Win 8 Switchable Graphics on older dv7 (LM726AV)

Yeah, I know, not supported.....BUT.

Quick tale: Cloned my Win7 C drive, upgraded the clone to Win 8 Pro. Everything seems to work, even the fingerprint reader, but there is no way to switch the graphics to the HD Radeon 6700. I got the driver to load (finally), so in device manager there are no (!) deals, but for some reason, I can't force Windows to use the Radeon.

Has anyone found a way to just use the Radeon? I disabled the Intel in the Device Manager, but that only dumped me to VGA. I went into the BIOS and changed the setting from FIXED to DYMAMIC with no result.

Seems pretty lame that HP won't help those who spent 2 Grand on a laptop a year or so ago move to a current OS by having a driver or two. It's not like I have a 386 laptop!

Anyone get this to work?

THANKS

 

What version of Catalyst are you running? Try going advanced view, searching for the application list, I wonder if everythign is set to power saving - for that matter, check your actual power settings in W8.

Also, upgrade installs... are... a nightmare...

*WORST* case, try baselining the machine, clean wipe it and reinstall - you always have your original clone to revert to if it still doesn't work. Just make sure you have the correct wired/wireless drivers before doing a clean install if it's your only machine... Made that mistake a few times in my life

 

Thanks. I did not think about Power Saving!

Yeah, I 'ALWAYS' do clean installs an not upgrades, but this time I figured with the clone I'd give it a shot. Figures it would have issues. I did get 'Windows Mail' to work (from Vista)

I would not even bother with Win 8 but I'm the "techie" guy in the family and at work, so I figured I'd better get to know the OS since new computers all seem to have it. The short time I've played with it, it has won me over a tiny bit. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Now if I could only get the damn graphics to work.

:thumbsup:

 

PS - Forgot to tell you the drivers. The way to get a Win 8 install to see the Radeon is to install the Win7 drivers from HP for the laptop, using Windows Compatibility Mode, then install the 'AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11' driver. This gets all of the 'dots' out of Device Manager.

So, the answer is 12.11 Beta 11

 

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp59501-60000/sp59850.exe

tips here will allow you to install reference drivers in the correct way.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-drivers-software-forum/682746-best-video-driver-ati-6770-a.html

 

Thanks Encrypted11!

I finally put the Win8 SSD back in the laptop, followed the procedure, and the thing is working well. Very fast, very nice. The graphics are sharp and clear.

Windows 8 is not as bad as I thought it would be. Takes a bit to get the hang of, but very doable.

Anyone else with an older dv7 CTO laptop from 2011/12 can upgrade with confidence. Everything seems to work on mine, the fingerprint reader, the graphics, so far so good.

Thanks again to Encrypted and also to Sublime865 for their help. Hope this thread helps future upgraders

 

You're welcome.

 

Lifted the post over for referential purposes.

Post updated 13 Jan 2013 (For referential purposes)



What you need (This applies to DM4-3XXX with discrete AMD GPUs, DV6-6xxx with AMD Discretes and DV7s with AMD discretes, Intel based processor:

1. (HP Factory Driver)
   For Windows 7:ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp55001-55500/sp55092.exe.
   For windows 8: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp59501-60000/sp59850.exe
2. (AMD Reference Driver) Catalyst 13.1 WHQL(January 2013)
   http://www2.ati.com/DriverS/mobile/13-1_mobility_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql.exe
3. Download .Net Framework 4. .Net framework is a required software to run Catalyst Control Center. In Catalyst 12.11 Enduro, AMD upped the requirements for .Net framework to version 4 instead of the previous version 3.5. Get the latest update for .Net framework via Windows update.
4. If you have softwares/files that require backing up, back them up.

To install:

1. Go to your Control Panel->Uninstall a program
2. Uninstall AMD Catalyst Install Manager
3. While at the uninstall menu, select the first uninstall option that lets you select what to uninstall.
4. Check to uninstall all features EXCEPT AMD Display Driver (Leave the Integrated graphic Intel HD drivers alone) I repeat do not touch it or things will screw up. Restart the laptop.
5. Run the Catalyst software installer, select Install -> Custom -> Make sure you have a checkbox with a black frame around the component, "AMD Display Driver". If this is not present, hit cancel and repeat this step and make sure "AMD Display Driver" shows up. This is to ensure the installation file has detected your graphics hardware. If it does not show AMD display driver, the installer is not detecting your GPU.
6. If step 3 succeeds, make sure all components are selected and hit next to finish the installation.
7. (Only if it fails) Uninstall Catalyst and begin from step 1 again. This may take more than 1 attempt.

Now why you can't touch the Intel HD or update it via Intel's website

It uses a driver modified by HP or AMD for hybrid/switchable graphics support that enables the laptop to run a secondary dedicated graphic card. Installing a Intel HD driver from Intel's website would also mess up how switchable graphics and hyrbid graphics work because Intel HD drivers on Intel's side are only meant for PCs with standalone Intel HD graphics. It has NO switchable support. The only proprietary drivers that will work are supplied by HP's driver support site.

Important Note
I strongly discourage people from using beta drivers. For the follwing reasons:

1. Beta drivers have more potential stability issues. If this is your primary computing machine, are you willing to sacrifice stability at the cost of getting crashes and such?
2. They're not digitally signed and you'll need to do certain things to circumvent this feature called "Driver Signature Enforcement" which makes it mandatory for drivers to have digital signatures. On Win 7 64Bit and upwards to windows 8, this feature is effectively permenant unless you *work it around*

Also, NEVER disable a laptop's Intel HD in any circumstance... Your your display signals are routed through the Intel HD even if you're running the dedicated GPU as the renderer. Disabling an Intel HD causes a black screen that can only be fixed if you re-enabled it via Safe Mode booting.

 

On a side note, if you're still not getting used to the Windows 8 UI, there are programs like "Start8" and "startmenu8" that'll bring the start button right back.

In actual fact, practically 97% of the Windows 7 features and settings are still intac, but they're hidden.

 

One more thing, never disable the Intel HD. Your screen can potentially black out and you'll have to go into safe mode to re-enable the display.

It doesn't matter if your graphics is being rendered on the Intel HD or Radeon HD 6770M, the graphics will eventually be routed to the Intel HD (even if its a passive route). Keeping it simple but here's what you shouldn't do.

 

Since that list doesn't specify it, that doesn't apply to systems with AMD CPUs, which can use AMD.com's drivers...SHOULD use them in fact.

 

MY UPDATE:

Well, everything was working fine when after a Windows Update, the graphics brighness tanked for some reason. Here's the deal.

Boot up HP Logo is bright, Windows 8 Blue Window and spinning logo is bright, but when the GUI appears, it's at a dimmed level, even though the sliders and settings are full bright. NOTHING seems to change this. It's like the laptop thinks it's on battery. YES, I went into the CP and disabled auto dim, energy settings, etc. I Googled this issue and tried all of the suggestions, as it seems to be something that is happening to others.

I put my Win7 clone back in for now and will work on the Win 8 boot drive again this weekend. What is tell tale is that when it's in the dimmed state, if I unplug the PC to put it on battery, the PC Blue Screens and reboots. Seems to be a Windows 8 driver issue somewhere.

The bummer is that it was working SO WELL, SO FAST, and I was really getting used to the Win 8 interface.

Anyone else see this dimming issue?

 

UPDATE:

Well, I tried everything and there seems to be a real issue now with the Intel HD Graphics 3000 driver. I had a complete image backup of a functional Win 8 install with fully functional switchable graphics with normal brightness and I restored it, over writing the "bad" Win 8 C: drive, and unexplicably, the dimmness problem was still there. I can't understand that.

I tried to reinstall the Win7 HP driver (sp55098.exe), but it will not install, stopping with an incompatibility error. I also decided to try the latest Intel driver from the Intel website, fully understanding that this would remove the HP Switchable Graphics hooks, as these generic drivers do not support that. However, I wanted to see if I'd get full brightness. Sure enough, with the new drivers from Intel (win64_152812.exe), the basic graphics are perfect. Bright, nice, and work fine. Of course, even when you install the latest AMD driver, you cannot switch to them as the generic Intel driver will not allow it.

SO...one more time I blew away the SSD, restored the Win 8 previously working backup, and again got the dim windows environment. So, at this point, I officially give up and am back to Win 7 which works fine.

The one thing I did not do was re-clone the Win7 drive again, then upgrade it to Win8. At this point, I don't want to waste any more time on this.

I don't understand how I could have had it working perfectly, backed it up, and am unable to go back via a full drive restore.

If anyone figures this out some day, or if via some miracle HP releases an Intel Win 8 driver (highly doubt it, as they want to sell laptops, not make old ones last longer), I'll give it a shot. Until then, I SURRENDER!!

Thanks for listening.