The Impossible Driver
This article is about an adventure I had with a Sony VAIO® LT Series Combination HD PC and TV All-In-One Computer. In this specific instance, an LT30 Series, LT32e Model.
The LT Series of computers is an all in one computer that was built in the late noughties (AKA 2000s). From the front, all models are very similar and are base around a 22" Vidoe Display . From the side and rear, various differences between models range from the type of CD / DVD / Bluray device to an external "subwoofer" (if a 2" speaker can even be referred to as a "subwoofer). Other model differences reflect various internal hardware such as CPUs, Disk Drives, Video Adapters, etc.
With only the evidence from eBay, it would seem that this model sold very poorly OR it was a really good computer that everyone who bought it loved and never wants to sell. IE, it is impossible to find one of these computers for sale.
The Quest
The original quest (and inspiration for this article) came from the seemingly impossible task of locating a driver for the "Sony Lucid Integrated Mpeg encoder".
The function of this device wasn't at all necessary. But it was the first example I'd ever run across where I couldn't find a device driver for a piece of hardware in a quarter of a century. So I had to find it.
Long story short, I did "find" the driver. And by "find", I mean that I found references to the driver. See the details below;
The Search for Drivers
In all the searching for drivers, I discovered the following;
- Observations indicate Sony is the worst at providing drivers for older model computers. Solution? Buy a Dell. Go ahead, try a comparison. See if in the year 2022 you can download a driver for a Dell Inspiron 8600 made in the early noughties. The answer is yes. Regardless of how useful such a computer might be, it says a lot about Dell in comparison to Sony. Again, Sony seems to be horrible with support for anything other than what they are currently selling, so buy a Dell (or something else)
- There are a ton of useless websites out there that aggregate information on hardware and drivers with the intent purpose of luring you to their website in order to download and pay for a "Driver Update Utility" (or one of a hundred other name variations)
Model Variations
It seems there were a great number of variations on this model;
- References to the VGC-LT15e, VGC-LT18e, and VGC-LT19u: https://www.theregister.com/2007/08/28/sony_readies_hd_all-in-one_vaio/
- There is of course the VGC-LT32e model this article is about.
- Several websites make references to these models: VGC-LT16e, VGC-LT27n, VGC-LT25e, VGC-LT28e, VGC-LT29u, VGC-LT33e, VGC-LT35e,
- The Sony Vaio JS Series, VGC-JS seems to be the follow up model to the LT Series.
Here are some additional interesting facts.
Maximum Upgrades and Pertinence in the Year 2022 (and beyond)
- Windows 11 on a system without TPM?: YES! I can confirm that the computer will run the latest version of Windows 11 in late 2022
- Quad Core CPU?: YES!
- 8 GB of RAM with an Intel GM965 Chipset: YES! (http://www.garrettpatterson.com/2013/02/02/install-8gb-of-ram-in-intel-pm965-chipset/)
- USB 3.0: YES! (Oh my goodness, how can USB 3.0 exist on a computer with an Intel GM965 Chipset and no ISA, PCI, or PCIe Expansion Slots? Answer: Express Card)
- SATA 3.0?: Nope, it is limited to 3 MB/S speeds of SATA 2.0