Discoveries on Vaio SA/SB/SC Switchable Graphics

Also, for those who used the program to create a symbolic link, may you look and see what the program exe name for the Intel Wireless display (WiDi) is? Mine is WiDiApp.exe, and it's not working with the button (I did make sure to run as admin). I don't really want to get/create another small program just to make the button work, but...?


Thank you very much!

 

help, i tried to install but ended in failure..
so i downloaded the two driver..
install amd driver and it crashed...
reboot, i then reinstall sony driver, reboot again and install amd driver.
i don't know why but i got bsod.. forced reboot and try install amd driver again..
it works..
but when i get to intel driver first they told me that i have the newer version..
i ignored it and continue the installation. after choosing install it anyway, it crashed again.. i reboot it and reinstall sony driver.. reboot it and they said that my graphic driver is either didn't exist or corrupted.. i reinstall the sony driver again with the same result.. install the amd driver, same result.. i don't know what to do so i just use system restore..
now i'm back to square one..

help anyone?

my machine:
vpcsa25gg
i7-2620m
640gb hdd (5400rpm)
win7 professional SP1 64 bit
6GB ram

 

welcome to NBR forums.

Did you install the normal Sony "Intel/AMD package" drivers before all of that?

 

Will these drivers work correctly with the Sony Vaio S Series VPCSA21GX/BI?
This notebook has the AMD 6630M/Intel speed stamina switch.

So follow the order of the first post and all is good the system will work like the drivers out of the box? again as long as I follow the instructions from the first post? thx in advance.

 

Yes, they should work. The AMD drivers are agnostic to which specific SKU you have (well, to an extent).

Just make sure you have the default drivers already installed from Sony before beginning. I noticed the last two times I did this (botched Win8 Dev install - I'm just going to leave it on my tablet for now, despite it being extremely stable so far, it hates the guts out of GPU drivers, especially customized ones ), the Intel IGP drivers were already updated by the AMD installer

 

Working out the kinks on ATI/AMD 11.9 (8.89) and Intel 2509 full installer/updater.

 

thx...jeremyshaw I have the notebook coming on Wednesday will report back.

Nautis thx for your tireless work on getting what the Manufacturers should be doing to us notebook owners.

 

Hi Guys,
I have a question about switching between stamina and speed mode. On my SA, the screen goes black at least 3 times whilst switching (both ways), is this normal?
Thanks in advance.

 

yes ofcourse.

 

With hard, muxed multi GPU setups, yes, that is normal as the DWM itself restarts after being reinitialized on a new GPU alltogether.

 

Thank you both for your quick replies.

 

Thanks a lot for posting these drivers! I've installed them on my SA and its running well. These should give me a nice performance boost in some games, especially those big improvements in Catalyst 11.4, 11.6 and 11.8.

The Intel drivers *did* tell me that I had newer drivers on my computer all ready, but I assume they have to go to make way for your modified ones.

Thanks again

 

The intel wireless/proset drivers seem to be updated to 14.1.1 on intel's website. Did anyone try installing these?

 

Yeah, i'm wondering the same. Can I update?

 

Haven't tested 14.1.1 on the SC. My WiFi doesn't work on Vaio Z1 with it though so no WiDi.

Will have AMD 11.9 (8.892) and Intel 2509 upgrade test packages posted later today.

Intel 2509 reportedly improves performance by 37% in StarCraft 2, 10% in Resident Evil 5, 29% in Dawn of War: Chaos Rising, 28% in Bad Company 2, 12% in Dirt 2 and 16% in Supreme Commander 2 on standard Sandy Bridge notebooks.

 

You are amazing man.

 

I haven't had a chance to test these to confirm that they install and work properly. Use at your own risk!

Vaio SA/SB/SC Switchable Graphics - Intel v2509 Upgrade Only
Vaio SA/SB/SC Switchable Graphics - AMD v11.9 (8.892) Upgrade Only *Removed Doesn't Work. Fix soon.

If someone can download and verify they install and work properly I will add them to the first post.

 

the AMD is not working. Driver failure in the install log.

 

hello everybody!

I tried going trough all the threads in this forum but I didn't understand it all..

I have the Sony "VPCSC1AFM", and I'm trying to connect with the netgear widi push2TV.. with no success.

it seems that my notebook detects the signal of the device, then the device is waiting for the connection of the computer, then, on the status it says : "connected. please wait. but I wait and wait and nothing happens.
cant make it work.

did it happen to any of you?
I tried updating the softwere from intel updates.

I think I have a problem with my wifi..cause I also try to connect my Iphone to control Itunes and its doesn't work either, but at another computer I mange to make it work.

alsoo..sometimes when I wake up my computer from hibernation, it sometimes does not connect to an wifi network, so I need to restart my wireless of even restart my computer..

please help.

thank you very much!!!

 

I used to have this problem. Just restart, try n connect and update widi and firmware. It'll not be a problem after that. also restart your netgear adapter.

 

the intel v2509 update works great

 

Exact reason for 11.9 fail:

Driver Install: the driver package did not preinstall because files that are referenced by the INF file could not be found


already have Intel 2509 installed from ya, but that broke the GPU switching, for some reason. Not that I care alot, since the GPU is insanely loud while gaming (but fine otherwise).

 

Will fix and update the AMD/ATI package. So the Intel 2509 installs and works but breaks switching?

 

no it didn't break the GPU switching for me.

 

Switching works fine for me as well with the new intel 2509 drivers

 

I know why it broke it for me earlier, I didn't install the previous Intel drivers. I'm on it now, and it works fine. I'm sorry

 

Hi all,
just as jeremyshaw, i have the same issue about the second update.
I previously installed the version of ATI 11.8 (8.881) and then the intel 2476 who worked great.
Still in speed mode, i tried with the updates above, first the ATI and had the same issue as mentioned above, and the the intel 2509 worked fine.
Have I done things not in the proper way?
( btw it didn't broke my switch, it just didn't installed the ATI update)
Thanks for your help and your great job of adapting updates to our hardware!!

 

Think I am gonna hold off on releasing a working 11.9 until the official comes out. I will update the first post to include 2509.

 

thank you for your help.

but, did you mean that I should connect the push2tv device to my computer and update it? or just the the Intel widi that's installed on my computer?

I tried to update it all but still does not work.. : \

 

You'll have to conenct to the widi adpater if you're updating the firmware update (which is required only if you want full 1080p HD, bluray streaming. ) it also improves stability.

 

Gonna check out AMD/ATI 11.10 (8.901) Preview release.

--

Releasing Tonight:
AMD/ATI 11.10 (8.901)
Intel HD Graphics 2509
Full Package including all components (PX Profile update, App Profiles, OpenCL, AVIVO, DnD Transcoding, Media Foundation Decoders)

No more "Configure Switchable Graphics" context menu
No signing required. Catalyst Install Manager installs both AMD and Intel drivers
Complete install and go package.

EDIT1: Still need to test the full non-upgrade install.
--

EDIT2: The AMD and Intel graphics drivers have been speperated into two unique installers to remove the test mode/signature requirement and easier upgrading. With the full package I am currently utilizing the previously named Intel Media Components component of the installer to install the seperated Intel HD SG Driver. The Catalyst Install Manager is then used to install both drivers as you would normally with the "Official" package. The goal is to keep this as close to the official type packages as possible so upgrading between them is still possible if needed.

EDIT3: Non-upgrade install seems to hang at boot. The question is why would an upgrade work and not a fresh install? Investigating some hunches.

EDIT4: Interesting cant download it where I am at but: AMD Radeon™ HD 6470M / 6630M and Mobile Intel® HD Graphics Driver - Ver 8.862.4.1000 - Dated: 9/23/2011 Note: Download link doesnt work on that page, it works through sony china though -> Direct Link to EXE

 

the updated sony drivers is 8.862 -> Catalyst 11.6?

Good job, I'll wait for ur 11.10 come out to play BF3 =D

 

Hmm - I wonder if those updated sony drivers provide any sort of bug fixes or improvements for the switching capability. I may uninstall all my video drivers, install those, and then reupgrade back to 11.8/intel 2509 just to see what happens

 

Yep, 11.6. Big upgrade, huh... Way to go Sony!
Not sure how well BF3 will play on an SA/SB/SC but at least it brought new drivers.

Switching seems a little smoother than the Originals (less flicker).
Gives me a bit of a new base to work with so that is good at least.

All in all... the 11.10/2509 driver should be nice. Still having a bit of difficulty with a clean install of the full driver. Trying a different approach. Gonna work this new base into it also. This will hopefully turn into a good foundation for some more universal AMD/ATI switchable graphics.

 

I was just on the guru3d forums, and it sounds like the 11.10 beta drivers are breaking a lot of things and are a bit buggy - I'm not sure how much of that stuff will affect the 6400 and 6600 chips the SA/SB/SC laptops have, though.

 

Yeah not reading good things about 11.10 really. Still having issues with them too, fell asleep before I could post last night sorry everyone.

Since I said I would post it here it is:
TEST - AMD/ATI 11.10 (8.901) Preview & Intel 2509 Full UPGRADE ONLY Package for SA/SB/SC W764bit

WARNING: THIS DRIVER IS FOR TESTING, PLEASE USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! This driver is UPGRADE ONLY, meaning DO NOT UNINSTALL THE PREVIOUS DRIVER before installing these or you will run into problems. This is a full package, in comparison to what is posted on the first page both Intel and AMD drivers are packaged in this set along with many of the extras like Media Codecs, AVIVO, OpenGL, Application Profiles and more. If you do not want all of these things installed please use custom to choose the components when installing. There is a new "Intel Display Driver" option you will notice when installing this is the Intel HD Graphics driver. I have given it its own component when installing. Things like "Display Audio Driver" and updated "Turbo Boost Technology Driver" are installed with "Intel Media Components"

NOTE: If you do uninstall the previous drivers and install these windows will stay at the starting windows screen and never load windows. To fix this you will have to boot into safe mode go to device manager and disable both Intel and AMD graphics devices. After doing this you can reboot to normal windows and uninstall the AMD driver software. You may have to manually uninstall the Intel driver through device manager after doing this. After doing all of this you should be able to install the standard Sony graphics driver. Then if you wish to try again you can upgrade to any of the drivers listed on the first post.

As donnieblasko has said there have been various reports of issues with 11.10. If you would like to read some check the Catalyst 11.10 Preview thread at Guru3d. I haven't tested these with any games so I don't have any clue as to performance.

I will continue to work on this driver to hopefully get it fully working without requiring an upgrade only install. So with that said I have posted it for testing purposes only and will not be adding it to the first post for the moment.

 

Nautis,
Should we upgrade (?) with Sony's drivers first (seeing that they also include the signed drivers for Intel, etc). and then do the regular AMD
upgrade?

 

Does anyone know if we can have this configuration: keep both graphics cards ON, with one screen thru one card (say Intel) and the extended screen thru the GPU?

Say I want to play a game with the GPU and also use Intel widi at the same time. That would be cool

 

Shouldn't really matter what you upgrade from as long as switching and everything was working before. As a base though yes you have to start with either the original Sony driver or the newer Sony one that I just found. Just remember that if you uninstall the graphics drivers at all make sure the Sony drivers are put on first.

It is possible to use WiDi with non-multiplexer switchable graphics like NVIDIAs Optimus. It should also be doable with AMDs PowerXpress 4.0 MUXless systems. The SA/SB/SC unfortunately has a multiplexer (as evidenced by the flicker when you switch the speed/stamina switch) so at the current time it is not possible. On the Sony Vaio Z1 which has a similar multiplexer based speed/stamina switch I was able to get Optimus working. At some point I may be able to get AMDs PowerXpress 4.0 working on systems like the SA/SB/SC but I wouldn't get my hopes up and it wont be anytime soon.

 

there´s a new SONY official video driver for SA, what version is it? I have uninstalled the damn DELL trackpad driver a user posted to use with SA and I've uninstalled all of nautis drivers because I'm very annoyed by the "freeze" thing that is happening in my SA. I will first see if it's get resolved and only after that I will start messing with the video drivers again.

 

Looking forward to hearing what remedies your freezing issues. The rest can be answered in the posts above. Here are the relevant posts quoted:

 

But if I understand correctly, the switch just provides a software interrupt to the driver. I think its the driver which does the multiplexing by sending appropriate signals to the Bios (?) and whatever physical MUX and controller exists on the motherboard. Maybe the datapath is such that it is indeed possible for data to be transferred to both GPUs, with time multiplexing. (I dont know, I'm just thinking aloud here)

Ofcourse this could be wrong and its possible that the switch is more than just a signal, in which case you're right.

But in any case, the drivers would need mods to allow both cards to remain on, send a particular applications pages to a particular GPU, blah blah. So even in this case, it may not be enthusiast doable

 

Wonder if the Chinese website has upgraded Z2 drivers.

 

I looked a bit when I was looking for the SA/SB/SC but couldn't find any. Cant read Chinese though so I could have missed something.

--

EDIT: Updated the first post to point to AMD 11.9 (8.892) including other packages.

 

The link for the graphics driver package on the vaio USA site seems to be working now. However, when I downloaded and installed it, there seems to be no difference. When I right click/graphics properties, the intel version still shows 2253.

did anyone get it working? I have a VPC-SC.

 

i've installed the chinese one and it seems that my switching got messed up. I switch with the hard button and nothing happens.

 

any news on the updated Sony drivers? does the switching always get messed-up like in fscussel's case?

 

after reinstalling with the USA file it fixed it. Now I don't know exactly is the problem was with the chinese one or what. But you can update using the USA file without a problem.

Also my freezing's which I related a few posts ago are gone. Don't know if the problem was some Dell touchpad drivers that a user posted or the customs drivers downloaded here. I removed the Dell touchpad and installed this last sony official video update. It seems fine again now.

 

Hey there guys

For anyone here that has installed the official Sony drivers, can they check something for me? I installed the unofficial AMD Catalyst 11.8 drivers using the method described on the front page a while back and while that initial install went ok, I think installations since have been a little corrupt. I've attempted to go to the latest official Sony drivers but I'm not sure if its taken properly.

When you open the Catalyst Control Center, and go to Information > Software, is the Catalyst version listed as "11.8"?

My Driver version matches what Sony says it should be, but considering the drivers are meant to be 11.6 equivalent, I'm not sure why I have an 11.8 Catalyst version when thats the Catalyst package I installed previously.

 

Hey everyone,

I just discovered this thread. Excellent work by Nautis here.

I was wondering if it was safe to install the Rage performance driver here :

AMD Catalyst? - Rage Performance Driver

Has anyone tried Rage on an SA Series notebook without this download?