfully downgraded a FZ-Series to XP without losing half the features of the Vaio.

Microsoft will stop selling any more XP licenses next January and many of the newer PCs cannot be successfully run with XP any more - the drivers and utilities are not available.

[swlabhot]

I got the FZ11Z and on the 2nd day decided to downgrade to XP for obvious reasons. Well, its been a real headache searching for the right drivers and took me a while but I got there in the end. The only thing that I have lost from the original Vista install are the Sony apps which I was going to uninstall anyway as they are unnecessary for my needs and slow things down. The other thing is that some of the Fn keys don't work but that doesn't bother me too much as I tend not to use them. More important to me are the Play, fwd, rew, and volume control panel that works and I can use whilst playing films

So if you don't mind losing some of the stuff that I would consider minor, then go for it if you are comfortable with installing XP from scratch yourself.

Good Luck!

[mscase]

I'm trying to install xp on a FZ11. I've got xp running but am missing several hardware drivers. I can't find xp compatible audio and graphics drivers. Where did you get yours from?

If you download the latest drivers from nvidia and run them you get the message that they don't support the graphics card (8400M GT).

Also, I can't find xp compatible audio drivers for the sigmatel high definition audio chip anywhere.

Many thanks.

I got the FZ11Z and on the 2nd day decided to downgrade to XP for obvious reasons. Well, its been a real headache searching for the right drivers and took me a while but I got there in the end. The only thing that I have lost from the original Vista install are the Sony apps which I was going to uninstall anyway as they are unnecessary for my needs and slow things down. The other thing is that some of the Fn keys don't work but that doesn't bother me too much as I tend not to use them. More important to me are the Play, fwd, rew, and volume control panel that works and I can use whilst playing films 

So if you don't mind losing some of the stuff that I would consider minor, then go for it if you are comfortable with installing XP from scratch yourself.

Good Luck!

[mscase]

I've made some progress but am still stuck in the following areas:

audio - can't find xp drivers at all
wireless lan - no drivers anywhere
modem - can't find drivers

The memory cards and ethernet connection are working ok. I think the graphics card is ok too.

The Sony utilities for vista don't work under xp at all.

Any help on finding xp drivers for the FZ11L would be much appreciated.

[Thalamus.]

Hi mscase,

welcome to Club vaio..

You could try using the pre-installed audio drivers from the FE31M as they seem to share the same audio drivers..

However to install High Definition audio driver on Windows XP setup, first install the Microsoft's KB835221 hotfix followed by the Sigmatel High Definition drivers

[mscase]

Thanks for the welcome!

Thanks so much for the help here. I've downloaded and installed the audio drivers from the FE31M and I can confirm they do work on the FZ11L!!

So now I have sound. But when you install the audio drivers it recognises that there is a modem installed. Any suggestions on where to get those from (the ones from the FE31M don't work, neither do the ones from the FZ11L)? In vista the modem appears as "HDAUDIO SoftV92 Data Fax modem with SmartCP". I've done a google search for these drivers and have come up with a couple of sites with drivers but they don't work. Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

Hi mscase,

welcome to Club vaio..  

You could try using the pre-installed audio drivers from the FE31M as they seem to share the same audio drivers..

However to install High Definition audio driver on Windows XP setup, first install the Microsoft's KB835221 hotfix followed by the Sigmatel High Definition drivers

[amaru007]

i've managed to install xp on my fz11z, but theres a few problems that i'm not happy with.
for 1, no bluray movies. i used the latest powerdvd, as it gets as far as the tittle menu, but wont play any movie after that. 2nd is no hdmi. thats the only reason i really bought the fz11z, bluray+hdmi, without it i could have bought a lower spec fz series.
easiest way i found, was to slipstream the orig fz drivers and Fe3 drivers into a windows image. it installs all the drivers you need, short of the bluetooth and the camera wont work.
those can be fixed after.
also found the lan driver and better wifi, bluetooth, chipset and graphics drivers.
after installing those, xp works a dream :smileydancing:.
but i'm now considering a dual boot with vista and xp, just so i can use the features i'll be missing out on (mainly the blueray)
so untill sony bring out an offical downgrade, we're stuck.

[vali.ene]

I finally managed to downgrade my FZ11E from Vista to XP. All devices are installed ok but i miss some features : cannot use the combination of FN+F5, FN+F6, FN+F7. Another thing that I didn't managed to do is to install the sony power management utility. Can anyone tell me how to solve this issues?