My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

Sounds great! I'm excited for these new drivers! Thank you again Nautis

 

Just wondering, will these hybrid drivers work with the current gen vaio z?

 

I am excited also. I figured while I am at it I will take another stab at the 2000 series Intel drivers so we can get the new Vaio Z users on board. 197.45 is working fine with 1994 (including switching.) Still no go with 2104.

Not yet. The new Vaio Z seems to have the same issue with the 2000 series drivers. Unfortunately as far as I have found it can only use the 2000 series drivers. We are very close to having it working. The only issue seems to be that by default it outputs to the VGA connection and will not to the lcd.

 

So what was the simple fix that got switching working?

 

It was actually a setting that I have known about for a long time and have tested but I must have put it in the wrong location. Since it didn't work I pretty much ignored it from then on. Let me finish packing this up for you guys and I will post about it and its location.

 

ah i see, thanks for the update. If you need anyone to do any testing in the future, i'll be happy to help.

 

Thanks-in-advance buddy!

 

Can someone send me the an export of the following from you VPC-Z11 model Vaio Z with stock drivers.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel\Display

Thank you to whomever sent it.

 

Done! Thanks for your help, Nautis.

 

Can't wait!

 

Well isn't it always like that...trying to find the difficult way while the simple answer is laying just in front of you. Maybe that's why it's usually more difficult to find the easy way, because with all our education and experiences we're trying to figure it out in the "more sophisticated" way Anyway I'm happy you're "stuck" with the only one...original Z

btw...just side note. When I run the Intel Driver Update Utility with original drivers, it finished with result, that I can't update graphic drivers, because I got custom ones from Sony. But with unofficial drivers it gives me possibility to update the Intel driver to 8.15.10.2104. It would probably break the switching functionality, I just found it interesting, that the utility doesn't see my drivers as hybrid anymore.

 

So is Sony going to treat this like their mobile division where the device gets one more rollup patch in a few quarters, and then it's dead from support?

It's really sad that such a powerful setup gets abandoned so easily because of Sony's custom hardware esp when Nvidia supports their hardware for much much longer.

 

Surprisingly, installation of Intel dirver of 8.15.10.2104 solved the switching problem, somehow. Now, I can use Auto mode or switch back and forth between and speed and stamina freely. I can't open the NVIDIA control panel, though. It says there is a version mismatch. Thanks for your tip.

 

Interesting development... Which version of Nvidia driver are you using?

 

197.16 that I downloaded here. It was the first one, not the second one. Mine is VPC-Z11.

 

I see. The one originally posted by daleski75?

There shouldn't be any version mismatch with the second one, I presume.

 

Welcome to Hybrid Graphics. This is one of the biggest problems with it. Hybrid Graphics drivers are released and supported by the notebook manufacturer. Notebook manufacturers usually only update drivers if there are problems. Don't fret though you always have us.

 

Ahh.. Interesting, sorry about that my assumption was wrong. Interesting information. Can you link to the 197 driver you installed and then let us know how you updated?

 

I want to test with the second one, but there are so many posts so that I can't find which one I should download. Could you tell me the link again?

Thanks,

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6144970&postcount=1304

 

I will need to double check these again when I get home. Hopefully you guys will have something worked out by then so I can just add it.

 

I have both sets of drivers so will test this out now. Could swear I have done this already though.

 

Probably did. Its most likely something in the configuration. It sounds like the Standard Intel drivers were installed after Hybrid Graphics. Problem with that is the extra stuff that is added that usually breaks Hybrid Graphics. But if it works it works. Make sure to check the device manager to check that both devices are active. It goes along with your hunch that the Intel drivers are not installing right or whatever.

If you guys can get it to the point where there is switching with both sets of new drivers, we can work out the other problems.

 

I think I tried installing them by themselves after too.. quick reboot and we will see.

 

I tried installing 197.16/2021 hybrid followed by 2104 intel. However, the latter drivers overwrote the hybrid ones and left me with 2104 intel only.

 

Right I think I know what happened. If you install the custom drivers I wrote straight over the original Sony ones then yes the hybrid switching does work and the Nvidia control panel does not.

The reason is that I put the version strings in all the inf's to be the same as the Sony ones as part of my testing so the Nvidia Control Panel is setup for 197.16 but the driver is reporting 188.80 to rule out any hard coding of driver versions with the nvBridge_int.kmd file.

I am afraid this is a false alarm as when you do an uninstall of the original Sony ones you are back to the black screen which is the original problem everyone here is trying to solve.

And as Oz found out if you install the Intel ones by themselves you lose the Nvidia.

 

@Mtbgo7 can you tell us exactly what you did to get these working?

 

With your 197 package installed over the Sony ones do the drivers identify as 197 and does the switching work? After reboot of course. (I am ignoring the uninstalling for now.)

If this is the case can you get to this point for me.

 

I installed the first version, and, of course, only speed mode worked. When I switched to stamina, nothing appeared, but when I switched back to the speed mode, the screen came back.

After that, I installed 8.15.10.2104 (Intel) from their website, the switch between speed and stamina worked. No nvidia control panel, though. However, I tried to test the second version, everything got screwed up. Even if I tried the same sequence, I cannot make the swith working again. I'll let you know if I make it work again.

 

@mtbgo7

Did you uninstall the Nvidia drivers before you install the "first version"?

 

I usually do, but I can't remember what I did. After I screwed up, I have tried every single combination that I can think of, but neither works. I've spent almost all day to install drivers and reboot, but I guess I'll just stay in speed mode until a new driver from Sony, Nvidia, or here solves our problem.

 

Thanks, mtbgo7

 

They are all reporting as 188.80 from the version string I modified. But from memory when I did a clean install of the drivers even if device manager reported 188.80 the nvidia control panel reported 197.16 properly.

Could it be we need to do a 2 stage installation to get these drivers working for hybrid mode?

 

As a quick test I am going to install the sony ones again then install my original ones and then install the stock intel ons to see if I can get the switching working but not the nvidia control panel working.

 

@Nautis and Oz,

Success here is what I did to get 197.16 working with BOTH control panels.

1. Uninstalled Nvidia drivers
2. Installed stock Sony Nvidia drivers
3. Rebooted
4. Installed first revision of my 197.16 drivers
5. Rebooted
6. Installed the stock Intel WinVista7_64_15173 drivers
7. Rebooted

After doing this hybrid works fine switching back and forth and I can access all settings from both sides and the Nvidia control panel works on 197.16.

@Nautis do you think we need to look at how the Intel drivers are installed as part of the hybrid NVMVSZ to see what is different?

Maybe we could compare the inf from the Intel one against the NVMVSZ one?

EDIT

Ran through the tests again and prior to installing the Intel drivers it reports as before 197.16 and switching from speed to stamina does not work.

After installing the Intel drivers and doing a reboot (which also ups colour vibrancy to 79%!!) the drivers seem to revert back to 188.80

Could it be that Windows is finding the Sony one which is a better match?

FURTHER EDIT

When I get time I will try this again but will completely remove the stock Sony ones first and then try reinstalling the Intel ones to see what happens

 

I guess the same thing happened to me. I thought switching was working, but it could have been 188.80 not 197.16. I tried every combination I can think of (including complete uninstallation), but there was no luck.

 

Looks like if you try to install the Intel ones on top of the 197.16 it does not work and it loses the driver for the GT330M.

Back to the drawing board on this one.

 

The intel service overrides the nvidia one you can see the differences in my first post. Hybrid Graphics requires both to use the nvidia service.

I am running on a hunch that it may actually be something with the nvidia side. Who knows though, I have been sort of jumping back and forth.

We know that the issue has to do with the output of the Intel part. VGA seems to be the only method of output being detected/used with the 2000 series in Hybrid Graphics aside from the 188.80 drivers on the Z11.

 

Bahaha.. Dell trying to upstage me. They just posted 197.16 a Hybrid Graphics set for the M11x. Not sure if the Intel drivers are the 2000 series or not. Downloading now to see the differences. Also finishing up my 197.45 driver sets.

The key to get HG working on series above 191 is
HKLM,"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvlddmkm",EnableGoldOnHybrid,%REG_DWORD%,1

Fantastic to see Dell/Alienware releasing NEW Hybrid Graphics drivers. We may have a little hope yet for a company supporting its users with actual driver updates. Great job guys/gals.

 

Would it be a good idea to base all future tweaking and hacking on the dell drivers?

 

I cannot find the 197.16 drivers on the Dell website. Hints??

 

Beat me to it I was just about to ask that

 

LOL!! We simply can't wait

 

lol very true now I am trying to find out where nautis found them!

 

Try this:

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/NVIDIA_NOTEBOOK-BETA-DRIVER-_P03_R264266.exe

From a post in Alienware forum.

 

Thanks Downloading now.

 

197.12 | 1892

Sorry guys I was pulling these apart real quick. The only real things to note beyond not including the setting to get the series above 191 working on HG (old HG I guess).

HKLM,"Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid",SkipIntelUmdCapella,%REG_DWORD%,1
HKLM,"Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid",StartupMethod,%REG_DWORD%,5

I post all over on here now so sometimes it may be best to check my post history to track what I am doing.

Doesnt look like this is going to offer us anything new.

 

So close yet so far!

 

Well you guys can try that. I would copy over the new nvbridge_int.kmd also. I am fairly certain we have tried SkipIntelUmdCapella before but if not try it again. I have no idea what startupmethod 5 does.

That StartupMethod entry may fix the Vaio Z delay on Optimus as it seems to make it happen on mine.

 

@Nautis what is the nvtmmhyb.dl_ for as this is missing from the Dell set of drivers?

Scrap the above worked it out.