Vista Ultimate Clean Install on Vaio VGN-FW 21m Series

[georgiosr]

I have just purchased a VGN-fw21m that came with a Home Premium but i need to do a clean install (upgrade is greyed out and does not work).
Would you know the files / drivers that need to be installed and at what order so i get all the FN buttons to work and to get the laptop to work the way it came from the factory?
Many thanks
Georgios
P.s I did go through the Z series clean installation thread but the file names do not match to the files i have on my recovery Dvds

[Blencogo]

Hi georgiosr and welcome to Club Vaio.

Be careful - I don't think there are enough of the Utilities available for download for you to get a fully working Vaio following a clean install. Most of the Drivers are here: -

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

but I cannot see the camera driver and I'm unsure if there are enough Utilities to get the FN keys working.

Have you checked fully, you can normally upgrade to Ultimate by simply buying another Product Key from Microsoft and installing this new key. I am not sure if the Sony OEM version of Vista supports this but I thought it was available on all new Vaios.

I would check this with Sony Support because a clean install is going to be a very difficult task.

[georgiosr]

Hi Blencogo,
Thanks for your reply to my request. I have finally managed to do a clean Vista Ultimate installation and the FN keys are workign!!
Thanks to the thread found below:

http://club.vaio.sony.eu/clubvaio/gb/en/forum/viewthread?thread=40292

the secret to the Fn keys for brightness and the S1 Key as well the AV key is the follwoing:

After installing, reboot your notebook. Then grab the Sony Notebook Control Device update from Microsoft at this link:
http://download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/v3-19990518/cabpool/7816_2_a5db7ce11f55024ce049b...

I have not managed to install the webcam yet but it was just too late yesterday night to try and find the solution and on the Device Manager i am still getting an Uknown Device 😞

If you do have suggestions on these please let me know.

I did find very helpfull this thread also:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=293880&page=9

Best regards to All
My Experience with Sony Vaio Starts today so It will be a smooth one
George the Greek