Some Driver Issues with Sony Vaio SVS1511GFYB on 64-Bit Windows 8

[leders]

Just a heads up for those who haven't yet experienced this, and to see if anyone has any solutions.

I have been running RTM of 8 64-Bit on this machine for a little while now via MSDN. Now I did a fresh install since the drivers are all located on the Sony Driver Page. None of these issues are terrible but I figured I'd ask for some help and maybe someone else will find this info useful.

1) The track pad driver took an install and uninstall a few times to take without crashing. Works well now that it is installed. Reverse scrolling and sliding in from the top, left and right of the track pad works phenomenally smooth in the OS. However when in a full screen video app like Video or Netflix the curser doesn't fade away so I've been moving it to the right side of the screen to make it less noticeable.

2) There is one unknown device in Utility Manager. This is the Intel Chipset, which Sony Chat confirmed isn't yet available but "may be coming soon." Here is a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/3n3FB.png - It is also attached below. "Intel® HM76 Express Chipset LPC Controller - 1E59" yields little search results, Intels driver detect utility finds it, but has no clue what to do with it.

3) There is no Hotkey Utility for Windows 8, so the Speed/Stamina slider will not function at all. The Assist, Web, and Vaio buttons and all of the FN functionality is gone with the exception of Volume control, which works through the Windows 8 UI. The HotKey Utility for Windows 7 will install, but will force the laptop into hibernation repeatedly stating the wrong battery is inserted into the laptop.

The Intel chipset is the most concerning at the moment, however I would really like a way to set up my hot keys, maybe in a more customized way than Sony provides. The NVidia driver is there, however I have yet to check it up against the current one NVidia driver for performance.

Any tips, tricks or news on drivers would be greatly appreciated. Hope someone finds this helpful. - It would also be nice to know if anyone knows a good freeware driver update notification utility of some kind.

[jakem1]

Unfortunately you're unlikely to ever get official graphics drivers that allow switching for your Vaio. Sony customise the drivers and they don't bother to release updates. I'm in a similar situation with my Vaio Z. It's very unlikely that you'll ever see any Windows 8 drivers from Sony.

[Larry316]

I am experiencing the identical issue on my Sony VAIO - SVT13115FDS [unknown device in the device manager : Intel? HM76 Express Chipset LPC Controller - 1E59]

I'll be contacting Sony today with the details and hopefully they will offer some assistance.

UPDATE:

Sony has released a patch to remedy this situation. It is called The Sony? Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver.