My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

i had the same problem. Win7 64bit

 

Hey guys, I have the latest drivers (1825) on my Win7 RC 7600 x64. I do not have the special Intel INF. When I pull out the power plug in Stamina mode, my desktop theme switches to a "grey/simple" mode, and stays that way. It happens in Speed mode too, but only for a brief second.

Anyone know whats up with that?

Thanks!

 

Is there any update on which driver can be used safely and without problems on Win7?

I upgraded my Vista ultimate 64bit installation to Win7 RC and everything works just fine...

 

win7 7600 x64, 1825, inf ver2, works, but too hot in speed and self switching to speed after wake up

 

I actually have just noticed that brightness adjustment is not possible with speed mode...

 

Now I have a huge problem. My Z was overheating. It would get really hot and the fan on the left side would blow super hot air out. After about 30 minutes in either speed or Stamina of a game or something it would just turn off completely. I disassembled it to clean the fan which was extremely dusty. There is a connector that goes from the motherboard to the speed stamina switch. I broke the connector that goes to the motherboard. Now the system is stuck in stamina mode. I cant get the nvidia card enabled. Ive tried installing all sorts of drivers to try and trick the Z into going to speed mode. Any ideas or am I just screwed?

 

Ouch...Big Ouch.. Using the drivers I posted you should be able to click the icon in the taskbar to switch modes. Or you can use a proof of concept tool I came up with that you can download here for GPU switching.

As far as I can tell this seems to be a Windows 7 problem with Hybrid Graphics. You can switch to Stamina to adjust the brightness and then switch back.

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I am going out of town starting tomorrow and will be gone for almost the whole of next week. I am going to try to release a Hybrid Graphics test version of 190.38 sometime later today if I can get to it.

 

I assume despite the brightness issue, the latest drivers you have posted work fine?

Any reason why you would recommend upgrading from the nativ drivers?

 

It is all personal preference really. If you are on vista or win7 and the vista drivers work to your liking then I wouldn't upgrade. There is always the possibility of heat or other issues with unofficial drivers and they are always use at your own risk. Only use them if you are comfortable with potential issues.

The reasons for upgrading, performance, physx/cuda support, additional power saving and other features. The latest drivers I have released are based on Win7 drivers so they are WDDM1.1. Thus far they are the only WDDM1.1 (Win7) drivers released for Hybrid Graphics.

190.15 are in testing and if you look at some of the previous posts you will see some people reporting various issues with them beyond the brightness issue.

For the Vaio Z the ONLY official drivers released are 174.49.

 

And so I leave you with a present before I leave for a weeks vacation. I am flying from California to New York and then driving to Chicago and finally flying back again to California.

This driver has a new setting under the Nvidia Control Panel for additional power settings.

Bugs: Brightness Issue still exists. There also may be an issue restoring the dGPU (Nvidia) after hybrid sleep. Make sure to report any other issues you may encounter (even if you already have with previous drivers.)

*OPEN TEST* - Hybrid Graphics drivers for Windows 7 & Windows Vista - *OPEN TEST*
64-Bit | Nvidia Version: 190.38 | Intel Version: 1825 | Packaged By: Nautis (Featuring "Dox Optimised" settings)
32-Bit | Nvidia Version: 190.38 | Intel Version: 1825 | Packaged By: Nautis (Featuring "Dox Optimised" settings)


Installing
First make sure you are switched to SPEED mode. Then go into add/remove programs and uninstall the "Nvidia Drivers" which should remove both hybrid graphics drivers (nvidia & intel.) Now go into device manager and make sure both video devices are removed. Reboot and install the new drivers. *Note: Better install instructions coming soon.

Driver Signing & Test Mode
1.)Download Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider
2.)Disable UAC (Can usually be done by typing MSCONFIG in run and going to the Tools tab.)
3.)Run deso13b.exe and choose "enable test mode"
4.)Reboot. (You should see Test Mode at the bottom right corner after reboot.)
5.)Run deso13b.exe again and choose "Sign a System File"
6.)In the box type "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys" and click ok
7.)Click "Sign a System File" again and this time put "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\igdkmd64.sys"
8.)Reboot and all should work.

 

haha. Installing now.

 

I was enjoying Nautis's 190.15 driver.
I updated with 190.38 and I realized that some of resolution supports are gone. (1280x800, 1366x768, etc.)
I only have 1600x900, 1280x768, 1024x768, 800x600.
Can somebody help me to add custom resolution?

BTW, thx Nautis for the international language support on 190.38.

 

i uninstalled both the Nvidia and intel driver before i installed the 190.38, after the reboot i have error in both nvidia and intel driver properties. it is saying "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 19)"
anyone can help me out? Many thanks

 

I still have 1280x800.. make sure to uninstall the old driver before you install the new one.

 

190.38 Nautis, thank you!!! just installed, no problems so far, slightly cooler probably .. )

 

Resolution screenshots are attached.
Sorry, nVidia Control Panel is in Korean.
My system is VGN-Z690 Vista x64.

190.15 had more options...

Of course I clean installed 190.38.
Also I reinstalled driver several times.

 

Have you gone into Nvidias Control Panel and added the resolutions you require? NVCP -> Displays -> Change Resolution

 

Is this under Manage 3D settings? I'm not sure if it's coming up for me..

 

Nautis, i think that 190.38 - not for Vaio Z cooling system - it's overheats and turns off (OS not found and so on) - back to 174.49 ((((( when we'll get working driver finally!!!???

 

im running the 190.15 release, gpu idles on ~48 and doesn't go past ~70 when maxing everything? clock speeds are at 100% also.

 

Wow, my nvidia withe the boxed driver runs between 70 and 76 degrees in idle...

 

the power settings are missing from the boxed driver AFAIK. Use something like gpu-z and check what the gpu/mem clock speeds are. If they're not clocking down, they're using excess power and introducing the heat.

 

Just like dreamliner, my resolutions are back to the old 4 choices like his screenshots are showing.

in 190.15 I could choose amongst these resolutions:


I can also choose lower 16:9 resolutions like 848x480, games like Fallout3 and Street Fighter 4 becomes unplayable without this low res 16:9 resolution.

It's also not possible to create a custom resolution, neither with power strip nor with nvidias own system. My guess is that the resolution must be set in the intel driver as well as the nvidia driver so it can switch properly?

 

I think the boxed driver has some speed settings, gpu-z shows different speeds in different situations. Before recovery i tested nautis driver an the gpu clock running low in idle.

 

That's what I'm trying to Say.
I was unable to add custom resolutions on nVidia Control Panel.

 

Nautis got a question for ya
umm, this is kinda out topic, but yeah lol
i just try that software based gpu switch, somehow, the gpu core clock stay at 275Mhz and memory at 301Mhz all the time. its cool down the system even running games. thing is the clock is way too low to manage the fps type game. however im able to play Burnout Paradise at that clock with the temp stay at 67c max, quite impressive.

the question is, is there any software that i can customize the gpu clock to run to any value i want? ive just try rivatuner but the thing doesnt worrk. so if anyone using any, do share it yeah.

thats all.
i havent test the new driver though from the feedback from Vovus, i guess its not suitable for tiny system like Z.

thanks alot for ya effort Nautis

 

You might want to try nVidia System Tools.
Link

 

yeah ive installed that and customize the clock.
from the gaming test i did, i get peak temp highest at 86c, average at 81c. might tweak a lil bit later until it stay at 85c at most.

 

190.15 I did the same with nvidia system tools (275/301) and can stop a temperature growth at 85 (WMP play on TV through hdmi connect).
190.38 does not work for me at low gpu clock.

 

I just want to give a feedback on the Nvidia Version: 190.38 | Intel Version: 1825 drivers.

I have not played any games or so. But for office work I have no issues what so ever on Win7 but the known brightness bug with speed mode.

 

From the road: Thanks everyone for your testing and reports on the drivers. I may have figured out a fix for the missing resolutions issue already. As soon as I get more time I will see.

 

I decided to try Windows 7 x64 and...

If I understand things correctly, to load Natuis awsome driver I ALWAYS need to be in test mode?

 

For x64 OS, yes, Nautis driver or any custom driver requires test mode or some kind of bypass.

 

190.15 works w/o any tricks for me..

 

Without test mode? Does the brightness control work in speed mode for you?

 

I´m currently testing the 190.38 driver on my european z21wn - sometimes the hibernation doesn´t work, brightness controll in stamina and speed mode are working. Also switching between the two modes is possible without any bug.

Temperatures are ok i think, my machine is running hot but that´s nothing new

 

I managed to remove the watermark anyway Are there any drawbacks of always using test mode?

 

I doubt it - not more than using the RC itself...

 

w/o, just install 190.15 and it works just after reboot, nope, brightness works in stamina only
*: note, i'm on win7 x64 - not on Vista!

 

hey, SirRobin, try to play mkv or some different video format files through hdmi on TV, my overheats with 190.38 and turns off in this case if not to use nvidia system tools and slow down clocks..
how it'll be on Vista - interesting!

 

ok, i can make tests later this evening - whats mkv?

 

no matter (the same as avi - just more options included) - you can try m2ts or any high definition format to load stronger your video subsystem
p.s. i use http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1379/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.3.4.html this utility to check the temperature during tests

 

I have tested the latest drivers on my win 7 64 bit installation for some days now. Besides the known problem with brightness, I have noticed that sometimes the Z does not wake up from standby or hibernation. I am not sure if it is driver related. Therefore I will go back to the original drivers and see if there is a difference...

 

hibernation disabled, no problems with wake up at all!

 

Actually, I like hypernation quite a lot. So I really need it to be enabled...

 

i don't like it, i like when it's always ready to go in 2 sec, in the meeting for example, with unknown people and we all together waiting for my pc to wake up........ and those 20 or 30 seconds lasts 100 years

 

Haha... I know what you mean .
The great thing about the Vaio Z is, that it wakes up from hibernation or standby once you open the lid (if you have configured this). So I choose whether I will need it again soon (--> close the lid and "standby") or if I will let it rest for some hours (going to bed, ect.) and therefore send it to hibernation using the power button.
I rarely make a clean boot.

Since there is a higher power drain in standby than hibernation, I choose the power state depending on when I estimate using it again...

 

yeah, i tried all this tricks, but every time i close the lid - i have to think about the way i open it next time nope - it's not natural way, coz things may change and it's not good to remember how to close my lappy right each time - just close it and simply do not forget to charge, you have good battery capacity enough to use your lappy for presentations and meetings all business day long.. and it always ready for hard work in a couple secs

 

I see your point... a good thing that the Z is so flexible regardning people's different working scheme

 

I am flying back home today, I will hopefully have some updates to try sometime this week/weekend.