vgp-prav2

[Mjolinor]

I had a vgn-a217s and it died. I also had a vgp-prav2 docking station for it. I bought a second hand vgn-a397xp as it is almost the same computer as the 217.

The docking station works fine as far as the amplifier and USB goes but I can't figure how to get the TV card working under XP. I have a restore partition on the 397 and I have the original restore disks for the 217.

Will the 217 restore allow me to get the TV card working, what can I remove from the 217 restore CDs to make it work or, if not, how do I do it.

Maybe I should just remove it all and put Linux on.

[Blencogo]

Hi Mjolinor and welcome to Club Vaio.

The TV card will only work with Vaio Zone so Linux is no answer.

Try installing the Original MPEG Encoder Driver - this is the TV card driver.

You can find it on your A217S Recovery Disc in the Drivers folder or you can download it from the A417S drivers here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/downloads/preinstalled/preinstalled.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons&c=0&s=VGN...

Hopefully that will work by itself - but if it doesn't then you may have to reinstall Vaio Zone

[Mjolinor]

Thanks for that, no .luck so far.

I downloaded the "Original MPEG encoder driver" from your link and installed it. No TV in Viao Zone

I uninstalled Vaio Zone and reinstalled from the recovery partition of the 397. No TV

I uninstalled Vaio Zone, reinstalled the driver then reinstalled Vaio Zone from the 217 recovery disks. No TV.

Any more suggestions?

A couple more questions:
What about the remote control?
Is there a search facility on this forum?

[Mjolinor]

Is there a reason I should use the A417 driver rather than the A217?

It is finding it as it isn't there when I undock but appears in the device manager when I dock so I think that the Vaio Zone version for the 397 doesn't have TV in it and when I insert the 217 disk it is still installing from the recovery partition. If I insert the second 217 recovery disk it tells me it's the wrong computer.

[Blencogo]

Sorry but I can't think of the way forward. Vaio Zone cannot be downloaded and is only available on Recovery Discs.

Is there a TV Channel Settings section in Vaio Zone Setup? Have you tried scanning for channels?

For the Remote Control, you need to install the Vaio Zone Remote Commander.

[Mjolinor]

There is no TV tab at all in the settings. I tried searching for a config file but failed. Looks like it's an eBay job, get some money back.

Thanks for your help trying anyway.