topic Re: SZ3 and bitlocker in PCs & Accessories

SZ3 and bitlocker

jmreilly — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:37:15 GMT

I cannot for the life in me get this to work!
Have installed vista ultimate and has worked a dream once i got all the drivers from http://www.vaio-link.com/downloads/os/vista/upgrade.html.
Now bitlocker does not want to install one little bit!
Tells me that the system boot info has changed since bitlocker was enabled.

Anybody got any ideas?

Jamie

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

Blencogo — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 20:02:00 GMT

Hi Jamie and welcome to Club Vaio.

I think you have to create a boot partiton of 1.5 GB when installing Vista.

Does THIS GUIDE help?

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

maishan — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:05:22 GMT

Possibly clear the TPM through the BIOS menu when you turn on your laptop?

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

staffanu — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:40:45 GMT

Just want to say "me too"... I have Vista Ultimate installed, and have a 1.8 GB active boot partition. The computer always says that the boot configuration has changed after turning BitLocker on. I've tried this on both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Vista, with the Vista built-in drivers for the TPM, and with the ones from Sony's web site (actually, I've tried the latter only in the 32 bit version of Vista).

Anyone got this working?

Staffan

jmreilly

jmreilly — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:56:06 GMT

i have followed the ms instructions to the letter. As staffanu has done have tried every concievable driver variation.
Maybe there is something amiss with the bios?

Re: jmreilly

GCParris — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:17:33 GMT

I'd just like to add the same comments really. I have an SZ1 running VISTA ultimate edition. I have all the latest Sony drivers installed, I have 1.5GB boot partition, a 30GB system partition and a 70GB data partition, everything is working perfectly except for BitLocker which comes up with the message that the system has changed since last boot.

I did get it to work once however it required me to insert a USB key everytime and it didn't use the TPM chipset so it really wasn't the solution I wanted.

Anyone got this working yet?

Re: jmreilly

P996 — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:34:49 GMT

I'd just like to add the same comments really. I have an SZ1 running VISTA ultimate edition. I have all the latest Sony drivers installed, I have 1.5GB boot partition, a 30GB system partition and a 70GB data partition, everything is working perfectly except for BitLocker which comes up with the message that the system has changed since last boot.

I did get it to work once however it required me to insert a USB key everytime and it didn't use the TPM chipset so it really wasn't the solution I wanted.

Anyone got this working yet?

Welcome to the "Club", I just made the same experience with my Vaio G11VN, a machine I paid almost 2800 Euro for. I get the feeling that Sony never tested Bitlocker on their machines since apparently a lot of people on the internet, mostly VAIO users, have the same problem. I should have sticked to my business laptop, a HP nc2400 with Core Duo and 2 GB RAM. Bitlocker works like a charm from day one of availability of the Vista drivers/utilities, incl. TPM 1.2 and the finger print sensor.

Very pathetic for Sony.

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

P996 — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:37:39 GMT

Hi Jamie and welcome to Club Vaio.

I think you have to create a boot partiton of 1.5 GB when installing Vista.

Does THIS GUIDE help?

Does somebody of the "Club Vaio Experts" have actually a Sony Vaio laptop running with Bitlocker enabled, using TPM 1.2 and the finger print sensor? Just curious because I HIGHLY DOUBT it.

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

Blencogo — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:45:33 GMT

Hi P996

Does somebody of the "Club Vaio Experts" have actually a Sony Vaio laptop running with Bitlocker enabled, using TPM 1.2 and the finger print sensor? Just curious because I HIGHLY DOUBT it.

I doubt it too P996. This is just a forum for mutual help where all the contributors (including the experts) are just Vaio users (like you) but who are prepared to give their own time to try and help fellow Vaio users. None of us work for Sony. Please do not confuse this Forum for the official Sony support channel. If a fellow user can help you then they will - if we are unable to help then you must register your fault with the official Sony Vaio-Link Support.

Incidentally, does this only affect those who have upgraded to Vista Ultimate? Did Bitlocker work with the supported operating system for your laptop, Vista Business? Does anyone have a Vaio bought with Vista Business installed and does Bitlocker work?

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

P996 — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:14:16 GMT

Hi P996
Incidentally, does this only affect those who have upgraded to Vista Ultimate?  Did Bitlocker work with the supported operating system for your laptop, Vista Business?  Does anyone have a Vaio bought with Vista Business installed and does Bitlocker work?

First I want to express my gratitude for the "volunteers" who are trying to help people here, even if they don't work for Sony and/or are paid by Sony. Don't get me wrong.

BUT: if people want to offer support and help, they need to know the products and operating systems used with the products, at least this is my opinion. We're running a car forum too and if I wouldn't drive some of the cars discussed in the forum myself, I wouldn't be much of a help I guess.

Your question actually proves my "point" actually pretty well since it is a well known fact that only Vista Ultimate and Enterprise have Bitlocker on board.

Anyway: I think the problem lies with the communication between the Infineon TPM Software, the Protector Suite Software and the BIOS, incl. the TPM chip of course. There seems to be some sort of compatibility problem but I can't really pinpoint it, I'm afraid.

I decided to re-install Vista Ultimate completely new from scratch, deleting the recovery partition too (I made a backup of the recovery media). This time I won't use Bitlocker, I decided to wait until Sony sorts out the problems and offers a BIOS/utilities update, whatever. However: Sony has to be aware that they're selling expensive laptops, mainly targetting customers with certain expectations. Sony can't offer a fingerprint sensor and a TPM 1.2 chip in their laptops without fully supporting Bitlocker. This doesn't make any sense and if Sony doesn't fix it fast, word gets around and a lot of potential customers will avoid these laptops.

I know, Sony sells their Vaio laptops with Vista Business BUT since they also add a "Anytime Upgrade" DVD with their laptops, customers can expect a fully functional Vista Ultimate operation too, including full Bitlocker compatibility.

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

Thalamus. — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:36:01 GMT

We're running a car forum too and if I wouldn't drive some of the cars discussed in the forum myself, I wouldn't be much of a help I guess.

We would willingly use any vaio discussed in this forum, please contact one of us to arrange payment of donations..

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

P996 — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 10:30:31 GMT

We're running a car forum too and if I wouldn't drive some of the cars discussed in the forum myself, I wouldn't be much of a help I guess. 


We would willingly use any vaio discussed in this forum, please contact one of us to arrange payment of donations..

Well, I paid for my cars myself too, no sponsorship from the manufacturer.

To get back to the Bitlocker issue: I got several "TPM or TSS" errors which certainly are related to the problem with Bitlocker usage. I now suspect that the BIOS is actually the culprit since the Infineon software seems to be used on other laptops (not Sony) too without any problems. The TPM 1.2 chip should be the same, so no problem here to expect.
Maybe the Protector Suite QL is also to blame but I really think that the BIOS is not 100% compatible since most Bitlocker problems of other laptop manufacturers were mostly related to the BIOS in the past. Sony has to look into it seriously.
I also hope that Sony improves fan control, actually I would have loved it if they would have created the G11 without fan at all. The Panasonic CF-W5, the FSC P7120 and the Samsung Q40 have NO fan at all, all machines are running single core Intel processors, so I doubt there would be a problem with excessive heat.

I also own a X505 (pretty old but still fascinating) and although I hardly use it (mostly as a internet surfing machine), it impresses me how thin this thing is and this was 3/4 years or so ago. Of course NO fan on this little thing.

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

GCParris — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:39:05 GMT

You are right P996. I've been using VISTA in various forms for well over a year now and on various platforms, desktop and laptop. I've had it working perfectly on the majority of platforms.
But unfortunately my 1 year old Sony VAIO SZ1VP does not work with it. I believe it is a TPM compatibility or VAIO firmware problem. I have already posted an e-support problem with Sony.

Gareth.

Re: SZ3 and bitlocker

GCParris — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:21:42 GMT

Latest update from Sony e-support is as follows:

*** NOTES 27-Mar-2007 Action Type: Info
Thank you for contacting us.

As stated previously we do not support this software or the OS you have installed.
The Bitlocker drive encryption has not been tested by ourselves and we do not have updates to solve this, they maybe available in the future but at the moment we are strieving to get all the basic Vista Drivers available on our site.

Regards,
Sony Vaio Team.