Latest VPC-Z1/330M Drivers for the BIOS Hack People

UPDATE 8/11/15: Version 4.8
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.exe.v4.8.zip
Bug Fix in Version 4.8

• Fixed program so that it will patch the latest 341.74 Notebook drivers for Windows 10
• http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/341.74/341.74-notebook-win10-64bit-international.exe
  
• This only works for 3dVision, clicking the VGA Patch won't do anything for Windows 10
• This has only been tested in so much as it installed and worked for a couple minutes. I am busy with other things and can't test it now

Bug Fix in Version 4.7

• Fixed program so that it will patch the latest 334.89 while retaining backward compatibility with older version drivers
  Thanks Mesenzio

Bug Fix in Version 4.6

• Fixed bug where patch would crash if it could not find the default nVidia folder
  Thanks Elrinth

New Features in Version 4.5

• Patches New Windows 8.1 Drivers (and older drivers)

New Features in Version 4.4

• Enable/Disable Test Mode with the click of a button
• Automatic INF backup
• Patch removal
• Switch from 3D to VGA patch and back with ease
• Launch nVidia Setup from the UI
• Better looking UI
• Console style log of everything you've done while running the program

KNOWN ISSUES / NOTES:

• This patch doesn't support Vista at all, it won't attempt to patch any INF sections related to Vista. I've never heard of anyone running Vista on their Z1.
• Version 4 (and up) require Administrator privileges to run, this shouldn't be a problem as you probably own your own computer.
• Windows 8.1 may have issues coming back from sleep on speed/nVidia mode. This issue may be present on Windows 7 and 8 also but I don't know because I've not tested those recently.
• Fn keys will not adjust brightness on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. As a workaround you may use the slider from the charms menu instead.
• I have noticed that the VGA patch may not hold a connection to a VGA monitor or projector if it is the only display, a workaround for this is simply to duplicate the displays. This makes me wonder if the 3D Vision/HDMI patch will work the same way, I have yet to test it.

The exe is super easy to use. Just download the latest nVidia notebook driver and try to install it. This won't work obviously but it will extract the files to "C:\NVIDIA\"
Then all you have to do is run the patch exe and click the apply patch button. Then you can browse to the setup.exe for the driver and the install will run fine. You will need the .net Framework Version 4 installed on your computer for this to work. You can also get it on Windows Update
If you have Windows 8 you are all set, you don't need to get the framework.

Note you need the BIOS hack to run these drivers, switch the tri switch to speed. Make sure you set the BIOS up like the picture below "VGA Switching Policy" = "Static"



I will do my best to update this post as new drivers arrive. I can even do the beta ones if you guys want them.


MY BIOS HACK EASY INSTRUCTIONS - This only seems to work for US VAIOs, if you have an EU or Asain Model see this post - NEW INSTRUCTIONS WINDOWS WAY by paul3000h <- send him some rep if his post works for you!
I have made my pre-patched BIOS file available on my website

All you need do is download FreeDos, install it on a usb stick.
Then unzip my files to the root of the USB stick
Boot from the USB stick
Don't change any boot options at this point (even though it says something about installing stuff on your hard drive it won't)
Just hit enter at the first menu and enter again at the second menu
then you are at a command prompt
type "C:" hit enter
then type "FLASH BACKUP.ROM /G" then hit enter to backup your BIOS
then type "FLASH HACKED.ROM /F" to flash on my hacked BIOS

reboot go to the BIOS (F2) and setup Static VGA Switching Policy



I am not responsible for damages etc. If you want to do all the patching yourself look at the BIOS Hack thread

 

thanks!


how hard is it to flash the custom bios ?

 

It is not hard to flash, it is a little complex to make it.

 

Yes, laptops have their own power backup - if you're doing this on a desktop motherboard and there's a mains power glitch, you're dead meat. I used to switch off the mains power and make the UPS run on batteries while doing stuff like this.

Just make sure your batteries are charged - ComputerCowboy hasn't told us how long this process is expected to take. I expect I'll be trying this myself in the next few days. ComputerCowboy - expect to be bombarded with queries.

 

It is pretty easy to run it, doesn't take long at all.
I have added the instructions to the first post

 

Thank you for your gift to the community and my Z12.

Until now happy with Nvidia; but using the latest intel hd graphics driver no output over hdmi (the screen is recognized and is under options within the control panel selectable)
is this by design or do i have something misconfigured

Servus form Vienna - Austria

 

The Vaio Z11, Z12, Z13 series all have the DVI/HDMI directly connected to the nVidia GPU. So you'll have to switch to nVidia for HDMI/DVI to work.

 

You are right. With Nvidia HDMI is fine.

Thank You
Servus from Vienna

 

Correct... using my method you MUST reboot into speed mode to use HDMI.
Here is a little trick, once the computer is booted you can throw the switch to whatever mode you want for next boot. So you can be in stamina mode, throw the switch to speed, then reboot. The switch will do nothing once the computer is booted into a specific mode if you have Static VGA switching.

 

Hi ComputerCowboy,

I have a VPCZ115GG (with an HDD instead of SSD). I have extracted and patched the BIOS using the instructions in the BIOS hack thread. Python didn't report any errors at all while running the advanced_menu.py script.

Comparing my patched BIOS with the one downloded from your website, I notice several differences, some of which I have identified as being related to the model number and HDD/SSD option mentioned above.

So which BIOS should I use? Yours, or the one I extracted and patched?

 

Thanks CC I was just wonder when it would come also to NBR forum the new driver from nVidia but now it's here .The BIOS hack is still 3030C or do you have a new version?I'm not up to date with the BIOS realises

 

I hate it when my post is the last post on the page - everyone starts reading the next page.

 

The hacked ROM that was originally on my site was an older version, someone told me about it so I updated it to R3030C3

You should probably use yours. There will be differences between mine and yours, serial numbers, settings etc. The BIOS code will be the same but some of the values will be different.

Since you have gone through all the trouble to make your own just use that. I know that mine will work on other Z1's besides mine because a few users have flashed it and confirmed that it works.

 

I was actually reading and replying to your post then it got a little confusing, I have updated my post above with quotes to help clear things up.

 

Thanks. Now all I need is the nerve.

 

Man up 10 char

 

ComputerCowboy, could you please tell me what changes you had to do to the original Nvidia drivers to allow them to be installed on a BIOS-hacked-static-switching Vaio Z1? I would like to be able to do this myself for future drivers, etc.

Also, I wonder, since I'm using stock (non-hacked) drivers and XP, the vga switching policy is probably set to Auto by default, but it becomes Static due to XP. I mean, I get exactly the behaviour you describe: changing from Stamina/Speed positions only has an effect during the next reboot.

So perhaps I can do install those drivers even without hacking my BIOS (something I prefer not to do).

Now if I could only get Clonezilla to work on a RAID0'ed Z1, I would be more free to try this experiment out...

 

sorry to post a non-hack question here, but this is where the best and the brightest congregate.

Is there any advantage to upgrading nVidia drivers without a BIOS hack? I'm 3 drivers out of date and when I try to upgrade to 208.26 it says my z11 is not compatible, but I think I just need to uninstall the existing driver first. The question: is it even worth the bother with stock 330M and unhacked bios? What good will it do? Thanks

 

If you are running hybrid drivers now, you can install Optimus drivers. There are some unsolved issues, like increased power consumption, automatic brightness control doesn't work, etc., but you can install the latest drivers.

Check out this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html

If the power consumption/decreased battery life bugs you too much, then this BIOS hack is just the thing for you.

 

In theory, there may be some small performance increases and bug fixes. In practice, this effect will probably be minor if any. Besides, 330M is an older video card, so it's less likely to receive significant improvement from drivers.

But in my case, the main reason I want to upgrade to later drivers is that while the 330M hardware supports up to OpenGL 3.3 standard, the stock drivers are so old that they only provide OpenGL 3.1. Also, there are a few new extensions like GL_NV_path_rendering that have been added in the more recent drivers.

I want OpenGL 3.3 so that I can do development work and use the latest version of the standard.

If all you're doing is playing video games, then you really don't care about it. Most games are DirectX, and those that are OpenGL will only need 2.1 to work.

In any case, just see the list of changes. If something there interests you, then you have your answer.

 

I am going to write a program to patch the INFs
I will release it and the sorcecode

basically all I do is look for the main device code for 330M and replace the trailing revision id with the one for our 330M

 

Getting the section number right is a little tricky. Darn things change with each driver release.

 

it is easier than that

We don't care about making it work for other 330M... only ours
so I just replace the original lines with ones that work for ours, I am coding up an automated patch right now

Once patched the driver will only work for the 330M in the Z1, it won't work for ANY OTHER 330M laptop.

 

These are the strings for my VAIO for 275.33:

Code:

[Strings]
NVIDIA_DEV.0A2B.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M      "     ;Sony     Vaio Z (VPC Model)

[NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.0]
%NVIDIA_DEV.0A2B.01% = Section055, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A2B&SUBSYS_905A104D  ;NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M   Sony     Vaio Z (VPC Model)

[NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1]
%NVIDIA_DEV.0A2B.01% = Section057, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A2B&SUBSYS_905A104D  ;NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M   Sony     Vaio Z (VPC Model)

The section numbers tell the installer to copy a subset of the files included with the driver and enable a different set of features - different devices use different section numbers. The section numbers are different for each release. For 270.61 they were 045 and 059. This has me worried.

 

From a post I made at LV2go:

So if your code finds the section number for the GT 335M device mentioned above and simply uses that same section for the GT 330M, I think you're in business. More or less.

Please take everything I say under advisement (i.e. with a large pinch of salt). I'm just blundering about in the dark. For all I know I've confused you needlessly.

 

I see, thanks for the explanation!

So basically all you're doing is making this change for all *.inf files, i.e. changing the SUBSYS_whatever to SUBSYS_905A104D (the subvendor string for GT 330M on Vaio Z1), for all lines that contain DEV_0A2B (the device ID of our GT 330M).

You are changing a lot of .inf files.

I guess this works, but I have a concern here... I mean, there are a lot of different manufacturers (Sony, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, etc.) using Nvidia GT 330M and the Verde drivers have sections for each one. You are making it so that all of them will be recognized as the Sony Z1 330M. But each section is slightly different if you look at them... There are small variations in registry entries, etc.

Maybe those differences aren't that important (I guess they're not if the drivers work fine), but still, wouldn't it be better to find one section that best resembles the one that would exist for Sony Z12 Nvidia GT 330M (i.e. device 0A2B and subvendor Sony 104D).

Right now I am comparing the differences between Toshiba 330M (device 0A2B, but different subvendor Toshiba) inf registry settings and the F1 Sony drivers (slightly different device ID 0A29, but same subvendor Sony) for F1 Nvidia GT 330M.

I know the 330M in F1 series (F1 = F11/F12, cuz F13 has GT 425M I think) runs at 575 Mhz core speed, unlike in Z1 which is underclocked to 475 mhz.

 

Yes my way is the American way, brute force, it works fine so I haven't worried about it. If it didn't work fine I would do it differently.

 

I have had too much bad luck with BIOS hacks (call me weak in the knees if you must, lol, that I really need to see a substantial benefit to me to risk it.

Thanks very much. Of all the items, only improved audio would affect me, if it is really any better. What does concern me is that I did try to install 208.26 from the nVidia site, even after uninstalling the existing driver (also tried it without first uninstalling) and it keeps coming back: "unable to detect compatible hardware." Thoughts?

 

I added a patch application and source code to the main post for download! Enjoy!

 

Fair enough.

I just want to report my success. I'm running Windows XP on VPCZ122GX/B, with a non-hacked BIOS. I was able to simply install the latest version of Nvidia drivers, after making a small change to one of the .inf files (a slightly less brute-force version of ComputerCowboy's approach; thanks for your help). I used the 0A29 subsection originally meant for Sony F11/F12 (SUBSYS_9067104D). Now I have OpenGL 3.3 support and (in theory) can do some awesome development! Another benefit is added support for screen rotation (original drivers didn't permit this for some reason).

 

^ So is the Intel adapter also present in the Device Manager?

 

XP only supports static switching, so you get one adapter at a time. GeForce GT 330M on Speed, and Intel HD graphics on Stamina. You never get both simultaneously.

 

so when you use XP it operates like you have the BIOS hack... interesting

Why do you run XP?

 

Using the bios hack, you change vga switching policy from Auto to Static. If you leave it on Auto, then it becomes Dynamic when you're using Windows 7 and Static if you're using XP.

I use XP because it suits my personal preferences better. It runs modern windows applications that I care about (e.g. Chrome) no different than Windows 7, but it's a little lighter on resources (faster, less ram usage). I'm not a fan of some Windows 7 UI changes, and I suppose I can survive without the actually good ones. But most of all, I really really dislike how crappy the Sony utilities for Windows 7 are (the XP ones aren't great, but slightly lesser of the two evils).

 

Are you using x64 XP at least?

I tired to install x64 XP on my Z one time and it wouldn't go on there.

 

No, Windows XP and 64-bit don't mix. The driver and application support is almost non-existent. You'd be shooting yourself in the foot trying to do it. If you need 64-bit, Widows 7 is the only way to go.

That said, I only have 4 GB of RAM here, so using a 32-bit OS is not a significant bottleneck. Plus XP itself uses somewhat less RAM than 7.

 

I added a patch application and source code to the main post for download! Enjoy!

Quote:
Originally Posted by ComputerCowboy
ADDED WPF Patch Application Source Code and Binaries
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.exe
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.src

The exe is super easy to use. Just download the latest nVidia notebook driver and try to install it. This won't work obviously but it will extract the files to "C:\NVIDIA\"
Then all you have to do is run the patch exe and click the apply patch button. Then you can browse to the setup.exe for the driver and the install will run fine. You will need the .net Framework Version 4 installed on your computer for this to work. You can get it on Windows Update

The included source code is written using Visual Studio 2010 SP1. It should be simple enough to follow. All the action happens in the code-behind file called "MainWindow.xaml.cs"

Your .exe file couldn't have been easier. I updated the .net Framwork Version 4, downloaded this:

Version:	280.26 <sup>WHQL</sup>
Release Date:	2011.08.09
Operating System:	Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit
Language:	English (U.S.)
File Size:	183 MB

I ran your executable. updated my GMA HD drivers (once tried to install the 280.86 and it said I needed to updated the Intel GMA HD drivers), and still, I got, for the 10th time "cannot find compatible hardware; installation will be stopped."

Thoughts. Again, this is without a BIOS hack. Thanks

It is write in C#, I wrote it quick and dirty, simple as pie.

 

Are you saying it works for you without the BIOS hack? I am a little confused by your post.

 

lovelaptops: if you want to do this without the BIOS hack, you will be running in Optimus mode on hybrid graphics. To do this:

1. Uninstall existing drivers, both of them. Reboot and repeat, until device manager shows 2 vga compatible devices, one of which has an exclamation mark showing it has a problem.
2. Clean the system of nVidia files using driversweeper or nfr
3. Install the Intel driver.
4. Install the nVidia driver using a modded inf.
5. Reboot.

Note: there are unresolved issues with this approach, as mentioned earlier. Power consumption being the worst - battery life is nearly halved.

 

What if you just disable the Intel adapter with the device manager, then install the nVidia drivers? would that function like a BIOS hacked "Static VGA" setup?

 

Didn't work for me the last time I tried it. Seems the display output is routed through the Intel device/driver somehow. Black screen. Had to reboot in safe mode and re-enable the Intel adapter.

 

Yeah, doing it without the BIOS hack. Misunderstood your previous post I guess saying it could be done.

So, it causes Optimus to work,but it uses more battery life overall, or just when in nVidia mode?

 

Overall. Read my posts in http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html I've moaned about it enough over there.

 

I don't know why people mess with Optimus mode. The BIOS hack gives the best battery life and performance with only two issues:
1) you have to reboot to switch from Intel to nVidia
2) HDMI/DVI output doesn't work in Intel/Stamina mode

Furthermore the BIOS hack gives you a very stable environment to run an eGPU.

 

Hi, ComputerCowboy
Is intel HD driver included in nVidia driver ore I need install it separate?

 

Not included
For Intel you will need this
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Windows 7* x64 Version 15.22.1.64.2361

 

Is display automatic brightness working after installing new drivers?

 

Yes it sure does

 

I have an HDD version. Rebooting takes a lot longer for me than for you SSD guys.

 

So buy an SSD, a single 2.5" job should be pretty affordable!