HELP PLEASE - Sony Vaio Blu Ray Drive

[psurquhart]

Hi all,

I have meddled with my Sony Vaio VGN-AW11Z laptop's Blu Ray player drive software.

I was supposedly tidying my hard drive documents etc ... and have foolishly deleted what I think might have been something to do with the Blu Ray drives play back settings.

It will play dvd's via Windows but not my blu rays.

I am a complete novice and should not have meddled in the first place but I do not know how to get it back working. I believe the programme was WIN DVD if that helps ?

Should also say that I upgraded operating system to Windows 7 Pro but never backed it up.

Am I doomed or is their a way to get it all working again please ?

It is a MATSHITA BD-MLT UJ230AS ATA Device drive - what ever that means !!!

Help !!!!!!!! Oh and go easy on me - I appreciate I have goofed up !

 

[psurquhart]

Posted this alot earlier but hopefully If I reply to my own post and get it at the top of the list someone might advise.

Sad I know !

 

[bigboss]

Have you contacted Sony support? They should be able to email you a link to the driver.

 

[simonlewis]

I think it is third party software bb and nothing to do with sony, unfortunatly the only software available you have to pay for.

 

[psurquhart]

It came pre-installed via the start up discs to the old Vista operating system (if that makes sense).

I still have the back up discs but do not want to revert to Vista or lose all my other documents etc .....

Thanks for replying though.

 

[bigboss]

Why is it nothing to do with Sony? They installed the software in the first place, right? The laptop came with the blu ray drive. Sony emailed me link to a driver that went missing during an update on my Vaio.

 

[chebby]

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VGN-AW11Z_B/downloads/EP0000208028_5018

You could also try 'Method 2' ("Fix it") or 'Method 5' ("Remove & re-install the drivers") from the 'Resolution' section of this page...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

 

[psurquhart]

Thanks guys for replying but I think I have really broken things this time.

I tried the fix it thing Chebby (cheers for link) but it only fixes the dvd part of the drive which is actually working anway. The Blu Ray part of the drive needs Win DVD to play back my Blu Rays and this is where I have screwed up by removing it.

I think it may well be a third party thing that came with my bundle.

I have also loaded the latest firmware successfully but without Win DVD (silly name considering it is the basis of getting my Blu Rays to play) it means nothing.

I do not have the technical no how or nouse to have a look on the original back up discs (Vista) on how to look for Win DVD.

I will however send an email to Sony Support to see if they can help but I am guessing my laptop is so old they wont support it anymore ?

I do appreciate your replys / links though guys so thanks.

 

[psurquhart]

Right email sent - lets see what they say.

Thanks again to all for the links.

 

[cheeseboy]

the issue is that in order to play blu-rays on a pc, you need software which handles the codecs and more importantly the copy protection. This is what win dvd does. It's probably not a driver issue as if you can put a blu ray disc in and see it in windows, it's working.

If sony are no help you could try using VLC which is free, but you'll also need to install these bits here http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/

there's probably a few others you could try like Media Player classic as well.

If you don't fancy that, then your best bet is to get hold of a copy of winddvd or powerdvd and you should be good to go.

 

[chebby]

Do you still have your install disks? Can you find WinDVD BD on those?

 

[cheeseboy]

Do you still have your install disks? Can you find WinDVD BD on those?

could be wrong, but sony ditched install discs a while ago and you have to create restore discs, which is bascially an out of the factory image with all the stuff installed

 

[psurquhart]

Hi all,

Sony have basically replied saying that because I used a retail version of Windows Pro 7 and did not use their upgrade (at a more costly price) option to Windows 7 that my lap top is not supported. I was kinda expecting that outcome anyway.

It is all very polite but that is the general jist of it. They have gone on to say that if I made the recovery discs during the Vista operating system that they strongly advise to use those or they can flog them to me for just under £50.

Cheeseboy you are right / Chebby my lack of technical vocabulary may have confused you. The install discs that I refer to are actually the recovery discs (three of them) which I have and did back in the days of using the Vista operating system. I even had to use them once after initially screwing up a different Windows 7 install. I can't remember how they all worked but it did the trick at the time.

Couple of other questions now.

If and it is a big if. If I have to use them will it remove the windows 7 Pro operating system without screwing up my pc anymore ? At present I have two partitions (is that correct terminology?), Windows Old - I am guessing the Vista stuff and the new Windows file on my c drive. Hopefully that makes sense !

I would have to manually back everything up onto an external hard drive (photos/iTunes/documents/videos/games etc...etc...) and then put it all back again after the recovery. This will be a right pain in the wotsit.

I have sent another email back to Sony asking (grovelling) if they can't just send me the Win DVD files to restore it all but I am guessing I will hit a brick wall there !

I really don't have a lot of spare cash at mo for a quick fix so any other advise would be appreciated.

I also looked at the VLC link - thanks Cheeseboy - but a simpleton like me just got confused even though it is probably very easy to do.

 

[cheeseboy]

iirc the recovery disks that you create with sony laptops totally wipe the hard drive and basically put everything back to an out of the box state, so you would lose everything.

Have a look on ebay as you can usually pick up older copies of powerdvd and windvd cheap - that's probably the easiest bet to be honest.