My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

Heheh nice to see Sorgs name and ixbt again
afaik sorg, dox and I are the only ones modding hybrid graphics sets. Sorg is the guy who originally found the trick to it. I am both here and on LV2G. And I am supposed to be helpin dox with his sets. (Sorry dox)

1.) cosmok has answered this well enough I hope.
2.) I don't believe there is a 32bit version of 187.35. So yes 186.84 is the latest official 32bit driver version afaik.
3.)I couldn't get doxs latest package workign on my lappy due to the intel drivers giving a black screen as almost all of the new ones due with our hybrid graphics config. To answer your question though they are version 2021.

Sorry I haven't done more 32bit stuff I know many are waiting.

 

Looks like a Dell Hybrid Graphics Nvidia 188.55/Intel 1994 was just released.

 

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. I'm still using the stock Sony R5031M3 BIOS. I'll like to continue using that BIOS but if there really isn't any way to disable the position of the physical switch in the relevant software/registry, then I may just flash my BIOS.

I do have a "small" request. For anyone who has the "hacked" BIOS & is using the following registry tweaks:

DisableUI - DWORD - 0
HybridPlatformRole - DWORD - 0
AllowAdditionalDisplays - DWORD - 0

Can you please kindly try out clicking all the different power plans in various random orders (& GPU selection settings) for at least 5-6 times & let me know if the different power plans when activated, changes the GPU selection "correctly?" A big thanks in advance.

 

Just letting people know I installed the Nvidia 188.55/Intel 1994 drivers with Nautis's Vaio Z INF and it's working rather well. Got brightness control and aspect ratio which some of the others didn't. All in all i'm happy to keep them for now.

 

Good stuff... I just screwed up my driver installs so I cant install any new ones until I reinstall windows. (This is why it is usually a good idea to uninstall existing drivers before installing new ones.)

FYI you can also use the INF from the official 187 Sony drivers.

188.55/1994 64bit for those who are looking for the driver. And a slightly modified version of the original sony 187.35 INF. (Added Vista 64bit strings back into the INF)
Note: This is not one of my hybrid graphics master set INFs it only has the Vaio Z identifying strings. The Intel portion of the driver uses the old configuration and therefore should work with our Hybrid Graphics notebooks properly. It is the latest version known that does.

For those looking for just the Intel portion of these Hybrid Graphics Drivers (8.15.10.1994) I have uploaded them here.

 

Just to let everyone know I have started editing the first post with detailed information on Hybrid Graphics and what is needed to put together a driver package.

This is the information I always intended on putting in the first post I just haven't ever really had the time (too much experimenting.)

Over time I will edit the first post to become more accurate and evolve with the information as it is found, the best I can. Sorry if it is a bit difficult to understand right now (its pretty much a rough draft.)

 

So when will we see a Nautis version of it ?

 

I can probably put one together. It shouldn't be much different than using the 187 INF though. I may use the Intel portion to make a newer set though with a newer version of the nvidia drivers. Need to see how well they will work though before I finalize that decision. I owe people some 32bit drivers anyways.

I am currently working on putting as much info as I can out to help others be able to put together their own sets. Overall I think this is the best thing as I am sure others will be able to get things working that I could not. I think people will be surprised to learn how easy driver modding is. It can also be extremely time consuming and frustrating at times though.

EDIT:
I have uploaded some file and INF compares to show the difference between the standard Intel and Nvidia drivers and the Hybrid Graphics set.

64bit Comparisons:
File Compare: Nvidia 187.66 -> Hybrid Graphics 187.35
File Compare: Intel 1872 -> Hybrid Graphics 187.35
INF Compare: Nvidia 187.66 -> Hybrid Graphics 187.35
INF Compare: Intel 1872 -> Hybrid Graphics 187.35

And don't forget the basic INF breakdown here.

I will be editing these to point out the critical and noncritical differences between the INFs when it comes to Hybrid Graphics. Different versions will have slightly different variations. For now these show all differences.

If anyone has any questions on any of the stuff I am posting, including my edits to the first post, please ask.

 

hah! I have a 186.81/1994 going now. XD

well, I didn't change anything in the inf, but it seems to be functional.

 

Yeah it should really just take a drop of the files to replace the existing ones on the Intel side.

I am quite anxious to get the newer style Intel drivers working on one of our Hybrid Graphics notebooks. The new Intel drivers seem to be so much smoother in Windows 7 for me.

Something tells me its a setting somewhere that is screwing things up. The drivers for the new Vaio Zs have the new style Intel working and they also work if you install them on their own (this of course breaks Nvidia functionality). So its either a settings issue or these new drivers just plain don't work when it comes to a Hybrid Graphics arrangement with our specific Intel GPUs.

 

If anyone wants to experiment around a bit and can try this INF (Vaio Z only) with these drivers that were released for the new Vaio Z (Hybrid Graphics 188.49/Intel 2021 [64bit]) I would be much appreciative. *Just drop the modified INF into the extracted directory replacing the existing one and install. These may need to be test mode/signed also.

I am wondering if this will fix the black screen issue on the Intel side of things.

NOTE: The above INF and drivers are experimental on our VGN Vaio Zs. Install at your own risk.

EDIT: I have also added a bit more information to the first post for those trying to make their own Hybrid Graphics driver sets. All of the necessary critical information is there to get things working.

I may post some series templates and a separates driver package to help further. The series templates will be INFs corresponding to each main nvidia driver series all that should be needed would be to change the version and place the files. The separates package is something I have been playing around with for a while. It is really the way the driver package should have been done in the first place. When decompressed it looks like this:

nvmvsz.inf
[dir] Intel
[dir] Nvidia
\ [dir] HybridGfx

The Intel drivers are in the Intel folder, the Nvidia drivers are in the Nvidia folder, the Hybrid Graphics specific files are in the HybridGfx subdirectory. The idea here along with the series specific INFs is that you should be able to just drop ANY Nvidia drivers in the Nvidia folder, ANY Intel drivers in the Intel folder, then then replace the INF with the one that corresponds to the Nvidia series of drivers and install. That's the concept anyways.

 

doesn't work.
the stamina / speed switch no longer light up... and the nvidia side doesn't install properly

 

Errr.. thanx firestone.

EDIT: Just tested it myself. It seems to install fine for me on the Vaio Z. Nvidia side works fine, Intel side still black screens on the notebook LCD. Interestingly it displays using the VGA port. The VGA port seems to be the only one detecting which is why the LCD gives a black screen. It wont detect the when the Intel drivers are in a Hybrid Graphics configuration but it will if the Intel drivers are installed on their own (without Nvidia/Hybrid Graphics switching working). The only other issue is that it will not switch from the Intel GPU back to the Nvidia one without a reboot.

 

Nautis,

Long time, no see. I wonder if you have any ideas regarding this issue, since I was considering moving to Windows 7.

Thank you.

 

How did you managed to do that. when i put the inf file into the setup dir, it seems to let me install, but the install bar kindof runs through fast, and it does basicly nothing, no restart recomended etc... And you are using the dell's hybeid driver right?

 

I managed nvidia 191.66 and intel 1994 driver.
INF file and nvidia part of driver is based on nautis's driver.
"Slight" modification, but not much.
I don't exactly remember whether it requires driver signature or not,
so if it does, follow the instruction below.
Although I am currently using this set of driver, but I don't garantee that it works on all vaio z
so use it on your risk.


EDIT: CHANGED LINK

 

The download link works, but after I downloaded the file, when I try to extract it, it says that the files are corrupted.

 

Nautis, what is the latest 18x.xx Forceware that you know of? Any prominent differences between 18x.xx and 19x.xx?

 

Support for apps made with CUDA 2.0 SDK like CoreAVC 2.0...

 

I really dont unfortunately. As was said before the Intel is the motherboard GPU (think primary) so it gets initialized first. As far as I know this is what seemed to be causing the issues for you. There are some adjustments in the hacked BIOs pertaining to video, so something there may fix it for you. Sorry.

Good to see someone else making an effort. Question, do you seem to be having any problems when using the 1994 Intel drivers? I combined them with the official vaio z drivers (187.35) and it would not turn off the nvidia (speed) gpu when switched to the intel (stamina) side. Watch device manager when switching. It also gave me an error when switching back from the Intel side to the nvidia side.

All in all nice job.

Cant really speak to the differences, I am too busy just downloading them and testing them for functionality to worry about differences. In all seriousness though I will try to check for you I don't know off the top of my head. I know in the past Nvidia had different driver teams working on different series. So far the only official Hybrid Graphics series drivers I have seen are 185, 186, 187, & 188. The latest Hybrid Graphics driver seems to be from Dell for the m11x and is 188.55. The newest 188 series standard driver seems to be 188.71.

 

Thanks! These drivers worked fine on my vaio z. Switching to and from stamina mode worked. However, I did notice that in speed mode, in device manager, both the intel and nvidia chips are enabled.

 

Yeah odd thing that. Users with other Hybrid Graphics notebooks are reporting sporadic power usage and therefore shorter battery life with Nvidia 195.62/Intel 1994. I would assume if both GPUs are running at all times battery life should be substantially shortened on the Vaio Z.

Intel 1994 may be buggy. Just a heads up.

 

I only get 3 hours of battery life in speed mode, but in stamina mode, i still get around 4-5 hours, so power consumption seems fine.

 

Well I always had both graphic cards enabled in Device manager in Speed mode. Even now, when I'm on official Sony drivers...

 

When you switch to Stamina "NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS" doesn't disappear in device manager? Interesting.

 

It does, but cherrybombaz wrote that "However, I did notice that in speed mode, in device manager, both the intel and nvidia chips are enabled.". I'm planning to test 191.66 and intel 1994 driver as well, as I need 19x.xx Nvidia driver to run CoreAVC 2.0... Personally I don't care about battery life under speed mode...I always use Stamina on battery.

 

Metsn: What media player? (and video renderer?)

 

Whoops, I misread cherrybombaz statement.

Yes by default on the Vaio Z:
SPEED = Both devices show in Device Manager.
STAMINA = Only Intel shows in Device Manager.

Out of curiosity, non-Vaio Z users, does Intel show in device manager when switched to Nvidia?

 

The same as above for my BenQ Joybook S42.

 

CoreAVC 2.0 - When I asked support, why from version 2.0 you need to have Nvidia 19x.xx for running CUDA, while version 1.9.5 didn't have such restriction, they said that 18x.xx doesn't support new CUDA 2.0 SDK...

 

You appear to be using Windows 7. Windows 7 has a built in DXVA codec, a good one that works with the 4500MHD as well.

The reason I asked what media player you are using is, if for instance you are using Media Player Classic Homecinema, what you can do is add the MS DTV-DVD Video decoder to preferred status under external filters, enable auto-loading subtitles and make sure you are using EVR or EVR-Custom and you will have a perfectly working DXVA setup.


Note that your CPU is stronger than your GPU, so there is no need for you to use CoreAVC's CUDA thing or DXVA in the first place. CoreAVC in software is very good, but CoreAVC's offloading to GPU shouldn't be any different to any other.

 

Hi everybody,

I tried searching but have not had much success: I have a Vaio Z and I could display the external monitor in portrait with windows 7 RC (nvidia card only) but the option is GONE now that I installed the full windows 7 (ultimate, and I tried both 32 and 64 bit) version with the 187.35 driver from the sony website.

Is there anyone out there that can tackle this issue? Thanks!

 

As I already mentioned, I experienced the inability of switching from stamina-intel to speed-nvidia when I tried to manage nvidia 195.62 or 196.12 with intel 1872 or 1930.
Well, I again looked up dox's, nautis's and official sony infs and hook up with intel 1997. I found out the sympom is exactly same; everything seems working fine except switching.
I think the switching issue is caused by nvidia driver because the intel drivers that I used so far definately worked with 191.62 and i am pretty sure that it will work with 18x.xx. Dox's driver with nautis modification, which is basically using intel 1997 instead of 2xxx, did not work either. Since next week is my spring break i will test with different nvidia drivers and see which version works better. Now Im sticking with 191.62+1997 (again, special thx to nautis).

Btw, is 1997 causing other issues? I am not currently experincing
such problems on stamina mode. Battery life seems lomg enough (roughly 6 hrs or more).

 

A little off topic here...
But because of the built in DXVA, I expected W7 to playback video better.
Though it doesn't - it's laggier overall when USING DXVA with both nVidia and Intel cards, but it doesn't lag at all when using the EVR filter (that comes with CCCP).
Vista didn't have this issue; it played lag-free when in WMP11. WMP12 in W7 lags like crazy, with random squares making it look like the video file is broken (though it's not)... I played around in MPC-HC and having DXVA on is causing the lags.

Though from what I hear, people are NOT having this issue. Maybe a driver combo I'm using isn't working?
I'm using the official nVidia driver 8.16.11.8735 (the 187.35).

One thing to note though - I used to run Sony installed Vista Business x86 on the Z, and clean installed W7 Pro x64. I've got 3GB of RAM (I planned on upgrading to 6GB then prices sky-rocketted here, so stuck with 3GB). Maybe the bit platform difference is causing the lags?

Me being a hobbiest video editor, am forced to downgrade back to Vista as a result. Do you think clean installing W7 x86 would fix the issue?

Cheers in advance...

 

To answer my own question:

You can enable screen rotation (speed mode / nvidia card only) by editing the registry. Back up your computer prior to doing this, though it is pretty painless.

Search the registry for Rotateflag (there will be 2-4 of them). The default value on my computer was 0.

Change the value to 0x40 and reboot. Presto, you can change the orientation in the screen resolution as before!

 

Yes it is the Nvidia drivers that are causing the problem. I have run into the same switching issue at least 3 times before with other Nvidia drivers. I may have to try the same combo you are using and see if I have the issues (I amy have screwed something up).

Glad to have someone else looking into issues. If you have any questions experimenting with drivers or the INFs let me know. Good to hear about the Intel drivers not seeming to cause issues for you. I can give you a list of official hybrid graphics drivers with links if you wanna download them.

Good to know accidentalsuccess, I will be sure to keep this setting in any future drivers. Glad you figured it out on your own, sorry I wasn't here to suggest it when ya asked.

 

hey namaiki, what drivers are you using for your s42 at the moment? I'm having troubles switching on Dox's too.

 

I'm currently using Nautis' 186.88, which is brilliant. Make sure you are running BIOS R1.20

 

Thanks! is that the Vista Bios on the Benq site?

 

Available here: http://benq.com.au/products/joybook/?product=1373&page=downloads&dType=B

 

weird when i run the program, i only see a quarter of the Qbios flash screen.
edit:ah nvm solved it!

 

Note that you shouldn't need to sign the drivers.

 

lol i was just about to ask you that. hey can i check, how come when i am in increased performance, i still see the intel GPU next to the 9600GT under device manager?

 

how come when i am in increased performance, i still see the intel GPU next to the 9600GT under device manager?
I dunno. That's how it always has been for me.



do your colours seem a little oversaturated? or isit just me
^ might be that digital vibrance setting

Seems to be fine for me. I haven't changed anything from default.

If you want you to try delete all video settings in registry, you can try uninstall the drivers, use driver cleaner pro (intel extreme & nvidia) and then in safe mode delete:
HKCU\intel\display
HKCU\nvidia corp
HKLM\intel\display
HKLM\nvidia corp
hklm\system\controlset001\control\video
hklm\system\controlset002\control\video

Uh... No guarantees, but I usually do that between drivers.

 

Thanks alot Namaiki for the help. Does this mean that under increased performace, both GPUs are turned on?

 

I guess the Intel one is always turned on, but it isn't used in 'Increased Performance'.

 

ah ok, thanks again namaiki

 

Trying to get switching (Intel to Nvidia) working on 196.75. The rest of this driver seems to work well based on initial testing. Looks like I may be able to get it working for Optimus users also.

 

Great! Can't wait for your release

 

Nevermind 196.75 may be killing GPUs.. read here.