My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

Indeed they are. I don't think there are any pre-2### series drivers that support the Intel HD Graphics though.

Good deal.

 

Thanks daleski, and also Nautis for your support

 

I might attach my laptop to my tv over hdmi to see if that gives me a display when switching to stamina mode as it's a touch hard to see what is wrong when you cannot see anything!

Nautis cheers for all your help on this I and I am sure everyone else appreciates all your hard work.

 

Yea.. this should work.

Thanks for the kind words. I am humbled by this whole process again (which is good.)

 

The drivers should be finished uploading in about 5 or so minutes guys.

 

Looking forward to it. I am trying to think of any ideas I have to remedy the black screen issue. I find it extremely odd that the Intel drivers would work with 188.80 and not 197.16 though.

I will wait for the upload to take a look at things.

 

Need to get to 15 posts before I can post the url.

 

Going to have a good look through the files I am thinking the intel ones depend on a 188.80 driver or dll for the switch to work.

 

So hows your day daleski75

 

Got 15 posts now so here is the url.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jl2cjmok2nn/Custom Z11 Graphics Driver (NVIDIA).exe

And in case that link does not work.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jl2cjmok2nn

 

Going well so far Nautis and yours?

This is a huge challenge for me but fun too...

 

Looks like even when connected to an external display I get blank screen in stamina mode.

Back to the drawing board.

 

Indeed. I am afraid you have been bitten by the modding bug.

I am downloading the package now. Will be about 30mins before it finishes though. Slow work internet.

 

Just noticed there is 2 files called nvBridge.km_ and nvBridge_int.km_ and I am using the 188.80 nvbridge_int.km_ file.

Going to try using the 197.16 one and will see what happens.

 

Pardon me but I find the inf file is like children's playground!! So many things to "play with"... I am confused

 

Make a backup of the inf file and just test and play that is all I am doing

Tried the other nvBridge file and same results, got a theory though which I am going to check out now.

There was a reg key another poster put on here to manually change the switching but can I find it no!

 

Going to quickly put back on the original drivers as I suspect that the nvBridge_int.kmd is not correctly being copied to the c:\windows\system32\drivers folder.

I can only see the stock 197.16 nvBridge.kmd there.

 

I think nvBridge_int.kmd is copied as nvBridge.kmd to the drivers folder.

 

Just worked that out lol
Checked the driver file and size and it's definitely copying over the correct one. (I think!)

 

Sorry Internet crashed here.

nvbridge_int.kmd should be the correct one and oz is correct it renames it when it copies.

 

Cheers Nautis and Oz for that rolled back to the original one and also 'borrowed' my girlfriends macbook pro so I can check this forum and play with the sony at the same time.

 

I am still learning... definitely need your help

Why does your GF still have a MBP? Get a Z!! LOL

 

LOL cuz she keeps on getting viruses and god knows what else... this way I get an easier life without her nagging me to fix her pc every 5 mins!

 

Stripped out a whole bunch of inf files and now when I pull the power out the screen dims but it does not switch.

Going to start putting them back in and see which one needs modifying.

 

Great work Nautis!

I have been reading through your posts here and on LaptopVideo2GO and I thought you mentioned something about finding out more about how Optimus works.

I found something that might be helpful though it is not related directly to Optimus. Nvidia filed a patent application in 2008 which was recently published this year (Feb. 2010). It is titled HYBRID GRAPHIC DISPLAY and the application # is 20100026692. It goes into great detail about multiple methods to accomplish a hybrid graphics system. It mentions our traditional switchable graphics but also "seamless" transitions.

Not sure if it is useful or not but thought I would pass it along.

 

Think I am gonna call it a night tried older Intel drivers and the screen still goes blank when switching from speed to stamina.

The weird thing is though it switches to stamina fine as part of the installation and flips between non-aero and aero.

Got to love Sony!

 

Ahh! So close I installed daleski75's drivers and it is almost there! Switching from speed to stamina blanks the screen as you said, but switching from stamina to speed works fine if you boot up in stamina mode

Personally, this has fixed a problem I had with graphical glitch I had with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, soooo... huge thank you daleski75 for putting the work in here! Hope you can figure out the stamia/speed switching issue

 

Wow it has been one of those days.

It does indeed. Thanks for this. Awesome find.

nice job though Daleski75 you have mad more progress than I have and are very close.

When it boots in stamina does it show anything on screen?

 

Yes, it boots just fine into Stamina mode, Aero working, definitely using Intel graphics. (Confirmed by checking the Screen Resolution control panel)

I can flick the switch over to Speed mode, and it switched with no problems over to the Nvidia card. However, switching from Speed back to Stamina does not work. The screen goes blank, while the OS continues to run. I have to hard reboot, or try to reboot blind at this point.

(Windows Key, Left Arrow, Right Arrow, R will let you reboot blindly using the keyboard)

 

@daleski75,

Did you get the original drivers from Sony.com (US) support site? Thanks.

 

Hi Oz I got the drivers from here.

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/preinstalled/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VPCZ11X9E_B

Interesting note MooRogue that the switching works one way from stamina to speed but not vice versa.

Will do a bit of research when I am at work later on with earlier nvidia drivers but keeping the intel ones the same to see if the issue is with the 196.17 set of drivers.

 

As Nautis has mentioned before, it seems the key to successful switching relates to a number of files. I have been looking at one - nvBridge_int.kmd. I notice Asus, Z11 and M11x versions of the file are very similar except a few bytes. Not sure how to proceed from here...

 

Try keeping the DriverVer string the same as the official Sony drivers. This will report that the driver is 188.80 in the device manager and things but for some reason this seems to have an effect.

 

So the switching won't work if the DriverVer of the nvBridge_int.kmd is 188.80 whilst the nv driver is 197.16?

 

Can you provide these (and other 'almost the same') files? I'll do some testing then.

 

Certainly

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3dfnwmmmkko

 

Hi Oz how are you getting on with these drivers?

 

Sony seem to not update video driver frequently unfortunately, still the original driver (for the Sony Z1190) I hope Sony prepare a new version soon.

 

If myself, oz and nautis can crack this issue with a blank screen when switching from speed to stamina then you wont need to wait.

I think we are so close!

 

No I mean in the actual inf. I don't get it. It doesn't make any sense. But for some reason it seems to be working for M11x and UL3/5/80VT users. I am still trying to figure out what is going on there. They claim the file versions are 197.16 and they notice a performance difference. Apparently if the DriverVer is set to anything but what the official drivers originally had then the driver doesn't work. Extremely odd and confusing.

I guess there may be a mechanism in the nvbridge_int.kmd that checks the DriverVer when running. I don't know it all seems very odd and I would love to figure out whats going on there because it defies any logic.

There are new Hybrid Graphics drivers due to be released for the M11x very soon too. I am curious to see what version they will be.

--

Oz I have not been able to figure out what the differences are with the nvbridge_int.kmd versions. I usually try the one form the latest Hybrid Graphics drivers and the original when I test.

BTW ^ that is probably a separate issue then you guys are running into. What seems to be happening in your situation is either something to do with the Intel drivers or something to do with the actual switching. If the new Vaio Z has VGA out can you plug that in and see if anything comes up on that screen when switched.

It sounds very similar to the situation we are running into with newer Intel drivers on older Hybrid Graphics Notebooks.

 

I am testing the 197.16 drivers using your method.

The 197.16 driver is not digitally signed?? Do you have this problem?

 

Nautis I got it 99% working

I changed the DriverVer string within ALL of the inf's to match the official sony ones and now when I switch from speed to stamina and back it works.

But when I try to go into the nvidia control panel it says there is a driver version mismatch.

arghhhhh!

You have to do a full uninstall of all the drivers for this to take effect.

Even closer now lol

 

Good work, daleski75.

I still can't get mine to work using your method.

 

Guys can you replace all your inf's with these ones and see if you get the same results as me?

Looks like the switching like Nautis says is dependant on the 188.80 drivers for it to work 100%

I have also modified them all to match up with the nvbridge_int.kmd so none of them should be trying to use the nvbridge.kmd now.

 

Cheers Oz Does yours say about installing an unsigned driver? mine seems to be completely random about that.

 

Yes, and mine's not working!!

 

As a quick test can you hit F8 and try booting with the signed driver feature turned off?

 

Uploading the newest set of drivers now and will be about 20 mins before they are up.

 

Oddly, when I try your set of drivers it works!! Now everything's fine. I have 197.16 driver loaded.

However, switching still not 100% working. When I switch to stamina mode the screen is blank.

 

A couple of posts back I added a zip file called inf's.zip can you extract that and replace all the ones in the Display folder and let me know how you get on?

You'll need to do a complete uninstall first though as mine messed up when I tried to update the factory sony ones

If you cant see them I have added them again to this post