Sony VAIO laptop (CRX810E or PCGA-RDVGX1) I CANT FIND A DRIVER!

[ame540]

Wow.

I dont know what to say. Ive exhausted every method that i can think of trying to find a driver for this Sony VAIO laptop that i am repairing for a friend.

Windows XP detects the drive as Sony CD-RW Drive CRX810E, but Sony does not have a listing let alone a driver on their website for this model. However i took the drive out of the laptop and on the back it says MODEL: PCGA-RDVGX1.
Searching for this yeilded a page with some details about the product, but NO DRIVER.

OMG, can someone point me in the right direction on where i can get this loaded (so that i can load the rest of the programs from CD's that i need to)?

Thanks so much.

-A

 

[ski]

CD-ROM drives do not require a special driver to work. They plug in, and they work.
What is the exact nature of the problem with the drive?
Is it correctly jumpered?
Is it getting power?
Is the IDE cable securely connected?
Did you try a different power lead, and a different IDE cable?

 

[rvnguy]

ame540,

You did not specify what OS you are using.
ter
As I suppose you found, Sony lists these two drives when a search is done for CRX810E. These may or may not be applicable.

CRX85A or CRX85U

As ski stated, if you are using XP, the driver is included with the install disk and is transfered to you computer as a CAB file.

Please post back with the problem you are experiencing.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[ame540]

Ok i guess i should have been more clear.

It is on Windows XP professional (I said in my original post that "Windows XP detects the drive as Sony CD-RW Drive CRX810E".

In anycase, i am aware that CDROM drives are usually plug and play, but this one is having an issue for some reason. This is a Sony VAIO Laptop, so i dont have an option to change the IDE cable that it is on, its the type of drive that just slides into the side of the laptop.

I know about CAB files, but i dont understand why XP doesnt load the generic driver for this CDROM. I looked on sony's website and CRX85A or CRX85U are not even the same type of device.

 

[ski]

Make sure that both IDE controllers are enabled in BIOS, and that they both have no problems in Device Manager.

If those are ok, then did you try removing the drive from Device Manager, restarting, and let Windows recognize the drive?

If that does not work, then exactly what kind of 'issue' is the drive having?

Did you check for a problem with the drive's connection port on both the laptop and on the drive?

 

[ame540]

i removed the CDrom from device manager. Rebooted. Windows detected it but it just still has an "!" in device manager.

The Issue is that the system does not recognize that it has a CDROM drive (this is because there are no drivers loaded).

So windows knows that the drive is there, it even knows the make and model! but just cant use it.

 

[ski]

Is Windows XP the original O/S that came with the laptop?

 

[ame540]

It was XP home edition, i just saw the label on the bottom. I have installed Windows XP pro SP2.

 

[ski]

Was the drive originally supplied with the laptop?

 

[ame540]

Yes the drive originally came with the laptop. It too is a sony device.

To mention again though, it has TWO model numbers.
On the bottom label it says Model number: CRX810E
But on the top of the plastic case it says Model Number: PCGA-RDVGX1. It is a CD-R / RW / DVD Rom Drive.

 

[ski]

See if this works:

Double click on the CD-ROM drive in Device Manager, click the Driver tab, click Update Driver, select 'Display a list....', select 'Show all hardware', select Sony under Manufacturers, and look for the model PCGA-RDVGX1 under Model. If that model is not listed, then look for CRX810E.
If either model is listed, then click Next, click Yes if a warning appears, and follow the instructions.
If neither of those models is listed, then click Back/Next, select 'Show compatible hardware', click Next/Next, and follow the instructions.

 

[ame540]

I tried your suggestion. Of the "Show Compatible Hardware" listed, they are just generic drivers (non of which work when i load them, i get a message that says "Cannot Start This Hardware" Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing".

If i Uncheck "show compatable hardware" Sony isnt even listed as a Manufacturer!

Thank you so much for playing Thread tag, and giving me suggestions though! its very appreciated.

 

[ski]

The corrupted or missing driver message means that you may have to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows.

 

[ame540]

Ouch. I guess i could try that, bummer that got a bunch of programs loaded already. Strange... it was on a fresh install, but ya never know, maybe something got corrupted.

 

[ski]

You may be able to pluck the driver off the Windows XP Pro CD, but you'll need a drive other than the CD-ROM on the laptop to transfer it to the HD, like a floppy drive, zip drive, etc.

 

[ame540]

Thats not a problem, as i have been using a USB flash drive for everthing else. Do you know what the generic driver file is? the DLL? im not sure what id need to copy over from the XP cd.

 

[ski]

On the laptop go to 'Show compatible hardware' in the update driver wizard, click Next, and write down the name of the file and the path to it[The file should be a .inf file(Ex.: mscdrom.inf), and the path should be similar to C:\Windows\Inf\mscdrom.inf].

Next, find the file on the laptop using Windows Explorer and the above path, right click on it, click Rename, and rename the file with a .old extension(Ex.: mscdrom.old).

If you have access to another system running Windows XP, insert the USB drive, in Windows Explorer find the file using the above path to it, right click on it, click Copy, right click on the USB flash drive, and click Paste. A copy of the file should now be on the USB drive.

If you only have the Windows XP installation CD, then on another system insert the CD(close it if it automatically starts), and use the 'Find/Files or Folders' utility to find the file on the CD. [Note: in the 'Named' box type *.cab, in the 'Containing Text' box type the file's name, select the location of the file in the 'Look In' box(CD-ROM drive which should be D, E, etc.) You'll also need an unzipping utility, like Winzip, to open the cab folder and extract the file.]
After extracting the file to the Desktop right click on the file, click Copy, insert the USB drive, right click on the USB drive in Windows Explorer, and click Paste. The file should now be on the USB drive.

Then, insert the USB drive in the laptop, find the .inf file on it with Windows Explorer, right click on it, click Copy, find the Inf folder using the path above, right click on the Inf folder, and click Paste.

Finally, remove the CD-ROM drive from Device Manager, restart the computer, let Windows reload the driver, and see if the CD-ROM drive works.