HP Pavilion dv6-6170se GPU and BIOS issues

So about a year ago I've received the laptop in the title as a present from my parents, and I saw that it had a radeon sticker on it so I thought the graphics card would be good but when I checked the settings it said that it was some crappy intel card, but i still used this laptop for gaming even though i got horrible frame rates. So today, my brother's friend came over and he happened to have the same laptop but he actually used the radeon, so when he took a look at my computer, he said that my computer has been using the gpu that came with the processor instead of the radeon card, which is why I got low frame rates. He said he could fix it but when he went to BIOS to change it, he said it was locked and that he couldn't change it. I've looked for solutions online but found none and am hoping that some of you guys know the answer. He also said that he can't do it because of the version of the BIOS (which is F.18). So please, can anyone help?

 

What do you mean either your laptop was a AMD or inte HD GPU you can't be either and from the looks of it it is AMD Radeon HD 6770M (2 GB GDDR5 dedicated) so how you got Intel HD from that I not exactly sure where your reading or looking for that info?

Take another look at the HP site there is only one GPU listed and it is AMD no Intel HD or whatever is mentioned at the HP site on that model unit. That processor came out before the switching GPU and that is only a AMD GPU listed on HP again. Here is the HP site of that model your have.

HP Pavilion dv6-6170se Entertainment Notebook PC Product Specifications | HP® Support

What do you mean exactly BIOS lock or was there a Bios password. That Bios lock would mean those that gave you the HP will have to remove the BIOS password for you to even get to the bios so I think your brothers friend's is very lacking on computer skills and shouldn't be reliable information or to fix your computer. Keep that friend away from your laptop he will do more damage then help you. BIOS password lock requires you to go back to your parents and ask them what was the password they used to lock the BIOS so that you can update and customize your BIOS. Until you do that and stay away from that friend whom seems to have very little knowledge to help you with fix it. Also we can't help you remove the BIOS because of stolen laptops and thefts that could lead to liability and privacy concerns and Forum rules prohibits us form doing so as well.

 

It is a AMD GPU and I think its the AMD Radeon HD 6770M like you mentioned but it turns out it has a GPU thats on the processor or something like that. So when I go into the switchable graphics on my computer it should look like this, except it doesn't.

It instead looks like this:

It wasn't a password he mentioned and I made certain that he didn't mess something up by going back and checking out the bios myself. What he said was, and I did explain it a little bit badly so i'm a little sorry about that, he said that the reason I couldn't switch out between these two even if I went into the bios and not the switchable graphics thing, is because it was too late and couldn't be switched anymore. He didn't insist on working on the computer anymore so I'm not afraid of him doing anything dangerous.

 

I would say take it to a reputable HP repair shop and ask them to look at it and see what is going on with the graphics...problems could be a bad chip or needs Bios update to properly set the switching graphics should that be a option. No from my understanding switching graphics is based on the software and the hardware just responds to which graphics it needs if you play game it should switch to the AMD graphics and when your not gaming it should switch back to Intel HD if it isn't doing this that would mean either the AMD graphics is bad or the software doesn't recognize there is two graphics switching processors in the laptop. But you will need to really contact HP and give them the serial and model and whatever numbers they need to be really sure if you have a switching graphics failure or only have one graphics card in the laptop. Cause from the model I found on HP it doesn't seem to indicate a switching graphics card in it??

Ok, I looked up amazon is this the same model as yours?

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6170us-Entertainment-Notebook/dp/B0051OLUAY

If so it does indicate and say

So if it is only Intel that would lead me to believe if BIOS update doesn't bring back AMD GPU then the AMD GPU is most likely having graphics failures and won't work again. And your going to have get some to replace the board or the AMD GPU to a newer GPU to fix the GPU failure if that is what happened.