HP EliteBook 8770w and 970M 6GB and 980M 8GB - they work!

First and foremost as per title - it works! I`m writing this for all those EliteBooks owners thinking about such upgrade but worrying about will it work, wasted money for non compatible card etc. Some trouble, need help in troubleshooting this, but all in all card is working like a dream, getting great performance out of it.
It works, 100%, proof is here.

So my config is:
8770w with newest BIOS F.61
i7-3940XM
32GB RAM
K3000M 2GB (was), 970M 6GB withe Prema vBIOS 1.1.1 (is)
Windows 10 Pro 64bit installed with pure UEFI (GPT)

So physically card fits like a glove, absolutely no hard modding is needed. I have original stock HP heatsink for K3000 with dual heatpipes and didn`t need to modify it. So at this point it was easy. For better cooling, also replaced original 13 (14?) blade fan with 17 blade fan from older 8740w. Gelid Extreme on GPU + thermal pads on each chip (needs some correction, I think I used too much in some place, because screws from xbracket were hard to secure).

After booting into BIOS, there was info about Nvidia display card UEFI driver, so all was looking good. Next boot into Win10 and card was seen as generic Microsoft card, so it was working, powered and all. Now the hard part - software, Nvidia drivers. I need help, I`m completely clueless how to operate it.

Hardware ID is PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_176C103C&REV_A1
13D8 - is for 970M
103C - is for HP
176C - is for 8770w (chipset)

Modding inf file isn`t working, probably because of unusual setup. No HP notebook with 970M on the market (960M was the last upgrade they did) - so there is none device id of HP with 970M in any of those existing original inf files to copy&paste and edit one value. Needed to create strings from scratch. So in my understanding, this is for me:
Device ID: %NVIDIA_DEV.13D8.176C.103C%=Section###, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_176C103C
Device String: NVIDIA_DEV.13D8.176C.103C = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M"

Section number (###) is a mystery for me at this point.

I tried everything and I`m sure that my new formatted device ID strings is proper. Found many guides on web and all of them are basicly the same, so I`m sure that I edited it correctly. Then I pasted them into inf file(s): nvbli.inf (HP for quadros), nvhmi.inf (HP for GTX), nvcvi.inf (Clevo, Sager & other re-brands). One edited file at the time, then two, then all three. Then tried experimenting many different Section numbers too. Then edited nv_dispi.inf and used it with and without other modded infs. Tried few different driver versions. Each time when I was trying to install driver, I used Display Driver Uninstaller first and disabled Win10 check driver signing.

Absolutely no go.
Without any inf mods, driver installation wont even start because of unrecognized hardware, that`s normal. After messing with infs, installation starts (that`s why I`m sure that I edited those infs lines properly), screen blinks and installation is aborted.

So here is a workaround for all future 8770w upgraders.
After many hours and frustrations I was ready to give up. But finally I found forum (Chinese I think) where one user with 8770w and 970M posted link to working drivers. They are really interesting - installs fine right from the setup, no disable driver signing needed. Card is properly installed, Win10 see it correctly, GPU-Z, HWINFO and all other soft as well. Control panel works, brightness control works, even Subvendor field is reported as HP. FINALLY, IT`S FULLY working I said and boy I was happy.
Download it, keep secure and upgrade to 970M!
http://file2.mydrivers.com/2015/display/nvidia_geforce_icafe_347_26_whql_win7_64bit.zip

I don`t know how and what was done to this drivers, but it simply works! But it`s an older version (347.26) so I had hope to look inside its inf file and learn how to modify newer one. There is only one inf file inside WITHOUT and trace of HP id or 970M id. I have absolutely no idea how it works and how to learn from it. Pure magic... What`s more, Windows Update picked it up as a "normal" proper driver for 8770w and delivered an udpate! I`m now on official 35x.xx (don`t remember now) from WU and all is working!

But because I don`t want to be forced to use old "chinese" icafe drivers or only this served from WU, I will try and further troubleshoot inf modding. I just can`t figure it out and need help.

So yeah, card is working, my 8770w is a beast now - great machine that will serve me for many years ahead.
So if You have one too and were afraid of upgrading to 970M You can go ahead. 60 fps at 1080p ultra everything in Fallout4 is nice ;-)

 

Nice upgrade. The thing is, does it work with the DreamColor?

 

This looks interesting. Please post a link to the "iCafe" forum thread.

 

I don`t know but I`m working on that too ;-)

 

Link to original post at chinese (?) board about upgrade (she/he did the same thing but used Win8.1 UEFI) -> http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3562591481
Link to original post at the same board with the one and only working drivers aka my saviours -> http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3559459754

 

What happens when you try to install the driver from NVIDIA website?

 

Few further observations:
Windows Update firstly auto installed 353.54 drivers for 970M on top chinese 3 47.26. They didn`t work properly, 8770w was rebooting/soft booting with black screen, without any output from 970M (everything else was working fine still). Only power down/hard boot was working. So I DDUninstalled them, but before it I manually copied C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_(...) folder for further inspection (files location of this WU driver if I`m correct). DDU showed "oem14.inf" (couldn`t find it anywhere on C )and "Section045" in the log.

After reboot WU found driver update for 970M again, but this time installed 353.82 in an instant. They were even worst: black screen at restarts (only power off->power on gives display output from 970M) plus lots of bugs in Windows explorer/desktop (like missing clock, icons, theme elements, background of menu start etc). This clearly shows, that WU is completely clueless about what driver to put on this machine, just like me lolz.

So when I`m still on this old 3 47.26 (which works perfectly) I have two options: stay offline (very bad opt) or disable WU (not as bad opt) completely. Is there option 3, to be online, have WU working but to avoid auto driver update from it (good opt)?

 

"Installer could not find any compatible hardware" (something like that) and stops.

 

The iCafe driver is a special version of NV driver targeting cyber cafe installs. For some reason it's only available in China, and seems to lack certain hardware checks present in other versions. The guy who posted that download link is from a famous Clevo reseller, so it's probably clean. You can compare it against the official NV download here.

There's no known difference between iCafe and the standard driver in terms of performance or function.


If iCafe works for you, just search for a new version on the NV Chinese website.

 

Thanks, downloading official 3 47.26, will WinMerge them.

In the mean time I found a way to browse and download inf files from (malfunctioning) laptopvideo2go.com via http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/infs/.
Then looked what drivers are officialy available for 970M on nvidia site and gforce site for download. Then checked, for which driver version from nvidia I have moded inf from laptopvideo2go.com and downloaded them.
Plus some other drivers versions from other sites too (with corresponding moded infs), to have more options to try.

So that way I`m have now (pairs of official driver and its moded inf): 353.30, 353.62, 355.98, 358.50, 358.87, 358.91, 359.12, 359.23 (MSI) and 361.43. A lot. Will try them from newest to oldest, hoping to success.

 

@aptpra do you still need help with this? I can try to mod drivers for you.

 

Yes, I`m still without solution but I`m trying what I can. Wait for my testing as per my last post (many versions with laptopvideo2go.com infs), please. Maybe it will work, don`t want any unnecessary job/waste of time by your side).
Will let you know how it went.

 

I think I have a little "breakthrough" here, take a look:

 

would be glad to help. what's your hardware id for the gpu?

 

New findings.
That icafe 347.26 driver posted on chinese page is absolutely unmodified and the same as official icafe driver from NV page. So I tried this icafe way to upgade: found 352.94-icafe and 355.73-icafe. 352.94 installs without any errors, but card is stopped and non woking upon Windows restart. 355.73 says incompatible OS and stops installation.

So then tried official GTX drivers from NV page with corresponding moded inf files from laptopvideo2go. Tried them all, one by one: 353.30, 353.62, 355.98, 358.50, 358.87, 358.91, 359.12, 359.23 (MSI) and 361.43. NONE of them works, installation fails... Sigh...

Reinstalled Windows 10 - with fresh system everything is the same, still can`t install any new(er) drivers, icafe or not.

Installed Windows 7 64bit.
Turns out, that you don`t need system with pure UEFI (GPT) mode to have working 970M with 8770w. Installed Windows 7 with hybrid UEFI/legacy mode and card works fine (again, with old icafe 347.26). Then tried 355.73-icafe and it works! Installs fine, from installer, without any problems. Card is working perfectly!
Then tried official GTX drivers with moded inf files again. All of them installs fine, without any errors, but card is gone after Windows restart. So returned to 355.73-icafe and launched Driver Booster ( http://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php) for further upgrade. Driver Booster found one for 970M and installed it - it`s 355.98 so slightly newer. And card is working with them (tried the same Driver Booster method with Windows 10 before but ended with non working card again after driver update). Manually copied its .db file from Driver Booster downloads folder, extracted - it`s a no installer version but lot of inf, ini and other text etc files. Once again DDUninstalled card and then installed it with "have disk" method, pointing to mentioned 355.98 files. Bingo, drivers installs fine, no errors, card is working perfectly again. Ran some benchmarks (UNIGINE, 3DMark) and games so stress tested it for few hours and everything is stable and working.

To sum up, working drivers:
- Windows 10 64bit: 347.26-icafe only
- Windows 7 64bit: 347.26-icafe, 355.73-icafe, 355.98 Driver Booster

Interesting (but not surprising) bonus findings: after all those benchmark runs, I have lot of data to compare. Results from UNIGINE and 3DMark from my machine in three OS/drivers combinations: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] Driver Booster. Take a look at 3DMark (representative for whole bunch of tests) results for example:

[email protected]


[email protected]


[email protected]


Massive difference!

So here I am - managed to upgrade from "ancient" 347.26 icafe drivers to 355.98 "Driver Booster from somewhere" drivers with return to Windows 7. As i said, 970M is working beautifull with 8770w, pleasure to see and play ;-)

BUT my main problem is still unresolved - still can`t get newer drivers to install and work. I don`t want to stay on 355.98 Driver Booster drivers forever guys, need help.
I`m starting to think that Prema vBIOS is a cause for this problem...

 

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_ 13D8&SUBSYS_ 176C103C&REV_A1
13D8 = 970M; 176C = 8770w; 103C = HP

 

Great Job done here!

But why don't you reach out to @Prema himself?

Gesendet von meinem LG-H955 mit Tapatalk

 

What do you mean with this - you have it, but it's not working, or you are looking to get one?

 

is it an optimus machine?

 

Meybe I will, as a last resort.

 

I`m thinking about DC screen for some time, been looking for it last few weeks, found one and currently I`m negotiating conditions of aquire with its owner. It`s hard

 

Nope.
No optimus at all, integrated Intel permanently blocked by the BIOS and never to be seen.

 

More infos (lower clocks because on battery):

 

ok, give this a try version 361.43 64bit, win7

replace this inf file afer you unpack the driver:

 

Ok, so:
first try: DDU 355.98, installed from setup.exe, installed fine, no errors, reboot and bluescreen just after Win7 welcome screen, caused by nvlddmkm.sys. Three next reboots werw the same, the same cause but different memory addresses.
second try: DDU 361.43, try with "have disk" method and fail, no proper drivers found.
third try: installed from setup.exe again, installed fine, no errors, reboot and... BINGO! IT WORKS!!!one!!!111111!!!oneone!!1

Thank you very much for helping me.

Ran 3Dmark immediately, here are results:
[email protected]


@tanzmeister
how you did it, what, where, tell me pretty please sir!
Performance is a little lower then with 355.98 but as we know, 361.43 are little bit messed. So i will try to modify 359.06 instead, to try them and first of all - to learn your inf modding method.
TEACH ME MASTAH!

 

Good luck with making someone part with their DreamColor The thing is, I was asking because 8740w DC was tested with 980m and it had severe grayscale issues. An M17x-R2 (8bit panel), had them too. Just a heads-up, newer machines might not have issues, although I doubt it.

 

It might need specific driver modification to support other panel color profile.

 

i have replaced alienware 18 string in the driver with the string you gave me.

basically: open nvdmi.inf with notepad, use ctrl+h "find and replace"

find: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_05AB1028

replace: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_176C103C

press "replace all" button

save file, run setup.exe.

 

try this, see if performance will increase

delete the unpacked modded driver, unpack a fresh one again.

make driver cleaning with Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode.(DDU)

replace this inf attached.

run setup.

 

Could be. The thing is, every GTX before the 9-series (at least the ones tested), worked fine.

 

i have found that the key is in the way the drivers string is modiffied, when i was modding drivers for Alienware 18 which has samsung PLS screen. before the offical 9xxm support came out: if you moddify it as generic VGA, it has problems with flickering on some grayscale colors, same with m18x r1, r2 screen.

 

i'd be willing to try modding the driver string if any one have the specific hardware on hand.

 

Yeah, it`s taking more than a month now, he is still contemplating about it lol. But lets say that I will manage to mount it and test if it`s ok and finally decide to buy it or not.
What grayscale issues, how to reproduce them, what software/game/setting to use, what to do and where to look to see if it`s a case with 8770w too?

 

Wow, so the whole issue was to figure out which hardware to choose for to disguise it as 8770w. Now installer sees it as alienware 18 and works. But why alienware 18, is it because it`s officialy equipped with 970M (thus having official support with drivers) ans it`s non optimus too?

 

Ok, update.
After your nvdmi.inf mod for 361.43 I used it for 359.06 too and it worked like a charm. No problems. Benchmarked it.
Then tried your nvcvi.inf mod for 361.43 and again used it for 359.06 too withe the same result (all working fine). Benchmarked both set ups.


Win7 361.43 nvdmi



Win7 361.43 nvcvi



Win7 359.06 nvdmi



Win7 359.06 nvcvi


For 361.43 nvcvi is clearly better then nvdmi. For 359.06 results are mixed, but Firestrike is a little bit better with nvcvi again.
So I will be using 361.43 (as it`s newer so should perform better in new games and I don`t have any reported problems with it) and modded nvcvi.

Better benchmarking performance aside with nvcvi it`s one more thing.
With all previous working drivers, be it icafe ones (all versions) or GTX with modded nvdmi (both versions) I have strange issue with desktop graphics. Every time, when large white area is displayed on the screen (explorer window with white background for example) there are some auto gamma (?) changes which can be seen on desktop wallpaper. It changes gamma/brightness/lights/dark levels automatically, very slightly but it can be seen clearly with no problem. Little annoying when switching between many opened explorer windows again and again and every time you wallpaper is "flickering". It happens all the time, only with white, and only on battery. With charger plugged in there is no such issue.
Now, with modded nvcvi the problem is gone, with both 361.43 and 359.06. Battery or not, mentioned issue is gone. So it looks like modding this file is a way to go in the future with 8770w@970M.
That idea to try nvcvi instead of nvdmi was simply brilliant!

@ tanzmeister
Thank you soooo much for your research and help. Any more ideas to try, to squeeze even more performance (different Section###, another inf)?
What modification is done to nvcvi.inf file, is it exactly the same procedure as for nvdmi?
I will be switching back to Windows 10 and want to mod drivers for it by myself (361.43 Win10 64 driver version and mod its nvcvi).

With 361.43 nvcvi 8770w 970M @1080p is running:
- Assetto Corsa mixed ultra/very high at rock stable 60 fps even on standing start with full grid with all the smokes, collisions etc. 60 fps all the fcuking time
- Dirt Rally maxed out everything on ultra is the same - rock stable 60 fps, all the time
- resource hog Assassins Creed Unity maxed out, ultra everywhere, never ever dips below 30 fps; ingame it`s 45+ fps (indoors it maxes at 60 fps), for some heavy realtime cutscenes it goes to 30-35 fps
- Fallout4 maxed out everything, ultra all, is 50-60 fps range all the time.
I`m amazed, blowned away, shocked and crushed how well it performs. I wasn`t even dreaming about such performance. It`s amazing what it can do now, with 970M on the board. My PS4 cries in the corner now. HELL YEAH!

 

Sounds like an auto dimming feature.

 

with nvcvi is a bit different, i swaped the Clevo p771 machine.

in nvcvi.inf i have:

replaced PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_77021558

with PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_176C103C

pressed "replace all" button, saved it.

let me know if you need any help, i dont think you can squeze more than that without overclocking.

 

yes, exactly

 

Nice to hear. I think that the M17x-R2 user ( @Blacky ) tried everything including vBIOS mod and it still had gray-scale issues. I'm not very sure though, it was quite some time ago and I might jump back to re-read the thread.

If he's using it for work, it's understandable

They are most obvious in Witcher 3, according to @sinitar who tried 980m in DC 8740w.

 

Probably Section### from nvdmi.inf for alienware 18 is setting some value to "1", enabling some dimming. Maybe it simply doesn`t work properly for 8770w because I cannot imagine that it runs the same (bad) on alienware 18. Glad it`s totally gone with nvcvi.inf.

 

Yes, figured out what you did myself and modded nvcvi.inf, replaced it, rebooted 8770w without drivers signing, installed as admin and everything was butter smooth. No issues.
Once again, thank you very much for you help. Now that you showed me how, I can mod any future drivers to be released by Nvidia by myself. In few minutes. It`s great.

So I`m back to Win10 and learned something new.
Benchmark scores are one thing but real life actual game performance can be different. 3DMark showed better performance with Win7 then on Win10.
But running the same games now on Win10 64bit 361.43 nvcvi mod I`m seeing noticeable fps boost everywhere vs Win7 64bit 361.43 nvcvi mod. All games have +5~10 fps more. I even double checked that graphical settings for each game are the same as the were with Win7, because such boost indicated reduced quality. The same game, same config, same conditions (for example the same save state in Fallout 4, so location, time of a day, weather etc etc is exactly the same) and it runs so much better now. What more, PES 2016 that was running already locked at 60 fps all the time, now runs at the same fps with lower GPU usage and temps. Amazing. 970M beast is even more beastly now!
Looks like Win10 is clearly better for gaming, despite 3DMark score. I switched back because of audio output through 3,5mm jack in the new wireless XOne controller but seeing this bonus in performance made me smile

To conclude: 970M runs in 8770w perfectly, just like stock combination sold in retail by HP, without any issues. If your heatsink is already dual pipe (you are running NVidia Quadro setup) it just a matter of changing cards. Then proper modding and installing drivers, which is super easy now thanks to tanzmeister research. What`s important, this method is future proof, so you can upgrade drivers for this sweet piece of card in 8770w without a problem. As for upgrade itself, it can be clearly seen that I`m more than happy from it. If you, just like me, are using your mobile workstation not only for work (Lightroom, CAD and GIS in my case) but for some evening gaming too and you are looking for better performance, than just do it.
It works!

 

Ok then, if I get a chance to try DC panel I will check Witcher 3 and see how it goes - and report back of course. I`m still hoping that I will get that chance

 

I'm looking forward for the test. Don't forget to install the Mobile Display Assistant in order to recognize the display properly.

I've probably missed from what GPU you are upgrading, but I doubt that you'll see notable improvement in pro software. nGreedia tends to cut-down their GeForce GPUs in order to sell you their "properly priced" Quadros.

 

I ended up breaking both the 970M and the Alienware. :-( No way I could make that 970M compatible with my RGBLED screen. Did you guys found a way ?

 

So sorry to hear that No, not yet.

 

so you guys tried leaving the left string in the driver untouched and only replace the right string, so that the driver treats 970m kind of like 285m(or whatever it was released with) ?

 

I`ve started with K3000M - it was fine for my work but not so much for gaming. With 970M I have MUCH better gaming, any improvements in my workflow (even if small) are added bonus.

Now I`m scared to even try this swap.

Anyway, my source of DC is no more (current owner decided to keep it in the end) and because of reported gray scale issues with DC@970M/980M setups I`m quitting from an idea of such upgrade.
Instead I pulled the trigger and ordered 980M 8GB - awaiting for the package to arrive. 970M is sold now (to fund 980M) so wish me luck to get it working too
I`m gaming with K3000M in the mean time (Fallout 4 back on low settings hurts now lol).
I have an idea (consulted with master tanzmeister) which and how to mod ini file for drivers to work. From what I see from the interwebz photos of the card, the upgrade will not be so straight forward as it was with 970M - because of a little different construction of 980M. Original HP 8770w heat sink for NV cards must be altered in one place to accomodate additional element on the card. Tools as vice and file will solve it.
I will keep you guys updated.

 

I would have thought a 970M would required a ton more power?

 

17" EliteBooks/ZBooks ship with 200W standard and 230W optional.

 

Nice, I have a workstation 8770w and was planning a GPU upgrade, so in theory I could use an Nvidia 970m?

I always thought the bios was locked to only certain cards?

Thanks and nice work!