My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

Changelog please? From the Sorg's one...I can see you updated the Intel driver...any other changes?

 

Beyond the updated Intel drivers there isn't much difference between Sorgs and this 32Bit set. If Sorgs set is working well for you, and you do not want/need the latest greatest Intel drivers, I don't recommend upgrading... yet.

 

OK, thanks for the answer Looking forward to future improvements

 

Nautis, thanks a lot, the score is first time higher than original, GOOD JOB!!!
64-bit
Win7 x64 build 7057

 

Yeah the 64bit drivers should be good as they are based on an official 185.26 Hybrid Graphics set from Fujitsu. Unfortunately they haven't released 185.26 for 32bit users. One thing to keep in mind 185.20 is/was somewhat of an alpha, that was leaked.

I am going to take another shot soon at WDDM 1.1 drivers for Windows 7 as I have the same version of W7 64Bit installed that you do now. I wouldn't get my hopes up too much though. This also means I can test 64bit drivers now which is nice.

 

one thing, just tried to switch it to Intel and back - so when i switched it back, the driver window open and asked me to close some app which prevented it to switch, but there were no apps in list and increase performance button was inactive... so no way to get it back again
p.s. in nvidia mode after wake up from sleep the brightnes is lower than before the same time the mouse arrow brighter than normal
p.p.s the same issue i experienced with native x64 driver from sony, prob it's win7 issue!

 

I just experienced the same thing with the switch and "Increase Performance" on W7. I am looking into it now. Most likely just have to add something to the whitelist. I will let you know when its fixed and how to fix it.
Will try to replicate the other issue.

EDIT:
Looks like its fixed for me after the whitelist registry entry here.

or if you like manually:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid
Type = REG_SZ (String)
Name = WhiteList
Value = explorer.exe,msnmsgr.exe,Yahoomessenger.exe,PDVDDXSrv.exe,PDVDCinService.exe,PDVDOnService.exe,FAService.exe,nvvsvc.exe

It should work after this and a reboot.

Sleep seems to break the brightness on W7. Mine is not less bright after coming out of sleep, but the brightness controls no longer work. Now lets try to fix this one.

 

no way it doesn't work for me, - only annoying driver window then interchange its position with sony's switch window , right now it opens every 10 sec and make me mad coz it's impossible to write
edit:
Display driver Nvidia Windows kernel mode driver ver. 185.2
display driver stopped responding and has recovered

 

Sorry bout that Vovus. Lets try again. Quite possibly a bug. Goto "Control Panel" -> "Power Options" -> "Change Plan Settings" (On the plan you are on) -> "Change advanced power settings" -> Go down to GPU Settings (which should not really be here as it is disabled) -> Make sure under "NVIDIA Hybrid SLI Graphics" both "On Battery" and "Plugged In" are set to "Boost Performance" also under "Put descrete GPUs to sleep after" both "On Battery" and "Plugged In" are set to "Never."

If that doesn't work I suggest disabling Hybrid Power UI using this reg file.

 

funny, but i just try to install this and now all works just fine still, no more switching problems so far

 

Which INF did you use?

 

sorry, my fault, seems i was hoping this too much and guessed that the miracle become real, but.. it was 174.49 installed, then 185.26 over and after that i see that it boot w/o f8 normally - so its simply do nothing with my native 174.49 - i didn't check the version in device manager
EDIT: tried once more time, no, Nautis - the same story...

 

No worries.. Thought you might have stumbled on something.

I will have to look some more. For whatever reason it is working fine on mine.

EDIT: Make sure to try this REG after installing my 185.26. This will completely disable the Hybrid Power UI. Be sure to reboot after importing it into your registry.

 

done, then rebooted - no way again
tell me what is cert instruction on p 9 for, i mean i did it, but i have to push f8 and disable driver signing anyway...?

 

No, if your windows is properly set to test mode using Potpeyes instructions you should not have to.

sounds like you missed this step of the instructions:

It should say Test or Test Mode at the bottom right of the screen if done properly.

 

yes, true, it's ok now, it's doesn't bother me more the same as intel mode
why sony is so lasy with it's first and last 174.49,
what do you think of Fn F5-F6? where is the rub?

 

My best guess, Sony like most companies only updates if people report a lot of issues/problems. Most companies take the approach if it is working leave it alone. They don't really care about providing their customers with the latest & greatest even if it adds more features or performance. On top of that, the Vaio Z is marketed as a Business machine, so that is their target focus.

Not sure on the brightness issue. I have seen quite a few other people reporting the same thing with other notebooks though.

 

let's take a look... ))

 

Try just "bcdedit.exe /set testsigning yes"

If that does not work you can use one of the following programs to do it:
Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider
NOTE: I couldnt get this utility to sign both intel and nvidia files properly. It seemed to do one or the other. I still recommend Potpeyes method for signing hybrid graphics drivers. It still works for enabling test mode though.

EasyBCD
NOTE: There is an option under "Advanced Options" to "Allow Unsigned Driver Installation on Vista 64."

-

Also just for the sake of it (and to have it in this thread) here is a current list of hybrid graphics drivers I have found:

32-Bit Drivers
185.20 - Nvidia/Unofficial
175.84 - BenQ
175.41 - BenQ
175.37 - Fujitsu
174.49 - Sony
174.47 - Fujitsu

64-Bit Drivers
185.26 - Fujitsu
185.20 - Nvidia/Unofficial
175.37 - Fujitsu
174.49 - Sony
174.47 - Fujitsu

NOTE: BenQ has not released 64-Bit drivers.

 

[Nautis;]Try just "bcdedit.exe /set testsigning yes"

Thanks, it works this way, good night,
waiting for your wddm 1.1 news

 

can anybody to be very nice that create a video step to steps to show me how to upgrade vaioz 32 bit vista driver- on YOUTUBE for god sake. I tried to follow ur guide but unsuccessful. Plz Help, im really love to have to optimal driver for gaming now, thank

 

Well the easiest way would be to download the newest 32-Bit from here and extract them to a directory and then run setup.exe.

Just for knowledge sake:
I assume you are having difficulty with the recommended install instructions and you have downloaded Sorgs fantastic package from the first post. If you need a visual on how to do the manual install there is a great guide here just ignore "Step 2 - Download and replace inf file".

 

I just wanted to thank Nautis and Sorg for your work on this, I've been frustrated as hell with being unable to update the video card to drivers that weren't extremely old.

Has there been any luck with getting the hybrid drivers out of another set that aren't the beta ones though? I haven't personally noticed any problems using the 185.20 in games (but haven't really tested it much), but I'd feel more comfortable overall if this was running on non-beta.

Nevertheless you guys are amazing; I found this thread while trying to figure out how to get the cards working correctly in Linux and you ended up solving another long standing issue I've had instead.

 

No unfortunately 185.20 (32-Bit) and 185.26 (64-Bit) are the latest ones that work. I haven't had much progress on getting any other versions but them and the standard Hybrid Graphics drivers working.

The next version down for 32-bit is 175.84 and for 64-bit is 175.37. Neither of which have CUDA or Physx support.

I am in the same boat as you with wanting to get away from beta (185.20 can almost be considered alpha technically) drivers on 32-bit. 185.26 for 64-bit was officially released by Fujitsu for their Hybrid Graphics notebook however though there is a trick to find it on their site.

 

That's a shame. It's really disappointing that Sony has dropped the ball on this. I've emailed their support people several times and I only ever get a form response back instructing me how to download and install from the official site.

 

Has anyone had any luck getting the 185.26 drivers on vista x64 ? I apparently am not able to pull it off. maybe I am missing something but I followed the instructions on the thread on all the different packages offered here to no avail.

Anyway if anyone w/ x64 vista has this working w/ let me know maybe I missed something stupid during my install ?

Also is there a way to compare the differences in the drivers , there is a fix in 179.28 for FFXI and I am surprised it didn't make it into the drivers sony provided. needless to say they are useless when it comes to helping get this resolved.

 

Quite a few people (myself included) have had a relatively difficult time getting the drivers signed and installed properly on x64. I had to try a few different times before it finally worked for me. I found Potpeyes instructions extremely helpful and Ramalamas addition of the cmd file was very smart. I may have something that will help out soon.

 

Honestly trying to use non-certified drivers on x64 is meant to be difficult. You're not supposed to be able to get them installed intentionally, because they're supposed to be using driver signing.

 

Apologies if this was already posted but has anyone else had this problem with the 32bit Sorg drivers?

I have the power options set, when it's using VAIO Optimized mode, to dim the display to 60% when it's unplugged. However once this happened, I can't get the display back to 100% again either through the FN buttons or control panel. When I press the FN button, only the first bar of the progress indicator displays even though it beeps every time.

I have the auto hybrid power off and it doesn't change any settings with the card when the power's unplugged, but I couldn't get the brightness back without resetting Vista completely.

 

True enough. Test mode is really meant to only be an option for developers to test their drivers. I am just amazed however that they even did this with windows 64-bit. They are basically forcing companies to release fewer drivers for their 64-bit OSs because of this "security feature."

I have seen something similar to this on 64-bit but never 32-bit. AFAIK no one has reported any issues like this on 32-bit. You may want to reinstall VAIO event service, or it could be another service or something in the background conflicting.

 

any new update on the drivers for 32bit? i'm still using the first one posted on page one =(

keep up the good work guys! nicely done

 

I´m hoping for an official driver release soon...but i think this will never happen :-(

 

Not too much new on the 32-bit side, unfortunately. There is a package which includes a newer Intel portion here. If you are happy with Sorgs set I wouldn't even worry about it. Unless you feel the need to have the very latest & greatest.

As we all are. The latest official Hybrid Graphics drivers were the 64-bit 185.26 ones by Fujitsu and they were released 1/30/09. It would be nice if Sony would catch up a bit.

--

I have been trying to get the new Hybrid Driver packages working correctly for BenQ users. My intention was to release a Hybrid Graphics Master Set which would work with all Hybrid Graphics notebooks (Sony, BenQ, Fujitsu.)

Intel has released 1666 which I may release a package for.

 

how come 64bit guys get to have all the fun lol.

 

I had to revert back to the stock drivers. First time I ran the Performance Index after installing, I lost the ability to use Windows Aero. Uninstalled and reinstalled another time just to confirm this caused it and I lost it the second time too.

Alas, back to the drawing board.

 

I don't think anyone else has had this problem. Which drivers were you using, Sorgs 32-bit posted on the first page??

 

I have contacted benQ support regarding 64bit drivers, here is their lame response....



Hi,

We only support 32-bit Vista, 64-bit drivers won’t be available directly from BenQ.

As to 64-bit graphics driver support, we too also rely on nVidia to get the driver update. Since S42 is using hybrid technology, nVidia does not have the 64-bit driver support for hybrid technology.

 

No, your set with the updated Intel drivers, the most recent set posted.

 

That is quite funny since both Sony and Fujitsu have 64-bit drivers available. I also contacted them and received a similar response. FYI The BenQ S42 hybrid theory thread over at LV2GO seems to be getting a little attention. Some has posted an updated bios you may not have.

Interesting. I just tested and did not have that problem. I will try a few other ways to see if I can replicate your problem.

 

A huge barrage of new drivers have been released. It seems my theory was correct in that the 185 series of nvidia drivers all seem to work on Hybrid Graphics notebooks (or at least the Z).

An odd thing has happened with these new drivers though. The physical switch at the top of the Vaio keyboard (Stamina/Speed) seems to be completely disabled with these new drivers. I am currently working on fixing this.

Another interesting thing to note. I only see two displays when looking at display options (rather than four.)

Also performance seems to be improved.

The driver versions are as follows:
185.65 Vista 32/64-bit
185.63 Vista 32
185.42 Vista 32/64-bit
and of course Intel 1666 is also new.

I will most likely release the latest 185.65/1666 first, assuming I can get the switch working properly.

 

I'm kind of confused with all this talk of dif. drivers.

I have a Z690 with 64bit vista, which are the latest *safe* drivers for me to install. I don't mind installing something unofficial I just don't wanna deal with installing/uninstalling and fixing . Not in the mood to ride the "beta wave" with my notebook

 

Nautis, you are the man. I'm using your previous x64 release at the moment, and things seem to be working. All of your work is much appreciated.

 

For 64-bit I would recommend staying with the official Sony drivers. The reason for this is because of the way Vista 64-bit handles unsigned/unofficial drivers.

In order to get unofficial drivers to work with Vista 64 you would need to put windows into "Test Mode" and then sign the drivers manually using a semi-complicated process.

You probably already have the latest official drivers - 7.15.11.7449 (aka 174.49)

 

Thanks for the kind words. I feel like I am extremely behind, having not updated the first post yet. Hopefully it will all be worth it for you folks in the end though.

 

Quick update. So I'm using x64 win7 (build 7057) atm. The drivers 'work' in a sense, the graphics switch works, etc. But there Nvidia driver 'fails', literally, occasionally even when I'm using the Stamina mode switch (light is on). Lastly, when switching back to Speed mode, the new Hybrid interface from Nvidia continually asks me whether I'd like to increase performance, and there's really no way to get rid of it (keeps coming back every few seconds after I close it.)

I certainly don't expect Nautis to tackle this stuff since it's likely win7 related, but I'm posting it to share my experience with other vaioZ users. good luck!

 

You are not the first person to report these same problems. I hope to have both of these issues fixed on the next release. Hope.

 

Windows Vista 185.68 Nvidia Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that there is an upgrade for the nvidia portion of the hybrid graphics drivers to test that you can find at laptopvideo2go. I recommend just running the included setup.exe or doing a manual update through device manager. DO NOT UNINSTALL YOUR EXISTING DRIVERS BEFORE UPDATING.

One big thing to note with this update though is that the Speed/Stamina won't work. You can still switch between intel and nvidia through the taskbar icon though.

-

Dox and I are working on adding Hybrid Graphics support to his fantastic driver sets and Doxs optimisations to mine. I am also working on an installer that may make upgrading all around easier.

 

Not sure if any of you have tried build 7077 yet, but i just gave it a shot last night and i can't seem to install either your updated driver package or the original sony one. It installs fine but i get a blue screen on restart with either speed or stamina. Actually if set to speed the computer hangs and reboots itself shortly after the welcome screen. If set to stamina it automatically goes to a blue screen directly after it gets through the "starting windows" phase. The pre-release nvidia drivers that it installs automatically work fine for some reason. Any thoughts? Both your and sony's packages have worked fine up to build 7057 however.

 

I haven't tried that W7 build. That news is a bit disconcerting. I will try to check it out when I can and see if there is a way to fix it. Thanks for the info. I have seen other reports of bluescreens related to drivers with the 7077 build, but this is the first for these drivers.

 

Definitely disconcerting, i'm going to give the build another fresh install and make the drivers the first thing i install just to make sure, as well as trying build 7106 for good measure...hopefully whatever they broke/changed in 7077will be fixed in a subsequent build...i would hate to have it be some fundamental change to Win7 that makes hybrid cards more difficult/impossible to write drivers for.