Disclaimer: These instructions are written from the top of my head. I did this 3 weeks ago. I am trying my best to include everything here. In other words, don’t blame me if it does not work for you.  :wink:

I am writing this post for those people who want to upgrade to Windows XP Pro or do a clean install. This is one of the ways to regain the 5GB recovery partition. Plus you have more controls over your computer as you know exactly what is installed.

Before moving on, I need to give word of caution that I was not able to install WinDVD VAIO after the clean install. The installation program checks that this laptop is not a VAIO and exit. It does not bother me as I have WinDVD 5 which is better anyway. There might be other softwares that check this, but this is the only one I know of. Most of the Sony apps installed without any problem.

First, you need to extract the recovery CD kit that reside in the recovery partition. Just run the recovery wizard for this. It takes 9 CDs (1 for Startup and 8 CD), but it’s all worth it.  You also need to download all the apps/drivers provided by Sony. Visit http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/pc/pcgtr2a/ for this. More importantly, you need kcap utility file. Just search in google. Download that file as well. Finally burn those files from the sony support and kcap util file into a CDR/W. You will need them later.

After that, you can start a clean install of your Windows XP Pro.

When installation is finished, starts installing all the drivers downloaded from Sony support website, e.g. audio, chipset, video, wireless, etc. There are some files that are not installable (Notebook control, and programmable I/O). It’s OK to leave this.

Now, you should get a “kind of working” laptop. I think the network and camera are the only ones that are not working. Also all the Sony apps are still missing. It’s time to use the recovery CD kit.

First, look at the CD 1 (not the startup). There is one ini file called appinfo.ini. This file list all the drivers/apps that should be installed. For each driver/apps, it says where is the setup file and the installation order. You need to follow the installation order. As far as the setup files for these drivers/apps, they are packed in *.pac file. There are two pac files. One in CD5, another one in CD6. Just copy the pac files into some temp directory and use the kcap util to unpack it. After that, you should get a lot of subdirectories. One important subdirectory will be 0322719.SND as this contains Sony drivers. Now, you can install all the drivers/apps mentioned in the ini file. Some install will need reboot, some don’t.  You need to install all the drivers mentioned in the ini files. Apps can be selectively installed depending on your liking. There are some application setup files in CD 6, 7, 8 as well. Just check them out. For me, I am leaving out WinDVD VAIO (because I can’t install it), Age of Empires II, Microsoft Works/Money, and some other useless softwares…

Once you are done, go to device manager. I think there is a USB device that is still not recognized. This is the camera. The driver is in 0322719.SND\Drivers\Camera1.  Right click on the USB device, choose Update driver, choose Install from a list or specific location, and point it to the directory. It should install fine after that.

That’s it. Hope it works for you. Good luck. 

Have you checked the device manager if there is any unrecognized device? Can you see your camera listed in your device manager?

Also, I am not sure if this is related, but I remember that I could not get SonicStage to startup. It hangs. Finally, I have to right click on the app in the task bar, and choose close. After doing that, it quits with some error mesage about “could not find some exe..”  I fixed this by installing the OpenMG application. My point is there is dependency between one Sony apps with another (maybe they are sharing dll files?). Have you left out installing any Sony apps? You should definitely install all the Sony libraries listed in appinfo.ini.

Hope it helps.

Just did search in google for “network smart capture hangs”.

Got this, maybe it will help you.
http://pub173.ezboard.com/funofficialsonyfrm9.showMessage?topicID=883.topic

Good luck!

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why can’y I just use the upgrade directly without doing a fresh install? Are there any disadvantages?

I have Hong Kong model TR2. In HK, Sony provides restore disks AND a copy of XP so there is no 5G partition that some TR’s have.

[quote author=“jetguy”]Maybe this is a stupid question, but why can’y I just use the upgrade directly without doing a fresh install? Are there any disadvantages?

I have Hong Kong model TR2. In HK, Sony provides restore disks AND a copy of XP so there is no 5G partition that some TR’s have.

For whatever reason, Microsoft Windows XP Home cannot be directly upgraded to XP Pro. It seems like it would be easy to do but Microsoft offers no way to do it.

I just wondering, can I use TR2AP recovery DVD on my TR2A to upgrade to XP Pro?
If yes - how to order it?