My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

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10char

 

When I install the 260.63 drivers, I have to enable Test Mode for them to function. I don't think these drivers are are signed off.

 

pyr0,

Many thanks! I was afraid the HDMI issue would only be resolved by the BIOS mod, but it was not 100% clear to me that the older OPTIMUS versions would not still support HDMI. Your answers clear that up! I see ComputerCowboy has an update and his system looks pretty close to mine, so I'll probably give it a try. I can live with manual switching, etc. as long as it is all reversible.

I'll see if I can backup my bios first, however..

Thanks again! -Mike

 

Hmm... I know I am a bit slow, but wanted to be sure I had read these correctly. Even using the hybrid drivers, the BIOS mod is needed for, say, HDMI support, correct?

Thanks again pyr0 and anytimer!

-Mike

 

^Yeah, store your BIOS backup in a safe place, you may need it for warranty reasons later. With the modded BIOS (10 minutes work to do that, flashing process is very straight forward) you are able to use the newest NVidia drivers almost out of the box. I have a 257.27 inf file prepared right there for your Z: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/580835-vaio-z-inf-modded-driver-collection.html#post7524998

Just mod BIOS, boot and wipe your old driver set, set your graphics switch to speed, reboot, set VGA switching policy in BIOS (peripheral menu) to static mode, boot, install driver with modded inf and enjoy best performance, best functionality your GT330M has to offer. Great drivers!

 

Anyone?

 

If you are referring to thomaskc.dk's or nautis driver package, yes, you need test mode and sign two driver files as described in this thread. If you use Andrew08's 263.14 driver, you don't need that.

 

Question, what are the differences between the 260.63 and 263.14?

Are there any negatives to upgrading to the 263.14 drivers?

 

Apologies for the confusion. The x64 OEM mobile drivers are signed - by nVidia - which is why they install on x64 systems without needing test mode, but there is no WHQL certificate as far as I can see.

I have been in touch with the guy who posted the drivers at lv2go and he says that one of the 275.27 drivers has a WHQL certificate, but he's not sure which one.

 

If you go to nvidia.com and search for the drivers in question, there are release notes for each driver that tell you what has changed. For the most part, changes in the same series are minor, but the later the version, the better, IMHO.

I have used the Nvidia 26314 - Intel 2266 signed drivers packed by Andrew08 and I was very pleased with them. Everything that I tested worked just like or better than the original stock drivers that Sony had provided. However, I don't have an HDMI TV/monitor so cannot personally vouch for that point, but no one has reported problems.

Note: I am talking about hybrid graphics drivers running on hybrid graphics hardware. The reported issues with HDMI are from Optimus drivers that are being coerced to run on hardware that was designed for hybrid graphics, hence the issues.

 

Part of doing the BIOS mod is making a backup of your BIOS... you have to do a dump in order to patch it, the patch creates a new file.

I have both the 270.61 WHQL and 275.27 BETA nVidia drivers on my site all patched and ready to go for the hacked VPC-Z1. I've been running 275.27 for about a week now, no problems at all.

http://computercowboy.com/Downloads/nVidia_270.61.zip
http://computercowboy.com/Downloads/nVidia_275.27.zip

I find the manual switching is not a big deal at all. If I am going to run on battery I start up on stamina mode, that simple.

 

Fantastic! I'll give it and the other suggestions posted here a try. Hopefully tomorrow. Appreciate your posting these!

-Mike

 

I'm gradually building up the courage to modding the BIOS. Scared if I screw it up, I'll need outside (paid) assistance to get it going again.

 

Why isn't the Original post updated with the new Andrew08 drivers? On paper, they seem superior.

 

I´ve installed Andrew08 drivers on my VGN-Z21 in Speed Mode. Switching to STAMINA is ok, but switching back isn´t working. The switching screen appears, i can confirm with ok but nothing happend...a few seconds the screen appears again...

What can i do? Is this a known bug? I´m using driver NVIDIA 26308 - Intel 1994rev3

 

Try these two registry hacks, they helped me before...

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Hybrid]
"DeepIdleTimer"=dword:00000000

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\nvlddmkm]
"EnableGoldOnHybrid"=dword:00000001

 

Ok, thank you. Will edit this lines to my registry and reboot the machine. I´ll be back

 

Ok, same problem. Switching to Speed mode will result in black screen and than the switching dialog will appear. Booting in SPEED mode isn´t possible, it always run in STAMINA mode...

@Metsn: What is your current driver?

 

It seems to be the latest Nautis's build - 260.63/2020. I had the same problem with switching, but that registry hack solved it. So now there's only the brightness control problem in Speed mode.

 

Great! Thank you! The new 275.33 are out, can I use the modded .inf files from your 275.27 with these one? If so, wich files should I replace? Thanks again!

 

Why isn't the Original post updated with the new Andrew08 drivers? On paper, they seem superior.

 

pyrO,

Well, I did it... I initially used ComputerCowboy's BIOS, but then noticed his was R2074C3 and I was running R3030C3. In for a penny... I went ahead and use the Python routines and patched my original. So far, so good with that (real pain was making the USB stick bootable.. used bootflashdos).

There were no errors in the python run (note to self: move to the app directory after installing the mobile python version to get to the python command)

One minor item missing from your quick instructions here was that you needed to switch to Speed before the reboot or nVidia won't find the card, which makes a lot of sense (it won't be turned on).

Another hint for others: if you were running in "zoomed" mode for the LCD screen, turn it off or you will find your icons and windows to big to use after the uninstall. I could not even unzip the drivers!

Item 3: The Driver Sweeper has moved to a new download page (phyxion.net). I am not sure how badly I needed this, but I ran it anyway on the main display driver files. I also selected the "clean install" option in the NVIDIA setup.

I now have the 257.27 drivers installed. Brightness controls work. Will check the HDMI output tonight. VMWare workstation works fine (not trying to use the NVIDIA features from that, however).

One problem remains at the moment: No Intel video drivers. The default VGA is a monster... I'll mess with that next.

(EDIT: Just did a device manager driver update in Stamina mode and the Intel driver was re-installed... looks good!)

Thanks to everyone for the help!

-Mike

 

^ Glad it worked for you. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

275.33 WHQL is out. Downloading now.

NVIDIA DRIVERS 275.33 WHQL

Release highlights say good things about this driver and Witcher 2.

 

Running 275.33 now. Nothing significant to report, except that these are indeed WHQL certified.

 

You are the second person who has said that. I guess I was not up to date when I did the hack... now I'll have to do it again.

All patched up to R3030C3, updated the files on my website

http://computercowboy.com/Downloads/VPC-Z_BIOS.zip <-R3030C3 hacked

Now to patch and upload the new WHQL driver

 

thank you man.

 

no problem!
here is 275.33 WHQL all patched for VPC-Z1
http://computercowboy.com/Downloads/nVidia_275.33.zip

 

I had it installed for an hour or so... I have to admit I did not see any big differences in anything, though the BIOS menus changed a bit I believe when I switched to the 3030. I had no problem switching out with the modified "original". I also just felt better with a modded version of my own, in case there were any ID's or anything that I wanted to keep, not that I found any that changed. I used your copy of the drivers, however.

I even got a number of the CUDA 4.0 samples to compile and run last night.... VERY nice!

I appreciate your help as well as all those who have worked on these drivers, inf files, bios mods, etc!

To summarize my system for other folks considering this (forgot to do that earlier):
Modified BIOS (R3030C3) using the python mod script
nVidia 275.27
Intel video driver (whatever Windows update found)
Vaio Z: VPCZ1290x (US version) (I7 processor)
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
8G Ram
HD display
2x128G SSD drives
No WAN interfaces (just standard WLAN)

CUDA 4.0 developer stuff now working
Stamina/Speed mode requires a reboot to switch
Have not tried HDMI yet
Display brightness controls work just fine
Still watching temps: Did not have a baseline to work with, but I did tweak fan settings to cut in a bit earlier.
No data on battery life impact yet.

That is all I can think of at the moment...

 

Your link doesn't work

 

Yea that would be a typo on my part, fixed the link... but here it is again


http://computercowboy.com/Downloads/nVidia_275.33.zip

 

Anyone else's hdmi sound not working on 275.27 w/ static switching?

 

help!!
how to modify WHQL in VGN-Z (NVIDIA 9300m) ??

just nvtd.inf?

 

anyone can build one based on latest nvidia and intel driver for hybrid graphic card?
thanks

 

What is the hardware ID of your GPU from the device manager? I can make one for you.

 

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E5\SUBSYS_9025104D&REV_A1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E5\SUBSYS_9025104D

thanks coolguy

 

I need the INF from the latest Sony provided Nvidia driver. I can't extract the driver from Sony support.

 

http://narod.ru/disk/18834572000/10_x64 Graphics Driver (NVIDIA) - 8.16.11.8735 64 bits.rar.html

 

The thing is that the installer doesn't let you access the files unless you have that specific Sony computer.

coolguy wants you to extract the archive and upload the .inf file somewhere.

 

Get it here:
Latest OFFICIAL Drivers for Hybrid/Switchable Graphics & Optimus - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

 

Is your Z a hybrid model? The inf has both the intel and the Nvidia components.

I can make a non-hybrid INF for you. You can ask the experts here for making a hybrid modded INF.

 

??????.?????

 

Just switching model..

 

I am using different build, but I initially had an issue with HDMI sound, but then realized that somehow a "High Definition Audio Controller" device was disabled. Check Device Manager -> System devices node to see if you have the same case.

Once I enabled it, Win 7 started installing device drivers for it and NVIDIA High Definition Audio appeared under "Sound, video and game controllers" node of Device Manager.

 

Haven't tried it. I dock with DVI Video and USB Audio, nothing to plug or unplug, just dock.

 

Some installers from Sony allows you to extract files if you specify "/x path". For example, "ISBSYS-00229132-1040.EXE /x c:\temp\driver".

 

use universal extractor, it will extract any of the crap that Sony craps out

 

Some Sony updates won't work with Uniextract. Like this one here http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNZ790&upd_id=5394&os_id=47

 

interesting, that is the first one I have seen that won't extract with universal extractor. I really have to wonder why you want to extract that anyway, why not use the community built drivers floating around here. Is there some crucial file in that package you need to get at?

It extracts just fine for me by the way, see attached picture.

Is there something specific you want out of that? Would you like me to zip up the whole mess and upload it to my site for you?

 

^ I can also do that, but there will an exe file (the driver update) after unpacking, you can't extract the driver files from that exe with Uniextract. I don't need that file, was helping a user here.

Sony did provide some unextractable driver updates.