Optimus for older thinkpad t510?

I just bought a thinkpad t510 this september with the discrete graphics (nVIDIA NVS 3100M) and I see that the new ones have optimus technology. I'll keep this short: is there any way possible to get this on my laptop, seeing as it's the exact same graphics card?

 

apparently there is EEPROM difference.... officially it is not possible, but i am not sure what sort of magic the general online community can do to enable the optimus features in those T410 and T510 that was bought before the Optimus release.

 

Sorry to be blunt, but what the hell is that? Do you mean recoding the BIOS or something, because Lenovo might just release that for older models. The Core i7 I bought with the computer has Intel HD graphics built into it, so a hardware change should not be necessary...

 

I doubt there's a supported upgrade path.

 

the hardware is 100% identical.   the difference is that the EEPROM for the GPU is apparently a PITA to reflash and at this time older systems aren't going to be reflashed.

 

Anyone know what BIOS settings are available on the Optimus machines? In other words, are at least three modes available?

1. Integrated
2. Discrete
3. Optimus automatic

Or is it Optimus and therefore automatic only?

Thanks

 

I wonder if this issue could be solved using the "nvflash" utility. Probably not.

 

I'd love to have optimus in my machine, and I'm a bit disappointed that lenovo isnt allowing owners of older machines to upgrade. Anybody know of a hack to enable it?

 

not yet... it would be lovely if it can be done, since i could get a lot of second hand T410 and T510 with nvidia GPU for around 800 AUD, rather than having to fork out 1700 dollars for nvidia optimus enabled model from Lenovo.

 

Try using RW-everything to enable the intel IGP first, like this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...-have-switchable-graaphics-6.html#post6574276

As you can see he changed one byte (byte 54 if I'm reading it right, have to check in the intel datasheet, though would be the same for a lot of chipsets) from 03 to 0B.


If that works for you, read the rest of the thread.

 

It would definitely be awesome to have it for older T410/T510. If the hardware is exactly the same, then shouldn't it be possible to do it, one way or another? Would it help to compare the BIOS/firmware between an Optimus-enabled machine and a non-Optimus one?

 

Does you bios allow you to boot with the IGP as the active adapter? If so, then just need to enable the discrete adapter if it's not already enabled using DIY ViDock Setup 1.x. Then just load the Optimus driver so it users the NVidia gpu for calculation and the IGP for rendering. You'll get the watermark on an uncertified solution.

 

Unfortunately not, switchable graphics were never officially part of the T410/510 rev.1 specs, so no settings in BIOS.

Is RW-everything method safe or can I potentially brick something?

 

Bump.

I'd be curious to know if this works for the NVIDIA Quadro FX880M on the W510, too.

 

Could someone please post the PCI ID of an optimus-enabled NVS3100m? I'm wondering if it changed. Lenovo's blog post claims an EEPROM needs to be rewritten, and it's probably safe to assume that the BIOS checks the product type/id to ensure that optimus-related BIOS settings are only shown for appropriate hardware.

I would like to see if the video BIOS of Quadro NVS3100m devices are the same on both optimus-enabled and older T510 models. I'm an idiot, but at least someone can put together some data for someone smart to look at! If the EEPROM the blog post refers to could be read with nvflash or a similar tool, it would be nice to know what types of changes were made. Regardless, it would be nice to rule out any software-based rewrites.

 

ThinkPad T410/T510 Intel IGP/Optimus Unlock Request

AHMED HOSSAM of bios-mods.com added the Optimus and Switchable menus to the BIOS Display page of a T510. Unfortunately they weren't functional. The only "easy fixes" that I can think of are: Find that EEPROM or find a possible list of machine types/model numbers/PnP IDs/something else in the BIOS. Or both. It is possible to reflash with an updated model name/machine type using the advanced options of WinPhlash, good ideas are 4314-DEU and 4349-GDU for Optimus T510s. I tried doing that only with the DMI, it was not even reflected on the front screen of the BIOS. There's a fair bit of documentation at the above link and he's still working on it!

 

First generation i7 quad core doesn't have inel gpu on the chip.

 

Request for VGA Bios dumps from Optimus-Enabled Thinkpads:
ThinkPad T410/T510 Intel IGP/Optimus Unlock Request

 

While I disdain necro-ing threads, this is excellent to bring up. I have a T510 with discrete graphics, non-Optimus enabled, so this is relevant to my interests.