Lost some more hair getting alll details right again after my big XP sp2 nightmare. The machine I had to rebuild from scratch is a Sony laptop. Beautiful machine, espacially the ergonomics. Absolutely quiet, great keyboard and a beautifull display. The latter gave me the headaches. Its brightness can be adjusted, but only using hotkeys. These hotkey use some utility not part of a default XP setup

The sony support site is a nightmare. It offers some downloads, but these do not work on a default XP. After a registration process they do answer questions: “We only support the original software which came with the machine. In case you lost your original disks you can buy new ones here. No we cannot provide any links to downloadable stuff.” And that was it. My experience with the Sony on-line store had not been that great either. In utter despair I turned my office upside down once more and this time I did find the original disks.

The utilities were a separate setup not part of the regular XP install. Two minutes later the hotkeys worked again. Under sp2, no problem. My feelings about Sony are mixed. Service stinks but it is still a beautifull machine to work with. I wonder what will win when I need a new machine.

Peter