*HP ENVY 17 & 17 3D (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

That does help, I don't expect good drivers from HP, never have. I have Windows 8 but I also don't know if I want to install that anyways. I have it on the desktop right now and consider it more of a pain then anything so I'd rather stick with windows 7. And for the most part, if the drivers work then just stick with them I guess. Yeah they should be updating the PC to Windows 8 drivers, but at the same time they probably are only doing it with PC that are less then a year old.

Right now I have the desktop is an ASUS based machine and my laptop is an ASUS G51VX. Neither one have epic driver support, the motherboard isn't too bad and some of the stuff they have updated to Windows 8, but that is also probably because so much of it is so similar to what other boards use so they just need to make one update and shove it under all the boards that have XX component.

And that is good that the heat isn't that bad, the owner was saying that he did have a couple thermal shut downs in Diablo 3 at full settings, full screen brightness, full keyboard backlight. So that was probably just a fluke so I'm not too worried about it, any laptop running a discrete graphics and a good CPU will run hot. Heck my G51VX with a T9600 and the GTX 260M runs hot!

 

I don't game on my Envy as much as I do my desktop. I can recall having played Battlefield 2, Fallout 3 (buggy and all), and some other games as well...in 3D. Mind you with the 3D glasses, the 6850 has to double the frames to make the games work correctly. The 120 HZ screen is exquisite. The 6850 has gotten very warm, but never as hot as first gen owners complained about. Coolsense helped a lot, and keeping the intake, output ports dust free certainly helps. The 6850M card is a really nice card with a lot of power to spare. For a laptop, I have scored over 2000 in 3D mark 11 with the machine. The new 3rd Gen with the 7850 and Ivy Bridge are scoring about 300 points higher. Switchable graphics still works fine...when on the Intel card, the machine is a cool as a cucumber, all the time...As I said...the Envy 17 / Envy 17 3D, hardware wise, was a super concept. As long as you are pleased with Win 7, you should be good. BTW...I have newer games that I can run on the older vid drivers...perhaps not as tweaked out as they can be, but they run OK...

 

I have a strange issue, it all began after i installed latest AMD drivers and not the HP ones for my 6850M. When high performance GPU is selected and i turn on my laptop the screen won't work. When i connect external monitor using VGA or HDMI it works and only after i switch to power saver GPU the laptops display starts working and then i can switch back to high performance GPU and it will work as normal. I thought it was driver issue but it didn't bother me much, i use a dual monitor setup anyway.

Last few days I had issues with some of my accounts being hacked so i decided to format my PC in case it was infected by keyloggers or some other stuff just to make sure there isn't something left behind. Anyway problem is after clean windows 7 64 bit install, and installing all the latest HP drivers from the Driver thread here on this forum i still have the same issues with laptop display not working if high performance GPU was selected. I have no idea what could it be. I'm pretty sure the drivers i have now are the same i had for a while when everything worked as it should before i installed AMD ones for some mayor fps bumb in far cry 3 Has anybody had something similar happen to them?

 

This might be a stretch but I saw on the HP forum that someone advised to install the latest HP framework before installing the drivers.

Speaking of which. Has anyone tried installing windows 8 then AMD windows 7 drivers in compatibility mode .. then throwing ontop the drivers from Bobmitchs post and then the official HP win 8 drivers for a more updated Intel HD drivers?!

 

Laptop screen works normal in safe mode and shows windows loading screen when booting, it stops working i assume when drivers are loaded. I was experimenting a bit more and i realized the problem is that backlight is turned off completly, when u press F2 to lower brightness it comes down to most dimmed setting and then if u press one more time it shuts off backlight completly which is weird too, I'm pretty sure u couldn't do that before. Obviously it is fixable on Intel GPU, just increase brigtness after boot, but as far as i know brigtness keys don't work with ATI gpu. Is there any way to force laptop to boot with max brigtness or something similar? Maybe problem is with drivers of LCD, but from a bit of googling such thing doesn't exist.

 

Are you using the Intel gpu in safe mode or the AMD gpu?

If you are using the AMD gpu in safe mode and if it works then why don't you just remove the AMD/ATI drivers in safe mode.

I am pretty sure the brightness keys work on the AMD gpu but you need the HP drivers.

 

The only hurdle holding back the 2xxx series from Windows 8 upgrade is the video drivers. Been reading on other forums that this guy, mods for his own use and posts. Everyone raves that the drivers are good, up to date and work...check them out. I will give a try in the next few days as well...

Leshcat

 

I was just reading that the deadline for buying Windows 8 for $39.99 is January 31, then it goes up to $119.99. More here: Buy Windows - Microsoft Windows

 

The issue with these drivers is that you have to turn off driver checking which puts your windows copy into a constant test mode .. watermark on desktop inclusive.

 

So I got the laptop, its pretty darn nice.

 

Try turning off HP Cool sense (lower right corner by the date/time).

 

You shouldn't have any throttling if you are using the newest BIOS. DayZ has always ran fine for me. I might not have played it on the highest settings but it was smooth.

I would stick with the i7. Most of us have 2630QM. How are you planning to swap out the CPU? Is HP able to do this?

 

After testing the PC again last night it was running great, I was playing for about an hour without any issues.

 

OK...let's revisit how to fix this. Watch the videos and use the software and all should be good. Still planning on trying on mine, when I find some time...

How to Disable Driver Signature Enforcement in Windows 8 - YouTube

Bypass Unsigned Driver Error in Windows Vista and 7 - YouTube

Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider 1.3b

First video for Win 8
Second video for Win 7
Third link for software that you can use on both OS.

Granted, it is a workaround, but HP is dragging their feet bigtime. I complained and was assigned a Case Manager. I told HP that they were "dead ending" our very expensive laptops. Spent half an hour with a Case Manager named Maxwell. He was surprised (really???) over this matter. Said that he would pass my complaint up the line with Management. Received an email from a higher up later in the day. My response was that I wasn't expecting much by way of HP updating our drivers. I also recommended that if they would release a bios, where we could access ALL the features of our bios, there would be a way to disable switchable graphics. Don't see that happening, either. Oh well. Wish my 2000th post had more upbeat news for you all.

 

Bobmitch I couldn't of said it better myself. We should all complain to HP for the lack of support and the lack luster bios they have given a "high end" machine. I still can't believe that our Envy's don't have any official graphic drivers for Win 8.

 

Congrats on your 2k Bobmitch! A lot of help came through your knowledge!

I have a Win 8 copy ready to install but don't have the time yet until I know that it will run a 100%. The HD 3000 is simply an awesome way for the laptop to stay cool.

Maybe we could repeat the driver trick that we have always done with the drivers?

i.e. Install original HP base drivers and update them through the official mobility packages. I personally stopped doing this after 12.1 because the drivers that came later had some kind of issue installing/displaying.

BUT

maybe it is still possible to do this by mixing the package provided by Gwaih.

With the official "HP win 8 drivers" for an Intel HD3000 update.

If all else fails we might have escalate this to real upper HP management. Maybe through the help of social media and the members of this site?!

ld;dr
Win7 HP 6850M drivers in compatibility mode > Gwaihs drivers for updated Catalyst/ or official mobility Catalyst > Win8 HP drivers for Intel HD3000

 

Good news and bad news. First the good. Put my original Intel SSD back in the machine and did a Windows 8 upgrade, Worked out well. Sound, bluetooth, etc all worked. Now the bad news. I could only get the original HP drivers to work, BUT...Catalyst Contol Center wouldn't install. I then upgraded the drivers to Catalyst 12.1, latest I could get installed without black screening. Acer drivers didn't work. Nothing would. Unfortunately another BAD is that switchable graphics is gone. I could only use the AMD 6850, which for me is fine...but my battery time is going to go away, bigtime. Games worked fine with the setup. Didn't try TriDef 3D yet...too many other things I have to do, so I put my Samsung SSD with Win 7 back in so I could do work, etc. I will switch drives when I have some more time and experiment. The older HP drivers DO work in Windows 8. To get 8 installed, you need to uninstall the video drivers and reinstall once in 8. Mind you....the installation proceeds but you will NOT see CCC. No biggie...the drivers load and work properly. Damn HP! What is the problem. This could be such an easy process with new video drivers that don't black screen...I wonder what they did to these 6850's that is causing this

The more I am thinking on this. Has to do with the Intel GPU. Both are enabled in Device Manager....will play later and see...

 

OK, making some headway. Six tries on the HP drivers and finally got them to install, with switchable graphics. AMD Install Manager is NOT compatible, so you get an error. Now...with that said...right click on the installer for the HP drivers...choose to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode...then run the install. Choose custom and choose everything. Once done, you "Should" be able to right click on your desktop and see "Configure Switchable Graphics" Mine changes as it did in Windows 7. Now...the HP drivers are old old old...so you are going to have to manually update the drivers. I used Catalyst 12.1 WHQL, for I have been using them for a year with no issues. Can't seem to upgrade to more updated ones without black screen. Whatever drivers you choose, unzip the installation files to a temp directory of your choice. Now open Device manager and double click the AMD 6850M. Choose to update driver and search for the drivers you unzipped. Manually install the drivers and your CCC stays intact and the drivers get updated. Now I will try to upgrade TriDef 3D and see how it works in Windows 8. So far, so good. Doing all of this on my old Intel SSD. Didn't want to beat up on my Samsung...but so far, I have a fully functioning HP Envy 17 3D 17-2100. I will keep you posted...

 

That is interesting news Bobmitch! I like how you just manually forced the 12.1. I think on Win 7 I managed to install over the HP drivers whilst updating the CCC / driver whilst retaining switching.

I fear that I might have the answer to why the drivers won't work after 12.1. I recall reading somewhere that the driver architecture changed in a way and that the 6850m was an odd duckling in some technical ways. (Might explain why HP isn't updating it).


There is an interesting new driver from AMD called Enduro. It seems to be specifically made for gfx card switching see: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/696526-amd-catalyst-12-11-9-010-0-enduro-performance-driver-3.html#post8971981

But then I found this article AnandTech - Addendum Regarding AMD which pretty much tells us that it is hopeless and that we should try Leshcats drivers until AMD fixes it.


Did the 13.1 Catalyst Mobility also give you the black screen?
AMD Catalyst 13.1 (9.012.0 December 19) AMD Official WHQL - Guru3D.com Forums
It does seem to support: AMD68A8.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 6800M Series"

In the end there seem to be only two options to this issue.

Either pressure AMD for an Enduro type driver or pressure HP. I am curious about that Anandtech article since they are a huge site. Maybe it would be worth getting in touch with Jarred Walton to see on what he thinks about this issue and whether something can be done about it. :/

 

Basically, I uninstalled AMD drivers and ran Driver Sweeper before installing Win 8. What made it work for me was running the installer in Win 7 mode. Then I got switchable graphics back. Updated to 12.1 manually through device manager...now I am totally rebuilding the system from scratch with Win 8 as the final result. I switched out my old Hitachi HDD with my original Intel SSD as drive D and kept Samsung as C. Hopefully, once done. this thing will rock. I will check out the Enduro, but I am not hopeful. YES 13.1 gave me a black screen....as did other versions. I think it has to be tied into the Intel driver. I even updated the Intel driver and BAM...black screen. Anyone who owns an Envy 15 / 17-1xxx or 2xxx needs to email support and complain that they can't upgrade to Windows 8...just because of the Video drivers...absurd!

I will keep you posted as I rebuild the machine...going to upgrade it from Win 7, because there are settings in 7 that I can't do with 8. Clean both times, so should be minimal issues...Fingers crossed...

 

Looks like a BUST! I actually got Catalyst 12.4 to run on Win 8, however one caviat. Looks like 3DMark 11 scores are halved. I normally scored around 1920 in Win 7. In Win 8, barely get over 1000. There is something amiss about all of this. Wiping my C drive and going back to Win 7. Very disappointed! Imagine...you can download Windows 8 drivers for almost every imaginable HP laptop right now in the Pavillion line and even below. I see Win 8 drivers on $199 machines. These $2000 + machines are taking a bath, thanks to HP. Guarantee that this is my last "anything" from HP. Keep bugging the support department with demands for Win 8 drivers...maybe one day...just not now...

 

Thats odd Bobmitch. Was there an option for power management in Catalyst? I know in 7 there is a power save option that when turned on it will almost half the GPU speed. Maybe a power saving function was turned on. Just a thought.

BTW, if anyone is intetersted in buying a ENVY 17-2000CTO 3D mines for sale, if it doesn't sell by tax return time we'll just buy a new one and it will turn into the wifes though, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

Yeah that is a shame. Thanks for trying and reporting back Bobmitch. I am impressed that you got the 12.4 to run somehow. Maybe these were generally bad drivers but that doesn't matter much now.

HP really messed up with the Envy line. First they let Rahul Sood leave for MS and then the started diluting the Envy brand.
The laptop itself is pretty good .. shame about the keyboard and the heating. Had to get those replaced multiple times now.

I will try to contact the guy at Anandtech at some point. Maybe he can write another piece on the issues that this generation is facing.

 

Hi all, I have a solution that worked for me. I've been struggling with windows 8 on my envy 17 for a few days now. I used 12.11 beta and it works ok, doesn't give me any problems installing. I've also used 13.2 beta, again, installs fine. 13.2 bluescreens upon reboot. It also bluescreens on cold boot. I had to go into safe mode and disable the intel driver. Now it works, but on cold boot sometimes it still bluescreens, restarts and runs fine. Clicking on "switch graphics" in catalyst locks up the machine. Haven't tried the right click on desktop method, will let you know tonight. 12.11 beta seems to run better (with no bluescreens), but performance wise, slower than 13.2 beta. I need to go back to 12.11 beta, because I believe the switchable graphics worked. I'll let everyone know tonight. By the way, any beta ati driver will install just fine, lets fine one that works!

Hope this helps, I would really like to get this working, its really pissing me off!

 

Oh, and by the way, I have tridef working fine, the latest version. Just copy over the hp license (from the hp version) to the new tridef program folder. All my 3d stuff works perfect, games (with tridef), movies (with powerdvd 12), etc., I'm using 13.2 beta, disabling intel graphics. I mostly play skyrim, dirt 3, nfs most wanted and battlefield 3, all in 3d, with the graphics settings low to med depending on the game.

 

You guys mentioned replacing the Keyboard and it so happens that my D button keeps repeating itself up to 5-10 times after depressing it once, so it looks I now need to start looking for a replacement. I wanted to ask for those who have ordered before how much did you speens and what model did you use to search for one. Do you guys have a perferred place or go where available? I found one for about $30.00 at Parts Online, but wanted to check with yiu guys first since I read somewhere one of you has done this 5 tims before. Thanks for your time.

 

Wow gigahurts .. that is a ton of good information.
I have many questions! You are running Win7 and putting catalyst drivers ontop of the HP ones? Why are you always using beta drivers .. are they better in a way because of compatibility?
Have you tried the "Enduro" drivers?

And my last question. What if you keep the 13.2 beta and put ontop the HP win 8 driver (should work for 7) which was released for all the other Envy laptops to update the Intel side of the card. Maybe it will stop crashing!

Hi VGP,
I am still under warranty but it is very easy to do it yourself! Search the Envy 17 forums for a repair manual. It is only like several screws. The only thing that you need to be careful about is the connector. 30$ seems like a good deal btw! .. and yus .. your keyboard is broken

 

I did a totally fresh recovery on my Envy with Win 7. Again, I got not only the 12.4 Catalyst to run, but with the latter version of CCC and my switchable graphics is totally working. Sometimes it is the luck of the draw. To make sure, I run the older Driver sweeper...then I let Ccleaner clear all the ATI / AMD stuff from my registry. Only one remaining thing to do...regedit...HKEY LOCAL MACHINE...SOFTWARE...ATI Technologies...delete! Then install the drivers for the Envy from HP. Make sure your Antivirus is totally off....sometimes it blocks software from writing to your registry properly. I did my update to 12.4 before even installing Kaspersky. Went smooth as silk.

Really PO'D about Windows 8. Obviously some tweaking of drivers are needed to run in the OS. With the Catalyst 12.4, I scored a whopping 1025 in 3DMark11. In Windows 7, with the same drivers, I get my normal 1965 in 3D Mark 11. So I'll hunker down and stay with Windows 7, until HP comes out of their COMA, or someone actually figures out how to write drivers for the machine. Hardware wise, the 2nd Gen Envy 17 is still a great machine. Sandy Bridge...the 6850M is a very nice card for a laptop...only better found in Alienware or maybe Asus 3D machines (Nvidia). BTW...anyone notice that HP is selling Nvidia cards In a lot of their machines again??? There was a falling out with Nvidia about four years ago and everything went AMD...now it seems to be reversing...

BTW...found out long ago from a TriDef techie...NEVER uninstall the HP version to upgrade to the next version. As long as you keep updating, by overwriting the installed version...the license stays intact, and no need to move the license over. I have never had to relicense TriDef. Nice perk with the 17-2xxx. The upgrades from TriDef included a 3D media player that works pretty well. New model Envy's only get the TriDef Ignition...

 

Hey VonCrisp, I'm running windows 8, lol. I had better stability with the 12.11 beta drivers. 13.2 beta gave better performance, but no switchable graphics. A buddy of mine (me, lol) has modified infs and has specifically addressed hp switchable graphics issues. I'm downloading his (lol) latest driver now. I'm always using beta drivers because there is no check to see if the graphics card you have installed complies with the driver you are installing. It will install on your machine regardless. Like I said, the latest version of tridef will work if you simply move the hptrideflicensefile into the tridef folder. As for a solution to everyones problem of switchable graphics on windows 8, with no frickin problems, here it is: Leshcat btw, this is 13.1 with the latest intel graphics and is optimized for hp notebooks.

Have a wonderful 2013 with your hp envy 17 3d 2xxx working with windows 8, lol. (was released Jan. 22, sorry for the delay, was running windows 7 until 3 days ago when my "buddy" said he found a solution).

Hope this works for everyone, you need to do a clean install. The driver has already been modified. It may (or may not) help with overheating issues. If not, use a frickin laptop cooler, lol. BTW, if this works for you, could you please donate some of your hard earned funds to the nearest local bar?, if not, maybe get a cheap bottle of vodka from a discount grocery store and try to remember what happened in the morning.

 

Thanks for the tips Bobmitch! I will update from 12.1 at some point.

I did talk to a TriDef support guy at one point because I had to get my software reactivated. I had a motherboard change which in turn made the license expire. Shame that I didn't get the 3D player with the new license. I might have to bug HP or TriDef about this before warranty runs out.

Gigahurts! Leshcats drivers are not signed meaning that you have to run your laptop in test mode. We are trying to avoid that by overwriting onto existing drivers but this matroshka game is painful. Thank you about the beta information. HP has so many sources for drivers that it gets a bit overwhelming.

Bobmitch ... do you think there is anything in the clause which obligates HP to release drivers for a certain time frame? i.e. new Windows releases.
There was talk of HP private support being able to custom make drivers for $200.

 

I don't think that there is ANYTHING obligating HP to come up with updated drivers, unless it effects the overall well being of the machine. Look at the history. Main changes with this model have been bios updates. Back when the model first came out, many of us found that the CPU would throttle when it would reach a certain load in combination with the GPU. Did a lot of testing and found some possible solutions. At the time, I had someone inside HP that would listen and respond to pleas. Within a few days, I got a call to try a new bios that fixed the issue and we all gained some respect for HP over the matter. However, my VP is gone...cost cutting...very costly to all of us...no one listens any more. I wrote the complaint email and talked to a Case Manager, who supposedly recorded my conversation to pass up the loop. My suggestion. Everyone with this machine, who wants some action should email support and complain. The video drivers are the ONLY thing holding this machine back. Funny...switchable graphics is becoming a dinosaur in a short period of time...

 

Yeah I remember that issue. I was sending in reports on the CPU throttling and on the WLAN bug and the interest from HP seemed very high. There was a huge stream of communication just so that they could reproduce and fix the wlan freezing issue and I was amazed by the responsiveness. These days when I call "premium" support they do not even realise that they have such a service. The repair procedure for the Envy line has also changed drastically (logistically at least where I am).

I will give them a call to see what I can do.

One thing I do not understand about switchable gfx is the whole Enduro line of drivers which are specifically made for switching. It looks like we ended up in the "beta test rabbit" stage and won't get support from AMD. This could be the ultimate shortcut to get around HPs drivers if AMD gives us support for Enduro which already entails Intel drivers.

Hmm what about the beta Enduros since "beta" installs on all cards.

 

Hey voncrisp. Don't know if you have the files from you original factory installation of windows 7 on your envy, but if you do, go into the tridef folder and you will see the hptrideflicense file. Copy that into your new tridef installation folder and tridef will be activated. If you need the hp activation file send me a message with your email and I will send it to you. It works perfectly. I was pissed off too about the activation issue, I even purchased tridef and after installation I used the code they sent me through an email, it did not work, it said my hardware was not supported. So, after messing around with it I finally figured out that you need to put the hp license file from the original installation in the new tridef installation file. Tridef now sees my hardware and it works great!

As far as the signed driver issue, boot up into safe mode and select allow unsigned drivers (or something like that), install the modified 13.1 driver I listed earlier and then reboot into "normal" windows mode.

 

Hey everybody, the 13.2b3 drivers are working great for me, way faster and smoother! http://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/AMD_Catalyst_13.2_Beta3.exe

 

does this latest beta driver work with switchable graphics? I haven't tried loading windows 8 yet. I prefer using the intel HD 3000 because it runs quieter.

 

so i tried install windows 8 on an extra hd that i had lying around. I couldn't get the switchable graphics to work. It seemed like both graphic cards were running at the same time. I installed the latest ati drivers 13.2b3 and it blacked screened on me. So i rebooted and everything was working okay.

The fan noise was excessive and my system was getting real hot quick. Perhaps b/c both video cards were running i'm not sure.

I need to play around more with win 8, but from what i saw it feels like a good, stable, fast OS.

 

I found that it boots up and shuts down faster. They removed a lot of "bloat" from the OS which makes it snappier. I agree, it is stable. If only HP would add video drivers, we could all enjoy it. Don't expect miracles. At some point, someone will come up with modded drivers from other models that WILL work. Then I will put it back on my Envy. I have a lot of business software to run, so I can't play as I would like.

 

ok, everybody, I finally got switchable graphics working on windows 8x64 (but you can't click on switch graphics in catalyst or by right clicking,lol). Took me 3 and a half days to figure out. First of all, regarding tridef. Take the hptrideflicense file (from the original stock windows 7 installation)(email me or pm me if you can't find it and I will send it to you, only a few kb and came with your envy anyway) and put it in the new installation of tridef (download it from tridef), click on it (hptrideflicence file) after you put it in the tridef installation folder, inside the program files x86 folder (after you have obviously installed it) and it will activate tridef.
Now, without further adieu: My guide to being able to switch from intel hd 3000 to radeon hd6850m:

Start with either a clean install of windows 8 x64 or "freshen your installation" by going to settings, change pc settings, general (near the bottom).

Download and install catalyst 13.2b4 http://www.guru3d.com/files_get/amd_catalyst_13_2_download,1.html (fastest radeon driver by far anyway). We're on beta 4 now.

If it says to reboot, reboot.

Go to settings, change pc settings, general and restart with advanced options. Choose advanced startup options and reboot, now choose safe mode (3, 4 or 5, i think).

Go into the windows folder, then the system folder. Locate the drivers folder. Change permissions of the driver folder and give the administrator and users full control, by right clicking and going to the security tab.

Next, enter the drivers folder. Locate "microsoft basic display driver". Rename the extension to whatever you want (I did .old)

The reason we are doing this is A: you can't rename it without permission, B: you can't rename it without being in safe mode because it is in use in your device manager in "normal" windows. C: You can't disable it in "normal" windows, because upon next boot, windows with re-enable it. D: In order to switch from intel to amd graphics this has to driver has to be renamed or windows will use it in place of your amd driver (no matter what), even if catalyst is saying your amd graphics card is working fine (after attempting to switch from amd to intel or vice versa). Windows will always use this driver if you are coming from the intel driver and trying go back to the amd driver, which is a problem, lol. If you don't believe me, don't rename it, switch to the amd driver (from intel) by disabling the intel driver (and obviously having the amd driver not disabled), reboot, you will have to, because it will blue-screen, unhappy face on you. Right click on the destop, change resolution, click on advanced options. Look at what driver is being used, the microsoft basic display driver. Check catalyst, says amd driver is running, lol. Houston, I think we have a problem! The microsoft driver is actually being used, try playing a game or watching a 3d movie, lol. You may notice some stuttering.

Reboot, if you get a black screen, hit the power button to go into sleep mode, hit it again to wake up, if that doesn't work, hold down the power button until the pc turns off and start over until you get to metro.

Now, go into the device manager, you may notice that the microsoft basic display driver has a yellow exclamation point on it, GOOD!

Now, make sure the intel graphics driver is not disabled, if it is enable it, the screen will go black and it may or may not go back to windows, if it doesn't try hitting the power and going to sleep and wake it up, or hit f4 or function f4 to change display 3 times to switch between modes (it may come back to windows), or if neither of those worked hold the power button down and shut off the computer and boot back.

Now, go back to the device manager, right click on your amd radeon hd 6800m series card, disable it. The screen will go black and it may or may not go back into windows using the intel driver. Follow the previous step above for getting back to windows if it doesn't.

Next, go to intel's website and download the latest intel hd 3000 graphics driver https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...EIj_vnO9TnZb_QbU9xR1adw&bvm=bv.41867550,d.cGE , install. Reboot, You may or not notice that upon reboot the amd graphics may or may not have re-enabled itself, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. If not, re-enable it. The screen will go black and might flash on and off a few times. If you don't get back to the desktop try the procedure from two steps ago.

All should be good now, you should have both graphics drivers installed and nothing disabled except for the microsoft basic display driver. If you right click the desktop and click the catalyst control center and enter it, you will notice one of 2 things. A: you have all options available - you are running on the amd driver and hardware, B: you have only a few option available - you are running on the intel driver and hardware.

You will probably be on the amd driver if both are enabled. Switching to the intel driver and hardware is easy and has not given me any problems or need to go to sleep mode or manually shut off the pc. Simply disable the amd driver in the device manager. the screen will go black twice and come back up to windows.

Now switching to the amd driver and hardware is a little harder but not bad. Re-enable the amd driver, the screen will go black and it will not come back up to windows. Try the sleep mode, display switching and if neither of those work, shut the computer down and restart manually. You may notice on reboot that the intel driver is still active and both devices are enabled in the device manager. Disable the intel driver and the screen will go black, and you may need to do the sleep, display change, manual shut off procedure, but when you get back to windows, the amd driver will be working and the intel driver disabled.

That's it!

Took me 3 and a half frickin days to get it working, but I'm happy, I can go from the intel driver to the amd driver, albeit, not as easy as hitting the switchable button, but it works.

If anyone wants to donate a few bucks to my paypal account, rob.wisdom@gmail , for the 3 and a half days I lost, and posting a solution here, that would be great! If not, oh well, enjoy both your video cards in WINDOWS 8, LOL.

I am working on a solution to getting the switchable graphics button to work and donations would be used to that end. I have started the project, but have a serious lack of motivation as this pc is showing its age. I have 14 other pcs. What needs to be solved is purely a windows 8 problem regarding the intel hd 3000 driver direct-x 10,1 incompatibility with the radeon hd 6850 drivers direct-x 11. I might attempt to write a script to soft reboot windows, exactly what happens when you click on settings, change pc settings, general, advanced startup , RESTART NOW, and embed it into the switchable graphics button. Then all you would need to click on (after clicking on the either switchable graphics button) is "continue to windows". Obviously you would loose everything you had open, but it would be a much smoother transition than the steps outlined above.

One last note, the new amd 13.2b4 graphics driver is VASTLY SUPERIOR to any other amd graphics driver I have used and I have modified a lot of inf(s) to install different amd graphics drivers that were supposedly not compatible with "my hardware" the radeon hd 6850m (btw, all of them have worked, haven't had any problems installing any amd graphics drivers in windows 8, only had issues with graphics switchability).

Ok, here's another last note. If you go to hps website and go to drivers, look up the hp envy 17 3d cto 3200. It has an amd graphics driver from late December or early January, if you scroll down on the notes during the installation of that driver, you will find that it only enables the discrete graphics and not the intel driver, lol. Looks like we are not the only ones having problems with graphic switchability.

Anyway, I can play nfs most wanted, battlefield 3, skyrim and may others in 3d with tridef and 1920x1080 with medium/low settings and lower resolutions at high/medium settings.

Ok, this is my last friggin note, you may boot up sometime and notice that the intel graphics driver is running, yet both devices are enable in the device manager. Only the intel hardware is running in this case, and if it says both are enabled and you get all the options in catalyst, only the amd hardware is running. Sometimes windows 8 likes to renable and disable either or of its own will It will, however, use the last graphics hardware you used despite either being enabled or diabled. Only a couple guys 25 managers down the chain in Redmond, WA know whats going on there.

Hope this helps everyone, and welcome to windows 8, vastly superior to windows 7 in almost every aspect. faster startup, shutdown, new improved file system and task manager, automatic file system optimization (that actually works!), etc. If you don't like metro, download classic shell, from classicshell.net. It will give you back the start button and bypass metro on startup. Even make the windows key open the start button and the startup menu the same as your previous favorite windows os. One thing I don't like about windows 8 is no ability to enter safe mode at startup without enabling it in either bootup options in msconfig or settings, change pc settings, general, advanced startup. Sucks when you can't bootup because of a driver issue and you can't go into safe mode because you didn't have a premonition to enable safe mode before installing the driver, ARGH. Only option is to continually shut off the computer while windows is booting up, it will eventually let you restore the computer, but if you don't have a restore point, you're F'D.

later (btw, if you do hit the either option of switchable graphics with both the proper graphics drivers intstalled, it will probably blue screen (unhappy face) on you) but it should boot up ok on the next go round)

Sorry for going on so long, but I always use the latest drivers for all of my devices. And also, if you are going to be playing newer games in 3d, you had better get a notebook cooler, and a good one to boot. I have had my envy spontaneously shutdown so many times while playing 3d games without a cooler its not even funny. I even sent it to hp for "warranty repair", lol, what a joke, they replaced the cpu heatsink and fan. MADE ZERO DIFFERENCE. I took the heatsink/fan off and put arctic silver on, way better than the crap they were using.

 

Another couple notes (last message was getting long). Screen brightness controls only work with intel driver, not amd. I found a faster way to switch from intel to amd, way faster. Make sure switchable graphics is in performance mode for unplugged (meaning deselect the check box for automatically select power saving gpu on battery) . Unplug the ac adapter while you're in windows on the intel driver. Close the screen and open it. Goes from intel, to amd perfectly. Now there is a fast way to switch both ways. There are a few bugs to work out yet, but it is better than the method I described above.

 

Hey guys, me again. The best solution I have found for booting up with a black screen or switching graphics and getting a black screen is the same as the previous message. Make sure the switchable graphics is in performance mode and deselect the check box for automatically select power saving gpu on battery. Next time you boot, or switch graphics, simply close the laptop and open it back up. You will be back on amd graphics. If you want intel graphics, disable amd graphics in the device manager. Works like a charm for me with the latest intel driver and the latest beta 4 amd driver. I can easily switch between the two graphics options within a few seconds. (I also put a short cut to the device manager on the desktop).

 

how is the fan situation in windows 8? mine are always spinning and they sound like a jet plane taking off.

 

Just a quick question: is the hdd connector cable for the 17-2xxx units the same as for the 17-3xxx units (not the whole caddy, just the cable)?

 

Does anybody know?

 

can somebody please help me out, please?

I have an ENVY 17 3D 2090nr,
the problem I am facing is I can't read any single layer dvd,
i can write single layer dvd's perfectly, read/burn dual layer, read/burn cd,

but can't read any single layer dvd.
I've tried reinstalling the drivers, and tried booting from a single layer too, and it just gets stuck on boot when there's a single layer dvd in there.

I am on the latest F1C bios.

Somebody help me out pls, I am going absolute bonkers over this, as the only mainstream media is single layer dvd's!

 

You can't read a purchased dvd like Windows or a Movie? What does it do?

 

Yeah can't read any purchased DVD, the drive tries reading them for a while, then it shows them as Blank and shows options for writing blank dvd in autoplay.

It shows up as blank in Windows as well as Imgburn and burning programs.

 

If you can't boot off a Windows DVD, that'a a hardware or BIOS issue. Reinstalling drivers won't help that.

 

Just a quick update on my attempt at swapping out the DVD with a tray for a third hard disk (on page 790). The one I asked about back then works very well, so now I'm running with 1x SSD and 2x hard drives.

 

I think it's a firmware or bios issue too, is there any bios newer than f1c or can i revert to an older bios?

My machine has a ts-tb23l drive, can i find some firmware files for it or something like that?

 

Hey Acidblast, on the intel graphics, my windows 8 runs the left fan at low speed most of the time and the right fan usually does not turn on. On AMD graphics, the left fan runs from mid to high speed and the right fan low to mid speed.