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    how to select video card in T400, vista 64-bit?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by nambis, Jul 23, 2009.

  1. nambis

    nambis Notebook Enthusiast

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    i just got my T400 the other day, after about a month of waiting for lenovo to fix their website so that I could order the discrete graphics. I was under the impression that any system with the additional discrete graphics would include the built-in graphics as well. however, when i start the ATI catalyst, it only presents the one ATI card. how do i switch between cards? can i do it from within vista?
     
    nambis, Jul 23, 2009
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  2. miner

    miner Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Right click on the Lenovo Power manager toolbar(battery icon) located on the taskbar and in the menu that pops up you should see the switchable graphics option.
     
    miner, Jul 23, 2009
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  3. antskip

    antskip Notebook Deity

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    if you can't switch gpu's, then you probably have a defective gpu-driver setup, and you have to remove the dedicated gpu driver and re-install it. If that is indeed the case you also need to download manually the ATI gpu driver from the lenovo site, and read/print the manual installation instructions (detailed!)
     
    antskip, Jul 24, 2009
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  4. Lew

    Lew Notebook Deity

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    Wow. You really waited for a month? I'd have picked up the telephone and called the sales department to put in the order.

    other advice in thread is spot on -- switch between integrated and dedicated via the Lenovo Power Manager. If the option isn't available and your BIOS is set to allow switchable graphics then something's up with your drivers; if you did a clean install please review the clean-install guides. If the system is as it came from Lenovo then certainly try reinstalling the drivers (see the clean-install guide) but you may need to check with Lenovo.

    BTW -- if you're running XP for some reason, you cannot do on-the-fly switching. You have to reboot and switch in the BIOS. Call it stupid to have to do it this way but the fault lies with how Microsoft made the operating system; no way to switch graphics without reboot in XP.
     
    Lew, Jul 24, 2009
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  5. nambis

    nambis Notebook Enthusiast

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    I removed that little battery icon, to make space on the taskbar, but just figured out how to get it back and it seems to work! thanks!

    haha, yea i was calling them for a month, too. there was a proiblem with the canadian website, and i couldn't configure the system i wanted, and for whatever reason neither could the sales folks.
     
    nambis, Jul 24, 2009
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  6. Lew

    Lew Notebook Deity

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    Ah, okay. That part wasn't clear. I just couldn't fathom someone sitting there waiting for a web page change and not picking up the telephone. Glad to hear you were trying. Too bad it took such a while.
     
    Lew, Jul 24, 2009
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