Modded 197.16 Hybrid Graphics Driver for UL30/50/80VT

Can't send PMs, but I'll do it. I haven't seen this reported elsewhere yet, but I suspect there's driver issues with HDMI playback on the modded 197.16s. I've eliminated just about every other explanation. Will be interesting to test against the updated ones. I'm not as knowledgeable about driver development specifically, but I'm a computer tech for a living so I should be enough generally

 

What kind of problems you've been having? I've been able to play through HDMI reasonably well (although the playback wasn't very smooth untill I installed CoreAVC, which was a bit strange).

 

I had issues with the hd audio driver, but when I upgraded to 197.16, the problems went away.

 

It's a little bit hard to describe, but it's a kind of occasional stuttering/slowdown. It's not due to processor usage. I've run playback through CoreAVC in software, CoreAVC with CUDA, and DXVA. All keep CPU utilization where I would expect, and it's not dropping frames. I can watch the exact same thing on my laptop screen all day long and it'll be buttery smooth. But if I watch on HDMI, it does this.

If I had to describe it in more detail, it's like slows down to, I don't know, 20 fps for a few seconds (say, 5-30 seconds). But again, no abnormal CPU utilization and the renderer never reports any dropped frames or anything abnormal like the machine can't keep up.

Another thing that it does is the audio will sometimes go... well, really bad. Half like all the mics got massively overloaded, half like there's a terrible robot soul trying to get out. This tends to last 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and just pausing it for that approximate duration will make it go away.

I've tried pausing it on the graphical issue for shorter durations, and it didn't seem like it affected how long it lasts. I do have to admit I've been less rigorous testing that one, though. It's not nearly as annoying or as long-lasting.

 

tried this on the ul80vt w/o any luck.
i tried letting it sit for a few mi after switch to power saving but the nv never powers down and just had the little down arrow

siiiiigh. i just wish one driver version would work correctly for us
were you able to modify the info for the 197.2 drivers you mentioned a few pages back?

thx for your work!

 

i just updated to 1.1.37 and it works fine too with the official asus drivers.

anyone have a ul80vt and have some never drivers working properly (with the NV card actually powering down and disappearing from the device mgt, if so what version?

 

Sorry didnt even see this. Been busy. I have a driver only package up right now with no INF. I am finishing some things on the INF and I will post both.

The modded drivers in most cases do not factor in the HDMI drivers, so that may be where the problem is.

I assume you tried "DeepIdleTimer with it set to 0" and it did not work. I have both my father and girlfriend in the hospital so I haven't had much time to mod as much as I was hoping. I have some ideas that I am going to put into the INF but I cannot guarantee it will work until I get some proper testing and help.

 

Posted [Nvidia 258.96 / Intel 2020] with PhysX, HDAudio and the INF included here at LV2G. Not sure of how it will work on your Asus yet though without testing.

 

Sorry to hear about that, hope they start doing better!

i did try the deepidletimer set to 0
i believe default value was 72.

well i guess i should have done like the instructions on the first page said, i followed them to make my own hybrid 197.16 drivers which seem to work just fine w/ physx and cuda ect enabled.

i've also applied new thermal paste to the gpu bringing the temp down from 105c to 85max. allowing me to oc from a 3dmark score of 3500 to just 4100... so yeah to that, now some just borderline (before) games will work ok

 

anyone tried the new drivers on the ul*0vt lappies yet?

 

the 258 drivers only work if you f8 on boot

 

also, screen is stuck at full brightness...

 

OK, after some fidiling i got it working with out F8

brightness changes while in discrete mode only, not integrated. but it retains the setting... so you could turn it down and then switch, etc...

something missing still i guess

 

Yeah I got some ideas to fix the integrated brightness issue.

Is the discrete (nvidia) device powering down properly? You should not be able to see it in device manager when switched to integrated (intel).

 

no its still in device manager

 

I'm confused. I updated the UL80vt's graphics drivers separately, using this method, and lost the whole switchable gpu functionality thing, and I'm stuck using the integrated intel gpu. If I use this method/utility, will I regain that functionality?

 

the Asus UL80VT features Hybrid Graphics. Hybrid Graphics drivers install
both Intel and Nvidia drivers together and are released by Asus. Trying to install standard Intel or Nvidia drivers will cause problems with Hybrid Graphics and probably not work.

Argg.. back to the drawing board.

 

what do I do to fix it then? uninstall the drivers and download the V1.0.0.1 VGA Patch and the V8.15.11.8688 nVidia Graphics Driver for Win7 64 from the Asus site?

 

Correct...

 

Testers, please remember that when switching from Nvidia to the Intel integrated, it will take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or so (not sure why) for the Nvidia driver to disappear from device manager. You can actually have device manager running, switch cards and eventually see the Nvidia driver disappear if things are working correctly.

 

it shows up as disabled but does not disappear.

Also, my frame rate went from 60-50 to 25-15 in tf2.... but i have acess to more features like motion blur and hdr. i turned them off its still slow.

 

can we get a build with the most up to date intel drivers

 

argh...
any have a link to the most up to date intel drivers?

 

i've modified INF's before to let me install quadro drivers on my gfx card, now I would like to ask, what exactly are you doing to the INF's for this install?

 

in which order? and is there a guide for this somewhere?

 

I have been using 197.16 modded drivers for some time now with zero problems on my UL80vt. The best stable set was using the v3 .inf file provided by Nautis and Itaru working together. See the earlier pages of this thread for more info and correct installation procedure. The 197.16 drivers had the old Intel set, but Nautis is currently working on a new set (Nvidia 258.96 / Intel 2020). Please be patient. These things take time and testing. Sadly I am unable to test now as I am on the road with work.

 

Was that aimed at me?

Right now I'm not trying to install the hybrid patch, I installed the latest drivers for both gpus separately, but I lost the power4gear functionality, and am now just trying to fix it.

 

Nope, wasnt aimed at anyONE in particular.

If you are having problems, you are doing the best thing possible by going back to the original drivers. If you are on a UL80vt make sure that Power4Gear v1.25 (the only version I know of that always works like it is supposed to all the time on a UL80vt) is installed. If in doubt or you think it is broken, uninstall it and reinstall using the download from the Asus site.

Then this is what I suggest:

Boot into safe mode

Use windows 7 uninstall programs feature to remove:

Nvidia drivers and Nvidia Control Panel (Removing Nvidia Drivers first often also removes Nvidia Control Panel)

Nvidia PhysX (this was installed if you tried the modded driver set(s).

Staying in safe mode then run the Asus VGA patch using the included batch file.

Staying in safe mode run a Driver cleaner like Driver Sweeper (optional, but in my experience, it often finds lots of leftovers). Google to find.

Again while still in safe mode, now install the original Asus Hybrid driver set (186.88). Do NOT try to install separate drivers from Intel and/or Nvidia Websites. They will not work! You should ONLY install Hybrid drivers and they are only available from Asus (v186.88).

Once installed you should be prompted to reboot. Reboot normally. You should now be good to go. You should now have working drivers-defined by:

No problems in device manager
Manual switching via the button in the top left corner of your UL80Vt
Software switching via the taskbar icon.

If not there are obviously other problems lurking...

 

How do I check what version of power4gear I'm running?

 

One way is to go to Windows 7 uninstall programs and find the entry for Power4Gear. Look all the way to the right and you should see the version installed.

 

thanks. everything works as it should now.

 

Good! Glad I was able to help.

 

I cant figure out why my fps is so low...

 

ever since the upgrade i have access to better features on the video card but there is a noticeable FPS slowdown. Is there anything I can provide you to help make it better?

UL50VT RBBBK05

 

I'd try reinstalling the drivers again. And maybe checking some other games as well for comparison (if TF2 is your only one so far). You're sure you didn't up the resolution as well?

 

Settings didn't change, all the new features it granted me access to I turned off.

 

I found that the video card is down clocking to ~ 400 / 800 /400 seemingly for no reason. i set max performance in the control panel.

 

Sad news for those of us still hoping to get an updated video driver from Asus. Once again I emailed Asus tech support asking if and when they may provide updated drivers (both the Nvidia and the new Intel series) for our UL series notebooks. After several days they did finally answer (their reply below), but the not in the way that I had hoped:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
Sincerely sorry for the delay due to system error.
I am sorry that no driver update for this model temporarily.
If you want to upgrade to the regular driver from Nvidia, please take a look at the following page:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/474538-modded-197-16-hybrid-graphics-driver-ul30-50-80vt.html

If you continue to experience issues in the future, please do not
hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,
Lathan
ASUS Customer Service


So it's still up to the community to create one. Nautis how is your latest version coming along???

At least we know that they read the forum...

 

thats a much better answer than i got from the chinese support.

"the driver on the website works and there is no plan for another version"

that answer took them a month to give me

 

Yeah. Let's hope they'll send nautis (and others who deserve it) a paycheck. Chinese support apparently doesn't care much for CUDA.

 

Yeah they are pointing people here and sending them my broken sets. Fun times Asus, good stuff, would be great if we could get your help on this.

I have quite a few things I am working on but if you guys are ready we can try to figure out the issues with the UL3/5/80VT. Let me put together a back to basics 259.86/2020 package and we can start back at square one. I will of course need your help on this since I do not have an Asus. Give me a couple hours and I will have a set up for you.

 

Since Lathan indicated that there was no driver update "temporarily" I decided to shoot him another email. See below:

Lathan:

You say there is no driver update for this model "temporarily". Are you saying that one
will be created in the future? If so, what is the estimated timeline?

Thank you.

His reply:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
Actually, I am still waiting for the driver from our factory, I have gained the report from them yet. Please focus on our website for the updates. Sorry for any inconvenience that caused to you.


If you continue to experience issues in the future, please do not
hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,
Lathan
ASUS Customer Service

Guess well have to wait on the delivery truck from the "Factory" to arrive and drop that load of drivers off... I'm not exactly holding my breath.

Thanks again for all of your hard work Nautis!

 

You might be surprised at how long and costly of a process it is to get through all the red tape with driver releases. Any news is good news though.

I assume the following is true with that last set I released: (taken from nintendojoe49s post on LV2G)
1. Automatic GPU switching is broken, must click on the taskbar and manually switch (regardless of P4G version as well)
2. G210M never fully powers down
3. Brightness on Intel is broken
4. Have had "driver has stopped responding and recovered successfully" error while switching once

If that is all that is wrong it is good news since 1, 2 and maybe 4 should all be related to the same problem. 3 I am guessing is something I broke by disabling all Intel start-up processes. We might be able to fix the switching issue using either "DsmUseInteger" or "EnableGoldOnHybrid" (we need both on the VGN-Z in order for switching to work fully). Anyways INF & or full driver package up in a little bit.

 

I haven't had the opportunity to try your latest set (on the road alot with work lately), but:
1. Does "automatic GPU switching is broken" mean that P4G doesn't change drivers and you must do so with the manual switch? Don't understand the reference to the taskbar...
2. Have others checked to make sure that they waited long enough for the G210M to power down and disappear from device manager? It will take anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes with the either the stock drivers or your previous 197.16 set.
3. Looks like a bonifide problem.
4. Ditto.
I know very little about writing software, so I assume that when you are talking about "DsmUseInteger" or "EnableGoldOnHybrid" you are talking about references in the .inf or registry entries? Anyway thanks again for your help.

 

I would be happy with any of those 4 fixes

brightness on intel doesn't really bother me too much, thanks for your hardwork, i'll keep checking back.

 

bump

looking forward to the next update...

 

New test driver for UL3/5/80VT users only. [Nvidia 258.96 / Intel 2020 - 64bit - Beta 1 - Full Package]

I have included additional settings commented out in the INF. If these do not work fully after installing the first time all that should be needed is to open the INF and uncomment other lines for testing, reinstall, resign and reboot. I will let you know which lines and give more instructions when needed.

These drivers require Test Mode / Driver Signing before they will work.
1.) Uninstall your existing graphics drivers when switched to the Nvidia GPU and make sure you see both Video Devices in Device manager before installing.
2.) Download The Drivers -> [Nvidia 258.96 / Intel 2020 - 64bit - Beta 1 - Full Package]
3.) Download -> Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider (DSEO) from NGO
4.) Run ULVT_N25896_I2020_x64_FL_B1.exe and extract the drivers to a location of your choice.
5.) Open the location you extracted the driver to and run setup.exe
6.) After installation is finished DO NOT REBOOT, instead run Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider (DSEO) [dseo13b.exe].
7.) In Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider (DSEO) choose “Enable Test Mode” and click “Next” then “Ok”.
8.) After Test Mode has been set choose “Sign a System File” -> “Next” and then type or paste the following:

Code:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\igdkmd64.sys

9.) Click “Ok” then Choose Sign a “System File” AGAIN then “Next” and type or paste:

Code:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys

10.) Reboot and the drivers should work.

 

<3 awesome I just ordered a faster HD and some more ram, trying to eek out a little more performance

TYVM

like i said, any info, data or feedback you need to make it better, just let me know.

 

Updated post above.

have a new process that I will be moving to shortly. With this new process the Intel and Nvidia drivers will be installed separately. The drivers and Hybrid Graphics will not work until both are fully installed. One of the key benefits besides easier modifying and updating will be that they should no longer need to be signed.

 

When i get back from vacation i can mirror files for you if you wish