My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

Just did a fresh install and tested also. Same result, no switching. Not sure how I had it working when I tested before. I guess 258.49 Beta 1 is the better one to use right now.

Sorry everyone.

 

I can also confirm the flickering issue on the nvidia card and the issue where the nvidia card doesn't turn off in stamina mode unless you put the computer to sleep with 258.49.

Edit: I've noticed that setting the frequency of the card using nvidia's system tools causes a flicker. The good thing is that after you set a custom frequency, the flickering issue goes away (presumably by keeping the frequency of the card the same), so it seems that there is a powermizer issue.

 

The Nvidia device is removed for me with 258.49 when switched to stamina. Nvidia Control Panel icon seems to stay though. Interesting find on the custom frequency, will test that myself and see if I can come up with a fix based on it. I assumed it was a powermizer issue since it seems to flicker in instances where the clock would throttle.

 

Couple new Hybrid Graphics notebooks and drivers have come to my attention. These are similar to the Z11/12 in that they use Intel HD and the newer Intel drivers. I have posted one of the packages up for you guys to test but no one has yet AFAIK. This may be the only way for you guys to get newer drivers if we can figure out what is unique about these drivers. (And if they work on the Z11/12.)

New M11xR1 Hybrid Graphics drivers have been posted (everyone needs to thank Dell/Alienware for actually keeping us HG users updated with new drivers) they are back to 1994 on the Intel side and have a new power setting I have not seen. They are trying to tackle the Nvidia always on issue that has always plagued M11x users.

New drivers (258.69) posted at Nvidia, haven't tested em yet myself. Building an updated package for all of us now. Hopefully the flickering cause by powermizer is remedied, if not powermizer can always be disabled but this causes extra heat and fan noise.

Some interesting developments on the Optimus side including finally getting a hold of the Test Tools. But I will post this stuff in the Optimus thread.

 

Nautis really appreciate your efforts in trying to get us Vaio Z peeps some new updated driver real shame that Sony doesnt provide these or update them at all.

I think that if I would have known this going in I may have had a change of heart regarding this notebook. Thanks again for the effort.

 

I already know this going in, big time, yet I still can't help but want this laptop badly. :<

 

I tried Nvidia 189.94 / Intel 2104 64bit (Vaio Z notebooks only) on my Z11, it appears to work properly, although Nvidia control panel shows driver version 189.92 in system information, not 189.94. Intel is 2021 as it should be.
Switching in both directions, including automatic, works, Nvidia device disappears from device manager in stamina mode, sleep works, external outputs (VGA & HDMI) work up to 1680x1050 (I dont' have anything better to test with). No other abnormalities with performance, brightness control, image distortion or anything so far.
I'm keeping this version installed as a very minor but no drawbacks upgrade over latest official Sony drivers; if I discover any problems, I'll report.
Big thanks to everyone for their work on these drivers.

 

i'm with cygnuslpa .. these drivers (seem) to work great ^^. at least they are a little newer >_<.

 

Well that is good news. Thanks guys.

The version is indeed 189.92 not 189.94 sorry, lots going on.

Any progress is good progress. I wonder how/why these buggers are working correctly. Looks like it is back to the grind for me to see if we can get you VPC-Z11/12 users more recent updated drivers. I must be missing something.

The following Hybrid Graphics notebooks feature Intel HD:
- Sony Vaio Z (VPC-Z11/12 Model) - 188.80 / 2021
- Lenovo IdeaPad V460 - 189.92 / 2104
- Acer Aspire 5745G - 188.99 / 2021

I do not see anything in the INFs that make these any different than any others really.
I guess we can take things back to step 1 and replace each side with newer version (one at a time) and see if anything breaks.
First we will stick with 189.92 and update the Intel side to 2141 (just the driver files) and see if they still work properly.
Will investigate a bit more and post a package with Intel updated to 2141.

 

hey CygnusLPA and hxkclan, I am very interested in testing out the 189.92 Nvidia drivers and 2104 intell drivers that you guys managed to install without any problem. What is the safest and surest way to install them? For example, should I uninstall the previous drivers from device manager and which driver do I install first? Or should I just use the setup.exe

 

Its really just a matter of personal preference. Hybrid Graphics drivers are a single package so they both install (and remove) at the same time. The usual recommended way is to uninstall the existing drivers in SPEED mode, reboot, and install using setup.exe then reboot again. (Note: you can find Nvidia Drivers in add/remove and just uninstall them that way.) (Note2: In some cases you may have to have device manager scan for new hardware before running setup.exe and installing the new ones.)

With that said you should be able to install these over the existing ones and they should work fine, the previous way just makes sure everything is cleaned out first. The only thing I really recommend is to make sure is that all of this is done in SPEED mode so both Intel & Nvidia devices are detected.

-
Back to Basics for the Z11/12.
Here is Nvidia 189.92 / Intel 2141. I don't anticipate them working properly but ya never know. If they do work we can narrow it down to a problem on the Nvidia side. If they do not work we move back to 2104 on the Intel side and upgrade the Nvidia side and test again. I am leaving the INF as it was with the previous 189.92 / 2104 set since it worked so we can keep a constant. Will need testers only for 2141 folks, please do not download them and expect them to work at all.

 

189.92/2141 actually works, if you manage to install and run it.
Installer aborts immediately, complaining about missing file igfcg500.bin. I copied it to the installer directory from 189.92/2104 package and installation succeeded. Device Manager shows that of all igfcg*.bin files only igfcg575m.bin is used on my system, so I guess I haven't mixed anything. Not sure if it is because of this workaround, but with this driver I also had to disable driver signature verification for it to work (I didn't have to do that with 189.92/2104 - it only had an extra prompt at installation time).
Apart from these problems, the driver appears to be working properly.

 

nvm, need to start reading xD.

 

Hi everyone,
I like to try the LATEST UNOFFICIAL VIDEO DRIVERS for Old VGN-Z Model
Unofficial Windows 7 64bit [Nvidia: 191.66 | Intel: 1994 ] by Dreamliner.

However, the link says that the file is no longer exist. Please assist me on this, thank you.

-Nik

 

It is working!! i did the copy the 500 thing from 2104 set, though.

Thanks.

 

Great news guys! Progress finally.
The drivers have to be signed with 2141 because they were not part of the original set. 189.92/2104 is actually the Lenovo drivers and certificate with an INF for Sony. Since the Intel portion is now different it can not verify the signature for the new files.

You are correct only the 575 files are used (for Intel HD) the 500 files are for the Intel GPU in the old (VPC) Vaio Z. That line in the INF and file in the 2104 package are actually left over from a test I was doing. You can also just comment the line out in the INF as follows:

under [SourceDisksFiles]
find igfcg500.bin = 1 and delete it
or disable it by adding a ; in front like (;igfcg500.bin = 1)

Will try to update it soon. Maybe post a new package to test also since we seem to be on a roll here.

The first post is a bit outdated (I am going to update it very soon). you may want to try the following:
Hybrid Graphics Master Set for Win Vista/7 64bit [Nvidia: 191.97 | Intel: 1994]
There are some newer ones than that such as the latest Nvidia 258.49 / Intel 1994 64bit package but it is a bit buggy.

--
VPCZ - I am working on a 258.69 package right now. I have retested that 189.92/2141 package on my (older model VGN-Z) and it still gives the black screen issue on the Intel side for us so it will still be 1994.
VGNZ11/12 -I am going to try to figure out what the next step up from 189.92 is and we can try that next on the Z11/12. 189.92 is unfortunately the last of the 189 series that I have seen.

 

Thanks for all your hard work!

Is there a chance to get a newer 32bit Version from the drivers?

My system is runnig very well and i´ve no time to do a 64bit upgrade

 

I may be able to do so when I have a bit more time. I should probably just make myself a script to convert the 64bit INF to 32bit and make things a little less time consuming. I have a lot on my plate right now as I am doing about 8 different driver projects. Keep on me about it though and I will get it to ya.

 

Thanks Nautis,

The driver works fine for my vgn-12
Should I now disable the test mode for Windows 7 ? Thanks.

 

Hi,

I just noticed one issue. The stamina-speed switch works fine for the first round. However, when I swicth back to the earlier mode ( stamina or speed), the background picture is gone, leaving a black desktop background. Is this a known issue? I'm testing 191.97: 1994 on my vgn-z12gn

Thanks.

 

I took the lazy way and just installed on top of the exisiting drivers, no problems that i've noticed.

Thanks for the heads up on these slightly updated drivers Nautis!!!! Not sure what the difference is between the stock 188.80's but hey, at least they're more up to date :\ Maybe if we're lucky Lenovo can provide some more updates in the future since we can't depend on Sony as usual

 

Well it is good to know that new Hybrid Graphics notebooks are coming out. Up until that Lenovo and Asus I hadn't really seen any other Hybrid Graphics notebooks with "Intel HD".

There is slow progress being made. I am surprised to see the Lenovo released a driver with such a low version number (on the Nvidia side) compared to much of the rest that are out. Makes me wonder if there is a reason why.

For the next step I guess we can try to move a version number up. The only problem I have with this is that version numbers do not necessarily dictate release date. For example the next version up I have found is 190.15 but the date on it is from June of 2009 while the 189 drivers all seem to be from 2010.

 

Hi Nautis,

I have no longer experienced the earlier issue about blank background. It works really well now. Thanks for all hard work!

 

I am trying these new drivers on my VAIO Z11, for the moment it's perfect.

 

Z11 win7x64 Pro

189.92 / 2104 work fine

189.92 / 2141 work great (windows needs to be in test mode with these)

Overclocking finally works with both drivers via nvidia system tools

Big thanks for the hard work! Keep them coming, I'll keep testing!

 

Will do. Hopefully we can start updating the Nvidia side a bit more soon.

I should probably make a proper post on these two drivers since you Z11/12 users are reporting such success.

 

Great... I installed now the unofficial drivers and everything worked wonders...
thanks... if we wait for the sony we would have white hair!
I wait for new version...

 

hi , i have an older sony vaio Z with switchable graphics.. the driver is like 100.00 something so its very old. Where is the latest and safest hybrid graphics driv

 

Nautis, for sean473's post, it's 8400M GS/X3100

 

Yeah that sounds like a Sony Vaio SZ. I unfortunately do not know enough about the SZ to be much help. I know it is pretty much the first version of switchable graphics but I do not think it is technically "Hybrid Graphics". When I get a little time I will download the driver for the SZ and take a look to see if I can figure it out.

 

BIOS Update version R2074C3 : Sony Australia

nvidia bios issue?

 

Well I know the half screen garbled mess before was due to a video bios issue. EDIT: Ok found where I read it.

- Taken from A Brief History Lesson

^- Sounds very much like what is happening with the new Intel drivers on the older VGN-Z models, specifically theblank screen due to EDID negotiation.

 

I think there's no real way of knowing exactly what the update does. On the french website it just says thats this update changes the way the laptop handles passwords; and indeed it now asks me for the bios password after waking from hibernate, which it didn't before... maybe we'll next figure out that this is sony's next step to incorporating optimus ...

 

By the way guys:

you might want to check out the japanese website for driver updates and stuff... (i am living in japan and bought my notebook here)

VPCZ11AFJ | ????? | ???? | VAIO | ???

the bios update is already out since 2010-06-11.

 

Bah.. shows me for not paying attention. I did not realize that bios was for VPC model notebooks. Guess it might be time to test some updated drivers and see if it fixes the issues we were running into.

EDIT: Update as posted at LV2G.

Working on a few things on the Hybrid Graphics front:
1.) Custom Packaged [Nvidia 256.69 | Intel 1994] Hybrid Graphics Master Set - Requires test mode and signing to work properly.

2.) I am going to start posting Master Set INFs for the latest officially released Hybrid Graphics drivers. The first set will be for (the yet to be posted) [Nvidia 197.72 | Intel 1994] package that was recently released by Dell/Alienware for the M11x(R1). The largest benefit to these is that they will not need test mode/signing to work properly after being installed.

3.) We recently have had success with the (VPC Model) Vaio Z with running the latest drivers released for the Lenovo IdeaPad V460. I assume these will work with all newer Intel HD based notebooks such as the (VPC Model) Vaio Z, Acer Aspire 5745G, & Lenovo Thinkpad T410s. The Lenovo driver is [Nvidia 189.92 | Intel 2104] so not to large of a version leap yet.

4.) I may post two versions of the Lenovo driver for Intel HD notebooks. The officially released [Nvidia 189.92 | Intel 2104] will not need to be signed. We have also had success with [Nvidia 189.92 | Intel 2141] which is the latest driver on the Intel side as of testing. The set with 2141 will need to be signed in order to work correctly.

 

Hi, I'm new to this forum, great to see people helping ...
I have a VGN-Z710DD that my friend gave me to upgrade to Win7 64. I installed everything but the video driver is hurting my head ...
I tried downloading the latest driver on the sony site, I tried to download the latest driver on nvidia site ... But do not work, these drivers are installed but the screen is only in their half and with some risk on the other side.
The one I got was the driver's own Win Vista 64.
Until then is going well, but I'm having trouble in connecting to the laptop, it appears to start Windows 7 with the Intel driver and not Nvidia and then he starts to blink often and it pisses me off when I close the lid and open again it does the same things and sometimes mess up the desktop.
These drivers posted in this topic or even changes in the registry, would help address these problems this laptop?
If Windows starts with the speed mode on and always work directly with the primary card from Nvidia I think I already solve the problem.
Thank you very much

 

did you upgrade the bios to one that support win7 specifically?

 

I've upgraded to the last one in the site of the Sony E-Support.

 

Massa6000, This sounds very much like a BIOs issue like Firestone said.

If your screen looks like this a BIOs update should fix it.


You may want to try to update the BIOs to R4043M3 which was posted as a Windows 7 Upgrade BIOs. As you know the latest ones shown for your notebook are R4041M3 & R4044M3. I would assume the latest (R4044M3) would fix the BIOs issue also.

There is also a version of R4043M3 with the Advanced Options unlocked which gives additional control options. Recommended only if you are an advanced user comfortable with configuration issues.

So there are some options for you to try.

NOTE EVERYONE: This is for the VGN-Z models. The VPC models should not have this issue as they have been released well after Windows 7. You can read this post for more specifics on the issue that was fixed with the BIOs update.

--

Just when I thought I would have some extra freetime to mod and get these drivers up for you guys I get extremely busy again. I was not able to do anything at all yesterday on em. Sorry everyone, I appreciate your patience.

 

Nautis i've updated to R4043M3 as you said and worked perfectly
Thanks a lot for your patience bro.
Z710DD Win7 64Bits with R4043M3 and the last nvidia driver from Sony E-support.
You were my medicine for my headache lol
Again thanks Nauti

 

why the z11/z12 must stick with 18x.xx driver?

 

An update with the Lenovo drivers we're using on our Z11/12s:

Anyone have a slight glitch when waking up the laptop sometimes? If the laptop has been asleep for a few hours and then woken up, the screen stays black even though i know the computer is on (i hear gmail notifier, etc).

if i close the lid again, wait for it to sleep, then wake it up again, the screen always turns on this time around. Minor glitch, but dunno if it's a product of my lazy install or with the driver itself?

 

not for me... but will try again later...

 

Just flip the graphic switch once.. let it switch and switch back, voila image back. Seems something with the driver loading sometimes. (had it once)

 

How about closing this thread an opening two new ones?

One for the VGN-Z and one for the VPC-Z.

It is getting realy hard here to follow. As people are always calling it the Vaio-Z, but are meaning completely different models.

 

Isn't this the VGN-Z thread?

 

Does any of these driver have OpenCL enabled for the 9300M GS?

 

I'm not sure, but I think the 258 drivers should.

You could try install them, ?sign and then check if there is OpenCL with GPU-z.

However, there might be flickering of the screen when you are in Speed mode.



Could also try:

IIRC, Nautis said something about liking 197.85 because of backlight control.

Alternatively, you can try a mod with Dell's M11xR1 driver, which is what I am currently using (no guarantees as I've got a different Hybrid Graphics notebook):
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=403496

Download and extract the above M11xR1 driver, then download and replace the following file into:

Code:

C:\dell\drivers\R273113\Display

File: http://www.mediafire.com/?zmzzmmm2lnvtynv

 

how about opencl for gt 330m?

 

What laptop?

Also, anyone know any programs that use OpenCL that I could try test?