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General discussion

WWAN Drivers for VAIO P

Nov 11, 2009 8:16PM PST

I've got a Sony VAIO P 598E. Original OS was Vista Home Premium. It had the Qualcomm Gobi WWAN drivers and I was using Verizon VZ Access Manager. It also had the Sony SmartWi utility to control LAN, WWAN, and GPS. I did a clean install of Win7 Professional. After that, I tried to install the updated drivers for my model, including the Gobi drivers and SmartWi, from the Sony support website. Here's the problem: the machine does not "see" the WWAN modem. It does not show up in the Device Manager. When I start the SmartWi utility, it tells me the wireless "switch" is OFF, when in fact it is in the ON position. WiFi works great; the glitch appears isolated to the WWAN modem. When I start the VZ Access Manager, it gives me a message telling me it is unable to locate the WWAN device, which makes sense since the system doesn't "see" it.

I say I've tried to install the required Sony drivers because some of them won't install. In particular, the "Sony Shared Library" for my model and OS gives an error message telling me it will only install on Vista. I've tried installing the Gobi drivers in Vista compatability mode (and they seem to install fine) but the Sony Shared Library still won't install. I've looked high and low on the web, spent LOTS of time on the phone with Sony and Verizon techs, and nothing works.

Anyone else run into this problem? Am I missing something? Is there ANY fix for this? Any help would be appreciated...I'm about ready to turn this machine into a paperweight and be done with it. Many thanks.

Discussion is locked

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How I see others find drivers.
Nov 11, 2009 8:33PM PST

They use google and their model and the OS they want. It takes work and time to find these (I don't do this for you.)

But back to the right way. Sony. If Sony doesn't offer Windows 7 drivers then ask them if they will later. But let me share that Sony has always shown they expect the machine to run the OS that was supplied. This is why you don't see this brand at the office.


But this doesn't mean you can't get wifi on this machine. Why not use some wifi card or usb wifi?
Bob

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not alone same problem...in Toshiba laptop
Nov 14, 2009 4:30AM PST

I have a Toshiba laptop and it was heck to update to windows 7 so I called tech support at Toshiba and they had me do a clean install. I lost my Verizon WWAN completely...so I downloaded it from Toshiba and it says the same thing...it is OFF? but...it is on! Called tech support again and the gentleman couldn't figure it our as well...after trying to update driver(s) through remote access ect...two hours later, he said he would have a level 3 tech call me with in 24-48 hours! So your not alone with the WWAN error message

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Windows compatibility center
Nov 18, 2009 6:55AM PST