SONY VAIO PCG-GRT150 - function keys ?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

K. wrote:
> Hi
>
> Could someone tell me how to acivate the function keys in this laptop
> ? Xp pro is installed on it. I don't know which program/driver
> activates theese damn keys  
>
> I've visited the Sony support page for this model but I really don't
> know if there is such program/driver for supporting f.c... There is
> everything but not that  
>
> http://ciscdb.sel.sony.com/cgi-bin/swu-index.pl
>
> Please help me and BTW: Greetings from Poland  

I think you want the Sony Notebook Control Device.

Q

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"K." <eltad@wp.pl> wrote in message news:c8lqbb$nfk$1@opal.futuro.pl...
| Hi
|
| Could someone tell me how to acivate the function keys in this laptop ? Xp
| pro is installed on it. I don't know which program/driver activates theese
| damn keys  
|
| I've visited the Sony support page for this model but I really don't know
if
| there is such program/driver for supporting f.c... There is everything but
| not that  
|
| http://ciscdb.sel.sony.com/cgi-bin/swu-index.pl
|
| Please help me and BTW: Greetings from Poland  
|
|

Hi -

After clean-install upgrading most recent Vaio's from Windows XP Home to
Windows XP Pro, you'll have to jump through hoops in order to reinstall
Sony's proprietary drivers and utilities. You'll probably find many of the
drivers available as stand-alone setup files on Sony's support website (and
this would be a good place to go looking after performing the following, as
drivers do frequently get updated after a model is released).

You'll find that the 3rd party applications (such as Word Processing, DVD,
etc.) applications will not reinstall in this manner, but Sony's proprietary
stuff, as well as the "free from their original developers" utilities (Adobe
Reader, Real Player, etc.) will.

To restore the proprietary drivers, Hotkey Utility, Sony Notebook Setup
Utility and PowerPanel Utility from your recovery CD's on newer Sony
installations, you'll need to download a small utility called KCAP.EXE - you
can pick it up (zipped) here: http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jefn/kcap.zip

You'll then need to work through your Restore CD's one-by-one, looking for
the following items:

Sony Drivers installer
Sony Utilities Library/Sony Shared Library installer *
Sony Utilities DLL installer *
Hotkey Utility installer
Sony Notebook Setup Utility installer
Power Panel Utility installer

* One or both of these items may be found. If you find both, you'll need to
install both. If you find only one, you'll need only one.


All of the above are stored in proprietary archive files that need to be
unpacked to your hard disk.

Begin by creating a folder on your hard disk (suggest D:\Sony) and then
unpack KCAP.EXE from the above download into that folder.

Then, working one-by-one with your Restore CD's:

1. Insert each restore CD in your computer.

2. You'll get a warning that the CD was not designed to be run on your
computer or from within Windows - click the OK button.

3. Look for a file called SONYxxxxxxxxx.PAC - be sure to look through any
sub-folders on the CD before giving up on it - if you find one, continue
below - if you don't, start this process with the next CD.

4. Copy SONYxxxxxxxx.PAC to D:\Sony. Be patient - this will take some time.

5. From a command prompt, navigate to D:\Sony and type the command:

KCAP SONYxxxxxxxx.PAC D:\Sony

6. KCAP will unpack a bunch of sub-folders to D:\Sony, each containing a
different application - be patient - this will take some time. The
sub-folders will appear to have gibberish names - don't worry - we'll get to
deciphering all the gibberish once all the SONYxxxxxxxx.PAC files are
decompressed.

7. Delete SONYxxxxxxxx.PAC from D:\Sony.

8. Repeat steps 1 - 7 for each of your Restore CD's.

9. In Windows Explorer, step through each of the sub-folders, viewing each
xxxxxxxx.INF file (right-click and then select OPEN) to determine what the
installer in the folder installs. If you don't see a xxxxxxxx.INF file, look
at the other items in the sub-folder (and any sub-folders below it) to
determine what the folder contains. Clues can be icon files (xxxxxxxx.ICO),
readme.txt files, or even the name of the installer itself.

10. If you find an application you want in a sub-folder, rename the
sub-folder to something more appropriate (like D:\Sony\Hotkey) to avoid
confusion.

11. Delete sub-folders for applications you don't want.

12. When finished with steps 9 - 11, click on Start | Run and navigate to
each of the applications you wish to install, keeping in mind that you want
to preserve the following order of execution:

.. Sony Drivers installer
.. Sony Utilities Library/Sony Shared Library installer (if found)
.. Sony Utilities DLL installer (if found)
.. Hotkey Utility installer
.. Sony Notebook Setup Utility installer
.. Power Panel Utility installer
.. any other Sony proprietary utilities you wish to install

13. When finished, you can burn D:\Sony to a CD and you'll have a backup of
your installers for future restore, if needed.


The above worked with my V505DC2 and I've heard reports from other users
that the approach works with many other more recent models. Earlier models,
such as my R505EL allowed me to run the Application Recovery CD's after
clean-installing Windows XP.

Jef

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Thank You very much for help. I'll take care of it soon..

Mariusz

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hi there guys,

I think I have the same problem here. I just bought a PCG-GRT150 and
wiped it all out. I put XP in it, I went to the Sony driver web page
and downloaded everything they had there, but my volume control
buttons still do not work.

My computer was refurbished and did not go with recovery CD-s,

Does anyone know where, what, how to fix this?

Thanks

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