topic Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers? in PCs & Accessories

VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Trivium124 — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:21:59 GMT

Hi, so I just got windows 8, and I can't find any matching graphic drivers for my laptop. It is a VAIO VPCEB4L1E(2nd gen i3, shared graphics 4gb ram etc.etc.). I couldn't find any on the sony website. Anyone got any ideas?

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Alejandro-Sony- — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:31:04 GMT

I have the same problem , i installed windows 8 and there is no options from 'sony vaio ' , i cant use wifi , bluetooth , e.t.c i cant find and i cant install the sony vaio smart connect , nothing!

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Blencogo — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:09:31 GMT

Hi Alejandro-Sony- and welcome.

Have you tried installing the Windows 7 drivers for these devices?

If you give us your Vaio model, someone will post a link to the Windows 7 drivers.

Until we know exactly what support will be available for each Vaio, it will be a time of uncertainty for us all. However, it is best to find the essential Vaio specific drivers before installing Windows 8.

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Alejandro-Sony- — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 17:00:39 GMT

Thanks for you answer , my model is SVE1511D1EW

the system before was windows 7 home premiun 64bit

I didnt try to install windows 7 drivers for all of it , i have tried only the sony vaio smart connect

and didnt work .....

i am patient , i can wait the support that will be available for each vaio , but i wanna to be solved ,

because i understand , and i hope to be wrong , that there is many problems on the system by win8!

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

-Soup- — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 08:11:53 GMT

Hi Alejandro-Sony-

The link to the drivers for your model you should be able to find here:

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SVE1511D1EW/updates

Kind Regards,

-Soup-

Forum moderator

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Thalamus. — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:51:44 GMT

Hi JamieYates14,

welcome to Questions & Answers..:smileyhappy:

the following is taken from the Sony windows 8 FAQ's

Sony is currently performing a validation of selected Windows 7 VAIO models to determine whether all BIOS, drivers, utilities and other VAIO applications from Sony can be fully supported for upgrade to the Windows 8 Operating System..
Depending on the outcome of the testing and validation phase for each model, Sony will issue a list of supported models as well as any known restrictions, limitations and necessary software updates..

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

simnorri — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:49:20 GMT

I'm in the same situation, on my VGN-Z3. I have installed Win8 and having major trouble with the WWAN in particular. I have reinstalled all drivers I can find for both Vista or Win7 but Smart Network and the connection software (Gobi) do not work properly - consistently giving 'no device found' although it has worked perfectly before the upgrade.

any advice would be appreciated

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

simnorri — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:52:08 GMT

thanks for the response. I appreciate I have probably upgraded too early for my own good, although mostly enjoy the W8 experience so will hold off downgrading unless I have to.

In the meantime, can you confirm what the actual hardware information is for the WWAN device in the VGN-Z3? I would be interested to know what it should display in 'Device Manager' - presumably as a modem?. It is not picked up automatically by W8 but i am able to manually add a Gobi 3g modem, however even once added and apparently 'working correctly', i am unable to query the modem using dianostics and of Gobi connect is still showing 'no device found'

VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Blencogo — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:23:45 GMT

Hi simnorri and welcome.

The only practical advice I can give is to recover your system back to Windows 7 until Sony release support in the way of drivers and utilities for existing Vaios. It will be very difficult to have a fully working system until this happens.

Check on the Sony Windows 8 FAQ page to see if your model will be supported. You will find a link in this sticky thread: -

*Sony Windows 8 FAQ's*

Message was edited by: Thalamus.

Corrected removed sticky link

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Chemistrian — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:55:35 GMT

I've the same problem like the other customers. I have Sony Vaio VPCEB4S1E-BQ notebook. I checked for the support for drivers but all i found was win7 and vista drivers. There is no win8 driver list. Please help me. Maybe you can write me a link for this.

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Blencogo — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:35:46 GMT

Hi Chemistrian and welcome.

Sadly, Sony do not support Windows 8 on your model and so there are no Windows 8 drivers available.

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Chemistrian — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:35:20 GMT

so do you know if win7 drivers on my model support win8 or not ?

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Blencogo — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 12:01:44 GMT

Some Windows 7 drivers may work and Windows 8 may find some online but many of the important Sony Drivers and Utilities will not work properly.

VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

PauloFranc — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:39:07 GMT

Guide for Installing Windows 8 on an unsupported Win7 VAIO + How to restore wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so it is controlled via Windows 8 settings, without the need of installing VAIO SmartNetwork / VAIO Link

Bought my VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B a few years back. I've progressively upgraded the OS as they came along... Vista to Win7 and finally to Windows 8.

Firstly, there is no support for my model... which given its price tag at the time in 2008 [touching the 2k mark]. I found to be a little disappointing as considering what's inside, it's still reasonably powerful even by today's standards. However, as this was a few years old model I kind of accepted/anticipated this would be the case... if not with a big old frustrated frown on my face lol.

Anyway the good news, for me at least, is that windows 8 has now been installed flawlessly on to my old VAIO. Well, I say flawlessly... flawlessly after literally weeks of tweaking, uninstalling - reinstalling etc. etc. etc. But, it is now on the computer flawlessly... I upgraded to 8 over the Christmas period as I knew I would have a lot of spare time for the first time all year. I'm a freelance designer by trade so I really can't afford for my equipment to go crazy on me during work time. So I took the opportunity of the Christmas break.

I won't give a blow by blow account of every action I took as overall a lot of the process was trial and error. So hopefully this will be a big help to everyone who finds this post and shares/d the same predicament as myself.

This guide is for unsupported models... if your model qualifies for an official upgrade pack, lucky you.

VAIO Windows 8 Installation Guide…

1. Back Up your important work/personal files.

2. Create an Outlook.com account (this account is free and you can use it for a number of benefits)…

A. Sync all settings between your Win8 devices through your Outlook.com account < my fave’ feature

B. You get Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook of course, PowerPoint) FREE! (online versions)

C. Your Outlook.com account is basically used in Windows 8 as your user profile but sort of on the cloud as opposed to it being in a fixed location like with your Win7 set up (hence the syncing ‘A’)

3. Find your respective VAIO online in the Sony support centre. Get the drivers for 7 (I also downloaded the Vista and in some instances even XP ones)

4. If you have any software like iTunes, Origin, Steam or subscription based software disassociate the accounts and perform a proper uninstall of all that software. Trust me it will drive you bananas if you try and re-install same said software in 8 if you haven't done this step... this was a mistake I made (because I wasn’t fully concentrating as I’d been sat at my VAIO for hours by this point) preparing stuff for the pending install - it took me almost a day to sort everything to get beyond this error.

5. Clean Install Windows 8 - basically don't upgrade (you get two options at install, upgrade & clean install) I tried upgrade at first and it was a horrible experience - don't bother putting yourself through it - totally not worth it in the end. Clean is just well, so much cleaner

6. Windows 8 will now install

(As a clean install)

7. Your computer will restart many, many, many times

(You may think it's broken it's not 🙂 let it do its stuff).

8. Step 8 & aptly Windows 8 is now installed - you will for sure 100% find the following issues, I did:

----

A. Network Cards (Bluetooth + Wi-Fi no longer recognised)

B. Graphics card no longer recognised

C. Sound card no longer recognised

D. Webcam + Microphone non responsive

E. The handy multi card reader slots will also not work

----

: -) I fixed these issues and I'm happy to say are all now upgraded to the Windows 8 OS

These issues took absolutely ages to figure out how to fix, so …

Point B is fixable via the VAIO drivers

Windows will initially patch a generic graphics driver on to your card.

The card will also appear as a Windows Generic Display Device.

Everything will appear massive as a result

--- Update the drivers for this last as it is the least of your worries for the moment

Points C and E are fixable via the VAIO drivers – simple to do

Which leaves A & D.

Before you address this issue, from your drivers, install the following…

Event Service

Ethernet Driver

Firstly as much as it may, or may not, pain you – with me it was a case of not. Do not attempt to install any of the ‘Sony Smart Network / VAIO link’ whatever it’s called on your particular system. Do not install the VAIO update software. Do not bother with the firmware – when I installed 8 these were patched in automatically – so, thanks Microsoft.

Now, here is a trick I found buried on a forum just after Christmas. The thread wasn’t even talking originally about VAIO, just some random comment…

Smart Network Win7 software does not work on Win8 do not even bother attempting to install…

To restore wireless functionality for your VAIO. Upon installing Windows 8 – Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will be dead. The procedure is simple and also involves no software.

1. Shut Down

2. Remove the battery… leave it out for 30 mins and just walk away

3. Plug battery back in

4. Press Power

5. As if by magic all the wireless networking now works

How this works around the software I have no idea but it works so who am I to argue on that.

Now that’s all the major parts dealt with. Basically over the next few hours keep on forcing windows to update as it will keep checking through your system and will eventually update everything you need.

The next thing to install VAIO wise is this:

Setting Utility Series

Install this on its own – when you bring up the charms menu (Win+C) press the settings you now have brightness control back for your monitor.

Last but not least…

Install the graphics driver and finally restart your machine

The sole bug I have with my graphics card is it will not run the Netflix App natively in the metro environment so the compromise is I have to watch it through a browser which quite frankly after all that effort – I couldn’t give two hoots about.

Of course there is also the issue of Fn keys… to restore these (you will notice above we already installed the Event Service and restarted – you have to install in the order… event, utilities, shared library… you also have to restart after each install)

Download Utilities Driver – Install then restart

Download Shared Library – Install then restart

Fn Keys will now work… : -)

This ends the install and upgrade procedure for non-supported Win8 upgrade kit VAIO computers.

Thanks.

Message was edited by: PauloFranc

just reduced the font size of my post as it was really big. Also regarding the graphics card, unfortunately no update exists from Sony or Nvidia, which is a shame. I tried a patch yesterday that I found on a driver update site this caused havoc so I'm leaving the graphics card alone as there isn't any problems with it, other than the driver itself is from 2009. As it stands everything is working perfectly on it. The biggest differences I've noticed since upgrading to Windows 8 are firstly It runs much cooler than it used to secondly of the 4GB of RAM on Win7 before anything was being used it was eating up 1.68 GB of resources now a mere 500MB is being used so it's also noticeably faster than it used to be. Essentially it's like having a new laptop all over again. p.s. my processor isn't an i3 it's a dual core T9400 32 bit 2.53 GHz. Different processor I know but still the steps I've listed should, I imagine, apply across the board. Thanks again.

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

Thalamus. — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:08:11 GMT

Thanks for posting your guide PauloFranc..:smileycool:

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

MichaelBstyle — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 12:40:49 GMT

i have also the same problem i used win 7 home premium and upgraded to win 8 enterprise but i didnt have the driver, pls help me my laptop type is VPCEB15FG

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

MichaelBstyle — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 12:41:54 GMT

i have also the same problem , i use win 7 home premium before and installed win 8 enterprise now, i didnt have the driver, pls help me my laptop type is VPCEB15FG , thx.

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

jan2011 — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 13:33:59 GMT

Hi MichaelBstyle

The Vaio VPCEB15FG, I think is not commercialized in Europe, because it’s an Asia Pacific Sony Model.

If I’m not wrong, here you could find more details: (downloads page for drivers, utilities and updates)

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/product/VPCEB15FG

If the country or language is not the same of your PC’s software, just change it (Upper right)

Re : VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

zanatet — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:56:40 GMT

j ai besoin de driver windows 8 svp

Re: VAIO Windows 8 Drivers?

vanmouti — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 11:04:12 GMT

Hi, I just got windows 8, and I can't find any matching graphic drivers too. I have Sony Vaio VPCCW2S1E. I checked for the support for drivers but all i found was win7 and vista drivers. There is no win8 driver list. Please help me. Maybe you can write me a link for this.