When owning an older vendor built machine, is this common...?  

I have a two year old Sony VAIO laptop. Is it common to need to download and install drivers from newer machines in order to update certain drivers for older machines? I feel like my model is no longer supported...

I don't think that's common at all... why shouldn't your laptop be supported when it's only 2 years old? That means even Windows 7 was already out (or almost) when you got the laptop.

Which drivers in particular are you talking about? If you're having an actual problem you need help with, let's hear it.

One of my Sony VAIO developed drivers was completed before the RTM release of Windows 7. It was never updated, and it caused a blue screen error within 30-60 seconds of log in when checked with Verifier. I believe it was also the source of one of my blue screen errors when my computer went from sleep to hibernate, though I have not been able to diagnose that since that error only occurred 1 in 20 times.

It is a pretty big driver since it tells Windows whether my battery is properly seated and whether the wireless device is turned on or off. My blue screen from sleep to hibernate was being caused by my wireless adapter having a power state failure, so it may be related.

I was able to get a new driver that works by finding a brand new Sony VAIO model and downloading the same, updated device driver (I made a restore point and system image backup beforehand in case it didn't work). The driver passes Verifier and the system seems very stable after the driver update.

I should also mention: the updated driver came out just five months after the driver that was originally on the machine.

Wow. Good job on solving that driver issue!

But again, this is a pretty unusual way of updating to a newer driver. Big oversight on Sony's part not to release that driver for your model. I haven't heard much good about their service anyway...

Big oversight on Sony's part not to release that driver for your model.

more like only offer limited updates after the laptop is released, and then get those that will by new just because the old is no longer supported (for no good reason).

Also one reason that on most Sony made computers (laptop and PC) that they don't allow the use of hardware manufacturer's reference device drivers (ask anyone that has one how "easy" it is to update the video driver for example). Just one more way for Sony to try and lock people into them for any and all updates and support.

I haven't heard much good about their service anyway...

Same.

this is a pretty unusual way of updating to a newer driver.

Strange, possibly; but also not the first time I have seen it done to get something updated (and not just on Sony).

stormy13 said:

Big oversight on Sony's part not to release that driver for your model.

more like only offer limited updates after the laptop is released, and then get those that will by new just because the old is no longer supported (for no good reason).

Also one reason that on most Sony made computers (laptop and PC) that they don't allow the use of hardware manufacturer's reference device drivers (ask anyone that has one how "easy" it is to update the video driver for example). Just one more way for Sony to try and lock people into them for any and all updates and support.

I haven't heard much good about their service anyway...

Same.

this is a pretty unusual way of updating to a newer driver.

Strange, possibly; but also not the first time I have seen it done to get something updated (and not just on Sony).

The hardware for the machine has been great. I would recommend them just for that reason. I do agree that the support has been less than adequate, and if a Sony PC customer tries to get support after warranty, the support turns into a marketing scheme to get Omnitech remote optimization every month for a year for 300 US dollars a year. Then they'll try to fix any issues with the computer.

I find it very strange that they didn't do more testing on the SFEP.sys driver that did not pass Verifier, especially since they obviously released a newer driver after Windows 7 was on the market. I bought the computer in November, about a month after Windows 7's release, and it was preinstalled with Windows 7 x64. I think that not providing an updated driver for my model (and many other models the same age as mine) was a big oversight on their part.

I've read about a half dozen people going through the steps given on this forum to troubleshoot blue screen errors and getting stuck when running Verifier due to that driver. The remedy has been to just stop verifying that driver and focus on the rest since no update was available for it.

Darician said:

For Sony, it's not particularly unusual. I bought a new laptop of theirs in mid-2005 with Windows XP. When Vista was launched, it took them about 6 months after the launch to get somewhat tolerable driver support. The laptop itself wasn't fully supported with Vista until about mid-2009. And with 7, I have to resort to forcing the Vista GeForce 6200 driver for graphics as Windows 7 does not have it built-in and Sony does not provide anything for it. Lucky for me I thought ahead and got the Nvidia model because the base model had the dreaded GMA 915, which has issues of its own since Vista.

Glad to see that I am not alone in my frustrations with Sony (and apparently laptops in general in some cases). At least enough diligence allows for solutions in most cases. :)