Key settings and VAIO Utility restore after disk replacement

[AFBall]

I have a VAIO VPC-F11M1E (UK) running Windows 10, on which I have just replaced the hard disk because the original was failing with increasing numbers of bad sectors. I therefore lost the original recovery partition and all the installed VAIO utilities. The recovery partition was in any case out of date because that dated from when I bought the machine, when it was running Windows 7. After reinstating Windows 10, I note that although the volume keys (Fn+F3/F4) do work, the others such as screen brightness (Fn+F5/F6) do not.

I have read various discussions here and tried to follow the reinstatement processes described, but unfortunately the correct versions of the VAIO shared libraries and utilities for this model (including VAIO Control Centre, VAIO Event Service and VAIO Care do not appear to be available to download. The download centre does not have any data (it says) for this model number - as if it has never heard of it.
I downloaded the shared library, VAIO Setting Utility Services, VAIO Event Service and VAIO Control Centre for the nearest model I could find on the download centre but these are evidently not correct, as I now keep getting a pop-up in the middle of the screen telling me I that the battery is not compatible with the machine, and it asks me to press a button to hibernate the machine, then to take out and reinsert the battery and start up again. This of course does not cure the problem, as it is presumably looking for the wrong battery type.. In fact it was only by taking the battery out and running solely on the charger that I have been able to keep the blessed pop-up away and be able to type this message!
VAIO Control Centre does work (except for certain functions) but the missing key functions like brightness control still do not.  The Hibernate key (Fn-F12) does not work either.
I will now have to uninstall these applications before I can put the battery back and get on as I was before.   Can anyone help me to get the right versions of these utilities reinstalled? I am not interested in all the bloatware like PMB, VAIO Gate etc., which I never used.
Fortunately brightness can be managed via Windows Settings (Display) or Control Panel (Power Options), so I can get by, but it would be good to have the proper functionality back.

[Mick_D]

Hi there

I've not been able to find a solution for your problem as yet; we're awaiting a response from the support team and will update the thread when we have it.

Thanks for your patience.

Mick_D

[Blencogo · Accepted solution]

Did you have Windows 10 installed before you replaced the hard drive? If so, were all these features working properly then?

The real problem is that Sony have not supported your Vaio model for more than 5 years so Sony have not producedand VPC-F11 custom Utilities for any OS newer than Windows 7.

You can download the original utility programs from the support pages for your model but these are designed to work with Windows7.

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/laptop-pc-vpc-series/vpcf11m1e?downloads-num=63

There is nothing newer on the Sony USA website either - this model is similar but not identical:

https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=VPCF11NFX&LOC=3#/downloadTab

You can try utility programs from other newer Vaio models but there is no guarantee they will work and the process becomes one of trial and error.

I doubt if Sony Support will have a tested solution.

[AFBall]

Thanks for the rapid response.  If only I could get the same from Microsoft and PlusNet (unrelated matters), my recent life would have been so different.

[AFBall]

Thanks, Blencogo - enormously helpful.  I don't know why I was unable to find that support page.Perhaps I was looking on the US support site.

Yes, all the functions I mentioned were working on Windows 10 after I upgraded from 7.  It would have been rather appalling if the W10 upgrade had rendered them unusable.  [I have no idea if the other ones like PMB or VAIO Gate worked, as those were never anything I ever used or wanted.]

I will reinstall these functions from the support site and record here how it went, in case anyone else has simlar problems (and I see from other discussions that they do).

PS

I will definitely not install software components intended for other models, because that is how I got the 'wrong battery' problem.  This, incidentally, I got out of by disabling the Sony battery-check process ISBMgr.exe within the Windows start-up schedule, using Task Manager.  Unfortunately, this means that the battery management is no longer in place, so it charges to 100% rather than being limited to 50% as previously (for longer battery lifetime), but I should now be able to reinstate that...

[AFBall]

I have done all the relevant updates from the support page you directed me to, and I have got all the desired functionality back:

1. VAIO Control Centre
2. Function keys alternate functions (including volume control, brightness, monitor management, hibernate)
3. VAIO Care
4. Battery checker/battery care
5. VAIO power management
6. Alps touchpad controls
7. Card sockets
8. VAIO Smart Network
9. VAIO Update (though this won’t deliver any updates now of course)
10. Realtek audio controls

Everything appears to work now (on Windows 10) as it did before I replaced the hard disk, so I am well pleased.

I applied all the updates except:

• Ones related to PMB (not used, and in any case a superseded product)
• NVIDIA graphics driver (I already had a much later version)
• VAIO Recovery Centre (since I no longer have a recovery partition)
• WinDVD updates (since WInDVD was lost upon change of disk)
• Chipset drivers, as these would probably be at regressed levels from ones already installed and working on my Windows 10 reinstallation.

I found in several cases that compatibility warnings were given and I had to change the program properties such as to run the drivers or installation processes in Windows 7 compatibility mode.

I have installed VLC Media Player, and therefore am not bothered about losing WinDVD.

I just need to reinstall MS Office 365, and a few miscellaneous applications such as Adobe Reader, and I should have a machine that will survive a few more years yet.

Thanks again for your help, without which I might have ditched the machine altogether (minus its memory chips), which would have been a crying shame, because it has a good HD display, a Blu-ray player and excellent connectivity (with the exception of having only two USB sockets).

I never did find a way to navigate 'normally' from the Sony UK home page to that support page you pointed me to, and I did try several times...  What am I missing (apart from a sufficient number of brain cells)?

[Blencogo]

Sadly, the direct link seems to have disappeared in the latest version of these forums.

I have had to create a favourites link to Sony Support:

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support

[AFBall]

Thanks.  You can after all navigate there from the Sony UK home screen, and I have no idea why I couldn’t manage it before.  Perhaps someone fixed it as we spoke.

I think the reason I had difficulty getting there originally was because I was on the US site.  The trail ended very unhelpfully at the brick wall here:

https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-find.pl?mdl=VPCF11M1E&RECALL=YES&DIRECTOR=DRIVER – and this after giving me “VPCF11M1E” as a possible option in the selection list in the previous screen! (https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-find.pl?mdl=vpcf11).

How much better if they had simply redirected me to the UK site.  I wonder how many users have crashed out this way. Perhaps someone ought to let them know.