Hi! I just got my TR2/B today and there seems to be quite a number of fixes I have to get done. My supplier installed a Windows XP Pro over the existing Windows Home and some things doesn’t seem to work right. Can’t blame him though cos this Japanese set is SGD300 off the TR2A sold here. He even installed Office XP for me. 

First, the Network Smart Capture doesn’t work. The camera is working though. When I click on My Computer, there’s a section under Scanners and Camera, and under it is Sony Visual Comm Camera VCC-U01 (by the way, is that the right one for the?) and it can take photos when i click on it. Don’t understand why… I wanna get the Network Smart capture working. Anywhere to download it and reinstall it??

I guess I’m gonna ask lots of questions these days. And yah, my wireless lan card doesn’t show it supports the 802.11B, only A and G…however, it does connect to my home’s B network. Ah, all so funny now…haha :xeno:  :xeno:  :xeno:

That’s one of the problems of installing your own OS or buying an import with a new OS installed on it. Ideally, the importer should have setup everything It is possible to get everything working but be prepared for a decent amount of hassles.

First of all, did they not give you application CDs? They should have given the original ones as there’s no reason for them to keep them. If not then you’ll need to either try to ask Sony to ship you English language versions (which they probably won’t but you can try) or kindly ask people to privately send them to you. You’ll have to make sure you have the right versions and that you install them in the correct order. Other folks here might be able to help you with that. Expect some headaches along the way.

What is the model of the Sony motion eye camera? Is it Sony Visual Comm Camera VCC-U01? Looks like I’m not gonna get the Application CDs. Well, just that saving the 300 bucks means a lot for a student…

Yes, that’s the correct camera model.

Sorry, I’m not trying to sound unsympathetic…I just have a different perspective about it. I understand about the savings especially for students. As a working professional, I view other factors such as time/convenience. I can typically make more money (than I would have saved) billing my clients during the 2-3 hours I would have wasted trying to get the notebook work correctly.

Well, since you can’t get the application CDs and you can’t call Sony Japan for them you might want to ask other TR2 owners here for them (privately). Give it a few days so enough people can read through.  :wink:

Hi there,

Well looking at my FedEx tracking number my TR3SP should be with me tomorrow. It’s been setup by iCube for an English OS so hopefully I should have most of the apps and such if not I’ll be begging like you

Well maybe, maybe not. When I had a Z600 I got it with Windows 98SE on it because I got a huge discount on that from the place I brought it from which didn’t have the Windows 2000 model. Sony told me they would put the drivers on the net in a month or 2 for Windows 2000 (Actually was about 5 months later) and until then it wouldn’t work. I got it working however by downloading the various apps from a mixture of Sony UK, Sony USA and Sony Japan for various models which had the same parts in them. It did take a long time but it all worked perfectly.

Yes groovy for you it might make sense to save the hassle and spend the extra money but for a student they normally have more time than they do money. For me, I like the challange, the latest tech and saving some money too. I actually sort these sort of things out for a living so I should be OK. Maybe even I can call up Sony Dealer Support which I have access to here in the UK and see if I can get some help if I really need it.

However judging by the service I’ve gotten so far, I’m sure iCube will have set it all up perfectly for me already

I’ll certainly help you out where I can though.

Yeah, I’m all for saving money as well. I saved $300 off my own TR1AP as I purchased it right when the TR2s came out when vendors were trying to get rid of “older” stock.

Yeah, forgive my other rant…I hadn’t had my coffee yet.

We’re going to have to start a few new FAQ/How-To’s. Folks who are trying to upgrade from Home to Pro (within the same language) should generally have the least problems as they already have the correct language application CDs and drivers at their disposal. Those with imports with either no CDs or wrong language CDs will have a few more hurdles to clear before getting things setup properly.

I will compile all of the knowledge and experiences we’ve seen so far and put together a step by step read through when I get a chance.

Yeahhh! You are the man gr00vy0ne!  :D
I hope to see this very soon in the near future before I get my TR3.

Patrick

Wow, I can only say I’m glad there’s this forum around and say a big thank you.

Hope Groovy’s and FastLane’s notes come out asap.

Long Live this forum. haha

Sony TR Clean Windows XP Setup (Version 0.1 Alpha )

I’ll leave it to Groovy to put this in a seperate thread and maybe make it a sticky if he thinks it’s worth it. Feel free to modify it as you like.

First of all I know this works because I have done this myself and I have everything working wonderfully on my TR3SP. However for most people this might be a bit indepth. If you really want a laptop from Japan for instance then it really is worth your time getting the laptop from a place like Icube   This is where I got my TR3SP from, the service was great and the laptop came configured perfectly with everything in English. I did a clean Windows install just because I wanted the partition layout changed and because I wanted to understand how it all works as well. If your buying from the UK then I fully recommend abusing the weak dollar as much as possible while it’s still weak, the prices compared to the prices in the UK with lower specced TR’s are excellent

This guide can be used to do a clean install of Windows XP Home or Pro onto a Sony TR. I’m using a TR3SP from Japan however it will be virtually the same on all models of the TR so far other than the wireless LAN drivers might need to be different.

You will need to have all your drivers and Sony applications burnt onto a CD + SP1 (If you don’t have a Slipstreamed Windows XP SP1 CD) before you format the machine because you will have no network/wireless/modem access until the drivers are installed.

Once you have all the drivers and Sony applications plus your sure you’ve backed up anything on the machine which you don’t need you can begin.

Install Windows XP Home or Pro. Make sure that your wireless is turned on because we are going to need to install drivers for those devices, they don’t show up at all when it’s turned off. Also I’d recommend your on mains as this will take a while to complete the full setup. You can partition the laptop as you see fit, dual boot with other OS’s, etc. It doesn’t really matter. Installing Windows XP is beyond the scope of this webpage and if it’s beyond you then you’ll most likely struggle with the steps as they go on as well.

Now I install Windows XP which is Slipstreamed with Windows XP SP1 but if you haven’t done that then you will need to install SP1 now.

Install SP1 if it’s not already installed. You need to do this for instance because Bluetooth won’t work without this.

Now we can get on to installing the drivers. Do it in this order, it might work in others but I know it works just fine in this order. Reboot where asked by a driver install, if your not asked to reboot then go onto the next one.

Install the Intel Chipset Drivers by using the setup program

Now install the Graphics Drivers again by using their setup program

Now go to the Plug and Play Monitor in Device Manager and update the driver with the Sony LCD driver. This is not required but it adds the colour profile for the LCD which is useful for those doing graphics work on occasions.

Now run the Intel Pro/100VE Driver setup program. This helps because Device Manager has 2 LAN adapters with no drivers, the other one that is left after these are installed is the Wireless LAN.

Go to Device Manager and install the Wireless LAN drivers on the other ? Ethernet Controller. For my laptop this is based on an Atheros chipset which all a/b/g Japanese laptops use. Also after this is installed you can put on the Atheros Utility to make wireless LAN roaming easier but it’s not required.
** You need to install the LAN Express drivers using the setup program first if your TR works on the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wireless bands and then install the updated Atheros drivers afterwards. If you don’t do this then the Wireless Switching Utility will not give you the option of switching on the 5Ghz band.

Install the SoundMAX drivers using the setup program with them.

Install the modem using it’s setup program (This took a while to complete on mine for some reason but it does install OK, just warning you)

Update the PS/2 mouse driver in Device Manager with the Alps Driver for the Touchpad. This adds useful things like sliding your finger down the right side of the pad to scroll, etc. If you don’t want any extra features like this then you don’t have to put this driver on.

The USB Device listed in Device Manager is the Webcam, install the driver for that. You also need to go down into the USB section and check each USB Root Hub for the one that has the webcam connected (You can check by double clicking on the Root Hub and then looking in Power). Once you have found the right Hub then you need to go into Power Management and turn off “Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power”

Update the Sony Notebook Controller in Device Manager with the Sony driver for it.

Same as above but for the Sony Programmable IO.

Go to the USB section and update the USB Mass Storage Device with the Sony Memory Stick driver. This will remove the icon on the tray asking you if you want to unplug the Memory Stick Reader which you clearly cannot do. If your not bothered by this then it will work just fine without this driver.

If you have a Japanese or European model of the TR then you’ll have one last device to install which is the Bluetooth. First of all run the setup program in the Bluetooth directory. This installs the Virtual COM port. Now run both the Hotfixes in the QFE for your language of Windows XP (They end ENU for English). Finally you need to find the last Device in Device Manager with a ? which is 3 letters (Name of it slips my mind now, I’m writting this after the fact. Someone please message me and let me know if you do this so I can amend this) and update the driver, point it to the Bluetooth folder.

You now have all the Device Drivers for the TR installed and there should be no ? marks in Device Manager at all.

Now you need to install the applications to get various parts of the system to work correctly. The order is also important here.

Sony Shared Library

Sony Utilities DLL

WLSONDBM DLL (Yes there is a program setup called WLSONDBM.DLL)

Sony Notebook Setup

Smart Capture Library

Network Smart Capture

HotKey Utility

PowerPanel

Wireless Switch Setting Utility

Bluespace NE (If you have a TR with Bluetooth included)

You can put on things like DVGate, PictureGear Studio, SonicStage if you want and have them but not really required. You shouldn’t have much trouble with these.

The bulk of these apps (Other than DVGate, PictureGear, SonicStage) and drivers can be downloaded from the various Sony FTP and sites

European Site
 

US Site (Pick the TR model, they have an original drivers section + updated)