T400 Switchable Graphic Card Problem

Hi T400 users,

I have been using T400 for days, and I found a problem with the switchable graphic card, actually it's with HD3470.

Here we go. When we enable the switchable graphic card in BIOS, and select HD3470 in Windows, the memory usage of some games keeps growing. I have tested several games such as NFS11, PES etc., the memory usage of the game's process can reach 1G easily in serveral minutes, and just keeps growing rapidly, never stops. But the problem disappeared when I switched to X4500.

Then I went to BIOS, set to use HD3470 only, games also ran properly, no memory issue at all. It seems the ATI driver is not so compatible with the switchable function.

Another issue, please follow the below steps if you want to try it out. Enable switchable graphic card, select HD3470 first, play some games, close the game, switch to X4500, play some games, close the game, switch back to HD3470. Open the Task Manager to see the CPU usage, I found around 50% was used, and cannot find which process used the CPU, very wierd. I think it's compatibility issue too.

When I enable the switchable grahpic card, select HD3470 in windows and open ATI console, I cannot even see the correct graphic card information. The X4500 was detected instead of HD3470. Compatibility issue again?

Does any other T400 users face the same problem? Or any way out?

Thank you.

 

OS?

I'm not sure the integrated graphics can support the games (relevance?)

Did you switch graphics mid-game?

 

Are you using XP or vista? I think its not compatible in XP or something, not very sure though.

 

If you're using XP you MUST reboot. I don't have a problem in XP using the discrete graphics....

 

Thanks bros, but I am using Windows Vista Business 32 bits.

 

Thanks for the reply bro, X4500 is able to play, just the performance is not good enough. And the graphic cannot be switched if the game is still running.

Now I just select HD3470 only from BIOS instead of Switchable. I think I have to do this until ATI or Lenovo fix the problem. Anybody else meet the same problem?

 

I think I'm having the same problem. I just tried to play Warcraft III on my new t400 and the task manager showed that it used up 1gb of ram. Can you show me how to run on discrete graphic ONLY?

 

Hi bro, it's good to know that i am not the only person facing this problem.

You can restart your machine, and press the blue 'ThinkVantage' button when the boot screen shows, then press F1 to go to BIOS setting.

Select the first item 'Configuratoin', then 'Video'. You should be able to change the setting from 'Switchable' to 'Discrete'.

 

The question is, does this solve the problem? Will the game run normally without taking much ram? Thanx

 

Nevermind, figured it out.

 

Have tested, yes it does fix the problem, the memory won't keep growing anymore.

So I think that's a compatibility issue between ATI driver and switchable technology. Hope other T400 users test on their machines.

 

To OP and other: Do you experience any problems like this outside of gaming?

 

No, it is working fine for non-3D applications.

 

Is this something that I should worry about before buying a t400?

 

Hi bro, I don't think it's hardware issue. It seems the ATI driver with the switchable technology not so stable.

You can go to BIOS to use HD3470 only instead of switching the two graphics, and wait for lenovo or ATI to release a newer version software to fix the problem.

 

Anybody else got the same problem?

 

Hi everybody,

Lenovo has released another version of ATI driver, but I cannot download it right now.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-70367

From the description:
Version 8.503.2-080623a-066625C
we can know it's not the latest ATI driver. However it's newer than the pre-installed one.

Maybe this version ATI driver has better compatibility, and has not conflit with the switchable graphics.

 

FWIW, the ATI driver that came with my Vista x64 is version 8.520.4.3000.

 

I have a problem with the graphics too. Whenever i open the ati panel it says : "ATI Catalyst control center cannot be started because the currently active GPU is not supported", What does that mean? I even installed the latest ati driver off the lenovo site and get the same problem. I dont see the option of switching graphics (right click on battery tool bar).
When i run pc wizard 08, it says that im using the intel mobile graphics.
Could someone help me?

 

You have to left click on the battery, not right click. Choose "high performance" for ATI, energy saving for Intel.

 

cheers gigiya