HP Envy 14 Loss of switchable graphics after system recovery

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum so I hope I am not asking a question that has already been asked - I've searched all over with no clear answers to my problem.

A few months back I had to do a complete system recovery on my Envy 14 due to some crazy display problems I never found a solution for. I eventually got the computer in fine working order again, but my problem is that I no longer have the switchable graphics capability. In fact, the only listed display adapter under Device Manager is the mediocre Intel HD Graphics. There is no sign of my ATI card at all. I've tried downloading the latest AMD and HP drivers, but nothing seems to work - I always get to a dead end with the ATI Catalyst Install manager having some sort of error I can't solve. Also, the computer fails to recognize when an HDMI monitor is plugged in, and I'm sure that has something to do with my missing ATI components. I know many people may not have had to worry about running a system recovery on their Envy, but hopefully someone can help me with this frustrating problem so I can use my GPU to its full potential. Any advice is much appreciated! Let me know if you need any other details, I'll be checking this thread constantly for a solution.

 

A recovery should put the absolute stock 100% working drivers and software back on the computer so I am guessing it is the hardware failing. Your ATI card is probably dead especially that HDMI out is not working because when you do HDMI out on the Envy 14, it switches to the ATI card and connects. The Catalyst manager giving an error is also another sign. I say talk to HP if you can.

 

Before considering a dead gfx card I would back up my hdd and do a minimal recovery or even a clean install to confirm something is wrong hardware related. With a clean install the intel drivers should already be installed and when you download the amd 11.4 drivers it enables switchable graphics. You don't need special HP drivers.

 

Back again, still no solution to my problem. I'm really hoping someone can help me out here, and I can provide some extra info if needed. In Device Manager under display adapters, the only one shown is Intel HD Graphics. I don't know how to get the computer to recognize the ATI card. Really frustrated with this.

 

Have you considered a bad ATI graphics card to be the cause of your original display problems?

 

Obviously I'm hoping that's not the problem, but I know it's likely. Is there any sure way to know if that's it? And if the card is the problem, how could I resolve it? My HP warranty is expired...

 

What specifically is the error?

 

It never actually says. Every time I try to run the Catalyst Install Manager, it stops in the middle of the install saying "Installation Complete (warnings occurred during installation)." When I look at the log, it shows that the Install Manager and the AMD APP SDK Runtime installed successfully, with no notes about errors or warnings.

I even tried a method I found in another thread on here, uninstalling the Intel HD Graphics Driver, going to safe mode and running Driver Sweeper (not exactly sure I'm doing that part correctly) and then rebooting and trying to install the newest drivers - all with no success. Even when I rebooted, the system failed to install any drivers for the video card, forcing me to run system restore.

 

Though I'm not going to claim to be an expert on ATI drivers, it still seems to me to be more of a software issue vs. a hardware issue because I know the driver installation does perform a hardware check early on and I believe that it would generate an error.

Not trying to insult your intelligence, but what happens if you uninstall the Intel chip through Device Manager and simply reboot? I'm curious to see what Windows detects minus the interference of ATI drivers. Also, try doing Fn-Esc, click on Advanced, then go to Components/Display. I'm on my SB graphics right now but it still says "Intel(R) HD Graphics Family, ATI Technologies Inc. compatible."

Another thing to try (again, not trying to insult your intelligence) is refreshing Device Manager or having it look for new devices, just to double-check.

 

No insult taken, I really am not very knowledgeable with this stuff so I appreciate any tips or ideas. I tried uninstalling the chip, leaving it saying VGA graphics or something like that. After rebooting, Windows automatically started trying to install drivers, but after a little while I got a message that installation had failed and that's when I had to run system restore. Before uninstalling, Device Manager and System Information only show Intel HD graphics with absolutely nothing about ATI. I did notice after uninstalling the adapter it said something like yours, ATI compatible or something along those lines. Going that route might still work, I could have just been installing the drivers in the wrong order or not fully getting rid of the old ones. Like I said I'm not too knowledgeable with this stuff so it could be a simpler solution than I'm realizing.

Do you have any idea what to do step by step after uninstalling the Intel chip? That might still work, the only problem is that I wasn't sure what to do to install drivers after Catalyst didn't install properly.

 

So I hope I'm not repeating anything that you've tried, but try in this order:

1. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and ensure that any graphics-related stuff is removed
2. Uninstall Intel graphics from Device Manager
3. Reboot
4. Install only the 11.7 driver from HP ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/582545-working-ati-5650-drivers-switchable-graphics-11-4-11-5-a.html#post7550496)
5. Reboot

If it does not complete the installation, do nothing else but reboot and see what happens. I feel that there's a good chance something got screwy by the order in which things were originally re-installed for some reason and the best way outside of another restore would be to follow the order above. Hope it helps!