My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

This one? Link on first page goes to the 187.35

Should I just need to change the 'hardware id' in the inf file for it to be able to install? (Sometimes I get the message 'no changes have been made' in the nvidia installer and it's true )


edit2: that was bad.. I can't seem to unzip/run the exe file because I don't have a sony computer. =_=

 

Hahha.. thanks.. fixed. I will repack it for you.

 

Well with the nvidia 191.66 and intel 1994 package it works just fine.

 

Thanks.



(10 char)

 

I did a quick 20 second INF patch adding all hybrid graphics gpus. Uploading now.
EDIT: Here ya go.

 

Gah, got to go to work now. Will download and test in ~ 5 hours.

edit: with the 188.80 driver, I just get a black screen.

 

So the Win7 32-bit driver (and its associated BIOS update and nVidia un-installer) works for a Win Vista 32-bit machine? I know when Win7 drivers were not available we could use Vista, but I wasn't sure it works the other way around. Anyway, I'll give it a shot. Thanks a lot.

 

I did not even try to use that 196.75 on my machine. That was just laughable. Good job, Nvidia!
I am going to go to PAX2010 today to just have some fun over there. I will try to update my process maybe on Sunday or Monday.

 

OK so it sounds like you get the same black screen issue as us Vaio Z users with the new 2000 series Intel drivers. I wanted to confirm that this issue was not specific to just us Vaio Z users. Sorry Namaiki. I am still looking into drivers that may work well for you (and all hybrid graphics notebooks, really.)

Nvidias drivers are for both Windows Vista and Windows 7. The only issue may be that Sony may have removed the identification strings for that driver for Vista in the INF file. I will double check this for you as they are easy to put back.

Enjoy PAX. I am currently getting the information you requested together. I dont expect you will find much if any difference between kmd files though.

Sadly I think for both Nvidia and Intel drivers it is either going to be a settings issue or it will just be bust. I say this because Nvidia has done this before with the settings. A couple driver revisions back the switching wouldn't work right unless DSMUseInteger was set to "1".

See the big issue here is that I just don't think Nvidia is focused on Hybrid Graphics users with their new drivers. Now that they have Optimus that is what they will put all of their resources behind. Now this isn't much different than it has always been, its just that Hybrid Graphics never had its younger better looking brother competing with it before (and unfortunately he is getting all the attention.).

 

Nautis, thanks a lot for looking into it. Let me know what you find out. If I find some time during the weekend to give the original Sony driver a shot, I'll let everyone know too.

 

Sure thing. Actually it looks like this is exactly what Sony did. The fix is extremely easy though. Basically everything missing from the INF is in the template file. I will update the full driver package with fix soon and edit this post.

 

Out of curiosity, does the new Z use the HM55, or PM55? Or something else?

 

i just had my laptop's mainboard replaced. Z690

now the gpu temp is rating at 66C idle and 120C while i was playing game (g9300gs)

using the modified driver also gives me the same results.

I checked this with, cpuid hwmonitor, everest, rivertune.

I think there is a gap between heat pipe for dissipation and the gpu itself.

or may be gpu chip is faulty??

I have no idea why it is getting upto that high temp.

compared to the previous mainboard where i usually get 85~90C with intensive gaming, this number doesn't make sense. and the hot air's temperature from the vent seems not so hot.....

Could there be any suggestion what's causing this?

thanks in advance.

 

Thermal paste not applied properly so contact to the heatsink which is supposed to distribute the heat is not as effective as it used to be.

Are you sure about the 120C? The computer is supposed to protect itself from damage by shutting off when it hits ~105C.

 

I've noticed that sometimes when I try to switch graphics cards, the nvidia software tells me that "___.exe" is open and it won't switch unless I close the application. Is there a way to force the graphics cards to switch without having to close the application. With the old sony driver, I remember it would just throw up a warning about open applications, but if I clicked "ok", it would still let me switch cards.

 

add the name of the program to the whitelist:

open regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-> SOFTWARE-> NVIDIA Corporation-> Global-> Hybrid

There should be whitelist somewhere there (I can't seem to find it on my laptop right now.. fail).

Be careful about anything you change in the registry.

 

Thanks a lot and look forward to it.

I actually tried Sorg's Vista 32 (185.2/1608) driver today and it was able to let me play HAWX now, so I am quite happy. There are a couple kinks, like nVidia Control does not show up in mouse right click and it keeps forgetting I want 9300GS to automatically scale the screen, we'll see if the newer driver does even better.

 

I never did edit that post did I? 186.84 Windows Vista/7 32bit

 

Thanks! I was able to find it and add the programs.

 

on idle it fluctuates from 60 to 75 C
when it is connected to hdmi, it goes upto 95C idle.
when I play a game like Starcraft 2, it severely stutters (i guess due to the throttling down) and reaches upto 120C.

yeah.. 120 is easily reached.. I was going to try to apply a sheet of thermal paste on GPU.. but I sent it in for repair. I just received the unit on thursday from repair ( they replaced, LCD, Motherboard, Keyboard, Bottom Assy for free b/c the onsite service agent totally broke ma laptop.)

 

Yeah, that was probably the best option. Hopefully they won't skimp on the thermal paste application this time (if it was that at all).

 

Thanks, but I tried installing it twice and both time failed.

When I ran the setup.exe (after cleaning all the old drivers), it would say installation complete and ask for a reboot. I rebooted and then nothing happened -- the card in Device Manager is still using standard VGA driver.

When I tried just use the update driver inside Device Manager, it would start to install and then it would say it cannot find the files specified.

I just re-installed Sorg's driver back. I'll probably try to re-install it tonight, this time with UAC off. Also, does anyone know where the Sony Win7 installer put the temp files at? I may do a filename comparison to see if there is something missing.

 

Aaahhh! that driver makes me crazy! Everytime i want to install it it runs trough the nvidia installer in 30 seconds and says the system has not been modified..

And when i try to install it trough device manager windows says:
"This operation requires an interactive window station"

Anyone know how to fix this problem?

It's a vaio Z (9300mGS).

 

Try delete the .cat file.

 

From the installation files?
Ican't find a .cat file there..

 

Should probably be in the same folder as the inf file. Perhaps it's already been removed..

 

Just to be sure, are you installing it in test mode?

 

Yup..

i will try it with a fresh install of win7, see if that helps..

 

OK, it should be fine then. When I'm installing new drivers I like to do many steps to clean the system...even though it's probably a bit overkill.

I like to combine the Sorg's way:

with Driver Sweeper and CCleaner. This way I never had any problems to install any (working) drivers. Of course you have to sign the drivers for x64 after that.

 

Nice, thnx!

Few days ago i used driver cleaner.net. I think that messed up my install or some.. but i will try your method, otherwise i will do a clean win7 install..

 

Yeah! its working! Did a clean Win7 install.. Everything seems to work fine (cuda 2.0, physx) and it seems that my problems with 1080p playback trough HDMI are history


Thnx!

 

Yeah, I guess CoreAVC 2.0 requires CUDA 2.3

edit: did some tests with what I got

3DMark06
Asus 186.88-> Fujitsu 186.84
5648-> 5916 3DMarks
2381-> 2492 Shader 2
2184-> 2330 Shader 3
2135-> 2142 CPU

 

Happy to know that

 

Quick note:
Currently testing Verde Notebook Release 197.16
http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_197.16_whql.html

 

For the vaio Z?

 

Same. As I test every new release.

Inital testing still shows issue with everything working fine except switching from Intel -> Nvidia. What happens is that the Nvidia portion seems to be powering off/disable and not being able to power back on/enable without a reboot.

To help you out with your testing a bit Dreamliner to get this to work edit the reg and change both modes to 01 and then reboot.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid]
"Mode"=hex:01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

there is usually another one that seems to be missing something like HSLIMode or something. Interesting.

 

I have installed these drivers... I made the experience that these are a bit more picky on which application is running.
The problem that I face right now is that when switching, the driver asks me to stop my virus scanner (mcafee). This can only be done through the task manager...
Is there anyway for me to avoid this?

 

Jorlin:

It whitelists by executable name.

This should be there now:

Code:

nvvsvc.exe,msnmsgr.exe,Yahoomessenger.exe,PDVDDXSrv.exe,PDVDCinService.exe,PDVDOnService.exe,FAService.exe,WebCamDell.exe,DellVideoChat.exe,AlienwareAlienFXController.exe,AlienFusionController.exe

so add whatever the executable name is in the window that pops up.

So for example:

Code:

mcafeexecutablename.exe,nvvsvc.exe,msnmsgr.exe,Yahoomessenger.exe,PDVDDXSrv.exe,PDVDCinService.exe,PDVDOnService.exe,FAService.exe,WebCamDell.exe,DellVideoChat.exe,AlienwareAlienFXController.exe,AlienFusionController.exe

 

sorry... thanks a lot for searching for me ...

 

Slight update up for testing. Geared toward old Vaio Z but should work with everything the last 191.66 driver did. I am going to be revamping the INF attached to this package for more universal compatibility/settings.

Unofficial Windows Vista/7 64bit [Nvidia: 191.94 | Intel: 1994 ]

Not too much progress elsewhere. I may upload the 197.16 package for those who don't mind the screwed up switching.

I am also building the 32bit package I have promised for so long. It will be:
Unofficial Windows Vista/7 32bit [Nvidia: 191.90 | Intel: 1930 ]

 

Thank you so much!

Is there something special to know for the installation? Old driver must be deinstalled in speed mode i think?

 

That sounds sweet. Thanks in advance. I haven't had the chance to check what went wrong with the modded official Win7 32-bit again since I'm entertaining visiting family the past couple days. Sounds like I may not have to worry about it at all...

 

Yeah always best to Install/Uninstall in SPEED mode since both GPUs are active. Other than that there shouldn't be any special instructions for 32bit users. Make sure to report back how they work and any problems is all I ask.

I got you covered. I owe it to you lot who have been patiently waiting so long.

 

So, here is my process: 197.16 is not sucessful (well, of course).


Ultimate Goal: Installation of up-to-date Nvidia and Intel hybrid driver
Purpose: Better performance and feature with better power management

Problem: Nvidia - Switching from Intel to Nvidia does not work after 191.xx, Nvidia GPU seems completely disabled
Intel - Internal display does not work on 2xxx (this problems can be observed on all hybrid systems except ones which are Nvidia GPUs with 40nm process that can install Optimus drivers)

Possible Reasons: Nvidia - 1. Simple missing or wrong settings, 2. nvBridge_int.kmd is not compatible with newer drivers, 3. nvlddmkm.sys or nvlddmkm service is completely disabled when switched to Intel
Intel - 1. Multiplexer issue, 2. GPU bios issue (actually, not even interested, it's integrated graphics anyway...)

Possible solution: Currently unknown, maybe unless the correct reason is discovered


Please correct me if my guess is wrong.
And Nautis, thank you for the links. I really appreciate.

 

Nope you seem to be spot on. My assumptions are pretty much the same as yours.

Worth noting:
Nvidia 195 Series and Up: Not much to add here. Switching from Intel back to Nvidia (without first switching mode in the registry and rebooting) seems to be the only issue.

Intel Driver 2### Series and Up: These work fine on the new Vaio Z. Also worth noting that these output to the old Vaio Zs VGA port just not the LVDS.

So I guess if you only use VGA and dont care if you can switch back from intel to nvidia then the new drivers will work.


----

If anyone wants to play around with 197.16 I have uploaded the 64bit version here. The INF is geared towards the Vaio Z but should work with other older hybrid graphics notebooks.

If you switch to intel and need to switch back to nvidia you can use the reg file here or edit the registry and set the following:

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid]
"Mode"=hex:01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid\Current]
"Mode"=hex:01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

Mode: 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 is Intel
Mode: 01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 is Nvidia

NOTE: I am putting this out there on the off chance that someone will be able to figure out a fix for our switching issues.

----

EDIT2: I will be uploading the 32bit package tonight. I have changed it to N191.90 I1994.

 

Using the 191.94 drivers now. Everything is working fine.

Thanks to Nautis and Dreamliner for trying to get the newer nvidia and intel drivers to work!

 

Is there any way to overclock the nvidia 9300 card? I've tried rivatuner, but it doesn't preserve the new clock speed settings.

 

[LINK] I'm overclocking now before every gaming...makes quite big difference in some games actually.

 

NEW HYBRID GRAPHICS DRIVERS RELEASED FOR BOTH 32 & 64BIT!!








April Fools..












Actually... on second thought.... reverse april fools.... currently uploading.....
Hybrid Graphics Master Set for Windows Vista/7 64bit [Nvidia: 191.97 | Intel: 1994]
Hybrid Graphics Master Set for Windows Vista/7 32bit [Nvidia: 191.90 | Intel: 1994]

Hybrid Graphics Master Set INFs included in each. This means it should have proper settings for all hybrid graphics notebooks I currently know about. I doubt it will work with the new (VPCZ11) Vaio Zs, M11x or any other new Hybrid Graphics notebooks with "Intel HD Graphics". The reason for this is because the 1994 Intel drivers were released before that chipset and most likely do not have proper compatibility. I will try to put together a set with newer Intel drivers for those users.

Will with proper release info when I wake up. I am sleep posting again so I am sure I will have to edit a lot.

Enjoy

 

Nautis. Very awesome to say that MadVR + CoreAVC 2.0 (w/CUDA acceleration) is working with this 64-bit driver release. Unfortunately, it seems that 256MB of VRAM is not enough for the both of them.

*Namaiki crosses DXVA off of his list which is underneath the familliar letters 'GTAIV' which is also crossed off.