Downgrading from Vista to XP

[confusedman]

I have just down graded my viao VGN-FE41E to xp servicepack 3 because it was running vista home German, As me skills in german i decided to revert to English. I did like xp because of its simplicity. my problem is i cannot get any video, audio. webcam or wireless to work. In systems I have yellow question marks against oth er devices ie, mass storage controller, network controller and video controller no wireless and a yellow exclamation mark against sigma Hi Tel Definition Audio CODEC.  I have been able to get internet by downloading a driver but nothing for my other problems. If the answer to my problem is sony does not support this model, can anyone suggest how I can if possible change german vista to english. I only have recovery discs.

thank you

[Blencogo]

Hi confusedman and welcome.

You need to install ALL the XP Drivers and Utilities to get XP to work properly.  It sounds like you have not installed any of them!

The Vaio model VGN-FE31M is almost exactly the same model but was released with XP as the Operating Sysyem - your VGN-FE41M was the same model released when Vista was released.  I would install ALL the Preinstalled Drivers and Utilities for theVGN-31M.  You can download everything from here: -

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VGN-FE31M/updates

Download the Original Drivers Package and the Original Utilities Package - you will find them under the Preinstalled Drivers & Utilities Tab. When downloaded, right-click on the .ZIP file and choose "Extract All".  Choose to extract the files to somewhere you can find them easily like C:\Drivers and C:\Utilities.

Most drivers and utility programs will have a 'Setup.exe'.  Those that do not will need to be installed from within Device Manager.

When you have installed everything, then install any updated drivers from the Tab 'Latest Downloads - Windows XP'

If you have any problems, come back here and I'm sure someone will help you.